Resources for Rosh Hashana daf 8

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The גמרא says that Hashem’s judgement on Earth does not start until ב"ד is מקדש the חודש. There is a famous חיי אדם in כלל כ”ד סע' י who says that if one forgot to say המלך הקדוש on the night of ראש השנה, they don’t need to repeat שמונה עשרה . He equates it to the הלכה that one does not need to repeat שמונה עשרה if they forgot יעלה ויבא on ראש חודש at night. See the אגרות משה, או”ח ח”א סי' ק”ע who explains this חיי אדם based on our גמרא. On ראש חודש, one does not repeat שמונה עשרה at night if they forgot יעלה ויבא since ב"ד is not מקדש the חודש at night. On ליל ראש השנה, it is a little different since you are already saying a שמונה עשרה של ראש השנה and you would think you would need to be consistent (in fact, see the  משנה ברורהin שער הציון סי’ תקפ”ב סק”ד who disagrees with the חיי אדם  for exactly this reason). Nonetheless, since the judgement of ראש השנה doesn’t begin until ב"ד is מקדש the חודש, and ב"ד isn’t מקדש the חודש at night, the judgement aspect doesn’t really need to be mentioned  until the morning. Therefore, one would not need to repeat the שמונה עשרה if they forgot המלך הקדוש on the night of ראש השנה.
  1. The משנה says that תשרי is ראש השנה for יובלות. The גמרא asks that יובל only starts on the tenth of תשרי, and the גמרא answers that our משנה is going according to the opinion that holds that יובל starts at the beginning of תשרי. See the חידושי הר"ן who asks that while it is true that the requirement to free slaves and return lands starts from יום כיפּור, the prohibition to work the land only starts on ראש השנה according to everyone. If so, why can’t we say that the first of תשרי is ראש השנה for not working the land on יובל? He answers that the גמרא was only asking because the פּשטות of the Mishna sounds like it applies to all aspects of יובל. See the שפת אמת who explains it somewhat differently. He says the גמרא’s question was based on the fact that not working the land is common to שמיטה and יובל. The איסור during יובל is really just a continuation of the איסור to work the land from the previous year of שמיטה. When we say תשרי is ראש השנה for יובל, it means for things that are special to יובל, like freeing slaves and returning land. However, see the טורי אבן בדף ט who learns completely differently. He understands that according to the חכמים, even the איסור to work the land during יובל doesn’t start until יום כיפּור. He is therefore left with a fascinating question: what type of מעשר do you have to give for produce that grew during those ten days? See the נצי"ב who suggests it should be מעשר שני since the פּסוקים seem to indicate that מעשר שני is נוהג every year unless another מעשר takes over.
  1. The גמרא brings the דרשה of איזה חג שהחודש מתכסה בו ‘בכסה וגו. There are numerous opinions in the ראשונים as to what those words mean. תוספות here brings an opinion that holds that מתכסה בו means it is hidden in the sense that we don’t mention it in שמונה עשרה, or at least only hint to it in שמונה עשרה. See the תוספות הרא"ש who says that this cannot be since the only reason we don’t mention it in שמונה עשרה is because we keep two days of ראש השנה, and if we mentioned ראש חודש in the davening, people would come to keep יום כיפּור on the 11th of תשרי, as typically when there are two days of ראש חודש, the second day is the first of the month. However, back when there was only one day of ראש השנה, they did mention it in davening. See the משנה ברורה, סימן תקצ"א ס"ק ג who quotes this explanation as to why we don’t mention the full פּסוקים in מוסף.

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