Resources for Rosh Hashana daf 20

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The גמרא says that we are מאיים the witnesses not to testify even if they saw the new moon. רש"י explains this כפּשוטו. However, see the רמב"ם in קידוש החודש פּרק ג' הל' ט"ו who explains that we are talking about a case where ב"ד was already מעבר the month after no witnesses showed up on the 30th day. Days later, two witnesses who lived far away finally arrive and say they saw the new moon on the 30th In that case, ב"ד would have to publicly correct themselves and it would be a great זילותא דבי דינא (disgrace to ב"ד). Therefore, in those cases, we scare the witnesses and try to trip them up with tricky and confusing questions so they won’t be able to testify. If at the end, they still succeed in their testimony, ב"ד is forced to re- מקדש the month retroactively. If there is a need to be מעבר the month for other reasons, then we would be מעבר it anyway. See the מנחת חינוך מצוה ד' ס"ק א-ג who points out that with this הרמב"ם פּשט you can answer a great question on the גמרא. The גמרא earlier asked why do we need to allow עדים to be מחלל שבת to come testify about ניסן to fulfill the מצוה of קידוש ע"פּ הראיה, if ניסן could be מלא or חסר anyhow? Let them just come after שבת and we will make the next day (day 31) ראש חודש? The מנחת חינוך asks how can it be a מצוה of קידוש ע"פּ הראיה if the witnesses will say they saw the moon on day 30 and we will be מקדש day 31? However, like the רמב"ם, we can say that ב"ד would simply be מקדש day 30 retroactively.

 

  1. The גמרא says that in order to be מקדש the חודש, we need שיהא לילה ויום מן החדש. There is a large and critical מחלוקת ראשונים as to what that means, as well as the meaning of the next statement in the גמרא, that if the מולד was before חצות, we know the new moon was seen before שקיעה, and if the מולד was after חצות, we know it wasn’t seen before שקיעה. רש"י explains the first statement to mean that that if the old moon was seen on the night of the 30th, then you can’t be מקדש the חודש since you need the night and day to be part of the new month. The second statement of the גמרא is completely unrelated to the first, and just says that if the מולד falls out before חצות, then you will see the new moon before שקיעה since in Israel it takes six hours from the time of the מולד until you can see the new moon. See the בעל המאור here who has a totally different פּשט, which invents for us the concept of the international dateline. The בעל המאור explains that the מולד of the new month needs to have started just before the 30th, such that the entire night and day of the 30th are part of the new מולד. This is similar to the explanation of the רמב"ם and ר"ח in our גמרא. However, the בעל המאור adds the following: the place where the מולד begins before the 30th doesn’t need to be in Israel. As long as there is one place on planet Earth that had the מולד prior to the 30th, we can be מקדש the חודש. The בעל המאור explains that since the world is round, there must be a point on earth where we say the day begins. He says this point is 90 degrees (6 hours) east of ירושלים and ends 270 degrees (18 hours) west of ירושלים. Therefore, if the מולד in ירושלים was before חצות, then at the farthest point on Earth, the מולד will be 18 hours later which is before 6PM, meaning the moon will be visible there before שקיעה on the 30th. This is because it takes 24 hours from the time of the מולד until you can see the actual moon (unlike רש"י who says it takes only six hours.) Therefore, according to the בעל המאור, the two statements of the גמרא are very much related. See the חזון אי"ש in קונטרס י"ח שעות ס"ק ד who asserts that even though many ראשונים do not learn like the בעל המאור’s פּשט in our גמרא, they all agree to his יסוד.

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