Rosh Hashanah 33b

The length of a teruah is like three whimpers (yevavot) - [Rashi] explained [that this is] simply three short sounds. And later on (Rosh Hashanah 34a), we say that Rabbi Abbahu established [the blowing of] kashra"k, kasha"k, kara"k (tekiah, shevarim-teruah, tekiah; tekiah, shevarim, tekiah; tekiah, teruah, tekiah), in Caesarea because he was in doubt if the teruah of the verse is an actual teruah - what we call teruah - which is pouting pouts; or perhaps shevarim of wailing wails; or that both shevarim and teruah are needed for teruah, as perhaps it is [both] wailing wails and pouting pouts. So one needs to be careful with shevarim not to stretch each one out by itself like the three whimpers that are three short sounds. As if so, it becomes a tekiah and not a shevarim. For behold, the length of a tekiah is like [that of] a teruah, and the length of a teruah is like three whimpers. And it appears that a person is obligated to stretch out the tekiah of kashra"k more than of kasha"k, and of kasha"k more than kara"k. For behold the length of a tekiah is like [that of] a teruah; and we do kashra"k of pouting and wailing. So it comes out that we have to stretch out the tekiah of kashra"k like the length of three shevarim and three whimpers; the tekiah of kasha"k like the length of three shevarim - since behold we do kasha"k for the doubt that it is wailing wails; and the tekiah of kara"k like the length of a teruah, which is pouting pouts. However, if he stretches out each tekiah like those of kashra"k, there is no concern. For he may stretch it out as [much as] he wishes, since it is taught [in the mishnah], "and then stretched out the second [tekiah] like two, he only has [the fulfillment of] one in his hand." (This shows that a long tekiah nevertheless counts as a tekiah.) And it is also due to this reason that there no concern if one does four or five shevarim, since the shevarim are in place of a teruah. So it is a long teruah, just like we stretch out the whimpers [of a standard teruah]. And the Riva and the Ri, son of the rabbi, Rabbi Meir, explain that a whimper is three very short blows. It comes out that a teruah is nine blows, and that is the length of a tekiah as well. And according to their explanation, there is no concern if one stretches out the shevarim a little. However, according to their opinion, one needs to stretch out the tekiah of kashra"k the length of three shevarim and nine blows. And one who does not stretch out those tekiah blasts like this length, but stretches out the shevarim a little, will not fulfill the commandment - neither like [one] master, nor like the [other] master. And Rabbenu Chananel explained like the explanation of [Rashi]. And today we are accustomed to blowing thirty blows while sitting after the reading of the Torah - three of each kashra"k, kasha"k and kara"k. And during the [additional (musaf)] prayer, we blow kashra"k during [the blessing of] Kingship (Malkhiot); kasha"k during [the blessing of] memory (zikhronot); and kara"k during [the blessing of] shofar (shofarot). But according to the discussion of our entire chapter, it would have been fitting to blow kashra"k, kasha"k, kara"k - once for Kingship; and likewise for memory; and likewise for shofar - during the prayer; or all of it after the prayer. But we do not find [a source for blowing] before the prayer. It is as is taught [in the mishnah], "one who recited the blessings, and only afterward a shofar became available to him." However we do find earlier in the the first chapter (Rosh Hashanah 16a), "Why do we blow tekiah and teruah while they are sitting and blow tekiah and teruah while they are standing? In order to confuse the Satan." And that is like what we do. However at first glance it would appear that the blowing during the prayer should likewise be kashra"k, kasha"k, kara"k for each [of the blessings] of Kingship, memory and shofar, in order to alleviate the doubt of Rabbi Abbahu. And in the Arukh, he explained that this is what they would do. As he explains in the entry for erev, "And those who are stringent blow thirty [blasts] (a full set) when they are sitting, thirty during the silent prayer and thirty according to the order [of the blessings], corresponding to the hundred yelps of Sisera's mother. And those [extra] ten (needed in order to bring it to one hundred) are when they finish all of the prayers - a single blowing of ten, tashra"t, tasha"t, tara"t. So there are one hundred." And Rabbenu Tam would wonder about our custom, since the kashra"k of Kingship and the kasha"k of memory and the kara"k of shofar contradict one another. For if [the intended sound] is wailing and pouting, they all need to have kashra"k; and it it is only wailing, they all need to have kasha"k; and if it is only pouting, they all need to have kara"k. So Rabbenu Tam instituted in our place to blow kashra"k for memory and shofar, just like for Kingship. As now we have alleviated any doubt, and there is only [the issue of] a pause. But it is enough with this, so as not to change the custom too much. [And the pause is also not a problem.] For behold we say, "If one heard nine blasts at nine times during the day, he has fulfilled [his obligation]." But one can somewhat give a reason for our custom: That it holds like the one that says adjacently (Rosh Hashanah 34a:10), One [teruah] is from the words of the Torah and two are from the words of the Sages." And since, while sitting, they have already [covered] all the doubts about those of the Torah and those of the Sages, they only concerned themselves to repeat and to do the [blasts for the] doubt about the Torah, at the time of the prayer. And in the Kedushah of Agan Hasahar, Rabbi Shimshon bar Yonah wrote, "the beauty of forty blasts when we blow them." And that is like our custom. And likewise is it in the Seder Rav Amram, except that he wrote that we blow one teruah without a tekiah at the end. And if you [ask]: How do we fulfill [the commandment] with those of sitting - behold we learn [in a baraita] at the end of the chapter (Rosh Hashanah 34b), "The blasts and the blessings of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur impinge upon one another" - hence they need to be done at the time of the prayer!?! That is not a refutation. For even though it is implied from [Rashi's] commentary that the explanation of - if he recited the blessing and did not blow, or he blew but did not recite the blessing - is about Kingship, memory and shofar, it is impossible to say this. For we learn [in a baraita] later on (ibid.), "If there are two towns - in one they blow, and in the other they recite the blessings, one should go to the place where they blow, and one does not go to the place where they recite the blessings." And we [also] learned [in the mishnah], "One who recited the blessings, and a shofar became available to him afterward." This implies that one can recite the blessing without the blasts. Rather, "the blasts and the blessings impinge upon one another," means that the blasts impinge upon each other and the blessings impinge upon each other: When he recites the blessings of Kingship, memory and shofar, he recites all three blessing or he does not recite any blessing at all. And likewise, tekiah, shevarim, and teruah - if he is an expert in the three of them, he should blow; and if not, he should not blow. But there is a need to [understand] about those thirty blasts that we blow while sitting, when he finishes the three sets of kashra"k and he begins the sets of kasha"k; or when he finishes the sets of kasha"k and he begins the sets of kara"k - why do I need two tekiah blasts, one after the other? Either way, he could be absolved [from the obligation] with one blast! For if [the intended sound] is wailing and pouting, behold he has fulfilled [his obligation] with the three series of kashra"k; if it is only wailing, that last tekiah of kashra"k should count for the tally of kasha"k; and likewise if it is pouting, that last tekiah of kasha"k should count for the tally of kara"k. But perhaps once they [designated] the tekiah to be for the sake of the simple blast after the teruah, they did not want it to count for the sake of the simple blast before it. However, we have found, "[if] he then stretched out the second [tekiah] like two," that it would have counted as two [blasts] if it were not because we do not divide a blast into two.