Laws of Sanctification of the New Month, Chapter 5 (Auto Translated)

Laws of Sanctifying the New Moon Chapter 5 — The Court and Calculation: Two Parts of Sanctifying the New Moon

Introduction: Two Parts of Sanctifying the New Moon

Speaker 1: Good morning, dear Jews. Good morning. Yes. We’re going to learn Laws of Sanctifying the New Moon Chapter 5, the fifth chapter of Laws of Sanctifying the New Moon. And in this chapter we’re going to discover a very important thing, that there are two parts to the matter of sanctifying the new moon. That is, it’s not exactly as I’m saying, but anyway. There are two parts to the matter of sanctifying the new moon.

One is the sighting (re’iyah), which we’ve basically learned until now, all the laws of how the court… what does it mean? Sanctifies the month according to the witnesses who saw.

The second thing is the calculation (cheshbon). Now, it’s true that the calculation the court also needs to know in order to know if witnesses will come, when to expect them, when to sit and wait, and also to know to contradict the witnesses if they say things that can’t be.

But besides that there’s another kind of calculation, where the calculation tells us not whether we’ll see. There’s the calculation that tells us in general when Rosh Chodesh is. And whoever looks at today’s calendar will see that there’s nothing written about the moon, that is, it’s not built on when the moon was seen, it’s not even built on when the moon can be seen, we’ll see this soon. It’s built on a calculation.

Both the calendar of sanctifying the new moon and the calendar of intercalating the year, there’s a certain fixed calculation, it’s stable, it’s the same every time, it repeats with a cycle, and through this we know when Rosh Chodesh is and when the year is. Both regarding sanctifying the new moon we don’t look at the moon, and regarding intercalating the year we don’t look at all the things we learned in the previous chapter that we need to look at, rather we go with a uniform calculation, each time according to a calculation.

This is one thing that everyone knows, can see that today’s calendar is different from what we’ve learned until now. The second thing is different…

Discussion: Difference Between Tekufah and Crops Regarding Intercalating the Year

Speaker 2: Wait a minute, the calculation you mentioned about intercalation, you only mean regarding the crops. Regarding the tekufah it was indeed solved, right?

Speaker 1: It’s built on that, but it’s not solved. It works with the tekufah. It should have been, it’s actually another question, but it’s not because… It’s not that every year we check if the tekufah comes out.

Speaker 2: Right, right, true. But I’m saying, automatically it also works on the tekufah. Which is not so regarding the crops which has its own cycle, its own…

Speaker 1: Yes, we don’t look. Therefore we don’t look.

The Difference Between the Two Types of Calculation

Also the month is solved regarding certain things. And the month is a very big change, because the matter of witnesses is that we know that when the moon needs to be renewed, it gets renewed. The question is whether we on earth see it.

The calendar does something like basically that I look into space, in space there’s now a new moon. It’s a kind of… I’m not sure there’s such a difference, perhaps one needs to think about it. Because he’ll also see the calendar. Both things are connected to the same reality.

In any case, what does it mean? If the calendar says there’s a new moon, there’s a new moon. And that we on earth don’t see it is about clouds. I don’t mean clouds, it’s not true. That it’s too small to see? Not necessarily correct either.

In other words, we make certain averages. When we call out for example the molad, it’s not necessarily that we could have even theoretically seen it. And the same thing when we don’t make a month, it’s not only about clouds. It can sometimes be that we can’t see it at all, even if there aren’t any clouds at all.

What does this mean? The Rambam is going to say that the moon doesn’t work exactly with the calculation. No, the calculation is what we make on it, because you remember that we need to make approximately every second month full and deficient. The moon doesn’t follow this order. That is, it’s approximately half, but it doesn’t necessarily follow the calculation. There are other differences why the moon isn’t the same every month.

So no, the moon doesn’t travel on a precise order. That is, it travels on a precise order, but not precisely with days of the week, with thirty days.

Our calendar also has compromises like this. Yes, yes. It’s also approximately… It comes out approximately that it doesn’t go out of a certain limit, but it’s not that always when it says in the calendar that it’s Rosh Chodesh one could already see the moon, sometimes one couldn’t see. We’ll see about this in the next chapters.

The Second Thing That’s Different: Two Days of Yom Tov

So, that’s one thing that’s different today. The second thing that’s different today is… that everyone who lives outside the Land of Israel knows that he makes two days of Yom Tov. And we’ve learned the reason why one makes sanctification of the new moon: “You shall proclaim them in their appointed time (tikra’u otam bemo’adam),” to say when Yom Tov is. And various investigations arise how precisely one needs to make two days of Yom Tov, why, how this works.

So, that’s another thing that’s different today and in the past. The two things are connected one with the other, obviously. One needs to see precisely how. Because seemingly, if one makes a calculation, one already knows when Yom Tov is. One needs to know why one makes two days of Yom Tov at all. These are two things that the Rambam explains in this chapter.

Preview: The Two Great Innovations of the Rambam

Now, in order for the Rambam to explain it, he comes up with two great bombshell innovations that no other sage knew about them, or according to the Ramban and others who argue with this Rambam didn’t know about the way the Rambam lays it down. But we’re going to learn according to the way the Rambam lays it down.

The first great innovation is, the Rambam says there’s a halachah l’Moshe miSinai, this is stated in the first two sections, that when there’s a Sanhedrin in the Land of Israel one should look at the moon and at the year, but when there isn’t one should look at the calculation. So says the Rambam.

The second great innovation the Rambam says at the end of the chapter, that this matter of looking at the calculation still doesn’t mean that our calculation determines the moon at all. It means that the Jews in the Land of Israel, who are somehow the court, they go according to the calculation, and they sanctify each month. About this we have our months.

There are two great innovations of the Rambam, which not everyone agrees with.

The second innovation brings out that it’s always the court, only the court itself has moved from determining according to sighting to determining according to calculation. That is, essentially from determining on both basically. One can say from determining on calculation plus sighting to determining only on calculation. But it’s still the court that needs to be the word of sanctification.

Discussion: Difference Between the Two Types of Calculation

Speaker 2: Because you say calculation plus sighting, the calculation that they used to calculate when they would sanctify according to sighting, isn’t the same calculation that we calculate. Our calculation is another compromise, based on approximation. And our word calculation.

Speaker 1: Yes. It still needs to come. That is, what we learned that the court needs to be expert in astronomy in order to know when the moon comes, that means the true precise calculation. Not on one calculation are we sanctifying the month.

We sanctify the month, that is, today becomes today the court in the Land of Israel, which isn’t any established body, sanctifies the month according to an approximate calculation that comes out that it should more or less match, but not according to the calculation that tells us when the moon will truly be.

Then it was like they calculated the current seasons, stars, and they knew approximately when the moon would actually come out. And today it’s the calculation of what’s the best, the closest to reality, with the best compromise that there shouldn’t happen any… the matter of remaining days and the like. Very good.

Law 1: Sanctifying the New Moon and Intercalating the Year Only Through the Sanhedrin

The Rambam says, everything we said about fixing Rosh Chodesh according to sighting, fixing Rosh Chodesh according to witnesses who saw. And the second thing that was learned in the previous chapter, that intercalating the year because of the time or because of necessity, that one intercalates the year based on the two things: time, meaning that it should come out in the season that Rosh Chodesh Aviv should come out in the season of Nisan, or because of necessity, about all those things he calculated, the crops and so on, the Rambam says, we only do this through the Sanhedrin in the Land of Israel. Only the Sanhedrin in the Land of Israel does this.

What is Sanhedrin? A court of seventy-one. Not just a court of seventy-one, but the court of seventy-one. The court, yes, there’s the court in the Land of Israel, the Great Court.

Or, or a court of ordained ones in the Land of Israel, or the next level is when it’s no longer themselves a Sanhedrin, but a court that has ordination in the Land of Israel, that has permission from the Sanhedrin, that took from the Sanhedrin permission. Meaning the Sanhedrin still exists. The Sanhedrin can give permission to another court to do sighting and intercalating the year, I mean, fixing Rosh Chodesh and intercalating the year.

The Source: “This Month Shall Be to You”

How do we know these two things? The Rambam says, from where do we know this? For so it was said to Moshe and Aharon, the Almighty speaks to Moshe and Aharon, and He tells them, “This month shall be to you the beginning of months (hachodesh hazeh lachem rosh chadashim)”, as the Rambam already said this right at the beginning of Laws of Rosh Chodesh. And here He speaks to them, and He says “to you (lachem),” it’s given over into your hands.

And who fills the place of Moshe and Aharon? Who takes over when Moshe and Aharon are no longer here? The Rambam says, from the oral tradition they learned person from person from Moshe Rabbeinu, they received a halachah l’Moshe miSinai from Moshe Rabbeinu, that this is the explanation of the matter: this testimony shall be given over to you. The matter of “this month to you,” what’s the innovation? Testimony. It deals with testimony. Testimony of the month. You receive testimony? Okay. This testimony shall be given over to you and to all who stand in their place, and whoever takes over Moshe Rabbeinu in their place.

Interestingly, in their place means in the Land of Israel, and yet Moshe and Aharon weren’t in the Land of Israel. He means to say as the leaders of the Jewish people. Simply in their place means in the position, filling the position. Filling their position.

Who Fills the Place of Moshe Rabbeinu?

And who filled the place of Moshe Rabbeinu? Moshe Rabbeinu had with him, as it were a Sanhedrin, a court, and Aharon was second in rank. So when He speaks to Moshe and Aharon, He’s technically speaking to the Sanhedrin, to the leaders, or perhaps one will say to the highest authority among Jews.

He speaks to Moshe and Aharon, He speaks to the highest authority, and afterwards He says, and whoever is afterwards the authority, which is always the Sanhedrin. Moshe Rabbeinu appointed a Sanhedrin, you saw in the chapter of Laws of Sanhedrin, and he had from that day seventy-one elders, and from that day the names were taken out.

Innovation: Sanctifying the New Moon Requires Specifically the Sanhedrin

And here stands an innovation that wasn’t stated earlier. That is, in Chapter 1 the Rambam already said that this testimony is given over to you, but what he says here is another thing, that it means given over to the Great Court. The Rambam held that sanctifying the new moon is not enough, that is, in order to sanctify according to sighting it’s not enough to have a court. They learned earlier all kinds of laws that there’s a court, there’s ordination, there’s permission from the Land of Israel, all kinds of things, it’s still not enough. That is, it’s enough to make sanctification of the new moon in a general way, but in order to make it permissible, it needs to be the Sanhedrin. This is the Rambam’s innovation.

And the Rambam says that this also lies in the teaching from “to you (lachem),” because Moshe and Aharon weren’t simply a court of two fine Jews, they were the Sanhedrin, and they, or whoever inherits Moshe as head of the court, not simply as a court.

The Rambam significantly understood that “this month shall be to you the beginning of months”, we’re not only speaking about one year, or only about the years as long as the two people live. It’s a commandment for generations, a mitzvah. It must be that whoever can be in the place of Moshe and Aharon.

The Difference Between Chapter 1 and Chapter 5

It’s very interesting, because in Chapter 1 it wouldn’t have come out this way, and in Chapter 1 the Rambam would have derived that it needs to be in the Land of Israel he derived from “For from Zion shall go forth Torah and the word of Hashem from Jerusalem (ki miTziyon tetze Torah udvar Hashem miYerushalayim)”. And sometimes he said that if someone is outside the Land and he’s the greatest, he can also continue. He agrees here, but that’s not the topic here.

