Siman - Rosh Hashanah Daf 9
- מוסיפין מחול על הקודש
A Baraisa on Daf 8b stated that generally we are מוסיפין מחול על קדש, we add from the mundane unto the holy. The Gemara here asks what the source is for this principle and brings a Baraisa that teaches: The passuk states: "בחריש ובקציר תשבת" – At the plowing and the reaping you shall rest. Rebbe Akiva interprets this passuk as discussing the shemittah year; he therefore says that the passuk does not need to say that one should desist from performing the plowing and reaping on Shevi’is, for it has already stated: "שדך לא תזרע" – Your field you should not sow, which prohibits most agricultural work during the shemittah year. אלא חריש של ערב שביעית וקציר של מוצאי שביעית – Rather, it teaches that one must desist even at the plowing of the year before the seventh, whose benefit enters into the seventh, and that one must proscribe kedushas shevi’is to the reapings of the seventh year produce whose growth continues into the year after the seventh. Rebbe Yishmael, who interprets this passuk as discussing Shabbos, learns the principle of מוסיפין מחול על קדש from the passuk dealing with fasting on Yom Kippur.
- Criteria for Yovel to take effect
The Gemara brings a machlokes Tannaim regarding the criteria necessary for the laws of Yovel to take effect. It was taught in a Baraisa: Regarding the passuk, "יובל הוא" – It is Yovel, אף על פי שלא שמטו אף על פי שלא תקעו – the inclusionary term “Yovel,” teaches that even if the people did not abandon their fields to their ancestral owners, and even if they did not sound the shofar, the year retains its Yovel status; therefore, it is forbidden to work the land. It could be thought that Yovel takes effect even if they did not send away the slaves, the passuk therefore states the exclusionary phrase, "הוא" – It is, to teach that a year in which the slaves are not freed cannot attain Yovel status, דברי רבי יהודה. Rebbe Yose says that the passuk is coming to include, that even if they did not abandon the fields or send away the slaves, it is still Yovel, and it is coming to exclude sounding the shofar, so that if it was not sounded, Yovel does not take effect. Rebbe Yose explains that it is reasonable that the Torah will make Yovel dependent on an act which is always feasible, such as sounding the shofar, and not on act that might be impossible to perform, such as in the case where there are no slaves to free. Also, sounding the shofar is מסורה לבית דין –within Beis Din’s power to perform, whereas freeing slaves is not.
- Jews outside of Eretz Yisroel must also send away their slaves during Yovel
Rabbi Chiya bar Abba taught: אבל חכמים אומרים שלשתן מעכבות – But the Chochomim say that all three requirements, referring to relinquishing ancestral lands, blowing the shofar and freeing the slaves, are essential for the year to attain Yovel status. When the Gemara asks what the inclusionary term, "יובל" comes to include, it answers, ההוא דאפילו בחוצה לארץ –that it teaches that the laws of Yovel are in effect even outside of Eretz Yisroel. When the Gemara further objects, because the passuk states: You shall proclaim liberty בארץ – in the land, which implies that Yovel takes place only in Eretz Yisroel, it answers ההוא בזמן שנוהג דרור בארץ נוהג בחוצה לארץ - that this expression comes to teach that only at a time that liberty is practiced for slaves in Eretz Yisroel, it is practiced outside of Eretz Yisroel as well. But at a time that it is not practiced in Eretz Yisroel, it is not practiced outside of Eretz Yisroel.
