Resources for Rosh Hashana daf 12
Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman
- The גמרא asks according to רבי אליעזר, who is of the opinion that the world was created in תשרי, in what way is the month of חשון known as “the second month”? In the גליון הש"ס, רע"א brings the רד"ק who says that before יציאת מצרים the months were counted from תשרי. If so, the גמרא shouldn’t have questioned why it was called the second month during the time of the מבול. See the רש"ש who answers that משה רבינו wrote the תורה only after יציאת מצרים and therefore it should not have been called the second month.
- The גמרא says that the חכמי ישראל counted the מבול from תשרי and the תקופות from ניסן, while the חכמי האומות counted everything from ניסן. See the דרשות הר"ן in the דרוש השלישי who says this means we pasken that the world was physically created in ניסן. The reason the Jews count the מבול (which he says is another way of saying the years in history) from תשרי is because the Jewish people count based on our אמונה. In other words, since the first of תשרי is when the world is judged about what will be until the next תשרי, it would make sense to count the years from the first of תשרי as that day is what really creates and constitutes a year. This is similar to the months where ניסן is considered “the first month” only due to its significance since we left מצרים at that time. That is why the פּסוק says “החודש הזה לכם ראש חדשים”.
- תוספות in ד"ה תנא דרבנן says that even though our גמרא is משמע that all fruit are חייב במעשרות מן התורה and only vegetables are חייב מדרבנן, the truth is that only דגן תירוש ויצהר (the five grains, olives/olive oil and grapes/wine) are חייב במעשרות מן התורה. See the סמ"ג עשין קל"ו who says that while only דגן תירוש ויצהר are חייב in most תרומות ומעשרות, for מעשר שני all fruit are חייב מן התורה. See the רמב"ם הלכות תרומות פּרק בּ הל' א and הל' ו who says that all fruit are חייב מדאורייתא and only vegetables are מדרבנן. See the רמב"ן על התורה, דברים פּרק י"ד פּסוק כ"ב who says that only wine and oil are חייב מדאורייתא but not olives and grapes. See the חזון איש, שביעית ז' כ"ד who clarifies that the רמב"ן would agree that olives are חייב מדאורייתא if one had specific intention to eat them and not juice them as one normally does. See the ראב"ד brought in the שיטה מקובצת, ב"מ דף פּ"ח עמוד ב who says that only the שבעת המינים are חייב מדאורייתא.
- The גמרא says that if one makes a נדר not to be נהנה from someone for a year, then he means 12 months, but if he says this year, even if there is only one day left to the year, it counts as a year since the person’s intention was לצעוריה נפשיה and he accomplished that. See the ריטב"א who makes two important points: One is that there is also an element of חומרא in the latter case in that if someone says a year, then he counts 12 months flat but if someone says this year, then if it is a leap year, he is bound by the נדר for all 13 months. Second, he is not sure what would be the הלכה if לצעוריה נפשיה was not a factor? In other words, if someone just promised his friend a gift this year and it was a day before ראש השנה, would he need to give the present that day or could he wait a full 12 months? He suggests that it is ראוי להחמיר.
- The גמרא says that מעשר ראשון has no הפסק just like נחלה. See the טורי אבן here who asks what the גמרא means because every שמיטה year is a הפסק? See the ערוך לנר here who says that the reason we give מעשר to the לוי is because, as the פּסוק says, he has no נחלה with the rest of his fellow Jews. On שמיטה, no one has a נחלה. Therefore, in theory the concept of מעשר still applies, but there is no one who fits the category of “someone with נחלה needs to give to someone without נחלה.”
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