Siman - Rosh Hashanah Daf 29
- כל זמן שהיו ישראל מסתכלין כלפי מעלה ומשעבדין את לבם לאביהם שבשמים
The next Mishnah states: The Torah relates: "והיה כאשר ירים משה ידו וגבר ישראל" – And it happened that when Moshe raised his hand, Yisroel was stronger…and when he lowered his hand, Amalek was stronger. וכי ידיו של משה עושות מלחמה או שוברות מלחמה – But do Moshe’s hands win a battle or lose a battle?! Certainly not. Rather the passuk comes to tell you: כל זמן שהיו ישראל מסתכלין כלפי מעלה – So long as Yisroel gazed upward ומשעבדין את לבם לאביהם שבשמים היו מתגברים – and subjugated their heart to their Father in Heaven, they would prevail. But if not, they would fall. The Mishnah continues and brings a similar teaching with regard to the נחש הנחשת – the copper serpent that was placed on a pole to stop a plague, so that anyone who was bitten and looked at it would live. וכי נחש ממית או נחש מחיה – But does a serpent kill or does a serpent restore to life?! Certainly not. Rather when they gazed upwards and subjugated their hearts to אביהם שבשמים they were healed, and when they did not, they perished.
- Why it was taught that Kohanim and Leviim are chayav in tekios shofar
It was taught in a Baraisa: הכל חייבין בתקיעת שופר כהנים ולוים וישראלים – All are chayav in the mitzvah of tekias shofar: Kohanim, Leviim and Yisraelim. The Gemara asks that this is obvious, for if they are not chayav, who is chayav? After the first answer is rejected, the Gemara answers that it was necessary for the Tanna to teach that Kohanim and Levi’im are chayav, for if he had not done so, you might say that since we learned in a Mishnah שוה היובל לראש השנה לתקיעה ולברכות – the laws of the Yovel year are identical to the laws of Rosh Hashanah with regard to blowing, and the berachos, only someone who is subject to Yovel in its entirety is chayav in the tekios of Rosh Hashanah. But Kohanim and Leviim, since they are not subject to the laws of the Yovel year in its entirety, since כהנים ולויים מוכרין לעולם וגואלין לעולם – Kohanim and Leviim may sell their property at any time and may redeem it at any time, say that they are not obligated in the mitzvah of tekios shofar on Rosh Hashanah. קא משמע לן – The Tanna therefore informs us they are indeed chayav.
- How Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai instituted blowing the shofar after the churban
The opening Mishnah of the fourth perek states that when Rosh Hashanah fell on Shabbos, they would blow in the Beis Hamikdash but not in the provinces. משחרב בית המקדש התקין רבן יוחנן בן זכאי שיהו תוקעין בכל מקום שיש בו בית דין – When Bayis Sheini was destroyed, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai instituted that they should blow the shofar wherever there is a Beis Din. After explaining that the Rabbanon decreed that blowing the shofar in the provinces was prohibited, out of concern that someone who was not proficient might carry the shofar to an expert to learn how to blow it, and come to carry dalet amos in reshus harabim, the Gemara brings a Baraisa that describes how Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai instituted his decree. It once occurred that Rosh Hashanah fell on Shabbos, after the Sanhedrin had been exiled to Yavneh, and all the residents from the surrounding areas gathered in Yavneh to hear the blowing of the shofar. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai said to the sons of Ben Beseira נתקע – Let us blow the shofar. They replied נדון – Let us first consider if it is proper to do so. He said, let us first blow and then consider whether this practice should continue in the future. After they blew, and wanted to deliberate, he said כבר נשמעה קרן ביבנה ואין משיבין לאחר מעשה – the horn has been heard on Shabbos in Yavneh, and one should not refute Beis Din after the deed has been done. Rashi explains that if they now forbid blowing even in Beis Din, people will say that their blowing was done in error, which will expose them to ridicule.