We’re not speaking now about the question of Land of Israel versus outside the Land, it’s now about the question whether you’re the best. Great or just a court. There’s a thing called the Great Court. There it was implied that if there’s a great person outside the Land, he’s the greatest, and he received permission from the Great Court. Ah, the word is, does it mean like the Great Court does it with permission, does it mean like actually the Great Court in Jerusalem does it. However you call it, in order to sanctify according to sighting, there must be a Great Court. This wasn’t stated at all in Chapter 1, it’s stated for the first time here.

The Matter of Authority

It’s also interesting, it seems it’s not simply a law that the Sanhedrin must do it, rather it seems it’s a matter of authority, it’s a matter of authority, that they remain the greatest power, therefore with permission it will help, because if it was truly a mitzvah on Moshe and Aharon, or the Sanhedrin, why should permission help?

It could be, but the thing that permission is needed for here is only to sanctify according to sighting, because in practice later the court indeed continues to sanctify, but only according to calculation, not according to sighting. So what you say authority is only in order to be able to do according to what one sees. According to calculation one still needs a court, but not the level of court called Sanhedrin. This is the opinion of the Rambam.

You’re right, that you noticed that the Rambam laid it down in a way that there’s no contradiction.

The Ramban’s Objection to the Rambam

But you’re right, and the Ramban noted that this is also, we say here two innovations of the Rambam, and we say here a third innovation, the Rambam is connected with what the Rambam holds that sanctifying the new moon according to sighting requires a Sanhedrin, a Great Court, he doesn’t have a proper source for it actually.

That is, also that Chapter 1 one doesn’t need… Chapter 1, there needs to be a Sanhedrin. He doesn’t know about Chapter 1, there doesn’t need to be any Chapter 1, there need to be three from the Sanhedrin. The Ramban also disagrees with this.

The Ramban says he doesn’t know where the Ramban found that one needs to have a Great Court. The Ramban says it’s a halachah l’Moshe with a leader, but a halachah l’Moshe with a leader usually isn’t stated in the Gemara, not simply halachah l’Moshe with a leader, which the Ramban directly derived from Moshe Rabbeinu. In the Gemara it indeed says, this testimony is given over to you. But the Gemara doesn’t say it’s a halachah l’Moshe with a leader, and that it’s from generation to generation.

It’s not a problem. This is the old Ramban about all laws that are from the Torah that they’re halachah l’Moshe with a leader. This isn’t special here.

Translation

According to the Rambam, what the Ramban doesn’t have a proper proof for, is from the fact that one needs a Sanhedrin. That is, that one needs semuchim (ordained judges), that all the laws that were stated about Eretz Yisrael or Rosh Yisrael (the head of Israel), the Ramban concedes this, one indeed learns this from all places. Whatever, one discusses what the source says. But what the Ramban says that one needs a Beit Din HaGadol (Great Court), and if there isn’t a Beit Din HaGadol, one cannot be mekadesh (sanctify) based on sighting, this is what the Ramban disputes, and he brings that one sees apparently clearly, as you said, one sees various places, it doesn’t appear that this was the Beit Din HaGadol, this was a Beit Din. With semichah (ordination).

The Gemara implies that it depends on semichah, not that it depends on the Beit Din HaGadol.

The Rambam’s Understanding of Semichah

But this is not the Rambam’s opinion. It appears that the Rambam held that semichah simply means that one does it with permission, in place of, in the name of the Beit Din HaGadol. Does it mean like the Beit Din HaGadol does it? It’s not true.

It’s a fundamental question what semichah means. Does semichah simply mean they are sufficiently good judges, or does semichah mean that one acts in their place? There is such a thing as semichah which doesn’t mean this. Semichah doesn’t mean permission. Permission from the Beit Din is an external thing. Everyone agrees, it’s not the same thing.

There is such a thing called semichah, which means he receives, he is authorized to… semichah in general, that he is a good judge, but he doesn’t stand with permission on this specific matter. Exactly, it’s not the same thing. So one admits that there can be someone who has semichah at a time when there is no Sanhedrin, it’s not dependent one on the other.

Halachah 2 – When There Is No Sanhedrin: Sanctification According to Calculation

He says, the Rambam, this is what we learned, but… this we also learned in Halachah 2, that we’re going to say explicitly in Halachah 2, but, yes?

Yes. “But at a time when there is no Sanhedrin in Eretz Yisrael,” when there doesn’t exist a Sanhedrin in Eretz Yisrael, then one cannot do it in their name either, because they aren’t there with their permission. And it doesn’t help that they once gave permission, it appears also not. So “we don’t establish months and we don’t intercalate years.” One cannot establish months and intercalate years based on sighting or on going to assess the reality, but there is a new thing, “with this calculation that we calculate today.”

The only way how one can still do what remains to make new months and intercalation of years is through calculation. Not that this remained, it’s a new thing, with the calculation one never used to do. This has taken over the old law of establishing and intercalation. Calculation. “And this thing,” calculation is like the new Sanhedrin.

That which everyone can see because it’s calculation, because it’s very clear. It’s not the new Sanhedrin.

No, it’s the way how the establishment is done today in sanctifying the month.

Yes, says the Rambam, “and this thing is a halachah l’Moshe miSinai.” He says again this thing is a halachah (law from Moses at Sinai). He makes clear that both sides of the halachah are from Sinai, not that the halachah from Sinai says that there’s a Sanhedrin, when not, it’s canceled, one finds a solution. No, the Almighty tells Moshe Rabbeinu what? “That at a time when there is a Sanhedrin, they establish according to this calculation that we calculate today.” There is, he tells us again, “we calculate today” is something emphasized here.

“And we don’t concern ourselves with sighting,” we no longer look at sighting, “but sometimes the day that they establish with this calculation is the day of sighting,” many times it comes out that the day that comes out according to the calculation is indeed the day when one would have been able to see the moon, “or before it by a day or after it by a day,” we only go according to the calculation.

“And this,” says the Rambam, “that it should be after the sighting,” it can sometimes be a day from the sighting, it can be a day before it. That is, we know clearly, one cannot see the moon today. Anyway, we make Rosh Chodesh, it can be a day after it, and so on. “And this that it should be after the sighting by a day,” that it should be after the sighting is more a rare thing, “is a wonder,” and this one sees many times “in lands that are west of Eretz Yisrael.” That is, it only happens in the lands that are west of Eretz Yisrael.

That is, apparently in Eretz Yisrael itself, one should see the calculation later. But there is a whole day that it would have already been yesterday Rosh Chodesh. I already saw yesterday the moon. And today is first Rosh Chodesh. Exactly. And in order to understand this, I think, one needs to look at other planets.

The Rambam hasn’t yet calculated the calculations, so I think we’ll wait.

What the Halachah L’Moshe MiSinai Gave Us

But the Rambam doesn’t tell us that the halachah l’Moshe miSinai gave us the calculation. The halachah l’Moshe miSinai gave us that in place of sighting there can be calculation, right? What the calculation is, comes from our astronomers, as the Rambam said, through the way we show our astronomers. I’m going to tell you the third time and the fourth time. The calculation is much more, not the calculation, but our astronomers.

No, excuse me. It’s a calculation, of course. But astronomers, mathematicians. It’s not the astronomer either. Again, it’s the ba’al haluach (calendar maker) who makes our calculation. That is, it’s a calculation with which one can more easily make a calendar. It’s not a calculation to know when the moon will come.

As the Ramban says, sometimes the moon comes a day before, and a day after. It’s true in a way, it doesn’t have to be accurate.

The Ramban’s Question on the Rambam Regarding Calculation

The Ramban indeed wondered, one of the Ramban’s questions in the Hasagot (critiques) on Sefer HaMitzvot, there the Ramban is at length about this, how does it stand with the Rambam? How did the Ramban take that there is a calculation as halachah l’Moshe miSinai? It’s clear that the Ramban truly understood from the Rambam. I think that the entire calculation is halachah l’Moshe miSinai.

That is, how? When does one make Rosh Chodesh? According to what stands in the calculation, the calendar. So the Rambam… there doesn’t stand science before the Rambam, the calculation. The calculation stands somewhere, from where did the Rambam take it, not figured out the science. But it’s certain that the Rambam held that the calculation is halachah l’Moshe miSinai.

Three Opinions Regarding the Calculation

But here, one can say thus, I think if I’m correct, there are three opinions regarding the calculation. In other words, the calculation is, let’s make it very clear, the calculation, when they say now, calculation means the rules. The rules that say when should be Rosh Chodesh or when should be the intercalation of Rosh Hashanah, not the calculation that tells us what will be.

Apparently, the Rambam understood, there are three opinions about this.

Opinion 1: Rav Saadia Gaon

There was the opinion of Rav Saadia Gaon, it’s known whoever knows the history and politics, there was a whole dispute between Rav Saadia Gaon and the Rosh Beit Din of Eretz Yisrael, which day should be Rosh Hashanah. Rav Saadia Gaon argued in that dispute that truly we always did according to the calculation, that even when they sanctified according to sighting, but nevertheless, somehow, went with the calculation that we do. This is Rav Saadia Gaon’s opinion.

The Rambam is terribly angry at this. The Rambam says that Rav Saadia Gaon himself didn’t believe in what he says, he only said it as a response to the heretics, it can’t be.

Rav Saadia holds that they did calculation, and afterwards there was a matter, an official thing of taking testimony.

Yes, the sanctification of the month could have gone against this, I don’t know exactly. He said that… understand why? Because there’s a problem. Today the rabbis have been standing for thousands of years, in any case, he makes a calendar according to a calendar, according to a calculation. The calendar means the same thing, the calendar means like a chart.

Come the Karaites, for example, and they say to Rav Saadia Gaon, Rav Saadia Gaon, how did you take this new strange thing? Rosh Chodesh is the wrong day. The Torah says “hachodesh hazeh lachem” (this month is for you), the Torah says the month passes and so on. How did they take this?

So Rav Saadia Gaon did what… the Geonim used to do in such cases, and say, you are liars, you forgot, Moshe Rabbeinu said to do it this way. Ah, you stand in the Gemara with proof? No, it doesn’t mean, it was truly according to calculation. This is Rav Saadia Gaon’s interpretation, the Rambam is against it.

Opinion 2: The Rambam

And the second interpretation is the Rambam’s interpretation, that what? That there are, truly the Rambam holds that there are two types of calculation,

Sanctifying the Month According to Calculation: Opinions of the Rishonim and When the Calculation Began

The Rambam’s Opinion: The Calculation is Halachah L’Moshe MiSinai

So what we do today according to calculation, is very close to Rav Saadia Gaon. It’s also halachah l’Moshe miSinai, what we do everything according to calculation, is very close to Rav Saadia Gaon. It’s one hundred percent halachah l’Moshe miSinai, it’s not a new thing, not a rabbinic enactment, it’s nothing, it’s from the Torah that the Beit Din should do it, right, as we do.

But it’s not at all the interpretation that this was always done. It’s not, as long as there was a Sanhedrin, our calculation wasn’t used at all. So practically our calculation is only relevant from the time when there is no Sanhedrin. But theoretically, whoever has learned Hilchot Kiddush HaChodesh knows that Moshe Rabbeinu also learned the calculation, because it says “halachah l’Moshe miSinai.” So the Rambam learned.

I see that the commentators are confused about this, the Rambam means literally that the calculation was… apparently yes, so I think. But if this is the word, why does the calculation of the righteous come in when it’s further? Why isn’t the calculation the calculation? Wait, wait, wait, let’s finish just the third opinion.

The Ramban’s Opinion: Hillel HaZaken Sanctified All Months in Advance

Then there is a third opinion. What is the opinion of the Ramban? If I remember, it’s the opinion of others… he brings such sources for this, if I remember, which is a completely different opinion.

