Lyres (נבל)

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Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said, harp and lute are the same, extra strings make the difference between one and the other. Rebbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said, why is it called נֶבֶל? Because it whitens many kinds of musical instruments. Rebbi Ḥuna in the name of Rav Joseph: By untanned leather and an abundance of strings it whitens many kinds of musical instruments. Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish says, עוּגָב is a water organ. Rabban Simeon ben Gamliel stated, there was no water organ in Jerusalem because its sound overhangs the melody.

Jerusalem Talmud Sukkah 5:6:3

The mishna teaches: The minors would not engage in playing a lyre and in playing a harp; rather, in singing with the mouth in order to provide flavor to the music with their pure, high voices. The Gemara notes: That is to say that a lyre and a harp are two distinct instruments. Let us say that the mishna is not in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, as it is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Yehuda says: The harp used in the Temple was an instrument of seven strings…

Arakhin 13b:10-13

"Raise a song and strike the tambourine." Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said, "The nevel (harp) is like a corpse (naveil)." Rabbi Shimon said, "The nevel is for itself, and the kinor (lyre) is for itself, and there are pegs and nails between them." Rav Huna said in the name of Rabbi Assi, "Through the leather that is not worked and through the pegs and nails." And why is it called nevel? Because it makes all kinds of music decay. Rabbi Yehuda bar Rabbi Elai said, "In this world, it is through the pegs and nails (and how many pegs are there between them) that there are seven pegs in the kinor…

Midrash Tehillim 81:2

Ordinary harps are susceptible to impurity, but the harps of Levites are clean. All liquids are susceptible to impurity, but the liquids in the Temple slaughtering house are clean. All scrolls convey impurity to the hands, excepting the scroll of the Temple courtyard. A wooden toy horse is clean. The belly-lute, the donkey-shaped musical instrument and the erus are susceptible to impurity. Rabbi Judah says: the erus is susceptible to sitting impurity since the wailing woman sits on it. A weasel-trap is susceptible to impurity, but a mouse- trap is clean.

Mishnah Kelim 15:6

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