[Avodah] HeChalil

[Micha Berger]

We are used to thinking of the chalil of Tanakh and the BHMQ as a flute,
because that's the translation in modern Hebrew. But no of he musical
instruments are all that clearly identified.

The word itself probably tells us that it's hollow; a chalil probably
had a chalal. OTOH, the gemara (Eirachkhin 10b) says it's dechali qalei,
and that it's also called an "abuv" which is an "abuv shel qanah" (mishnah
ibid).

In Sukkah 5:1 the entire music of Simchas Beis haSho'eivah is nicknamed
"hechalil". Also, the chalil was played before the entourage bringing up
the bikurim -- Bikurim 3:4. So whatever sound it made, it was something
that would be prominant in celebratory or party music.

But in Kesuvos 4:4 (4:6 in an upcoming daf Y-mi), we learn that the
least funeral arrangements a widower must provide for his late wife
accoding to R' Yehudah is "2 chalilim umeqonenes". (Side-comments about
female public performers being acceptible to the mishnah are an obvious
distraction from my inquiry.) So a chalil can also have a funereal sound.

So when I got to this mishnah, I started wondering once again just what
a chalil could be. 

According to 2:3 the chalilim could be heard all the way to Yericho.

Bikurm 3:4 would seem to tell you it's not a flute: Hechalil MAKAH
lifneihem. It's a precussion instrument. It's also "makah" lifnei
hamizbeiach in Eirakhin 10a.

Rashi on Eirukhin 10a says "mishensi chalilin: chalil qlml"sh bela'az".
The French chalumeau (read: shallimow; plural chalumeaux) is like a modern
chalil with a clarinet-like reed mouthpiece instead of the whistle-like
one of a modern chalil. I don't know what Rashi does with "makah
lifneihem", and he even has on d"h "ve'avdei kohanim hayu" -- "osam
hamakim bechalil"!

Does Rashi have a broader definition of the root /mkh/?

Without Rashi, just looking at Chazal blank slate:

I would look for a hollow branch that is used in a percussion instrument.
Since it's "iqar shirah", it was probably something on which you could
play a melody (or if once chose, harmony? -- the mishnah often talks of 2
chalilim). Not just a percussion instrument giving rhythm.

We know it's a centerpiece instrument, not just knocking on one hollow
branch for rhythm.

So I would have concluded a chalil was something like a tubular xylophone
with cane tubes rather than the more usual (for today) separate bars
and resonators. But with two problems: I'm not ready to dimiss Rashi;
and I can't picture how anything in the xylophone family would be a
choice for a funeral.

GCT!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Like a bird, man can reach undreamed-of
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