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Rosh Hashanah 19

1) THE REASON FOR TREATING THE SECOND DAY OF TISHREI LIKE A YOM TOV

QUESTION: The Gemara asks why the Rabanan would establish a day of Yom Tov on the third of Tishrei during the time of the Beis ha'Mikdash, since there was already a Yom Tov on that day -- Tzom Gedalyah (which was a Yom Tov when the Beis ha'Mikdash was standing). The Gemara first suggests that perhaps they established another Yom Tov on that day so that the preceding day, the second of Tishrei, would also be treated like a Yom Tov (and be Asur b'Hesped u'v'Ta'anis). To that the Gemara asks that it is still unnecessary to make a new Yom Tov for that reason, since the second day of Tishrei is already Asur b'Hesped because it is the day that follows Rosh Chodesh.

Why does the Gemara ask that the second day of Tishrei is already Asur b'Hesped because it is the day after Rosh Chodesh? The Gemara should ask that it is Asur b'Hesped because it is the second day of Rosh Hashanah (or at least the second day of Rosh Chodesh)!

ANSWERS:

(a) The RITVA answers that the reason why the Gemara says that the second of Tishrei is Asur b'Hesped becomes it is the day after Rosh Chodesh (and after Rosh Hashanah) is because in Yerushalayim itself, the second of Tishrei was not Rosh Hashanah or Safek Rosh hChodesh. The Gemara wanted to show that even in Yerushalayim itself there was nothing gained by establishing a new Yom Tov, since the second of Tishrei was already Asur b'Hesped even in Yerushalayim (where there is only one day of Rosh Hashanah), because it is the day after Rosh Chodesh.

(b) The CHESHEK SHLOMO says that this Gemara supports the opinion of Rashi, who writes earlier (18a, see Insights there) that only one day of Rosh Hashanah was observed even outside of Eretz Yisrael, during the times that the Sheluchim were sent there. Therefore, the only reason why the second of Tishrei would be Asur b'Hesped is because it is the day *after* Rosh Chodesh and Rosh Hashanah.

QUESTION: The Gemara concludes that the Rabanan established a new Yom Tov on the third of Tishrei, even though there was already a Yom Tov on that day (Tzom Gedalyah), in order that the second of Tishrei be treated like a Yom Tov (and be Asur b'Hesped u'v'Ta'anis) by virtue of preceding a Yom Tov d'Rabanan. The Gemara says that even though the second of Tishrei follows and precedes two other Yamim Tovim, as it is the day after Rosh Chodesh (and after Rosh Hashanah) and it is the day before Tzom Gedalyah, it would not have been Asur b'Hesped without a new Yom Tov d'Rabanan, because those Yamim Tovim (Rosh Chodesh/Rosh Hashanah and Tzom Gedalyah) are Yamim Tovim mid'Oraisa and m'Divrei Kabalah, which do not need Chizuk, and thus there is no need to make the day before or after them Asur b'Hesped. Now that the Rabanan established a new Yom Tov d'Rabanan on the third of Tishrei, that Yom Tov d'Rabanan needs Chizuk and thus the second of Tishrei is Asur b'Hesped.

The "Chizuk" of prohibiting eulogies and fasting on the day before the Yom Tov is so that people not be lenient with the Yom Tov which the Rabanan made. Here, though, the people will not be lenient with the Yom Tov that the Rabanan made on the third of Tishrei, because that day is already a Yom Tov m'Divrei Kabalah, which people are very careful to observe! Why, then, was there a need to give that day Chizuk and to make the preceding day Asur b'Hesped? (We cannot answer that it needs Chizuk for when the Beis ha'Mikdash is not standing, when Tzom Gedalyah is no longer a Yom Tov but a day of fasting, because the Gemara says that after the Churban, all of the Yamim Tovim d'Rabanan mentioned in Megilas Ta'anis will be annulled! Moreover, even if the Yamim Tovim in Megilas Ta'anis are not annulled after the Churban, the Gemara should have given this as an answer if it was true.)

ANSWERS:

(a) The PNEI YEHOSHUA suggests that the Rabanan instituted a day of Isur Hesped before their Yom Tov even when it was also a Yom Tov d'Oraisa, because of "Lo Plug" -- in order not to differentiate between Yamim Tovim d'Rabanan. (This answer needs further clarification, because it implies that the Rabanan made the third of Tishrei a new Yom Tov d'Rabanan simply to make the day before it Asur b'Hesped. But if the day itself (third of Tishrei) does not need Chizuk, then why make a new Yom Tov just to prohibit the day before?)

(b) The reason the third of Tishrei needs Chizuk is not because we are afraid that people will not celebrate that day. Rather, it needs Chizuk so that people will remember the miracle for which the new Yom Tov was made. Even though the observance of the Yom Tov of the third of Tishrei does not need Chizuk because it is a Yom Tov m'Divrei Kabalah, it nevertheless needs Chizuk so that people will remember the miracle that happened for which the Rabanan made a new Yom Tov.

19b