Resources for Rosh Hashana daf 26

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The גמרא discusses the concept of אין עד נעשה דיין. There are several reasons given by the ראשונים as to why an עד cannot become a דיין. See תוספות inבבא קמא דף צ: ד"ה כגון who says an עד cannot become a דיין because it is an עדות שאי אתה יכול להזימה. Since the judge is also the witness, he can’t be מקבל עדות against himself. Another reason given by the רשב"ם בבא בתרא דף קי"ג (see תוספות ibid) is that we learn it from the פּסוק of ועמדו שני האנשים לפני הדיינים which implies that witnesses stand in front of the judges and are not the judges themselves. The ר"י gives a third reason that we learn it form the פּסוק of והיה ביום הנחילו את בניו.

It is important to note that the רשב"ם mentioned above qualifies his ruling and says that although we pasken that a witness to an event can still be a judge provided he himself doesn’t testify, this is only if he happened to see the event but didn’t intend to testify. If, however, he intended to testify, he cannot be a judge. תוספות there inבבא בתרא  says that רש"י agrees to this view as well in a תשובה.

  1. The משנה says that all שופרות are כשר except for the ones from a פּרה since they are called a קרן. The גמרא clarifies that although all שופרות are also called קרן, the פּרה is only called a קרן. See the ריטב"א who explains that there are many animals who have horns and they are not mentioned in the Torah at all. A horn from a יעל (ibex) is also כשר even though it isn’t called קרן nor שופר. He explains that if an animal is not mentioned, it is כשר. The only time a horn is disqualified is if it’s called קרן and not שופר. The ריטב"א also quotes the רמב"ן who says there are two parts to being a שופר כשר: the horn itself and the way the horn is called. The horn itself is not considered a שופר if it isn’t hollow (see the ר"ן on the רי"ף who says that the word שופר comes from שפופרת which is a hollow tube). Additionally, it must be called the proper term—it cannot be called קרן in the Torah unless it is also called שופר.

 

  1. The גמרא discusses the concept of אין קטיגור נעשה סניגור, meaning something that reminds Hashem of an עבירה should not be used as part of the עבודה. Conceptually, we seem to find many cases in חז"ל where we say the exact opposite. See the רא"מ at the beginning of פּרשת שמיני where רש"י brings the חז"ל that אהרן was supposed to bring an עגל as Hashem’s way of showing that he was forgiven for the חטא העגל. The מזרחי asks from our גמרא where we see that one should not bring aקרבן that reminds Hashem of an עבירה?! (A similar question could be asked about פּרה אדומה which was specifically from a cow since it was supposed to be a כפּרה for the חטא העגל.) Why don’t we say אין קטיגור נעשה סניגור? The מזרחי answers from our גמרא which clarifies that it does not apply to items brought outside the קדש הקדשים and therefore there was no issue with the  קרבן חטאת (or פּרה אדומה). As to the broader hashkafic question, see the גור אריה there and the ערוך לנר here who both say the question doesn’t even get off the ground. The only issue in our גמרא is when one is trying to do one עבודה and it happens to remind one of the חטא עגל. However, if the whole purpose of the עבודה is to be a כפּרה for the חטא עגהל, then it is permitted.

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