Resources for Rosh Hashana daf 22

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

1. The גמרא says that a father and son who saw the new moon, should go to ב"ד to be מעיד together even though they won’t be able to give a combined testimony. Rather, they might find another person there with whom they can be מצטרף. Many ראשונים ask that adding another person to their group won’t help at all since both the father and son saw the new moon together with כוונה להעיד, and we have a principle of נמצא אחד מהם קרוב או פּסול עידותן בטלה? The מאירי answers that since they never intended to testify together, they don’t פּסול each other. Nonetheless, he is unsure if this קולא in הלכות עדות would apply in capital cases or just in the case of קידוש החודש. See the שו"ת שואל ומשיב מהדורא רביעא סימן נ"א who says that קידוש החודש is different than most עידויות in that each person could have been in different places seeing what they saw. We cannot call that one עידות. Therefore, the fact that they both saw the new moon with intention to testify would not be a פּסול.

2. The גמרא says that people who lend with interest are להעיד פּסול on the new moon. The גמרא is clear that these people are פּסול דרבנן. רש"י explains that this is because one who lends with ריבית isn’t a thief per se. תוספות gives a different explanation and says that he isn’t פּסול מדאורייתא since people don’t realize it’s אסור. See the ריטב"א here who argues with both רש"י and תוספות ‘s explanations and says that even if the lender isn’t a thief, he is still עובר לאוין דאורייתא, and everyone knows ריבית is אסור. Therefore, the ריטב"א holds that we are talking about the לוה himself being פּסול for paying ריבית, and it is only דרבנן since people don’t realize that the לוה has done an איסור by paying ריבית. See the ביאור הגר"א in סימן ל"ד ס"ק ב חו"מ who explains that many ראשונים hold that only a לאו that has מלקות makes you פּסול לעדות, and ריבית is a לאו הניתק לעשה so there is no מלקות, and the פּסול is therefore only דרבנן.

3. The גמרא says that if ב"ד doesn’t recognize the עד, someone is sent to vouch for him as a kosher witness. תוספות adds that you can even be מחלל שבת to go vouch for someone. See the טורי אבן here who asks a bomb קשיא. We know that מן התורה, everyone has a חזקת כשרות. The only reason to have someone vouch for you is a תקנה דרבנן, and yet the person coming is going to be מחלל שבת מדאורייתא? How can חז"ל be מבטל a דין דאורייתא? While it is true that חז"ל made aתקנה to not use a שופר and לולב on שבת which are  מצוות דאורייתא, but that is only בשב ואל תעשה. Our case is בקום ועשה! He answers that since למעשה, ב"ד will not accept this person without someone to vouch for him and the month will not be נתקדש without it, it becomes part of the מצוה of במועדו. This is very similar to the ריטב"א here who says that anything necessary to make קידוש החודש happen is included in the דין דאורייתא which allows for חילול שבת. This includes דיני דרבנן (like here) and מכשירין like the sticks you can take with you to fend off robbers (which the ריטב"א pointed out there).

4. The גמרא says you can even be מחלל שבת for קידוש החודש in a case of ספק. See the מפרש on the רמב"ם הלכות קידוש החודש פּרק ג' הל' ה who asks why this is different than מילה which is not דוחה שבת מספק? See the לחם משנה there who answers that מילה is different in that it can be done the next day, whereas קידוש החודש would involve not getting the correct date at all. See also the תוספות יו"ט on the last משנה of the previous פּרק who adds that there is a difference between a מצוה which is on all of כלל ישראל to perform, as opposed to a מצוה which is only incumbent on a יחיד. See the באר יצחק אה"ע סימן א' ענף ב who says that this is the source for a מצוה רבה being דוחה other מצוות (like freeing your slave to make a מנין).

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