Tamid Photo Essay in Lego® #27

The Shot

Tooting Their Own Horns

The Kohanim sound the trumpets upon the Table of the Fats

The Story

Right before the wine libation of the Tamid offering was poured onto the Mizbeyach, two Kohanim holding silver trumpets would ascend onto the Table of the Fats located to the west of the Main Ramp. This table is where cuts of meat from various offerings would first be placed before being brought up onto the Mizbeyach to be burned. At this point of the morning the table had not yet been used (and was nice and clean) and the Kohanim would use it as a high vantage point from which to sound their trumpets. The purpose of the trumpets was to warn the Leviim who were assembled upon the duchan that the wine libation was about to begin and they would need to be ready to sing their song. [Possibly, the Leviim did not have a good line of sight to where the libation was being carried out, because they were standing on the floor to the east of the Mizbeyach and the libation was done on top of the Mizbeyach on the western side.] The Kohanim sounded a tekiah-teruah-tekiah and then climbed down from the table and went over to stand with the Leviim.

The Setup

This shot is modeled and rendered in Bricklink Studio with depth of field and a little light flare added in Photoshop (read more about this process in my introduction). For those familiar with the limited range of motion of the minifig, the hand placement in my picture is unexpected, but rest assured that no Lego® was harmed in the building of this model. To get the arms and hands in this pose, I had to (temporarily) detach them from the minifig. As separate components, they can be clipped onto the body of the trumpet and arranged in what appears to be a natural position. The next problem is how to allow the armless Kohen to hold his trumpet, and the answer is that he doesn't. The trumpet is a free-standing sub-assembly that is carefully aligned with the minifig's body. By photographing the model from just the right angle and using just the right amount of zoom, the Kohen looks like he is really tooting his own horn. Here is how I did it:

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