Resources for Rosh Hashana daf 14

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The גמרא says the reason ראש השנה for trees is ט"ו בשבט is that’s the time when רוב גשמי שנה have already fallen. See the ר"ח who offers an interesting explanation of this: we know from the גמרא in תענית that the rain is supposed to start on י"ז חשון. If it falls after ניסן, it is useless. So the season for rain is from י"ז חשון through the end of ניסן. As such, it comes out that from י"ז חשון until ט"ו בשבט we are three days short of three months, whereas from ט"ו בשבט until the end of ניסן is only two and a half months. Consequently, by ט"ו בשבט, most of the days for rain have passed.
  2. On another note regarding רוב גשמי שנה having fallen by ט"ו בשבט, Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank ז"ל was asked a fascinating question (see פּרדס שנה מ"ה חוברת א' סימן כ"ב): it is true that most of the laws of ט"ו בשבט are only relevant to ארץ ישראל where we have תרומות ומעשרות ושמיטה. However, the מצוה of ערלה is relevant all over the world. Therefore, the following question arises, רוב גשמי שנה don’t fall by ט"ו בשבט in every place on earth. For example, in Chile, Argentina, and South Africa, where many fruit trees grow, the seasons are reversed and ט"ו בשבט is actually in the middle of the summer. If so, would the ר"ה לאילנות be different in those places? He answered that it is תלוי in the מחלוקת רש"י ותוספות on our גמרא. According to רש"י, the reason ט"ו בשבט is ר"ה לאילנות is the rain that fell prior to that date causes the trees to blossom by ט"ו בשבט. The point is that ט"ו בשבט is special in that it is the time when the trees begin to blossom. As such, in a place where tress blossom at other times, perhaps ר"ה לאילנות would be at a different time. However, תוספות disagrees with רש"י and explains the reason ט"ו בשבט is ר"ה לאילנות is the rain that fell prior to א' תשרי was enough to get the tree to blossom until ט"ו בשבט. In other words, the focus is really א' תשרי. If that is true, then South America would be no different. In fact, it is a קל וחומר. If in Israel, where it is the rainy season after תשרי, we still say that the fruit blossomed because of rain from before תשרי, certainly in South America where there was no rain after תשרי, it would be considered that the rain prior to תשרי caused the fruit to blossom.
  3. The גמרא brings the story of רבי עקיבא who picked an אתרוג on א' שבט and was נוהג בּעישורין (מעשר שני ומעשר עני) to get out of the ספק. There seem to be several conspicuous questions here: first, see the שער המלך in הל' מקוואות פּרק י' הל' ו' כלל ד'  who asks that we have a basic principle of ספק דרבנן לקולא. If so, since according to many ראשונים, מעשר פּירות are דרבנן, רבי עקיבא should have been able to be מספק מקיל and only be מפריש one מעשר and not two. Second, see the טורי אבן who asks that רבי עקיבא should have been able to pocket the מעשר עני in a case of ספק due to the principle of המוציא מחבירו עליו הראיה. Regarding the first question of ספק דרבנן לקולא, the שער המלך answers that since we certainly need to be מפריש one מעשר and since we don’t know which one to be מפריש, we are forced to be מפריש both because הי מיניהו מפקית. As far as the question about המוציא מחבירו עליו הראיה, see the תרועת מלך סימן כ"ב who answers that המוציא מחבירו עליו הראיה is based on מוחזקות, and the owner here is not a מוחזק since it is either belongs to מעשר שני which is ממון גבוה or the עני.
  4. The גמרא says that אי כב"ש כקוליהן וחומריהן, כב"ה כקוליהן וחומריהן. It sounds like, at that point in the גמרא, one could follow either ב"ש or ב"ה, even לקולא, even by a דאורייתא, provided one is always consistent. See the רמב"ן in חולין מ"ד ד"ה הא דתניא who asks why we don’t apply the principle of בשל תורה הולך אחר המחמיר? See the חזון איש in יו"ד סימן ק"ן ס"ק א who says that the גמרא’s statement above applies only when it isn’t your רבי. If it is your רבי, then you can follow him לקולא even by an איסור דאורייתא. If both disputants are your רביים, then you can follow either one. Therefore, when the גמרא said you could follow either ב"ש or ב"ה even לקולא, it meant if they are both your רביים.

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