He says that the last Beit Din, that is, it depends on the whole inquiry whether one needs a Beit Din at all, whether it’s a Sanhedrin and so on. And the Ramban learned, and like others, that certainly, the halachah l’Moshe miSinai is that a Beit Din must make the months, and the Beit Din must have semichah. It doesn’t need a Sanhedrin, but there must be a Beit Din of semuchim that makes the sanctification of the month. There’s no other way.

Not true what the Rambam says that there’s a halachah l’Moshe miSinai that one can go according to calculation, certainly not true what Rav Saadia Gaon says that one always went with calculation. No, the halachah l’Moshe miSinai says that one must make the sanctification of the month according to sighting.

So, if so, how do we make the sanctification of the month not according to sighting, but according to calculation? They said, I mean the Ramban and others, that it’s a new thing, that Hillel HaZaken, whoever was there, saw that semichah is being nullified and one won’t be able to make the sanctification of the month, “he arose and sanctified all the months from then until the end of all generations,” according to his calculation.

That is, the calculation that we do is like a revelation of a matter that the Beit Din a thousand years ago sanctified the month. It also stands as a new innovation that one can sanctify the month in advance, for many years in advance, but so learned the other righteous ones. And consequently, so one usually takes out by us in cheder, for some reason, the opinion, that our calendar is essentially the month sanctified by Hillel. He made the calendar, and others say he also sanctified all months according to the calculation that he held it would be.

So, how could he sanctify the months when the moon won’t be there? They already learned, even intentionally, the Beit Din can do what they want. So, not only can they make… they could have done it for the future. Yes. So, this is a third opinion.

Discussion: The Rambam’s Opinion Against the Ramban

Speaker 2: So, the Rambam says similarly to this opinion?

Speaker 1: No, no. The Rambam says explicitly not this opinion. No, no. The Rambam says, they said.

The third opinion is very difficult, because even if there’s a Sanhedrin then, there’s no Sanhedrin today. So… the opinion… we’re going after a Sanhedrin that once was. This itself is an innovation that… yes. It’s not simple that there must be an actual Sanhedrin, but it’s enough that one follows a certain Sanhedrin. Right?

Speaker 2: Not Sanhedrin, a Beit Din of semuchim. One doesn’t need a Sanhedrin.

Speaker 1: No, Beit Din of semuchim. Because there wasn’t a Sanhedrin in those times ever, in the times of Hillel.

Sides in the Dispute

This stands as a bit more honest, it’s more, it fits better with the reality, that one used to go in the time of the Mishnah still according to knowledge, and they didn’t know at all about the calculation. According to the Rambam, one had to know that there was a calculation in secret, one learned it, of course as a general halachah from Moses at Sinai, but one didn’t know, that fits better.

And on the other hand, it’s a great, it says an innovation in halachah that one can do such a thing, or you can say it’s indeed forced. The Rambam admits that it’s not ideal when Mashiach will come. We’ll go back. When one speaks of making a Sanhedrin again. Perhaps one needs… this is the same thing as Mashiach. Will one make sighting again?

Digression: The Difficulty of Renewing the Sanhedrin

It’s almost as difficult as Mashiach. It’s so difficult. That Jews should get along and accept one as Sanhedrin is as difficult as the coming of Mashiach. Yes. But it’s not difficult. Both require a change, a fundamental change.

Speaker 2: No, one simply needs to do it, it’s not a big thing.

Speaker 1: But they already tried once, and it didn’t succeed. This is a detail of the exile. One wouldn’t have been able to have a Sanhedrin if not that the Maharal of Prague decided to fight with the Maharibal. That is, baseless hatred.

So, why do I say this? I don’t know that this would have lasted for a year with a Wednesday. Every generation was… it’s certainly not good. It would have certainly been… who should be in the Sanhedrin? No problem, everyone should be in the Sanhedrin. We go until this day with the Shulchan Aruch that was written in those times. It’s not so far. Anyway, they still… they spoke about sanctifying the month, but it wasn’t their main reason.

Halachah 5: And From When Did All Israel Begin to Calculate with This Calculation

When Did They Begin with the Calculation?

Speaker 2: In any case, let’s go back to… the Rambam held that as long as there was still in Eretz Yisrael there was still a Sanhedrin, must be, yes?

Speaker 1: Not clear. The Rambam will say. He’ll say clearly. “And from when,” says the Rambam… “And from when did they begin,” yes?

Speaker 2: Yes. From when?

Speaker 1: Says the Rambam, “And from when did all Israel begin to calculate with this calculation?” When did they begin with this thing of making the months according to the calculation? Says the Rambam, this is “from the end of the Sages of the Talmud, at the time when Eretz Yisrael was destroyed and no established Beit Din remained there.”

That is, not at the destruction of the Beit HaMikdash, but years later, when the Jews were already oppressed from Eretz Yisrael, no established Beit Din remained.

Beit Din Kavua Versus Sanhedrin

So here he gives an exchange of the word “Sanhedrin” to “Beit Din Kavua” (established court). It sounds like perhaps a Beit Din Kavua still continued and they still had some law of Sanhedrin. I think that Beit Din Kavua means a Sanhedrin. It was no longer in the Lishkat HaGazit and everything, you know? But there was still a Sanhedrin. It must be the Sanhedrin, whatever that is.

Until the Times of Abaye and Rava

So, until like our rabbis and teachers there was still… the Rambam doesn’t say when, the Rambam says “the end of the Sages of the Talmud.” There was still a law of Sanhedrin. Abaye and Rava, this is what the Rambam says. “But in the days of the Sages of the Mishnah and likewise in the days of the Sages of the Talmud until the days of Abaye and Rava, they relied on the establishment of Eretz Yisrael.”

Abaye and Rava lived in Babylonia, but they were perhaps ordained in Eretz Yisrael. There was still then a Sanhedrin in Eretz Yisrael, they did it with the knowledge of Eretz Yisrael.

Speaker 2: No, no, they didn’t do it with knowledge. He says that until the time of Abaye and Rava, they did it, the Sages in Eretz Yisrael did it.

Speaker 1: But regarding, until the time of Abaye and Rava they sanctified according to sighting. Whoever learns Mishnayot and Gemara in Rosh Hashanah doesn’t see even once the topic of calculation. One sees the Ramban and all these things one sees in sighting. Right, not only Rabban Gamliel, also in the time of the Tannaim and Amoraim.

There are stories in the Gemara of Amoraim who sanctified the month according to sighting, but they did it in Babylonia, with permission from Eretz Yisrael. Partly according to sighting, partly from Babylonia, partly from Eretz Yisrael. It wasn’t always in Babylonia, there was a yeshiva of Eretz Yisrael, until Rabbi Yochanan, which we call the sealing of the Talmud Yerushalmi, I don’t know exactly when it is.

The Rambam says that there was a hundred and fourth from Babylonia to Caesarea.

Second Day of Yom Tov: In the Time of the Sanhedrin and In Our Time

Law 2 — Second Day of Yom Tov in the Time of the Sanhedrin

Speaker 2: From Babylonia? He lived in Tiberias, there was a yeshiva there at that time, meaning he went. I don’t know.

Speaker 1: There was a yeshiva in the Sanhedrin, it was kovei’a Beis Yisrael. It appears that the Rambam learned that the Sanhedrin, whatever the Sanhedrin, existed until the time of Abaye and Rava. Later, the Rambam doesn’t say exactly when, later they stopped that, they began to do it al pi cheshbon (according to calculation). That’s what the Rambam says.

Discussion: “End of the Sages of the Talmud” and the Timeline

Speaker 2: Interesting that he calls them the end of the sages of the Talmud, because Abaye and Rava were students of Rav and Rabbi Yochanan, there were still several more generations after them of the sages of the Talmud.

Speaker 1: But all the generations, but. Again, the Rambam doesn’t say until the time of Abaye and Rava, he says “ad yemei Abaye v’Rava” (until the days of Abaye and Rava), because in the Gemara it appeared to him that in Abaye and Rava’s times they would sanctify al pi re’iyah (based on sighting). But he doesn’t say here clearly when it stopped, he doesn’t have a time. He knows when they still certainly were mechadesh (innovated) al pi re’iyah, somewhere in between those times.

The Historical Investigation: When Did Our Calendar Actually Begin?

It’s very, whoever wants to look at the history, a great dispute began among today’s what do you call them? Apikorsim (heretics)? Well, like a great investigation about this, when did our calendar actually begin. That is, in the Gemara there’s no mention of it, you have to catch it.

What the Rambam says that there is for all who go out, a calculation is a great chiddush (novelty), because there isn’t a single mention in the Gemara that there is a calculation. Not only doesn’t it say that they didn’t have the calculation, maybe you can find a hint, I don’t know. It doesn’t say at all the calculation that we have a calendar that has rules of the calendar that the Rambam is going to tell us in the next chapters. A mention of this in the Gemara.

You say there’s no proof, maybe it existed and it’s not in the Gemara, it’s in another sefer, and it’s received from certain ones, I remember the Sefer Kerisus HaShonim which says that Hillel made the calendar, everyone knows to say that, but even on that there’s no clear source in the Gemara.

Hillel the Son of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi

This is presumably connected with the Ramban who says that until Hillel there was a Sanhedrin, so they want to say that from when the Sanhedrin ended a calculation came into being, yes? Could be. He brings here that the Ramban says in the name of Rav Hai Gaon that Hillel was the last period of the Sanhedrin.

And on this Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky adds that Hillel had to come out in the days of Rav Pappa, who was after Abaye and Rava. Very interesting, how can it be that Hillel the son of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi should be later than Abaye and Rava?

Speaker 2: No, he says Hillel the son of Rabbi Yehuda Nesia, aha, and not Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi the first one, there were several Rabbi Yehuda Nesias. Rabbi Yehuda Nesia, aha.

Speaker 1: And this was the enactment of Hillel the Elder, and even not, it’s later, even if it’s Hillel the son of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, it also doesn’t mean Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi the author of the Mishnah, a later grandson of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi.

When Do We Actually See the Calculation?

So, where do we see a calculation? I remember that among the Geonim there was Rav Saadia Gaon, and there was a battle, and one before him also. We see something in the Rabanan Savorai, I don’t know what kind of thing Rabanan Savorai is, also not a clear history.

Summary: The Two Main Approaches Among the Rishonim

In any case, before I say it’s heresy, because it’s a secret what’s written in the holy Torah, in the Rambam. The Rambam says it’s halacha l’Moshe miSinai (law given to Moses at Sinai), others say it’s an enactment of Hillel. These are basically the two approaches that exist among the Rishonim regarding this topic.

If someone wants to be a heretic, he’ll say he doesn’t know properly where it comes from, because there aren’t proper sources.

Okay, when the Almighty showed Adam HaRishon dor dor v’dorshav (each generation and its interpreters), He certainly showed him who would be the leaders of the generations, and when it would actually change. Anyway, this is the topic of the calculation.

Now the Rambam is going to say how it is today. It’s interesting, it gave me something like… Just look in the Aruch HaShulchan. Abaye and Rava are like Moshe and Aharon, and something ends with Abaye and Rava something like that. I mean that Abaye and Rava is also something like an eternal set like two brothers. We don’t count out the 71, we count out like we count out Moshe and Aharon, the two sages of the generation, and Abaye and Rava as the two sages of the generation.

Okay. Yes, okay, there’s a custom that there should always be two lists in every generation. Wait a minute, Moshe Rabbeinu, the period of the Zugos (pairs). Okay. No, there’s always Nasi and Av Beis Din, whatever.

It has to be in the… In any case, until now we’ve learned the principle of why there is such a thing as calculation and why there is such a thing as sighting. Now one can learn what the matter is with safek yoma (doubtful day). Because this is dependent, that is, it comes out here two types of safek yoma: one, when it’s a real doubt al pi re’iyah, and a second, when it’s al pi cheshbon, if it’s a custom, or the Rambam calls it here midivrei sofrim (of rabbinic origin).

