Rosh Hashanah 26b — the Talmud in English

"So-and-so has robbed!".

And he did not know

Levi

what he was saying to him

that man.

He came,

Levi came, and

asked in the beit-midrash,

in the beit-midrash, what the man who said, "So-and-so has robbed," intended.

They said to him:

From the expression of

"A robber has said to you!"

that is to say, "So-and-so has robbed me."

As it is written [Malachi 3]:

"Will a person rob the Almighty!?

For you are robbing Me! And you say: With what have we robbed You? — With the tithe and the teruma."

That is to say, the Children of Israel rob the Almighty by not giving the tithe and the teruma.

Rava of Barnish said to Rav Ashi: If I had been there,

if I had been there [and not Levi],

I would have said to him

I would have said to that man:

How

how

did he rob you?

With what did he rob you?

And why

why

did he rob you?

And I would thereby have known.

And from his answer I would have understood what "So-and-so has robbed" means!

But he,

Levi, who did not do so,

thought: He is saying to him a matter of prohibition.

He thought that the intention was a matter of prohibition, and that it was not applicable to ask about it, "How did he rob you?" and the like.

In tractate Megilla [17a] we learned that if one read the Megilla on Purim intermittently, he has fulfilled his obligation.

And

the Sages did not know what "intermittently" meant.

They heard it from the maidservant of the house of Rabbi, for the Sages saw that they were entering in separate intervals,

they heard the maidservant of the house of Rabbi, who saw the students entering the beit-midrash in groups and groups, with intervals between them, for they did not all enter at once.

She said to them: Until when will you enter intermittently and intermittently?

From this they understood that "intermittently" means in parts.

And the intention of the Mishna in Megilla is: one who reads the Megilla in parts, not in one continuous sequence, has fulfilled his obligation.

Another incident:

In tractate Yoma it was taught in a beraita [18a] that for seven days before Yom Kippur they prevented the High Priest from eating garlic and haluglogot.

And

the Sages did not know what haluglogot meant.

One day, they heard the maidservant of the house of Rabbi, who saw a certain man scattering his parpehinya,

one day they heard the maidservant of the house of Rabbi, who saw a man scattering a type of vegetable [called parpehina].

She said to him: Until when will you scatter your haluglog?

Another incident:

the Sages did not know what

the verse in Proverbs [chapter 4], said concerning Torah, meant:

"Examine it

and it will exalt you."

One day, they heard the maidservant of the house of Rabbi, who was saying to a certain man who was turning over his hair.

She said to him: Until when will you curl your hair?

From this, the meaning of the verse "Examine it" is: search and turn over [its meanings] in the hidden places within the Torah. And then, the Torah "will exalt you."

Another incident:

the Sages did not know what

the intention of the verse [Isaiah 14] was:

"And I will sweep it

[Babylon]

with the broom of destruction."

One day, they heard the maidservant of the house of Rabbi, who was saying

who was saying

to her companion: Take the broom and sweep the house.

Take the broom and sweep the house.

Another incident:

the Sages did not know what,

what the verse [Psalms 55] meant:

"Cast upon the Lord your burden, and He will sustain you."

They did not understand the meaning of the word "your burden."

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said: One day, I was walking with a certain Arab,

one day I went with a certain Ishmaelite.

I was carrying a burden,

and I was carrying a load.

And he said to me,

the Ishmaelite:

Lift your burden,

raise your load,

and throw it onto my camels!

Throw it onto my camel.

From this, "your burden," mentioned in the verse, means your load. And the meaning of the verse is as follows: "Cast upon the Lord your burden" — trust in the Lord, that He will assist you. And then, if you trust in Him, He will sustain you.

Mishna:

Although we learned in the previous Mishna that all the shofarot are fit for sounding the shofar [except that of a cow — according to the Rabbis], nevertheless, ideally —

the shofar of Rosh HaShana

must be a shofar

of a ya'el,

which is

straight

and not curved.

And

in the Temple, it had

its mouth plated with gold.

And

in the Temple they sounded with

two trumpets on the sides,

for two men sounded the trumpets on both sides of the one sounding the shofar — the

shofar

was

prolonged

in its sounding,

while the trumpets shortened.

For after the trumpets became silent, the sound of the shofar was still heard, because

the mitzva of the day is with the shofar

[and the Gemara will explain what the Mishna means here].

And on fast days,

they sounded

with

shofarot

of rams,

which are

curved, and their mouths

were

plated with silver, and two trumpets in the middle,

between the two shofarot.

