Resources for Rosh Hashana daf 34

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The גמרא says that רבי אבהו was מתקן in קיסרי that we should blowתשר"ת, תש"ת, ותר"ת. The גמרא says that he was מסופּק if the תרועה of the תורה was גנוחי גנח or ילולי יליל. There is a lot of discussion about this one line in the ראשונים and also later פּוסקים. See the ר"ן, בעל המאור, והרא"ש and ריטב"א (the ריטב"א is most explicit) who all bring רב האי גאון who asks how could רבי אבהו have been מסופּק about what the correct sound was? What was done the prior year before his תקנה? Surely there was a מסורה dating back to משה רבינו as this is a mitzva done publicly each year! (This is like the question about what was inside ר"ת’s tefillin at his bar mitzva, however, this is even stronger since שופר is heard by all.) He answers with an important יסוד: all agree that you are יוצא with both types of תרועות. Previous generations blew what they thought sounded nicest and since the המון עם might have thought they wouldn’t be יוצא the תרועה דאורייתא, רבי אבהו instituted that everyone blow all the varying types of קולות. See the שו"ת רמ"ע מפּאנו סימן ק"ז who says that the זוהר says that גנוחי גנח and ילולי יליל are both However, see the רמב"ם הלכות שופר פּרק ג' הל' ב who clearly holds it is a real ספק and only one of the two is correct מדאורייתא. The ריטב"א explains according to the רמב"ם, that the sound of a broken person’s cry changed over the years and therefore the definition of the תורה’s requirement for a תרועה changed too.

 

  1. The גמרא says that רבי אבהו could not have meant to only blow תשר"ת because then the incorrect תרועה would be מפסיק between the two תקיעות. See theר"ן who asks why this would be an issue in accordance with שמע תשע תקיעות בתשע שעות ביום יצא?! Certainly, if one wasn’t שוהה כדי גמור כולה he is יוצא! He brings the רמב"ן who says that while בדיעבד you can be מפסיק with other types interruptions, you can’t be מפסיק with a קול שופר since we need a תקיעה לפניו ולאחריו. This distinction is brought down להלכה by the שו''ע.

 

The רמב"ן also says that the שברים תרועה must be blown with one breath (נשימה אחת) as they are both one מצוה. The ר"ת in a תשובה (brought in the sameר"ן  above) famously disagrees and holds you should breath between the שברים and תרועה as it is not normal for someone to cry in those two different ways with only one breath.

 

  1. The גמרא says at the end of דף ל"ג that the שיעור of a תקיעה is the same as a תרועה, and a תרועה is itself a מחלוקת if it’s גנוחי גנח or ילולי יליל. As such, the ר"ן quotes the גאונים who hold that the בעל תוקע must fit the תקיעה to the length of the תרועה or שברים or שברים- תרועה since the תקיעה must be the size of the “תרועה”. However, see the ראב"ד (also brought by theר"ן ) who says that once we are forced to say that there is a מחלוקת in our משנה about what the תרועה is, we don’t need to rely on the דוחק answer the גמרא used earlier to explain that when the משנה said תקיעה כשלש תרועות it actually meant תקיעה אחת כתרועה אחת. Rather, we can say that the משנה really meant that a תקיעה is the size of three תרועות and a תרועה is three יבבות (each). The תנא דברייתא would hold a “תרועה” is the same length as a תקיעה and contains three שברים, each of which is the length of three יבבות. According to this, the שיעור of a תקיעה is always the same according to both opinions.

 

Our מנהג is to blow תשר"ת, then תש"ת, and then תר"ת. One would think that we would start with what our משנה suggests (תר"ת) followed by the ברייתא (תש"ת ), followed by the אמורא (תשר"ת). See the רמב"ן בדרשות ר"ה who explains that we do the exact opposite since it would disrespectful to do something additional after we did what the משנה said to do. It would appear like we aren’t able to rely on the משנה and we need the ברייתא or אמורא. *******************************

Click here to download daf summary by Rabbi Chaim Smulowitz (in PDF)