So let’s learn. Okay. Yes?

The Rambam’s Words

The Rambam says, “When the Great Beis Din existed and they would establish based on sighting”, when there was still a Sanhedrin they would establish according to sighting, then other months were fine, because for example by Pesach they arrived, the messengers arrived. But what happens with Rosh Hashanah?

What, what, what. No, no, no. He says what he said in the previous section, that we go with the messengers of Tishrei always. There were places. Okay, okay, we’ll get there.

The Rambam says that in those times when they would establish al pi re’iyah, “the people of Eretz Yisrael and all the places that the messengers of Tishrei would reach” — they learned that Tishrei was the shortest, the messengers only had ten days to arrive. Everywhere that messengers can arrive in ten days, it appears that all of Eretz Yisrael was also included in this.

Yes, so he says, “the people of Eretz Yisrael and all the places that reach them”. That is, even outside of Eretz Yisrael, if it’s close enough to them, “the messengers of Tishrei, they observe the holidays for only one day” — the people observed, except for Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah the Rambam already said in the previous chapter that they did have to observe two days, because on Rosh Hashanah they didn’t yet have time to know. He only said it halfway, he’s going to say it more clearly here.

Okay, so he’s speaking here, yamim tovim (holidays) he means the yom tov of Sukkos. Yom Kippur and Sukkos. Pesach? What about Pesach? The messengers of Tishrei. Even where the messengers of Tishrei could arrive, all the holidays, Pesach, Sukkos, in order not to make distinctions among the festivals.

“And the rest of the distant places that the messengers of Tishrei don’t reach”, but the places where it takes more than ten days away and the messengers of Tishrei couldn’t arrive there, “they would observe two days out of doubt”. They would observe all holidays for two days out of doubt. Even, it’s also implied the yom tov of Pesach, which was several more days, one could have waited for messengers, they also observed two days of yom tov out of doubt.

“And even Shavuos, and this is in order not to make distinctions among the festivals”. There’s a concept of not making distinctions among the festivals. Why? “Because they didn’t know which day the people of Eretz Yisrael established the month” — they didn’t know which day the people of Eretz Yisrael made the month, so it’s a doubtful yom tov. Perhaps one can say this is a Biblical doubt, so they were stringent and observed both days as yom tov.

In Order Not to Make Distinctions Among the Festivals

And it means, even in Nisan, when the messengers arrived and they knew for certain that it’s not yom tov, in order not to make distinctions among the festivals they observed a second level. But the main doubt is certainly when it doesn’t arrive.

But again, what he says that the places… In short, do you have to know every year if exactly the messenger arrived? It’s not worth it when he won’t arrive. He makes there a rule, they made a rule. A place where the messengers of Tishrei don’t arrive, there they observe two days of yom tov, because it’s a real doubt, or because sometimes it’s a real doubt. I can do this myself, it’s like another level.

This is in the time when there was a Sanhedrin. In other words, until the time of Abaye and Rava, right?

Law 3 — In Our Time: Second Day of Yom Tov According to Calculation

In our time when there is no Sanhedrin, there doesn’t exist a Sanhedrin, and what then is there? The Beis Din of Eretz Yisrael establishes according to this calculation, the Beis Din in Eretz Yisrael establishes on the calculation that he mentioned earlier that there is some calculation.

So, it would have been proper that now it should be fitting that it should happen this way, that all places should observe only one day of yom tov. They should observe only one day of yom tov, because the reason why they observed two days of yom tov is because they had a doubt, perhaps they’ll hear that the month was made full and the like. But now, that they only do according to the calculation, then only one day of yom tov.

So they always know what Eretz Yisrael said, because they go predictably with Rosh Chodesh, and they always know, for example, that Tishrei has one day of Rosh Chodesh, yes? So even the distant places in Eretz Yisrael, even the farther places, like the people of Eretz Yisrael, they should have to observe one day of yom tov, because they know which day should be Rosh Chodesh, why? Because everyone relies on and establishes according to one calculation. Because everyone knows the calculation, there’s no doubt in the calculation. According to this calculation they should have had to change the law of the doubtful day.

Enactment of the Sages: Custom of Their Fathers

But here there is an enactment of the Sages, that they should be careful with the custom of their fathers that is in their hands. That since it was an old custom of the fathers, the Sages established an enactment that they should maintain the custom of the fathers.

Until now it was called a custom, now it’s already called an enactment essentially. Until now it was a Biblical doubt, the custom was for a Biblical doubt. Now there’s no Biblical doubt, but an enactment to maintain the thing, an enactment to maintain the custom, exactly.

So it’s implied from the Rambam that the second day of yom tov is a custom that the Sages enacted. Which Sages? In the time of Abaye and Rava apparently, when then the Sanhedrin first stopped. This is mentioned, it’s a very late enactment. And they made that one must maintain the custom. But apparently only in the places where there was already an old custom, this is only in distant places. Which places we’ll see.

Discussion: Yom Kippur Two Days?

Here, above, custom of their fathers. The places have a custom of their fathers. And this apparently also means Yom Kippur, right? What does that mean? Yom Kippur you also have to observe two days.

He doesn’t say. Could be they never did. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t pose… The Rambam doesn’t go into the investigations. Simply they never observed Yom Kippur two days, for whatever reason.

Law 4 — “They Sent From There”: The Reason for Second Day of Yom Tov in Our Time

What is the thing? In the Gemara it says, the Rambam doesn’t say the reason, but in the Gemara it says “they sent from there”, yes? This is a Gemara in Tractate Beitzah that says “they sent from there”, then “be careful with the custom of your fathers”. And the Gemara explains the reason, “lest the matter return to its corruption”. It’s not clear what the Gemara means.

Perhaps people will forget the calculation, not know the calculation. What does that mean? I don’t know, but that’s one hundred percent the meaning. They’ll forget the calculation? And they’ll forget… I don’t know clearly if that’s the meaning, but that’s what it says.

In other words, I just want to bring out that in the Gemara it says “they sent from there”, this means that this was a question, the people actually wondered. Now that everyone sanctifies al pi cheshbon, there really isn’t any difference between Eretz Yisrael and outside of Eretz Yisrael, but they sent a… The Beis Din said, right? The Beis Din in Eretz Yisrael perhaps, I don’t know, the Beis Din said that they should continue to observe the custom of their fathers.

The Gemara’s Reason

And the Gemara says why? “One time the evil kingdom decreed a decree and the matter is destined to be corrupted”. The Gemara didn’t explain what the decree would be and what the corruption would be.

Also the Gemara said, very interesting, the Gemara doesn’t say that they establish al pi cheshbon. The Gemara says “now that we know the establishment of the month”. It’s not clear what this means “we know the establishment of the month”. You understand it that way? Yes, halfway.

Rashi’s Explanation

Rashi says, so Rashi says, that the decree will be that they won’t learn any Torah, they’ll forget the secret of the intercalation, the secret of the intercalation means the calculation, so they’ll observe one day and they’ll become confused. Now we’ve made the decree.

It’s an interesting reasoning, I don’t know, I’m not terribly impressed with this. Okay, give me one second, a young man.

The Ran’s Question

He brings already from the Ran that if the problem is that the kingdom will make a decree, then further the problem should also be in Eretz Yisrael. There’s nothing that… Anyway, the later commentators, Rabbi Yaakov Emden and Rabbi Chasam Sofer, and perhaps others have all said that there must be a secret in the topic of the second day of yom tov, because the reason that’s in the Gemara doesn’t make sense.

Not enough sufficient it means. Yes, it doesn’t make sense. I mean to say it’s not… There’s something more to it.

Digression: Hidden Reason

Like many things, the Vilna Gaon said that the enactments of the Sages often have secrets besides what they say. It’s a reasoning. That is, one can say the reason is according to Kabbalah, one can say according to the simple meaning a reason.

The Tzanzer Rav didn’t find the hidden reason. He writes it, others didn’t write the words hidden reason. On the contrary, the problem of the Tzanzer Rav is that he says there is a hidden reason. A hidden reason you have to leave hidden and say some reason that makes sense to the world. So the reason makes as if sense, there the whole thing is attributed. When you say hidden reason it’s an invitation for sages to try to guess. And that’s an even greater level of… You don’t just say the words hidden reason, but the very great sages investigate.

I’m not a fan of the hidden reason. The hidden reason is violence. It says that he says, I’m the master and I say. The Sages never did such a thing. The Sages always gave a reason, not always the real reason. He said a reason through which he compels, and in pleasant ways. He says a reason that makes sense to you, and he has his own intentions. But to say I say so, that’s not the way of the Torah.

Chasam Sofer’s Question

So, what does the Chasam Sofer see, basically what he asks is, why do they call it only a custom of their fathers? Apparently in halachah they should have had to do two days as a Biblical doubt. So it’s a law that one must… I’m speaking when it was a real doubt.

Yes, according to the Rambam that a Biblical doubt is only rabbinic, one can hear it as a custom. But you’re asking the question, I always thought that the “they sent from there be careful with your customs” is because… I’ll tell you my secret, should I say the secret?

I think this way, what is something “they sent from there”? Why couldn’t the local Beis Din? Why did they have to call the Beis Din?

Second Day of Yom Tov of the Diaspora — Continuation: Custom of Your Fathers in Your Hands, Enactment of the Sages, and Rosh Hashanah

The Relationship of Eretz Yisrael Sages to Outside the Land

Speaker 1:

Because the entire establishment of years lies in Eretz Yisrael. I understand, I understand, I agree, but still. So I learn it this way, I think I already said perhaps this after the anticipation of yom tov, that the Beis Din, it’s known, whoever learns, screams in the Gemara from Rabbi Yochanan and others in Pesachim, you see there the faces of the Babylonians.

The Eretz Yisrael rabbis never held of the rabbis outside the land, even of the great ones of the generation among them. They always looked at it like… Even today, Eretz Yisrael, the American Jews, you can’t go in to learn a bit something today, they consider themselves always sages.

So, to us they looked, you all had some difference. That is, we know when Rosh Chodesh is. You poor things don’t know, you make two doubts, you don’t know, confused. Suddenly, ah, you catch on, you know yes, he can’t know, one can’t rely on you, tomorrow you’ll forget.

The Simple Meaning of “They Sent From There” — Go With Your Custom

What does it look like when the Rav says when it comes to a simple person? You go further with your custom. Eh, the learning doesn’t fit? A simple person doesn’t know the difference between a custom and learning. If it becomes a custom, he’ll become a gentile. You go with the custom.

Two Days of Yom Tov Must Be Strengthened

So two days of yom tov must be strengthened, not one day of yom tov, but even if one simply added a day of yom tov. It could be my simple understanding is “shalchu mitam” (they sent from there), some reason that existed in Israel, a Jew who went with simplicity (b’tmimus) said, go with simplicity, don’t use the secrets that are yours. Yes, okay, continue.

Otherwise, you understand, I look at it as a weaker position, as good as I really do. No, the custom becomes very important. Just as when a Jew comes to the rabbi to ask whether he must light two candles for the yahrzeit candles or three candles on Yom Kippur, and the rabbi takes it very seriously, because if he doesn’t do it, he’ll have nothing left.

Just as the halacha if one forgot to light on Shabbos, one must add a candle. They were afraid that the entire yom tov would be in danger, because people would say, “Today they no longer said ‘asher tikra’u osam’ (which you shall proclaim them), and who says? We don’t know, ‘asher tikra’u osam.’”