And on fast days, the

shofar

was

shortened

in its sounding,

while

whereas

the trumpets

were

prolonged —

because

the mitzva of the day is with the trumpets,

since they sounded them for the gathering of the people.

And every gathering of the people was with trumpets, as it is stated [Numbers 10]: "Make for yourself two silver trumpets. And they shall be for you for the calling of the assembly."

It is equal

the Yom Kippur of the year of

the Jubilee to Rosh HaShana —

with regard to sounding,

for in both of them they sound a straight shofar of a ya'el.

Even though the reason for its sounding is not similar to the sounding of Rosh HaShana, for the sounding of Rosh HaShana is for remembrance and prayer, whereas the sounding of Yom Kippur is a sign of the sending away of the slaves and the release of the sale of the fields, nevertheless, its law is like that of Rosh HaShana.

Since the Gemara derives that the laws of the shofar of the Jubilee and of Rosh HaShana are equal, because "seventh" is stated concerning both of them, and one is learned from the other by a gzera shava. [Below, 34a].

Therefore, just as on Yom Kippur they sound a shofar, so too on Rosh HaShana they sound one.

And just as on Rosh HaShana they sound one of a ya'el, so too on Yom Kippur they sound one of a ya'el.

And

likewise, the Jubilee is equal to Rosh HaShana

with regard to the blessings,

for in the additional prayer of Yom Kippur of the Jubilee one recites nine blessings, including the three first blessings and the three last blessings as on every day, and in the middle three blessings — kingship, remembrances, and shofarot.

Rabbi Yehuda

disagrees and

says: On Rosh HaShana they sound with rams,

male sheep,

and in the Jubilees with ya'elim.

And Rabbi Yehuda does not derive Rosh HaShana and the Jubilee by a gzera shava [because he did not receive this gzera shava from his teachers].

Gemara:

Rabbi Levi said: It is a mitzva

ideally, that the shofar

of Rosh HaShana and of Yom Kippur

of the Jubilee be

with

shofarot

that are curved.

And that of the entire year

on fast days —

with

shofarot

that are straight.

And we challenge Rabbi Levi:

But did we not learn,

for we learned in our Mishna:

The shofar of Rosh HaShana —

a straight shofar of a ya'el!

And we answer:

He,

Rabbi Levi,

said in accordance with this tannai:

For it was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Yehuda says: On Rosh HaShana they would sound with curved rams, and in the Jubilees with ya'elim.

And we challenge: If so,

let him say,

it would have been appropriate for Rabbi Levi to say

"The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda"!

And we answer:

If you say, "The halakha is in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda,"

then

I would have thought,

I would have said that

even

with the shofar

of the Jubilee as well, his view is in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda,

that one sounds with that of ya'elim.

Therefore,

he teaches us

Rabbi Levi, and said: "The mitzva of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur is with curved ones. And that of the entire year [on fast days] is with straight ones."

The Gemara explains the reasons of the first tannai and Rabbi Yehuda: And we inquire:

With what do they differ,

in what do the Sages and Rabbi Yehuda differ?

And we answer:

One master,

Rabbi Yehuda,

holds: On Rosh HaShana, the more a person bends his mind, the better.

The more a person bends his soul down to the ground in his prayer, the better, and the sounding of the shofar of Rosh HaShana comes for prayer and to recall the Binding of Isaac. Therefore, they sound with curved shofarot.

And on Yom Kippur

of the Jubilee, for the sounding does not come for prayer —

the more a person straightens his mind, the better.

The more a person opens and straightens his heart, the better. Therefore, they sound with straight shofarot.

And

if

the other master,

the first tannai,

holds: On Rosh HaShana, the more a person straightens his mind, the better!

The more a person straightens his soul, the better, because it is stated [Lamentations 3]: "Let us lift our heart to our palms."

And on Yom Kippur

of the Jubilee

also,

it is equal to Rosh HaShana, because

he derives by a gzera shava

"seventh, seventh," to teach that their laws are equal.

And on fast days,

the more a person bends his mind, the better —

there is no difference between a straight one and a curved one.

And in order to distinguish them from Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur, they instituted that they be sounded with curved ones.

And Rabbi Levi holds in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda's view concerning the shofar of Rosh HaShana, that they sound with a curved one because in prayer a person must bend his heart. And he holds that Yom Kippur is learned from Rosh HaShana by a gzera shava; therefore, in both they sound with curved ones [Rashi].