Resources for Rosh Hashana daf 17

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The גמרא quotes the מימרא of ב"ש who says there are three groups "ליום הדין". See the ריטב"א here who explains that there are three distinct times of judgement for a person. The first is every ראש השנה when Hashem judges how a person’s physical existence in this world will be for that year (rich, poor, painful, peaceful, etc.). The second is when a person dies and their soul is judged ( to go to גיהנום or גן עדן) based on all it has done in its life. The third is at the time of תחיית המתים when a person’s body and soul are judged together. The three judgements are necessary since some sins need to be paid back to the body, some to the soul, and some to both. For a thorough and detailed explanation of this סוגיא, see the רמב"ן in שער הגמול who spends much of the ספר discussing our גמרא and related topics.

 

  1. The גמרא continues with the פּושעי ישראל בגופן who go to גיהנום and are later burned to ashes and spread under the feet of the צדיקים. See the רמב"ן in שער הגמול as well as the ריטב"א here who explains that this does not mean these people cease to exist entirely. Rather, they aren’t at the level of צדיקים but aren’t suffering in גיהנום See the כסף משנה in הלכות תשובה פּרק ג' הל' ה' who says that the status of being ashes under the feet of צדיקים is a זכות for the רשעים as the צדיקים will pray for them.

 

  1. The גמרא finishes by saying that the מינין , ואפּיקורסים...ושנתנו חיתיתם בארץ החיים will be burned in גיהנום The גמרא explains that ושנתנו חיתיתם בארץ החיים refers to someone who put too much fear amongst the masses. See the רמב"ן in שער הגמול who explains that this refers to a leader who made people so afraid of him that when they do מצוות, they are really just trying to serve the leader and not Hashem.

 

  1. Regarding whyמינין and  אפּיקורסיםburn forever, see the שו"ת בית הלוי דרוש י"ג as well as בית הלוי פּרשת וירא (this week’s פּרשה) who explain that punishment has two parts: תיקון החטא and עונש ונקמה. For sins that come from חמדה ותאוה, גיהנום can achieve תיקון וזיכוך הנפש. However, for sins that come from כפירה, גיהנום cannot fully cleanse them and the sin remains with the soul. Therefore, they continue to burn forever as an עונש for the חטא.

 

  1. The גמרא says that Hashem is מעביר ראשון ראשון. There is an important מחלוקת as to what this means. רש"י and the רא"ש in סימן ה' understand it to mean that if one has an exact 50/50 ratio of עבירות to מצוות, Hashem removes the first עבירה so that it can be tilted towards זכות. This is what is meant by ב"ה’s statement of מטה כלפּי חסד. See the רי"ף who argues and says it means that the first two עבירות that a person does in his life, Hashem is מוחל until a person dies. Upon death, if the person has more מצוות than עבירות, they are forgiven for those first two sins. If they have more עבירות than מצוות, the עבירות come back and are not forgiven. The רי"ף brings a פּשט from a גאון that the ריטב"א explains as follows: Hashem always forgives a person’s עבירות as long as there are more מצוות than עבירות. The wordsראשון ראשון  mean each one becomes theראשון  which is removed as long as the person dies with less than 50% עבירות. The ריטב"א asks how we could suggest that Hashem doesn’t care about a person’s מיעוט of עבירות? See the ר"ן who understands the גאון He says that the גאון meant exactly what the רי"ף said, except that the רי"ף didn’t count the first two עבירות in the חשבון of 50%, whereas the גאון did. See also the רמב"ם in הלכות תשובה פּרק ג' הל' ה' who is משמע like the ריטב"א ‘s version of the גאון.

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