They say, not only should one make one day of yom tov, but one should make two days of yom tov. In short, the two days of yom tov doesn’t harm, but in any case, this is the…

The Rambam’s Argument — It’s More Stringent Because It’s a Takana

But the Rambam argued in Hilchos Yom Tov that because of this it’s more stringent, because it’s not truly a doubt, it’s only a takana (rabbinic enactment). Simply a mitzvah d’rabbanan to make another day of yom tov.

So okay, so meanwhile the level where we hold now is that those who when the world was still the world, they would have made two days of yom tov out of doubt because the messengers didn’t use to arrive there. So now there’s no longer any real reason to make two days, because now everyone anyway follows the same calculation, there’s no longer any difference between the Jews in Alexandria or the Jew in Jerusalem.

But the Chachamim said, “A year, your ancestors already had here a takana, and the custom of two days of yom tov has already become sanctified, one should maintain the custom of their ancestors (minhag avoseihem).” This is until now.

Halacha 6 — Places Where the Messengers of Tishrei Didn’t Reach

Therefore, says the Rambam further, “kol makom shelo hayu shlichei Tishrei magi’in alav k’shehaysu shlichei yotz’im” (every place where the messengers of Tishrei didn’t reach when the messengers went out) — places where it was far and the messengers of Tishrei, who had ten days to go, didn’t arrive there — “osin shnei yamim, afilu bazman hazeh” (they make two days, even in this time) one must continue to maintain their minhag avos (custom of the ancestors), “k’mo shehayu osin bizman sheb’nei Eretz Yisrael kov’im al hare’iya” (just as they did in the time when the people of the Land of Israel established based on the sighting) — just as one did when one established based on the sighting that the distant places had two days of yom tov.

“Uv’nei Eretz Yisrael bazman hazeh” (and the people of the Land of Israel in this time) continue with their custom, “osin yom echad k’minhaggam” (they make one day according to their custom), why? Because there was never any other custom there, “she’me’olam lo asu shnei yamim tovim” (that they never made two days of yom tov).

Halacha — The Second Day of Yom Tov is From the Words of the Scribes

“Nimtza, yom tov sheni she’anu osin bagalus bazman hazeh” (it turns out, the second day of yom tov that we make in exile in this time) — what one sees today in exile two days of yom tov — “hu midivrei sofrim shetiknu davar zeh” (it is from the words of the scribes who enacted this thing), that since here our grandfathers would also have had two days of yom tov, if a Jew had lived in America or I don’t know where — they didn’t live, for example in Germany Jews already lived in the time of the Second Temple, and there it was already so — one must continue to maintain the custom, so the Chachamim enacted.

Discussion: The Difference Between “Minhag” and “Takanas Chachamim”

The Rambam will explain later what you’re talking about perfectly. Because one could have looked at it as if one should just maintain the existing custom, because he said “just as they held onto the custom of your ancestors.” But a place where there wasn’t yet any settlement, one will now go establish a settlement. Okay.

But it seems that the Rambam wants here to emphasize that in this time it’s not just a custom, it’s d’rabbanan. That is, as it turns out, since truly we do know, it turns out that the second day of yom tov and what we do is midivrei sofrim (from the words of the scribes) who enacted that one should go according to the custom, according to the custom of the past.

Practical Difference — Punishment of Lashes

There’s one exception. It’s still called, the Rambam in Hilchos Yom Tov still calls it “mispika d’yoma” (doubt of the day). He means to say that the original custom was mispika d’yoma, so it remained with the word “sfika d’yoma.” But the truth is that it’s a custom, one day is d’oraisa and one day is a custom. The first day apparently, the first day is d’oraisa and the second day is a custom, which means a takanas Chachamim.

I think though there’s a practical difference. True, the Rambam was innovative in Hilchos Yom Tov that the thing that one may do because it’s a doubt, that is “an egg that was laid on the first [day] may be eaten on the second,” is not… if I remember, the Rambam was innovative “it seems to me,” yes, do you remember? That in this time when both days are not a doubt, it’s only truly d’rabbanan, one cannot use the doubts.

This is the great innovation of the Rambam, which all other commentators disagreed with. But the Rambam said that it actually became more stringent since it’s no longer a doubt. One cannot [be lenient] because of doubt. But the others look at it as if since the entire takana was from doubt, it still has the law of a doubt. Right.

But this was the Rambam’s position in Hilchos Yom Tov explicitly, and here apparently he brings out the reasoning that is behind this.

The Definition of “Minhag” and “Takanas Chachamim”

It could be that the Rambam would also say that a takanas Chachamim is stricter than a custom. One must know the definitions of the words “minhag” and “takanas Chachamim.” It could be that it’s stricter. Then it was only a custom, a sfika d’yoma, and now it’s a complete takana. Yes, it’s more.

Speaker 2:

Could be, he says it’s not true. Punishment of lashes for example one goes on a custom, but on a takanas Chachamim one goes on a custom. Perhaps because of this one makes a blessing?

Speaker 1:

Also punishment of lashes. On a custom there’s probably no punishment of lashes. On a takana there can be punishment of lashes. Not punishment of lashes, one gives… The Rambam says punishment of lashes on the second day of yom tov.

Speaker 2:

Yes, the Rambam says, one gives excommunication.

Speaker 1:

It says in the Gemara that they excommunicate for the honor of the Chachamim, not for the honor of the custom, because the Chachamim commanded it. Yes. Okay.

The Ritz — It’s a Custom of the Chachamim

Yes, he says, he brings explicitly, for example the Ritz says as you say, because of this one receives a punishment for this, because it’s not a custom of our own, it’s a custom of the Chachamim, the takanas Chachamim. Right. Aha.

There are such kinds of things like “the daughters of Israel were stringent upon themselves,” but the Chachamim accepted it, so it becomes already… One must know, then one probably doesn’t receive punishment of lashes, because it doesn’t say “shalchu mitam.” One must know.

Halacha 7 — Rosh Hashana Two Days

Let’s learn a few more points about the second day of yom tov, the principle of Rosh Hashana. Yes?

Says the Rambam, yom tov of Rosh Hashana, yom tov of Rosh Hashana is like this, it’s different because it’s the first day, it’s Rosh Chodesh. So for example, “when they established based on the sighting, most of the people of the Land of Israel made it two days out of doubt”. Not only the distant places, but most of the Land of Israel made two days out of doubt. That is, except for those who were around the Beis HaMikdash. He’ll already say.

“And most of the people of the Land of Israel made it two days out of doubt, because they didn’t know the day that the Beis Din established the month, because the messengers don’t go out on yom tov”. Messengers don’t go out on yom tov. We learned before they may go out on yom tov, messengers don’t go out on yom tov. So there wasn’t Rosh Hashana. That is, one had to start… He doesn’t say the words, but apparently one had to start observing, because perhaps witnesses will come to say and it will only be retroactively the first day of yom tov. Yes?

“V’lo od” (and not only), he says, not only in places far from Jerusalem, “ela afilu biYerushalayim atzma shehu makom beis din, pe’amim rabos hayu osin yom tov shel Rosh Hashana shnei yamim. Mipnei she’im lo ba’u edim kol yom shloshim” (but even in Jerusalem itself which is the place of the Beis Din, many times they made yom tov of Rosh Hashana two days. Because if witnesses didn’t come the entire thirtieth day), because if witnesses didn’t come the entire thirtieth day, “nohagim hayu ba’oso hayom shemetzapin la’edim kodesh, ul’machar kodesh” (they were accustomed on that day when they waited for witnesses [to make it] holy, and the next day holy).

The day when one waited for witnesses one already made it that it should be a holy day, and the next day holy. That is, if one saw… The Rambam said earlier that it sometimes happens that one should already see the moon even before the day becomes. Or one doesn’t know any part, one saw stars, then it’s tremendous, one made that day yom tov.

But if the month comes in already deep into the day, one already from the beginning of the day, once the Beis Din had already established according to their calculations that today witnesses can come, one already had to observe Rosh Chodesh from the beginning of the day. One always, basically, as we learned. Always, yes.

That is, there was the entire takana that one doesn’t accept witnesses from mincha and onward. In any case, it seems that one always had to sit and wait, and so the thirtieth day was always holy, except if that day witnesses came it was only that day, right? But the first day was always apparently.

It turns out, and the Rambam already said this that Rosh Hashana is different. Rosh Hashana is not a law of sfika d’yoma, but Rosh Hashana is even before the sfika d’yoma, even before the law of sfika d’yoma Rosh Hashana is already two days. In this there is certainly also a secret.

Halacha 8 — Rosh Hashana Two Days in This Time

Says the Rambam, “v’hayu osin oso shnei yamim afilu bizman hare’iya” (and they made it two days even in the time of the sighting). They enacted, one enacted that since — this one didn’t do for the reason of perhaps the messengers won’t arrive and the like — they enacted that they made even the people of the Land of Israel always make two days.

In this time when they establish based on the calculation, one made that also when one establishes the calculation, when truly there isn’t the reason to make two days, because when one establishes the calculation one does know on which day is Rosh Hashana, and one can make only one day. But since one had already established Rosh Hashana two days, one also maintained the custom. That is, the strengthening of the custom of our ancestors also went up on this? Not clear why, but they should maintain the custom.

The Structure of the Sugya — Stringently, Not Leniently

We’ll say the structure of what’s going on here. The world, today when there is a calculation, could be more lenient. One will make only one day everywhere, because even Rosh Hashana they know when it will be for sure. But, the deed goes the opposite way, one goes stringently.

That is, one goes that all places that didn’t know then one makes a doubt. And even the places that one once didn’t know, like the Land of Israel one often didn’t know which day is Rosh Hashana, and even in the Beis HaMikdash often only made two days of Rosh Hashana, so one goes with what was once the doubt that was once, becomes today a custom.

Question — What’s Relevant About “The Custom of Their Ancestors in Their Hands”?

You ask a good question, what’s relevant about this the custom of their ancestors in their hands? It’s not exactly a custom, it was truly a doubt. The same thing, in chutz la’aretz it was also truly a doubt, now it became a custom. So it’s not the custom of their ancestors in their hands, but he brings from the Rashba that it could be the same reason, because one can forget the calculation. So one doesn’t rely on the calculation, because one needs a calculation.

Continuation of Halacha 8 — Rosh Hashana and “Bakeseh L’yom Chageinu”

The Doubt of Rosh Chodesh is a Real Doubt

Speaker 1: Could be. So they perhaps didn’t rule like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai God forbid that Torah will be forgotten from Israel. No, they did, and the advice is that one should make two days.

Ah, this itself… Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai has for us, there’s certainly a secret in this, and certainly whoever learns the writings of the Arizal knows the secret. I thought that there’s another secret according to the simple way, because one learned that there are two days when one doesn’t see the moon, and it depends on different situations when one can see the moon, whether a day after the molad, whether a little right after the molad, and the like.

So it turns out, it seems to me that the thing that it’s not clear which day the month began, this is a real thing. Because you must remember the reasons sometimes why one doesn’t see the moon is although it could be that it’s exactly on the other side of the world, or it’s exactly during the day when one can’t see it so well, and the like, or it’s exactly close to the sun. There are all kinds of things that are as if technical things that make one unable to see the moon.

And it’s truly in reality, one will ask when does the month of the moon begin, it’s true that it’s not always on one day. It can be between two days, you understand? Because there’s when it’s completely at the conjunction, afterwards there’s when it starts to be able to see a little, and it turns whether it’s in the morning or it’s at night, various other things.

So it doesn’t seem to me such a strange thing that there should be two days of Rosh Chodesh. It should be a natural thing two days of Rosh Chodesh, not just because of a doubt. We call it a doubt, because in practice, the Beis Din establishes one of the days as Rosh Chodesh. Their job is to decide the doubt, but the doubt was always there.

