Rosh Hashanah 33b (לג:) — the Talmud in English

Here,

in the first clause, where we learned that “we engage them [and tell them to sound],” the reference is to

a minor who has reached the age of education,

and it is a mitzva to train him.

But

here,

in the latter clause, where we learned that we do not prevent them, the reference is

to a minor who has not reached the age of education,

for there is no mitzva to train him. Therefore, we do not tell him to sound the shofar. However, if he sounds it on his own initiative, we do not prevent him from doing so.

We learned in the Mishna:

“And one who is engaged

with a shofar without intending to sound it, and he sounded it” —

has not fulfilled his obligation.

And we infer from our Mishna: Only

one who is engaged has not fulfilled his obligation,

because he had no intention whatsoever to sound the shofar. For example, one who wishes to produce short barking sounds with a shofar, but a proper blast came out instead; or one who blows into a shofar and a blast comes out.

And it follows:

if one sounds it for musical purposes, he has fulfilled his obligation —

since he intended to sound the shofar, although his intention in sounding it was for music and not for the mitzva.

For if we say that even one who sounds it for musical purposes has not fulfilled his obligation, it would have been appropriate for the tanna to teach us a greater novelty: that even if he intended to sound it, but sounded it for music, he has not fulfilled his obligation.

And we say:

Let us say that this supports Rava.

Can our Mishna be brought as proof of Rava’s statement,

for Rava said:

“One who sounds it for musical purposes —

has fulfilled his obligation!”

And we reject this:

Perhaps

one who sounds it for musical purposes has not fulfilled his obligation,

and

one who sounds it for musical purposes is also called “one who is engaged.”

One who sounds it for musical purposes is likewise called “one who is engaged” in our Mishna, because he did not intend in his sounding to fulfill the mitzva, but was engaged in sounding it for musical purposes. The tanna teaches us that in this case as well he has not fulfilled his obligation, contrary to Rava’s statement.

We learned in the Mishna:

“And one who hears from one who is engaged has not fulfilled his obligation.”

And we infer: It is implied by our Mishna that the listener has not fulfilled his obligation because the one who sounded the shofar was engaged in sounding it without intending to fulfill the obligation.

But one who hears from one who sounds it for himself,

from a person who sounded it with the intention of fulfilling the mitzva, but did not intend to fulfill the obligation on behalf of others,

what

is the listener’s status? —

He has fulfilled his obligation!

Let us say that this is a refutation of Rabbi Zeira.

Does our Mishna contradict the statement of Rabbi Zeira:

for Rabbi Zeira said to his attendant,

his servant:

“Have the intention, and sound it for me!”

Rabbi Zeira said to his attendant: Have the intention in your sounding to fulfill my obligation. Yet in our Mishna we learned that one who hears from one who is engaged has not fulfilled his obligation. This implies that if the one who sounds the shofar intended to fulfill the mitzva, the listener also fulfills his obligation, even though the one sounding did not intend to fulfill the listener’s obligation!

This is contrary to the view of Rabbi Zeira!

And we reject this:

Perhaps

even one who hears from a person who intended in his sounding to fulfill the mitzva has not fulfilled his obligation unless the one sounding intended to fulfill his obligation, in accordance with Rabbi Zeira’s statement.

And

since the first clause teaches the case of one who is engaged,

and because the tanna taught in the first clause that one who is engaged himself has not fulfilled his obligation,

he taught

[the same] also in

the latter clause:

one who hears from one who is

engaged.

In truth, however, the tanna could have taught us a greater novelty: that even if the one sounding intended to fulfill his own obligation, if he did not intend to fulfill the listener’s obligation, the listener has not fulfilled his obligation.

Mishna:

a.

The order of the blasts

is as follows:

He sounds

three

blasts.

Each of these three blasts is not a single blast; rather, it is an “order of blasts

consisting of three”

blasts in each order.

In each order of blasts, he sounds a tekia, a terua, and a tekia; these are three types of blasts.

He sounds one order for the verses of kingship, one order for the verses of remembrance, and one order for the verses of shofarot.

b. The

measure,

the length, of a

“tekia”

is

like three teruot [

and the Gemara will explain that the measure is the length of one terua, and the wording of the Mishna will be explained in the Gemara].

And the

measure of

the

terua

is

like three yevavot.

Three short sounds, of any length, one after the other. [Some say that each yevava consists of three sounds, of any length. It follows that the terua consists of nine sounds].

And some say that each yevava is three sounds, whatever their length. It follows that the terua is nine sounds].

c. If he

sounded

in the first order [of kingship]

at the beginning,

the first plain tekia before the terua, for the proper measure of a plain tekia,

and afterward sounded a terua,

and after the terua again sounded a plain tekia,

and lengthened

his second plain

tekia to

the length of

two

blasts, in order to fulfill through it the obligation of two blasts:

the first, the final plain tekia after the terua in the first order [of kingship];

and the second, the first plain tekia before the terua in the second order [of remembrance];

he has only

one

blast,

that of the blast after the terua in the first order [of kingship], because one blast cannot be divided into two blasts. d.

One who

prayed the Musaf prayer and

recited

in it nine blessings [including the verses of kingship, remembrance, and shofarot], but did not have a shofar,

and afterward obtained

— encountered,

a shofar —

He sounds, makes a terua, and sounds,

and performs this order

three times.

Although he does not sound according to the order of the blessings of kingship, remembrance, and shofarot, he nevertheless sounds three times corresponding to them.

Just as the prayer leader is obligated

to pray himself, both on Rosh HaShana and throughout the rest of the year,

so every individual

who is proficient and knows how to pray himself

is obligated

to pray himself and does not fulfill his obligation through the prayer of the prayer leader.

