(א) וּבַחֹ֨דֶשׁ הַשְּׁבִיעִ֜י בְּאֶחָ֣ד לַחֹ֗דֶשׁ מִֽקְרָא־קֹ֙דֶשׁ֙ יִהְיֶ֣ה לָכֶ֔ם כָּל־מְלֶ֥אכֶת עֲבֹדָ֖ה לֹ֣א תַעֲשׂ֑וּ י֥וֹם תְּרוּעָ֖ה יִהְיֶ֥ה לָכֶֽם׃
(23) And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: (24) Speak unto the children of Israel, saying: In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial proclaimed with the blast of horns, a holy convocation. (25) Ye shall do no manner of servile work; and ye shall bring an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
- Find these verses in your Chumashim and get a sense of their context!
- What do we know about Rosh Hashanah from the description of the holiday in Numbers and in Leviticus?
- What is missing from the Torah's description of the Holiday?
- What surprises you about these two descriptions of Rosh Hashanah?
- What - if any differences - do you find between these two description of the holiday?
(א) זכרון תרועה. זכרון פסוקי זכרונות ופסוקי שופרות, לזכור לכם עקידת יצחק שקרב תחתיו איל:
a memorial... (referring to the) verses of Zichronot and the verses of Shofarot, to remind you of the binding of Isaac in whose stead a ram was offered (to God).
- Is there an implicit question that Rashi is addressing here? If so what is it...
- What do we learn from this comment on our text?
- What is the context of the verses from Exodus?
- What does the shofar symbolize in these Exodus verses? What is it coming to tell the people?
- What is the context of the verses from Leviticus?
- What does the shofar mean there?
- What other biblical images of the Shofar can your recall?
- How might those contexts inform our experience of the Shofar on Rosh Hashanah?
Part II - What's a Shofar?
(ב) כל השופרות כשרין חוץ משל פרה, מפני שהוא קרן. אמר רבי יוסי: והלא כל השופרות נקראו קרן, שנאמר (יהושע ו) במשוך בקרן היובל.
(2) All shofars are fit [to be blown on Rosh Hashanah], except for that of a cow because it is [called] a horn [and not a shofar]. Rabbi Yose said, "But are not all shofars [also] called a horn, as it is stated (Joshua 6:5), 'upon a long blast from the ram’s horn'?”
- What is the subject of the disagreement in the Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah?
- What kinds of evidence do the two perspectives muster in their defense?
- What is the context of the verse from Joshua? (Hint: You may have to crack open a TaNaKh...) What might that image of the Shofar do for our worship on Rosh Hashanah?
היינו טעמא דרבנן כדרב חסדא דאמר רב חסדא
מפני מה אין כהן גדול נכנס בבגדי זהב לפני ולפנים לעבוד עבודה לפי שאין קטיגור נעשה סניגור
The reason of the Rabbis [who exclude the cow's horn from the category of kosher shofarot in our Mishnah] is to be found in the saying of R. Hisda; for R. Hisda said: Why does not the High Priest enter the inner precincts in garments of gold to perform the service there? Because the accuser may not act as defender.
How does the statement of Rav Hisda, supplied by the Gemara, support the view of Mishnah's Tanna Kamma/(The first anonymous opinion)?
אין קטיגור - זהב העגל ושופר של פרה נמי קטיגור דעגל הוא:
The accuser may not act - the gold of the Golden Calf, and a horn of calf are both called accusers for they are identified with "the Calf".
How does Rashi's comment clarify - or complicate - the words of the Gemara?
(א) שופר של ראש השנה מצותו בשל איל וכפוף
ובדיעבד כל השופרות כשרים בין פשוטים בין כפופים
ומצוה בכפופים יותר מבפשוטים
ושל פרה פסול בכל גוונא וכן קרני רוב החיות שהם עצם אחד ואין להם מבפנים זכרות פסולים. (וכן שופר מבהמה טמאה פסול).
The shofar for Rosh Hashanah which is the most desirable for the mitzvah is a shofar that is from a ram and is bent.
After the fact, all shofars are kosher, irrespective of whether they are straight or bent.
The mitzvah is beter fulfilled with bent shofars rather than straight shofars.
The horn of a cow is invalid in all circumstances and likewise, horns of most non-domestic animals are invalid. The reason is that they consist of a single bone and don't have a male bone on the inside. (Likewise, a shofar from an unclean animal is invalid.)
- How does the Shulchan Aruch codify as a legal opinion the words of the Mishnah and Gemara?
- What does the gloss of Moshe Isserles add to the (lengthier) opinion of Joseph Karo?