“Bakeseh L’yom Chageinu” — The Name of Rosh Hashana Already Contains the Doubt

Speaker 1: Very good. It fits very well, because the Beis Din knows when approximately it comes, and according to this they accepted testimony. It means, their responsibility was according to the simple meaning that you say fits very well, this “bakeseh l’yom chageinu” (on the covered day for our festival) is exactly in the name of Rosh Hashana already stands the covering, since there’s the day when the moon is covered, and that day is such a half Rosh Chodesh, such a doubtful Rosh Chodesh.

Speaker 2: Right, exactly.

Speaker 1: Because of this one understands the difference of Rosh Hashana and other months, because Rosh Hashana is exactly the time when it’s one of the… other months the doubt has already passed, usually, it was already two weeks ago there was the doubt. Rosh Hashana happens on the day of doubt.

Speaker 2: Very good.

Comparison to Bein Hashmashos

Speaker 1: It’s similar to what many scholars say about bein hashmashos (twilight).

Speaker 2: Yes, bein hashmashos is not just a doubt in halacha, it’s a doubt in reality. It could be the Chachamim should decide according to the halacha when the night begins, but the fact is that there’s the… the mitzvah as it were, tears the twilight. And the meal was something like a meal of joy of the permission of doubts, such a…

Speaker 1: Very nice, okay. I think that this is the secret of why Rosh Hashana is more…

“You Have Learned That Even Yom Tov of Rosh Hashana in This Time is From the Words of the Scribes”

Speaker 1: In short, “ha lamadta” (you have learned), says the Rambam, “ha lamadta she’afilu yom tov shel Rosh Hashana bazman hazeh midivrei sofrim” (you have learned that even yom tov of Rosh Hashana in this time is from the words of the scribes). That is, in the time of the Temple it was truly from the scribes, but in this time it’s further from the scribes. And because of this it’s actually one holiness. Although according to the Rambam, according to the Rambam’s own innovation all days of yom tov should be one holiness.

And here we also see that when one says here that one should make another day of yom tov, for example, in the time of the Temple, it wasn’t only that one shouldn’t do melachos, but one should observe the yom tov with the entire with all the trimmings. One should blow shofar again, because on Rosh Hashana one sees this. Apparently, it’s not stated clearly. I remember that about this there’s confusion, this is stated in Ikrei Kodesh, whether one means to blow shofar or not. But one can already learn. One did the main yom tov one did. One did the order, one did the… the second day was such a biblical doubt of yom tov. It can’t be that this is easier. It means, to blow shofar doesn’t cost any money. The innovation is the sacrifice, perhaps… other things.

—

Halacha 9 — “The Making of One Day Doesn’t Depend on the Proximity of the Place”

The Rambam’s Introduction — Why One Needs This Explanation

Speaker 1: Already, says the Rambam further. Now he goes and explains a bit more. He says like this. Now, until here we learned the foundation of why one must make the second day of yom tov. Now one must know, once we do now the second day of yom tov, because so is the takanas Chachamim, he goes more, he explains like this.

So I want to tell you, I mean that the introduction must be this. It turns out that… that… that… theoretically… where one had, so simply the simple meaning a Jew would have learned until here he would have understood, there where the messengers of Tishrei came, there one makes one day, there where they didn’t come one makes two days, and good day.

Now, I think that the Rambam writes this whole piece to answer a certain custom that isn’t so. But the fact is, at least as the Rambam saw it, one must know that there were regions where there were different customs, but the fact is that Jews lived, in the time of the Rambam himself he lived in Egypt for a long time, very close to Eretz Yisrael, and Jews used to live in Syria throughout all generations. Alexandria is in Egypt.

Speaker 2: Yes, so, in Syria, in Aram Tzova, what’s it called there, Damascus, yes?

Speaker 1: Damascus, Syria, Damascus, these are regions that are literally half an hour’s drive from Tzfat, an hour, it’s not far from Eretz Yisrael.

Speaker 2: But not with a car.

Speaker 1: Yes, back then it perhaps takes half a day, what’s the difference, a day, it’s not very far. And nevertheless, the custom that the Rambam knew was to make two days of Yom Tov there. There was never, or at least the Rambam never spoke of a custom that makes only one day of Yom Tov in closer places. And seemingly it’s difficult, certainly, if there was visibility the messengers would have come there, one would have made one day of Yom Tov.

What did the Rambam say earlier? That the whole matter is to maintain the minhag avoteihem (custom of their fathers). So places where there was never such a minhag avoteihem because it’s close, the messengers used to arrive, shnei yamim shel Yom Tov (two days of Yom Tov) was never instituted.

The Rambam’s Distinction — Not Geography but Reality

Speaker 1: But the Rambam says that the reality isn’t so. To this the Rambam answers a teiretz (answer), the Rambam makes a distinction. On this he says halacha 9, the Rambam says, “Ein asiyas yom echad talui b’kirvat hamakom” (Making one day doesn’t depend on the proximity of the place). According to the calculation that we are now, it should have had to do with how close it is that the messengers should be able to arrive. So the Rambam explains, “Keitzad?” (How so?), it doesn’t go with distance, with geography.

What does the Rambam say? “Keitzad? Im haya makom beino uvein Yerushalayim mahalach chamishah yamim o pachot, sheb’vadai efshar sheyagi’u lahem shluchim” (How so? If there was a place between it and Jerusalem a journey of five days or less, that certainly it’s possible that messengers would reach them), meaning even in the month of Tishrei, there aren’t ten days there, five days one can arrive quickly, so according to this one would have had to say that one should make one day of Yom Tov. The Rambam says, no, “ein omrim she’anshei makom zeh osim Yom Tov echad” (we don’t say that the people of this place make one day of Yom Tov). Why? The answer is, why? The Rambam says, “shemi yomar lanu shehayou shluchim yotz’im l’makom zeh? Shelo hayou hashluchim yotz’im l’makom zeh mipnei shelo hayou sham Yisrael” (for who will tell us that messengers used to go out to this place? For the messengers didn’t go out to this place because there were no Jews there).

The Rambam says that the matter doesn’t have to do with kirvat makom (proximity of place), with geography, how close it is, but it also has to do with the reality of whether messengers used to arrive there. Because a place where messengers used to arrive, the minhag avoteihem was to have one day, but places where messengers didn’t arrive don’t yet have a custom. V’achar shechazru likvo’a al pi hacheshbon (And after they returned to establish according to the calculation), but after they began to establish according to calculation Jews settled there, shehem chayavim la’asot shnei yamim tovim (they are obligated to make two days of Yom Tov).

It could be that whoever settled first in the city which is a new city, who settled there? Jews from another distant place settled there whose minhag avot from years was to make shnei yamim tovim. So when the place was founded, what was the minhag hamakom (custom of the place)? According to the custom of when the customs came there. Here we also see very clearly that when one founds a new place, it’s not simple that the place is blank, it’s a blank page. Now the place doesn’t yet have a custom, but the place will now have the custom of the people according to what the people are.

Discussion: What is the Default — One Day or Two Days?

Speaker 2: I’m not sure that you read the line correctly. In other words, the Rambam holds that they should have made two days. Why? Because in the city where they came from, messengers never came. But he doesn’t say here clearly what you put in. He doesn’t say, if there would have been people they would have come. But “would have been” isn’t a reason to make a custom. “Would have been” is “would have been.” We don’t live in the world of “would have been,” we live in the world of what was. Messengers never once came to this place. Therefore, in a place where messengers don’t come, one must make two days.

Speaker 1: I think that I must indeed learn as I learned, because it’s the other way around. The… the… the… when there’s nothing there yet, there’s one day of Yom Tov. There where… who said, perhaps the opposite. The Torah made one day of Yom Tov.

Speaker 2: I know what the Torah said, I’m in places where the messengers didn’t come, a minhag hamakom developed that one makes two days. And this doesn’t yet have a minhag hamakom that one makes two days. In this place there isn’t a minhag hamakom, not so, not so. But he says that the people who settled there brought with them the minhag hamakom of two days.

Speaker 1: No, no, I don’t agree. One can’t agree. So then what does he say the words yashvu sham Yisrael hem shehem chayavim la’asot et hashnayim tovim (Jews settled there, they are obligated to make the two days)? Because all Jews said.

Speaker 2: Because he’s assumed, certainly, because gentiles don’t count, the messengers didn’t come to gentiles.

Speaker 1: No, I say Jews, does he call them Jews?

Speaker 2: No, always Yisraelim. In the Mishnah to call Jews “Yidden” appears in the Megillah itself, but the language of the Sages is always Yisraelim.

Speaker 1: He doesn’t mean to say specifically Jews from Eretz Yisrael?

Speaker 2: No, no, no. Specifically chutz la’aretz?

Speaker 1: No, no, no. Certainly not, he’s a normal person.

Speaker 2: No, I know that Yisrael means Jews. And bnei Yisrael. Jewish children. And I say it’s not correct, because it doesn’t make sense.

Speaker 1: I want to go further here, because we’re going to get stuck here, but one can learn as you say, but we’ll see later, the Rambam speaks explicitly of a case where one makes a new city what one must do. He doesn’t say that one goes according to where the people come from.

So, there is indeed the question of makom she’ein minhag (a place that has no custom). So, one can make of this the thing, what did the famous Chacham Tzvi say, that he says he doesn’t understand, if one comes to a place where messengers come, what do I care where you were yesterday? Today he knows that it’s Yom Tov, and the place has a custom that the custom makes sense, because one knows here.

So, it’s not clear. I think that the Rambam doesn’t mean specifically that one, he means simply that… you’re asking a good question, who is the motzi mechaveiro (one who must bring proof)? The Rambam held something that there isn’t a motzi, there isn’t a default that one makes one day. On the contrary, there are two halachot, and on the contrary, it appears that the Rambam looks the opposite, but in the places where one knows, because one goes lechumra (stringently), you see that the halachot… so, we want to make sure that one doesn’t stumble with Yom Tov, so two days one is more on the safe side. So it appears from the whole halacha, all because there was some concern. Because sometimes it was Rosh Hashanah, you see that one goes lechumra in all these halachot.

Two Reasons Why Messengers Didn’t Arrive

Speaker 1: The Rambam says, or, if not also, or another reason why perhaps there weren’t messengers there, either because there weren’t any Jews there, or even if there was a Jewish region there, but perhaps there was a chirum baderech (emergency on the way), perhaps there was some emergency there, I don’t know, robbers blocked there with their ambushes. Baderech kederech shehaya bein Yehudah v’Golah bimei chachmei haMishnah (In the way that it was between Judea and the Diaspora in the days of the Sages of the Mishnah). We know that in the days of the Sages of the Mishnah there were the Romans, there were wars, and one couldn’t, there was no practical reality between Jerusalem and the Diaspora.

Speaker 2: Is there somewhere a place in Kiddush HaChodesh? Is there somewhere a Gemara that for a long time, seventy years, not a person passed through the land of Judea?

Speaker 1: No, no, it doesn’t have to do with that. Not that?

Speaker 2: Not that is what was said?

Speaker 1: No, no, no, he means that it says…

Hilchot Kiddush HaChodesh – Chapter 5 (Continued): Yom Tov Sheni Shel Galuyot – The Rambam’s Rule and the Minhag HaOlam

The Rambam’s Proof: It Doesn’t Depend on Proximity of Place

Perhaps there was some emergency there, I don’t know, the robbers blocked there with their ambushes.

