Resources for Taanis daf 14

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

1. The גמרא brings three seemingly conflicting ברייתות regarding on which of the three sets of fasts pregnant and nursing women should fast. רב אשי says to “choose the middle” as it “answers all the questions”. רש"י understands this to mean that pregnant and nursing women should fast on the middle group of fasts. His reasoning is the first group of fasts is not that critical since the drought isn’t so severe at that point. The last group of fasts is too difficult for them since it includes seven fasts and not just three. Alternatively, see the רמב"ם in הלכות תענית פּרק ג הלכה ה who paskens that pregnant and nursing women should fast the last seven fasts. This is in accordance with the middle ברייתא . See the ריטב"א who explains that the Rambam understood “choose the middle” to mean choose the middle ברייתא . The רב המגיד there explains that the רמב"ם must not have had the גירסא that concludes with “since it answers all the questions”. Rather, he understood it to be a מחלוקת between the ברייתות and that רב אשי said to choose the middle one. The רמב"ם also quotes the ירושלמי where it says that even when pregnant and nursing women don’t fast, they can’t eat with abandon either and must only eat כדי קיום הולד .

2. The גמרא says that according to all opinions we blow the שופר on fast days. See the ירושלמי פּרק בּ הלכה א where it says we specifically blow an animal’s horn to say “ חשבנו לפניך גועין כבהמה “. The ראשונים ask from the משנה on ו"כ דף ה"ר which says that on fast days, בחצוצרות היום מצות . It sounds like one must use חצוצרות , whereas our גמרא sounds like you should use a שופר ? The גמרא also says there בגבולין ,... מקום שיש חצוצרות אין שופר which רש"י explains when there is a מצוה to use חצוצרות , like on fast days, you cannot use a שופר . In fact, see the ם"רמב in ד"י' הל ' ד פּרק תענוית הלכות who paskens one must blow חצוצרות on fast days. See the א"ריטב who says that based on this, the custom in France was not to blow anything on fast days since they didn’t have חצוצרות . The ריטב"א himself disagrees with this and says that the only time we use חצוצרות is when the Jewish people are at war or in some way gathering together as one. However, when there is just a gathering of one city or state for a צרה , then you blow a שופר . See the רשב"א in ר"ה דף כ"ז who says the גמרא in ראש השנה didn’t mean that you had to blow חצוצרות (like רש"י said) but rather you could choose whichever one you wanted, provided you don’t use both. Therefore, we typically use a שופר since it is easier to obtain, and it also fits with the ירושלמי mentioned above. It seems from the ראשונים that they had the מנהג based on the גאונים to actually blow שופר on fast days. See the מגן אברהם ריש סימן תקע"ו who asks why we don’t blow the שופר nowadays when we are in an עת צרה . Even if there is no official תענית ציבור בבל , it is still a מצוה דאורייתא to blow the חצוצרות / שופר at an עת צרה . See the משנה ברורה there who says that the מצוה דאורייתא only applies in Israel, when the Jews control it, and the גזרה is on most of the Jewish people.

3. The גמרא says if there is a town that needs rain during a time where most people don’t need rain (such as the summer), they should say ותן טל ומטר in שומע תפילה . See the ריטב"א who asks from the גמרא in ע"ז דף ח that says if one wants to ask Hashem for פּרנסה he should add some words into the ברכה of ברך עלינו asking for פּרנסה . The ריטב"א asks why asking for rain should be different, since it is essentially asking for פּרנסה . He answers that rain is different since rain is something of a public need, and the general public does NOT want it at that time. Therefore, one can only ask for it in שומע תפילה where one can ask for private requests.

4. The גמרא says at the end of the פּרק that צדיקים get אורה and ישרים get שמחה . See רש"י who says that ישרים are greater than צדיקים . However, see the מהרש"א who quotes the רשב"א as saying צדיקים are greater than ישרים . We seem to see this מחלוקת in our davening. The מהרש"א points out that in שוכן עד we say ישרים before צדיקים , and the פּיוט seems to be in ascending order (in accordance with the רשב"א ), whereas the קרן אורה points out that in the repetition of the שמונה עשרה on ימים נוראים we say ובכן צדיקים and then ישרים which also seems to be in ascending order (like רש"י ).

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