(א) יום טוב של ראש השנה שחל להיות בשבת, במקדש היו תוקעים, אבל לא במדינה. משחרב בית המקדש, התקין רבן יוחנן בן זכאי, שיהו תוקעין בכל מקום שיש בו בית דין. אמר רבי אלעזר: לא התקין רבן יוחנן בן זכאי אלא ביבנה בלבד. אמרו לו: אחד יבנה ואחד כל מקום שיש בו בית דין.
(1) The festival day of Rosh Hashanah which coincided with Shabbat: they would blow [the shofar] in the Temple, but not in the [rest of the] country. After the destruction of the Temple, Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai, ordained that they should blow in every place in which there is a court. Rabbi Eleizer said, "Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai only made this ordinance with respect to Yavneh alone." [The Sages] said [back] to him, "It was the same for Yavneh as for any other place in which there was a court."
(א) יום טוב של ראש השנה שחל להיות בשבת כו': כבר בארנו פעמים כי מקדש תקרא ירושלים כולה ומדינה שאר העיירות שבכל ארץ ישראל: והטעם שבעבורו נאסרה תקיעת שופר בשבת גזירה שמא יטלנו בידו ויעבירנו ד' אמות ברשות הרבים כמו שבארנו בלולב לפי שתקיעת שופר אינה מלאכה. :
We have already explained elsewhere that "Temple" implies all of Jerusalem, and "country" the rest of the cities spread across the land of Israel.
And the reason Shofar blowing was banned on Shabbat, a decree, lest one carry his or her shofar 4 amot in the Public Domain (on Shabbat), just like a lulav, neither of which are in and of themselves a labor forbidden on the Shabbat.
אבל לא במדינה - לא בירושלים ולא בגבולין:
not in the rest of the country - not in Jerusalem nor in the countryside
- What do you think of the ban on Shofar blowing outside of the Temple or Yavneh on Shabbat? How might this affect, positively or negatively the experience of Rosh Hashanah? How have your experienced this law in your own life?
- What is the difference between how Rashi and Rambam read our Mishnah?
- How might their disparate readings of this core rabbinic text affect how Rabbis - or you! - would decide the law today?
CCAR RESPONSA
American Reform Responsa
45. Blowing of the Shofar on the Sabbath
(Vol. XXIII, 1913, pp. 182-183)
QUESTION: I wish to broach a question to which my attention has been called during the last few years. I have been asked whether it is right that in some Reform congregations the blowing of the Shofar is omitted on Rosh Hashana, if the same happens to fall on a Sabbath Day. This is most certainly an error. The Mishna (R.H. IV.l) tells us that as long as the Temple existed in Jerusalem the Shofar was blown only there on a Sabbath Day, but not in other places. After the destruction of the Temple, R. Yochanan ben Zakkai declared that in Yavneh, it being the seat of the Sanhedrin, the Shofar should be blown on Sabbath as well, the seat of the Torah being tantamount to the Holy of Holies. This decision of R. Yochanan ben Zakkai was afterward applied to every place where a court of justice sat or the spiritual head of the Jewish people resided (see Asheri, R.H. IV).
ANSWER: The reason for not having the Shofar blown on Sabbath outside of the Temple, stated by the older Amoraim in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmud is rather strange. The term "Yom Teru-a," "Day of Blowing," is said to refer to Jerusalem only as the place where the day of the new month was fixed; whereas for other places "Zichron Teru-a," "Remembrance of the Blowing" (by the recital of the Scriptural verses) is sufficient. Afterward, another--and more whimsical--reason was given: A man who does not know how to use theShofar might be induced to carry it through public places on a Sabbath to an expert in order to learn how to blow it, and so violate the Sabbath, and for this reason the Rabbis forbade the blowing of the Shofar on Sabbath altogether. Of course, since Rosh Hashana has two days all through the Diaspora, the second day was considered as good as the first for the blowing of the Shofar. Now we ask, can this Rabbinical prohibition apply to us, who no longer have a second day of Rosh Hashana? Furthermore, we ask, have we not our organ playing in our temples on Sabbath in spite of the Rabbinical prohibition of using a musical instrument, based upon fear lest one might repair it, should it suffer any damage? (The making of music itself was not regarded as labor by Rabbinic law--"Chochma ve-einah melacha," "It is art, not labor".) Nay, more: the very spirit of Reform that empowers R. Yochanan ben Zakkai to declare the sanctuary of learning of Yavneh to be as holy as the Temple at Jerusalem ought by all means to empower us to assign our temples the same divine character of holiness as the ancient Temple, with its sacrificial cult, possessed. The very name "Temple" given to the Reform synagogue was no doubt meant to accentuate this very principle voiced by R. Yochanan ben Zakkai.