In the way that it was between Judea and Galilee in the days of the Sages of the Mishnah. We know that in the days of the Sages of the Mishnah there were the Romans, there were wars, and one couldn’t, there was no practical reality between Jerusalem and Galilee. Is there perhaps in Kiddush HaChodesh, is there perhaps a Gemara that for a long time, seventy years, not a person passed through the land of Judea? No, no, it doesn’t have to do with that. No, no, no, he means that it says in the Gemara in certain places that there’s no practical reality between Judea and Galilee. Not regarding Kiddush HaChodesh, just so. But the point is that it could happen that there was a time of emergency, therefore messengers didn’t arrive there. Or because the gentiles prevented the messengers from passing through their territory, perhaps the gentiles prevented the messengers from passing through. Therefore in that place there wasn’t a tradition of one day, therefore one remains with the stringency of two days.

The Rambam says, v’ilu haya hadavar talui b’kirvat hamakom (and if the matter depended on proximity of place), the Rambam has now been explaining that it’s not kirvat hamakom. The Rambam says, if it would indeed be kirvat hamakom, many things would come out that wouldn’t be correct. Why? Because kol bnei Mitzrayim (all the people of Egypt) would have had to make one day, she’i efshar shelo yagi’u aleihem shluchei Tishrei (for it’s impossible that the messengers of Tishrei wouldn’t reach them). Egypt isn’t so far, she’ein bein Yerushalayim u’Mitzrayim al derech Ashkelon (for there isn’t between Jerusalem and Egypt via the way of Ashkelon). If one goes the way of Ashkelon, there was some highway that was called derech Ashkelon? Yes, in the verse it’s called derech eretz Plishtim. Derech eretz Plishtim. Ashkelon is the main city of the Philistines in Yehoshua’s times. Meaning one travels on the coast. Okay, one travels along the sea, very good. It’s a straight way. If one goes through the desert, if one goes through a straight way, it’s mahalach shmonah yamim o pachot (a journey of eight days or less). It can take forty years, yes? But if one travels through Ashkelon, which is derech eretz Plishtim, it takes eight days. Eight days or less. Yes, very good. Very good, eight days perhaps. V’chen rov Surya (And so most of Syria). V’chen rov Surya. Also it’s close. And we know in practice that it’s not so that in Egypt and in… I mean chutz la’aretz in general that Chazal speak of, means those regions, yes? One didn’t speak then of any chutz la’aretz in America. When one says bnei chutz la’aretz, ah, okay. Ulmadta she’ein hadavar talui b’heyot hamakom karov (And you learn that the matter doesn’t depend on the place being close). So I have a proof that it’s not kirvat makom.

So basically he has a proof from the customs, from the history.

The Rambam’s Rule: Who Makes One Day and Who Makes Two Days

So therefore how does one learn the thing? He’s going to make a total. He brings that it says in the Yerushalmi perhaps that they didn’t used to make two days there, not clear. It could be that there are indeed certain places where one does make. But the Rambam is going to say, the Rambam admits that there can be a place where one makes. Let’s say.

The Rambam says, it comes out that in total the halacha is thus. Nimtza ikar davar zeh… kol makom sheyesh beino uvein Yerushalayim, mahalach yeiter al asarah yamim gemurim (It turns out the essence of this matter… every place that has between it and Jerusalem, a journey of more than ten complete days), a place where it takes more than ten days to arrive, meaning the messengers of Tishrei couldn’t come, otan shnei yamim l’olam (those two days forever) one can bring forward. So the custom was always that one made two days there, and the reason is already shluchei kol Tishrei v’Tishrei magi’im ela l’makom shebino uvein Yerushalayim, mahalach asarah yamim b’pachot (for the messengers of every Tishrei and Tishrei arrive only to a place that has between it and Jerusalem, a journey of ten days or less). Yes, the messengers weren’t allowed to travel on Shabbat and Yom Tov, so only ten days remained, so to that place no messengers arrived, so there was already the custom from the time of the Beit HaMikdash. From when the Sanhedrin, from the time of the Sanhedrin, that one should make two days there, and it’s certain that one must continue minhag avoteihem in this way.

Places Within Ten Days – Three Categories

Further, b’chol makom sheraveinu biYerushalayim iz mahalach asarah yamim b’shaveh o hapachot, she’efshar shehayou shluchim magi’a elav (in every place that has between it and Jerusalem a journey of ten days equally or less, that it’s possible that messengers reached it), places where it’s still within the ten days, one must check thus: im oto hamakom Eretz Yisrael shehaya bo Yisrael bish’at hara’iyah b’kivush sheni (if that place was part of Eretz Yisrael when there was indeed sanctification according to visibility in the second conquest), why does he say this word kivush? Why doesn’t one go from the olei Mitzrayim? Because in Ashkelon, which the Rambam is going to say is called chutz la’aretz, was conquered by olei Mitzrayim, but not conquered by olei Bavel, which doesn’t count. Okay, we’ll see, let’s go into this. Later, k’gon (for example), the Rambam says, in which cities for example were still part of Israel? It says in the Gemara the cities. The Gemara that one always sees, Usha, Shfaram, Lod, Yavneh. Shfaram? How does one say it? Today one says Shfaram, but something like that. V’Lod, v’Yavneh. From Nov, from Tveriah (Tiberias), which these were important cities in the time when there was a Beit Din. So all these places, yom echad (one day) one should make only one day, because messengers always arrived there, and there was always the custom to make one day there, except Rosh Hashanah as he said.

But what happens in otan makom mesoret, k’gon Tzor v’Damesek v’Ashkelon (those places of tradition, such as Tyre and Damascus and Ashkelon), or perhaps parts of Ashkelon, I don’t know what the answer is, as Ashkelon is still in Eretz Yisrael. Ashkelon is mechubash olei Mitzrayim v’lo kovesh olei Bavel (conquered by those who came up from Egypt and not conquered by those who came up from Babylon). Whether olei Mitzrayim indeed conquered is a good question, but in any case, it’s in the olei Mitzrayim. One should say according to the borders of Eretz Yisrael that are written in Parashat Masei, Ashkelon is today a Jewish city properly. Is today’s Ashkelon there where Ashkelon wasn’t once? Okay. I know, it’s a street up, it’s a part, approximately in that place.

Tyre and Damascus you certainly know where it is. Tyre was strongly Jewish places. Tyre is… not exactly in Syria, today it’s called Lebanon, right? Also there on the… ah, Tyre is in Lebanon, yes, near the border with Eretz Yisrael. Yes, it was exactly a Jewish… they found in Hilchot Shekalim it said the word Tyre, kesef Tzuri. I remember such a language of money. But it was very close. Now one used money from Tyre, yes. Yes, there were great things there. Tyre is… Hezbollah speaks there today. It’s very close. May they have great success.

In short, those places that weren’t a place that was kivush beautifully, one didn’t sanctify there at the time of visibility, or places that are outside the land, k’gon Mitzrayim v’Amon u’Moav v’chayotza bahen (such as Egypt and Ammon and Moab and the like). Egypt you certainly know where it is, Ammon and Moab is somewhere also in the Jordan region. So then it’s otan k’minhag avoteihem shebiyedeihem, im yom echad yom echad (those according to the custom of their fathers that they have, if one day one day). One must check the city. There were cities where there was the tradition that the messengers used to arrive there, one made yom echad. One must maintain the custom of yom echad, v’im shnei yamim shnei yamim (and if two days two days). Here one goes with the custom. Because one must have a custom that testifies that messengers came at the time of visibility to that region, and then it doesn’t matter that it’s chutz la’aretz. It can be in Syria, it can be anywhere.

One can perhaps say that one must always be concerned that perhaps it’s two days of Yom Tov. If there’s a custom, one doesn’t need to be concerned about this. If there’s the custom that one made only yom echad, one doesn’t need to be concerned about this. He doesn’t say clearly what is the motzi mechaveiro and so on. Yes. Okay. Further? Yes.

New Cities Without Custom – One Makes Two Days Like the Custom of Most of the World

V’im oto… This is a place that’s approximately ten days. Messengers could arrive. One must know whether they actually arrived. If one knows that they arrived it’s yom echad, if one doesn’t know one must ask the custom, and the custom tells you whether they arrived. The Rambam says clearly that one must have a custom in a positive manner that knows that there it’s one day, and if not one makes two days.

But makom shebino uvein Yerushalayim asarah pachot o asarah yoter (a place that has between it and Jerusalem ten less or ten more), as in chutz la’aretz, Surya (Syria), which has a half status… yes, because the conquest of David, regarding settling Eretz Yisrael it’s a mitzvah to live there. Okay. V’ein lahem minhag (and they don’t have a custom), and there isn’t a custom there, meaning one doesn’t know the custom, or a city that doesn’t yet have a custom because it’s a new city, o shehaya yishuv shenischadesh b’midbar Eretz Yisrael (or that there was a settlement that was renewed in the desert of Eretz Yisrael), one made new cities in the desert, I know, Be’er Sheva, or a place where Jews just settled, that means even if it wasn’t a desert, it’s a gentile city, so since there wasn’t yet a custom there, so osin oto shnei yamim k’minhag rov ha’olam (one makes it two days like the custom of most of the world). The Rambam says, that two days like the custom of most of the world. An interesting halacha. What does “most” mean? That most make two days.

Innovation: Places in Chutz La’aretz with One Day, and Places in Eretz Yisrael with Two Days

It should be interesting, according to the Rambam’s approach it comes out that there are places in chutz la’aretz (outside the Land of Israel) where there is one day, and there are places in Eretz Yisrael (the Land of Israel) where there are two days. Everything depends on the custom that depends on the messengers.

The Rambam says, “And all the second days of Yom Tov are rabbinic”… let’s finish this piece, yes? This is all rabbinic. “Even the second day of Rosh Hashanah”, which was already observed even in Temple times, is obligatory rabbinically.

The World’s Custom Is Not Like the Rambam – The Approach of the Ritva

Now one must explain, we don’t follow this custom as far as I know. According to the Rambam comes out a great stringency, a certain leniency which is also not without a stringency. If there is a town somewhere near Eretz Yisrael that has a tradition, no problem. After that there is another thing, that according to the Rambam he says explicitly that if one establishes a new city in Eretz Yisrael where we don’t know that the messengers of Tishrei will come, one must observe two days. It comes out that in Tel Aviv and Bnei Brak and I don’t know where else, one must certainly according to the Rambam observe two days of Yom Tov. Not a single Jew in the world, except perhaps there is someone who is stringent, but generally speaking no one conducts themselves this way. And why don’t they conduct themselves this way? Because the holy Ritva already says, and apparently other Rishonim (early authorities), that one doesn’t conduct oneself this way.

The custom is both stringently and leniently. That is, the custom is, as they bring from the Ritva and all the poskim (halachic authorities), he brings that the Acharonim (later authorities) say that this is the custom and this is the halacha. The custom is, even in Eretz Yisrael where messengers didn’t come it’s one day, and even in chutz la’aretz where messengers will indeed come it’s two days.

So if we follow the Rambam we are more lenient than the Rambam. Right, but as if… let’s say Alexandria or Tyre… as if the custom takes on a new thing, that it’s not dependent on… theoretically it’s apparently true, the Rambam brings that it goes with the messengers, but the Rambam already made a majority, right? The Rambam already made a majority that one goes according to the majority of the world. They say, why should one make a majority of the world? Let one make a majority of Eretz Yisrael. The majority of Eretz Yisrael is after all the holy Land of Israel, what can this be? So certainly in Eretz Yisrael one observes, but chutz la’aretz is not. This is the approach of the Ritva, it comes out that there is also a stringency. The world conducts itself this way.

A Third Approach: The Chinuch – Even More Lenient

Yes, there is a third approach among the Rishonim, I’m not just talking about this, but there is an approach, the commentators say so, there is a third approach among the Rishonim from the Chinuch and others, that in chutz la’aretz, leniently more than the Rambam entirely, that certainly in all of Eretz Yisrael one observes one day, but also in chutz la’aretz there are places where one can observe one day if it’s far enough. This is the approach of other righteous ones.

