Resources for Rosh Hashana daf 16

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The גמרא says that we blow extra תקיעות on ר"ה in order to be מערבב את השטן. תוספות asks why this isn’t a violation of בל תוסיף? He answers that doing a מצוה multiple times is not a violation of בל תוסיף. See the רשב"א here who says there is no בל תוסיף because it is a תקנת חכמים, and since the תורה told us to listen to what the חכמים say, it is not a violation of בל תוסיף, rather just a separate מצוה דרבנן. See the פּרי מגדים בפּתיחה הכוללת חלק א' אות ל"ח who explains that תוספות must agree to the רשב"א that חז"ל can add on to a mitzvah for purposes of a סייג. If not, how would we explain the איסור of בשר עוף בחלב (milk & chicken)? Rather, תוספות does not learn like the רשב"א since in our סוגיא there is no סייג ומשמרת that חז"ל are creating—it is just לערבב את השטן. Therefore, תוספות is forced to say that it must be that a mitzvah done twice is not a problem of בל תוסיף. See the תוספות ישנים on דף כ"ח ע''ב who says we can blow extra תקיעות because the תורה never explicitly gives a number of תקיעות and therefore wasn’t מקפּיד how many תקיעות are blown.
  2. The גמרא says that one should be מקבל פּני רבו ברגל. See רש"י in ג דף חגיגה who explains that the reason for this הלכה is to show כבוד for one’s רבי. This is also the opinion of the רמב"ם who brings this הלכה in ת"ת הלכות. However, see the רמב"ן in יתרו פּרשת on the פּסוק of השבת יום את זכור who says that the reason is to learn תורה from them on these holy days.

The גמרא brings a פּסוק to prove that you must be מקבל פּני רבו ברגל. The פּסוק describes going to the רב on שבת and ראש חדש. There seems to be a glaring question - the פּסוק mentions everything except יו"ט, so how did the גמרא know that there was a חיוב to be מקבל פּני רבו ברגל on יו"ט? See the ריטב"א who explains that שבת includes יו"ט. He also explains that the חיוב of seeing your רבי depends on how close you are to him. If you live nearby, you should go each שבת. If you live further, then only on ראש חודש or the רגל. See the נודע ביהודה תנינא, או"ח סימן צ"ד who learns a completely different פּשט. He says that we learn from the פּסוק that any day with a תוספת קדושה brings a מצוה לקבל פּני רבו. Nonetheless, we can’t actually be מחייב someone to come each שבת to see their רבי because the תורה doesn’t require someone to travel far except for three times a year, and כבוד רבו cannot be greater than כבוד שמים. Therefore, from the פּסוק we see that there should at least be a חיוב during the רגל. With this he explains why this הלכה is not brought in שולחן ערוך (it is discussed by many פּוסקים though in או"ח סימן ש"א where the הלכה comes up).

  1. The גמרא says that a person is only judged based on their level of צדקות at that moment. רש"י brings the מדרש that this is similar to ישמעאל who was judged favorably even though his children would later kill Jews. There is a fascinating משנה למלך in the פּרשת דרכים דרוש ד who says that this is only true for future עבירות. However, if a person will do מצוות in the future, he can be judged favorably even before he does them!
  2. The גמרא says that אמר הקב"ה, אמרו לפני מלכיות וכו'. See the ריטב"א who asks how can it be that Hashem said this when it is only a דין דרבנן to recite מלכיות, זכרונות, ושופרות. He answers with a very important יסוד. Every דין דרבנן is part of what Hashem wants, and hints to in his תורה with an אסמכתא. Therefore, it’s as if Hashem had said it. He also says that it is a דרך מינות to suggest that אסמכתות are mere mnemonics.

-------------------------------------------------------

Click here to download daf summary by Rabbi Chaim Smulowitz (in PDF)