Resources for Rosh Hashana daf 29

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The משנה says that a חרש, שוטה, וקטן cannot be מוציא others with תקיעת שופר since they are not מחויב בדבר. See the טורי אבן who asks about a more fundamental issue with them being מוציא others — since חרש, שוטה, וקטן have no דעת, if you hold מצוות צריכות כוונה, they can’t have כוונת משמיע to be מוציא This would apply to all מצוות! He answers with a stunning חידוש that the משנה must be talking about a חרש המדבר ואינו שומע who is really מחויב in all מצוות like anyone else. He can’t be מוציא others since he can’t hear the קול שופר himself, so he can’t be considered מחויב in a מצוה that he physically can’t do. (As far as שוטה וקטן, they are just there אגב the חרש). This opinion is also brought by the ב"י סימן תקפּ"ט in the name of the כל בו. See the שו"ת רע"א מהדו"ק סימן ז' בסוף who also says that one who can’t physically do the מצוה of שופר is considered אינו מחויב בדבר, but also adds an important יסוד: he explains that he can’t be מוציא others because there is no ערבות on a given מצוה if you aren’t מחויב in that particular מצוה. See the קובץ הערות אות תמ"ח who citesתוספות יבמות דף מ"ד who says that a חרש is considered “עולה לחליצה” since his mouth is there—it just doesn’t work. Similarly, a חרש should be considered fully מחויב בדבר even though he can’t hear, since not being able to physically do a מצוה would not make you exempt from that מצוה. A חרש can’t be מוציא others because he isn’t יוצא himself when he blows since he can’t hear. As such, his קול שופר is not considered a קול שופר של מצוה.

 

  1. The גמרא says that you can say a ברכה שאינה צריכה (such as המוציא for your children even though you aren’t eating) for חינוך See the ריטב"א here who proves from this that the איסור of ברכה שאינה צריכה must be דרבנן, since we would never violate a דאורייתא to do the מצוה דרבנן of חינוך. However, see the מגן אברהם סימן רט"ו ס"ק ו who says that the רמב"ם’s שיטה is that it is דאורייתא. See the ערוך לנר who answers for the רמב"ם that he can make the ברכה as part of the מצות חינוך since we always make ברכות on מצוות דרבנן.

 

  1. The משנה says that once the בית המקדש was destroyed, there was a תקנה to blow שופר even when ראש השנה fell out on שבת in any place where ב"ד was (according to the תנא קמא). See the רי"ף who brings this in his הלכות which means he holds it is נוגע בזמן הזה. See the ריטב"א who says that the רי"ף’s תלמידים were מעיד that the רי"ף was נוהג to blow שופר on ראש השנה that fell out on שבת in his ב"ד. The ריטב"א himself says that he never heard of anyone else doing that and he learns the תנא קמא as referring to the סנהדרין הגדולה.

 

  1. The גמרא says that when סוכות,ראש השנה, or פּורים falls out on שבת, חז"ל made a גזירה that one could not blow שופר or take the לולב or read the מגילה on that day. Many ראשונים ask why this גזירה does not apply to doing a מילה on שבת? Why didn’t חז"ל prohibit מילה on שבת lest you come to show the knife to a בקי? See the ר"ן here who says that מילה differs from the other מצוות such as שופר and לולב in that everyone is busy with the latter and therefore no one is expected to remind his friend not to carry. This is not so regarding מילה as it is a private מצוה and we can expect others to remind you to not carry on שבת. See the ריטב"א here who says that the only reason חז"ל prohibited these מצוות is because it is anyway a ספיקא דיומא and people outside the בית המקדש weren’t always sure if today was the יו''ט or not. Since מילה has no ספיקא דיומא, חז"ל never prohibited it. See the ט"ז סימן תקפּ"ח who answers his famous יסוד that the Torah here explicitly allows for מילה on שבת with the דרשה of “ביום השמיני” which comes to include שבת. The ט"ז says that anytime there is an explicit פּסוק allowing something, חז"ל cannot make a גזירה to forbid it.

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