The Rambam Himself Did Not Implement His Approach

And one must know, the Rambam himself was in Eretz Yisrael, he wasn’t interested in this custom, or he didn’t implement his custom. Wasn’t there ever a time in Eretz Yisrael when they observed two days of Yom Tov? Apparently not. And apparently the custom, if one goes with the custom of their fathers, it’s such a strong reasoning that one should do as we say here. True.

And it’s already the previous question, he brings in responsa of the Maharitz, whoever that was, he said that no one knows if

The Calculation of Today and the Authority of the Residents of Eretz Yisrael

Halacha 13 (Continued) — The Calculation of Today and the Authority of the Residents of Eretz Yisrael

And one must know that the Rambam himself was in Eretz Yisrael, he wasn’t interested in this custom, or he didn’t implement his custom. Wasn’t there ever a time in Eretz Yisrael when they observed two days of Yom Tov? Apparently not.

And apparently the custom, if one goes with the custom of their fathers, it’s a very strong reasoning that one should do as we say here. True.

And it’s already the previous question, he brings in responsa of the Maharit, whoever said that no one knows if Tzfat existed. Rabbi Yonatan Sahlon, yes? Who was that? Rabbi Yonatan Sahlon. What did he do? Anyway, he learned Torah. Aha.

And there is, ah, he says that the Chazon Ish argues yes, is the Chazon Ish the Chasan Ish? I think that Chayei Adam… Chasan Ish is the Chasan Ish, the Lubavitcher doesn’t fit for the public is Chasan Ish. But I remember that there is a Chasan Ish here, that even according to the Rambam he wants to force that in Eretz Yisrael one also goes according to the majority of Eretz Yisrael. What the Rambam doesn’t say? One knows for certain. The Rambam doesn’t say with doubt. It’s not clear. The majority says yes, like the custom of the majority of the world.

In any case, there is indeed something, he brings that there indeed was. There can indeed be a question what happens according to the Rambam’s approach, but with today’s archaeology, very many cities in Eretz Yisrael one tries to establish. Bnei Brak there are those who say that there is geography there where the city of Bnei Brak was. And even according to what the Rambam didn’t like, because that doesn’t mean that there was a continuation of a custom. Apparently not.

I wanted to ask, as one has learned that piece of Rambam, whether there is really a law to maintain a custom, or because one doesn’t have a custom the default is two days.

The Question of Eilat

What I would have thought is that ah, the question, the other political question, a great dispute among the poskim today, is about a place like Eilat, which is certainly not the conquest of those who came up from Egypt, but it’s the conquest of the Jews today. And it’s a large Jewish city, and it’s part of the State of Israel, or the new Eretz Yisrael.

So the halacha for the people depends on how Zionist one is, somehow. If one is more Zionist, one recognizes the Zionist conquest. One says that certainly, it has the status of Eretz Yisrael, according to the Ritva one must observe one day of Yom Tov. Yes?

If one says otherwise, if one goes more strictly with the Rambam’s halacha, that every place that is a doubt, if one doesn’t know that there is a custom, one must observe two days, then it means chutz la’aretz. One cries, I won’t say that it’s chutz la’aretz. Yes, he says that the conquest, today’s conquest is not really a conquest. At a time when there wasn’t the question, no, it doesn’t make any difference.

On the other hand, it’s a bit funny to say that one should be stringent there. Why? Because according to the Rambam, once one sees how the Rambam could have divided the land, there are still reasons to divide the land. I said that there is even more than that.

Why? Because the whole thing that one observes the second day of Yom Tov, even in a place where messengers could have come and they just didn’t come, is also a very funny innovation of the Rambam, so that they won’t forget the custom. The entire settlement said, it’s a close place, it’s a close place. So, and the entire second day of Yom Tov today is also difficult. A difficult custom to understand.

We said according to Kabbalah that Eretz Yisrael, regarding the holiness of Eretz Yisrael, there the lights come in one day, and in chutz la’aretz it comes in two days. One needs to ask a Kabbalist to travel to Eilat and see whether the lights come in one day or two days, and only then decide.

Eilat is a weak city, there are there for the holiness I think three days. But since Reb Mendel Hager went there… already, already. Well, it’s become worse. Okay, water as you will.

In short, a story, this is the topic. I don’t know, it’s an interesting question. But in practice, the entire day is a custom. So if the Jews who live there conduct themselves to observe one day, it’s very difficult to say that one should go against the custom, understand? They say that they don’t reckon that it’s not pious enough the Jews.

And the Rambam says, I was renewed in the desert of Eretz Yisrael. It seems that he himself makes a distinction between places where it’s very possible it already was. Already was a settlement, but in the desert the chances are small that it’s… Yes, but he also says, well, how does he say? Or there was a new Jewish city, there were gentiles before. Aha.

Let’s Complete the Last Piece of the Chapter

Let’s complete the last piece of the chapter, what the Rambam says here, “This is what we calculate in this time each and every one in his city. And we say”, the calculation that he said earlier, that there is a calculation… we will soon go learn, yes?

Interesting, he says that each one does the calculation in their city? Yes. One looks at the calendar, or whatever, it’s based on the calculation. Who makes the calendar? The rabbi of the city makes it, no? Who makes it by you? I don’t know to buy the grocery. There are experts who have made the calendar for many years, and better on this one makes calendars. It’s a shortcut, one doesn’t look at the Shulchan Aruch, one calculates.

Yes, says the Rambam, “What we say Rosh Chodesh is on such and such a day and Yom Tov is on such and such a day, it’s not by our calculation that they are established and it’s not on it that we rely.” Why? Isn’t it something a new calculation that new astronomers sit down and make calculations? No, no, he doesn’t mean that. He means that it lies in learning. Not on our calculation does one make Rosh Hashanah.

We now say a whole chapter, learned that one makes Rosh Hashanah according to calculation. Would you have thought that the calculation makes Rosh Hashanah? That we make the calculation, we make Rosh Hashanah. Each one, each Jew sits in his city and he looks in the Shulchan Aruch what the calculation is, and he makes Rosh Chodesh, he thinks that he makes Rosh Chodesh. No, you don’t make Rosh Chodesh at all. But what?

Why? “For one doesn’t intercalate years and establish months from outside the Land.” One can’t, even with a calculation. What we said earlier that there is a law of calculation, didn’t nullify the law that one must have a beit din (court) in Eretz Yisrael. “And we don’t rely except…” No, it could be that what he said Moshe and Aharon is only as long as there is a Sanhedrin, but he also said the matter of “for from Zion shall go forth Torah and the word of Hashem from Jerusalem.” The other words that I said earlier means regarding seeing, but regarding the essential law that one needs to bless the beit din in Eretz Yisrael hasn’t changed.

“Rather on the calculation of the residents of Eretz Yisrael and their establishment.” Eh, what do we do when we make the calculation? We make the calculation ourselves. He says, “This that we calculate is only to reveal the matter”, to discover something that they already made the calculation. The sages of Israel already made the calculation. No, no, no, they make it now. They make it now. Aha, okay.

And we can what they do, we use the same calculations to hit the great wisdom. We know that Eretz Yisrael calculates the calendar that I calculate, I know that the Eretz Yisrael rabbi does what I do. “As if we are witnesses of the calculation”, they rely, “we calculate”, to calculate is unfortunately “the day that the residents of Eretz Yisrael established which day it is. And in the establishment of the residents of Israel that is”, the establishment of Israel, that is what establishes “that it should be Rosh Chodesh or Yom Tov, and not from the calculation that we calculate.”

It’s indeed yes, for from Zion shall go forth Torah, the essential authority lies in the hands of Eretz Yisrael. And we do only according to their knowledge and intention, we do nothing. We know that they, we ask them. But we don’t ask, because it’s a clear calculation, there aren’t two ways. We don’t ask, we ask them, we ask them. We call Eretz Yisrael, “When did you make Rosh Chodesh this year?” Through what we make.

Eh, we can’t call them, or we don’t know who they are? The answer is, that we know exactly how they will do it, because they already said, they go according to the same halacha l’Moshe miSinai (law given to Moses at Sinai), but what one means already one of them goes according to calculation. One knows one hundred percent that they will make Rosh Chodesh every time on the day that stands in our calendar.

Discussion: Must One Have Ordination for Sanctifying the Month?

Speaker 1: The Rambam held that there are always sages in Eretz Yisrael. Ordained ones? Says the Rambam, no, one doesn’t need ordination. This is a question that the Rambam asks. The Rambam learns that one doesn’t need ordination for sanctifying the month. But one does need to have sages in Eretz Yisrael, that if there weren’t a single Jew in Eretz Yisrael, there would be no Rosh Chodesh, one couldn’t afflict chametz fruits. So says the Rambam.

The commentator here on the Rambam brings from Sefer HaMitzvot that we have a promise from the Almighty “for it will not be forgotten,” that the Jews will never, there will never be a destruction on the people of Israel. And if there are no sages in Eretz Yisrael, it’s a destruction on the people of Israel, because there is no way to make Yom Tov, according to the Rambam’s approach. Very interesting.

Speaker 2: It means this, that here one doesn’t speak about authority. There are two laws: there is the Sanhedrin, and that is a matter that they have the authority. But besides the matter of authority is, who are the sages? Yes? And that is the other teaching that was said “for from Zion shall go forth Torah.” The “for from Zion shall go forth Torah” doesn’t say that “from Zion shall go forth” ownership, kingship, government. Torah is also only here in Eretz Yisrael.

Speaker 1: What? I don’t understand what you mean government Torah. The Torah is…

Speaker 2: I’m saying, as long as there was a Sanhedrin it was very clear that they make all the decisions. Now there is no Sanhedrin, but there are Torah scholars in Eretz Yisrael. There is a beit din in Eretz Yisrael, exactly.

Speaker 1: Eh, who is the beit din in Eretz Yisrael? We don’t know them?

Speaker 2: This is a peculiarity of the Rambam’s approach. That is, the Rambam acts as if there is a beit din in Eretz Yisrael, although there are those who say that we are such Jews in Eretz Yisrael. Ten Jews, whoever they are, they are the beit din. What is a beit din? Let’s remember, a beit din must know something, but one doesn’t need to know to do this, one only needs to calculate. Calculate every Jew can. So already.

Speaker 1: Eh, it says “the rabbis appointed him entirely”? I don’t know. Anyway, so brings the other, yes.

Speaker 2: In short, the Ramban disagrees on this, on this one has spoken. The Ramban says that he doesn’t understand what helps ten simple Jews in Eretz Yisrael, or a beit din must have ordination. Therefore the Ramban said another interpretation, that the previous beit din sanctified the months in advance, and what we do is retroactively on their calculation. It means the same thing, we calculate to reveal the matter when Hillel sanctified our month, but not today’s Eretz Yisrael.

In Practice — Who Makes the Calendar?

Speaker 1: Okay, in practice you open your notice or whatever, there are the sages of Eretz Yisrael who are the great ones of the generation and according to their knowledge, yes. But they don’t know the calculation.

Speaker 2: No, it’s indeed interesting, because the Rambam also knew that there were very many times that the great sages, the Geonim, all lived in Babylonia, and they had the authority, not Eretz Yisrael.

Speaker 1: What means the authority?

Speaker 2: It doesn’t help, it must be in Eretz Yisrael. He can be a smaller sage, but he is in Eretz Yisrael, and he didn’t say about seeing that one needs the greatest sage. One doesn’t need the greatest sage, it’s a simple thing. That thing was a matter of seeing.

End of Chapter 5

Okay. Until here is chapter 5, a very beautiful clear chapter. And from now one goes to learn how the calculations are, how the calculations work.