The prayer leader does not go before the ark except to fulfill the obligation of one who is not proficient. [Gemara].

Rabban Gamliel says: The prayer leader fulfills the obligation of

all

the public,

both those proficient in prayer and those who are not proficient.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: The measure of a tekia is like three teruot.

And we challenge this:

But it was taught in a beraita: The measure of a tekia

is like

one terua!

And we answer:

Abaye said:

Everyone agrees that the measure of a tekia is like one terua. However,

our tanna counts

the

tekia

first

of all the orders, and the teruot of all the orders.

The tanna of our Mishna counted the three first tekiaot in the three orders

and the three teruot in the three orders.

And this is what the tanna said: “The measure of the three first tekiaot, at the beginning of each order, is like three teruot.”

That is, the measure of one tekia is like one terua.

The measure of the three final tekiaot is likewise the same. The tanna did not need to state this explicitly, however, since we had already learned the measure of the first tekiaot, and it is self-evident that the measure of the final tekiaot is equal to that of the first.

But

the tanna of the beraita

counts one order, and no more.

The tanna of the beraita counted only the tekia and terua of a single order.

And this is what he said: The measure of one tekia is the measure of one terua.

It follows that all the tannaim agree. Since we learned in the beraita that the measure of one tekia is like one terua, the measure of three tekiaot is like the measure of three teruot, as we learned in the Mishna.

We learned in the Mishna:

The measure of a terua is like three yevavot.

And we challenge this:

But it was taught in a beraita: The measure of a terua

is like three shevarim!

Yet shevarim are longer than yevavot!?

Abaye said:

Although I said above that the Mishna and the beraita do not disagree regarding the measure of the length of the tekia,

in this matter,

with regard to the measure of the terua,

they certainly disagree!

They certainly disagree, and it is impossible to find any resolution that reconciles their statements so that they do not contradict one another.

They must have disagreed in the following matter: According to our Mishna, a terua consists of three yevavot; according to the beraita, it consists of three shevarim.

Abaye continues by explaining the basis of their disagreement:

As it is written [Numbers 29]:

“It shall be a day of terua for you.”

And we translate it: “It shall be a day of yevava for you.”

From here it follows that a terua is a yevava.

And

what is a yevava?

It is written concerning the mother of Sisera,

it is stated concerning the weeping of Sisera’s mother [Judges 5]:

“She looked out through the window, and she wailed

[and cried]

the mother of Sisera.”

We learn from here that the yevava mentioned by the translation with regard to the sounding of the shofar on Rosh HaShana is an expression of crying, like the crying of Sisera’s mother.

The tanna of our Mishna and the tanna of the beraita disagree over the meaning of the Hebrew expression “and she wailed”:

One master,

the tanna of the beraita, who says that the measure of a terua is like three shevarim,

holds: It is groaning upon groaning,

a yevava like the groans of an ill person, who prolongs his groans.

And the other master,

the tanna of our Mishna,

holds: It is wailing upon wailing,

like a person crying with short sounds close to one another.

The Gemara cites a beraita explaining the source of the order of the blasts taught in our Mishna:

The Sages taught in a beraita:

The Torah states with regard to Rosh HaShana, “A day of terua.” It does not explicitly state with what this terua is performed.

From where

do we know that the terua mentioned with regard to Rosh HaShana is performed

with a shofar,

and not with a trumpet or another instrument?

The verse states [Leviticus 25], concerning Yom Kippur of the Jubilee year:

“And you shall sound a terua blast of the shofar.”

From here it follows that the terua is performed with a shofar.

But

I have

no proof

except

that

in the Jubilee

the terua is performed with a shofar!

But

with regard to Rosh HaShana —

from where

do we know that the terua mentioned there is likewise performed with a shofar?

The verse states concerning the Jubilee: “And you shall sound a terua blast of the shofar

in the seventh month,

on the tenth of the month; on Yom Kippur you shall sound the shofar.”

There is no need for the verse to state this,

for there is no need to say

“in the seventh month,”

since it states later that it is on Yom Kippur, and the Torah already states that Yom Kippur is in the month of Tishrei, which is the seventh month in the count of the months. [The Ran]

And

if so,

what is the purpose of the verse stating,

for what purpose was it stated,

“in the seventh month”?

To teach you

that all the teruot of the seventh month,

Tishrei [both the terua of Rosh HaShana and the terua of Yom Kippur of the Jubilee],

this is

like that.

Just as the terua of the Jubilee is performed with a shofar, so too the terua of Rosh HaShana is performed with a shofar.

The Torah mentions explicitly only the terua.

Therefore, the following question must be asked:

From where do we know that a

tekia

plain

[long]

precedes it?

The verse states concerning the Jubilee:

“And you shall sound a terua blast of the shofar.”

“And you shall sound” means sounding a single sound.

That is, a long tekia, and not a terua, which consists of several sounds.

Since it first says “and you shall sound the shofar,” and afterward says “terua,” we learn that a blast was sounded before the terua.

And from where do we know that a

tekia

plain follows it,

after the terua?

The verse states: “And you shall sound a terua blast of the shofar.

And you shall cause a shofar of terua to pass.

You shall sound the shofar.”

From here it follows that after the terua they sounded a second plain blast on the shofar.

And I have

no proof that they sounded a blast before the terua and a blast after it

except in the Jubilee,

where this verse is stated.

But

with regard to Rosh HaShana —

from where

do we know that one sounds a blast before the terua and a blast after it?

The verse states concerning the Jubilee:

“In the seventh month.”