To sum up all we have said: We must in all matters of reform and progress agree upon the leading principles and not allow them to become arbitrary and individualistic. Let each member of the Conference who has practical questions to submit, bring his cases to the knowledge of this or any other similar committee, so that we may reach at least a mutual understanding.
K. Kohler and D. Neumark
https://ccarnet.org/responsa/arr-119-121/
CCAR RESPONSA
American Reform Responsa
46. Blowing of the Shofar
(Vol. XXXIII, 1923, pp. 60-61)
QUESTION: In answer to a question by a younger colleague whether the Shofar should be blown on Rosh Hashana happening, as it did, on Saturday, Rabbi Martin A. Meyer of San Francisco gave his opinion "that in view of the attitude of Reform, there was no reason why we should omit this characteristic custom."
This opinion of Rabbi Meyer was sent to the chairman of this committee for endorsement and possible elaboration, both of which are given below.
ANSWER: There is no reason why the Shofar should not be blown on a Rosh Hashana which falls on a Saturday in congregations where only one day of Rosh Hashana is observed. During Temple times the distinction was made between the Temple in Jerusalem and the synagogues in the provinces, in that only in the former was the Shofar blown on a Saturday. After the Temple was destroyed, R. Yochanan ben Zakkai instituted the practice that wherever there is a Beit Din, that is, a rabbinical tribunal, the Shofar should be blown on Saturday (Mishna, Rosh Hashana IV.l). Commenting upon this Mishna, the Babylonian Gemara (Rosh Hashana 29b) declares that blowing of theShofar is an art but not work, and hence, by Biblical law, is permitted on Saturday, but that Rabbinical law prohibits it on Saturday lest it might happen that the one who is to perform the ceremony would wish to go to an expert in order to practice, and thus carry with him theShofar on the Sabbath day, which act (that is, the carrying of it) is prohibited on the Sabbath ("Shema yitelenu beyado veyelech etsel baki veya-avirenu arba amot birshut harabim"). The same consideration also prompted the Rabbis to discard the ceremony of "taking the Lulav" on the first day of Sukkot when it happens on a Saturday. Thus, the only reason for not blowing the Shofar on a Sabbath is the fear that it might lead to a violation of the law prohibiting the carrying of burdens on Saturday. It is interesting to notice that this consideration was not shared by all the Rabbis, for we are told that R. Abahu once came to Alexandria, and he made the congregation there perform the ceremony of "taking the Lulav" on the first day of Sukkot, which happened to be on a Saturday (Yer. Eruvin III, 21c), not letting the consideration that it might lead to the sin of carrying a burden on Sabbath interfere with the duty of performing the ceremony. We may safely assume that had Abahu visited Alexandria on a Rosh Hashana which happened to fall on Saturday, he would have made them perform the ceremony of blowing the Shofar.
Furthermore, this consideration that it might lead to a violation of a law, might be carried to the extreme. For, as some of the Rabbinical authorities rightly say, on the same ground one could argue that the ceremony should be altogether prohibited, even on Rosh Hashana falling on a week day, for fear that it might happen that the Shofar might need repairing, and this will lead to doing work which is prohibited on a holiday (comp. Turei Zahav and Magen Avraham to Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim, 588.5). Of course, they answer that, in this case, the fear that it might lead to the sin of doing repair work on Yom Tov is not to be entertained, for it would have the result of entirely abolishing the ceremony. This latter argument is quite correct, and it applies with equal force to the question of blowing the Shofar on Rosh Hashana which falls on a Sabbath Day in those congregations where only one day of Rosh Hashana is observed. For if we allow the fear that the Shofar might be carried on the street to interfere with the performance of the ceremony, the result will be that-- for that year at least--the ceremony will be entirely omitted; and we should not abolish this characteristic ceremony, even for one year.
Jacob Z. Lauterbach and Committee
See also:
S.B. Freehof, "Shofar on New Year Sabbath," Recent Reform Responsa, pp. 36ff.
https://ccarnet.org/responsa/arr-121-122/
Says Rabbi Levi bar Lachma, says Rabbi Chama bar Chanina, one verse says "a memorial proclaimed with the blast of horns" and verse says "a day of horn blasts it shall be for you." There is no contradiction, the first speaks of the holiday which falls on Shabbat and the other of the holiday which falls on a weekday.
- What differences do you find in these two early twentieth century Reform responses to the law of the Mishnah?
- Are these ideas applicable in a Conservative Synagogue? Why or why not?
- What other arguments and ideas might you apply in considering this conundrum on your own or with a ritual committee?