Rosh Hashanah 34b (לד:) — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Yohanan said:

One who

heard

nine blasts,

three sets of three blasts, and in each set, “a tekia, a terua, and a tekia” [making nine blasts in all, including the teruot], even if he heard the blasts dispersed

over nine hours of the day—

he has fulfilled his obligation.

Even though the blasts did not follow one another consecutively.

It was taught likewise in a beraita: One who heard nine blasts

even if they were dispersed

over nine hours of the day—

has fulfilled his obligation.

And if he heard nine blasts

from nine people simultaneously,

a tekia from this one and a terua from that one—

he has fulfilled his obligation.

For with regard to something beloved by a person, he is capable of hearing two sounds simultaneously, even when they are produced by two different people.

And even

one who hears nine blasts

intermittently,

so that the tekia and the terua do not follow one another consecutively, but are separated by pauses.

And even

if the intervals

lasted the entire day—

he has fulfilled his obligation.

Since Rabbi Yohanan said that one who heard nine blasts over nine hours has fulfilled his obligation, it follows that there can be a full hour between the tekia and the terua, and likewise between the terua and the tekia that follows it, and nevertheless he has fulfilled his obligation.

And we raise an objection:

But

did

Rabbi Yohanan really say this

so?!

But Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak: With regard to

the recitation of the

Hallel and the Megilla, if

one interrupted his recitation in the middle and

paused for enough time to complete it in its entirety—

he returns to the beginning

of the recitation!

If so, one who sounds the shofar and interrupts in the middle of the set, between the tekia and the terua, if he pauses for enough time to complete the entire set, must return to the beginning!

And we resolve:

It is not difficult:

This—

that Rabbi Yohanan said that one who hears nine blasts over nine hours has fulfilled his obligation—

is his own

view.

Whereas

this—

that one who pauses during the recitation of Hallel or the Megilla for enough time to complete it in its entirety returns to the beginning—

is his teacher’s

view, that of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak, his teacher.

And we raise an objection:

But

does

he not hold this view himself!?

Does what Rabbi Yohanan said in the name of his teacher [that if one pauses for enough time to complete the entire recitation, he returns to the beginning] not represent his own view as well?!

But

there is proof that Rabbi Yohanan himself holds this view, from the following incident:

Rabbi Abbahu was walking behind Rabbi

Yohanan, and he was reciting the Shema.

Rabbi Abbahu was walking behind Rabbi Yohanan and reciting the Shema.

When he reached foul-smelling alleyways, he fell silent,

and when he reached foul-smelling alleyways, he became silent and stopped reciting, because Rabbi Abbahu held that it is forbidden to recite the Shema in foul-smelling alleyways [Berakhot 24b].

After he passed through them,

after he had passed beyond the foul-smelling alleyways,

he said to him,

Rabbi Abbahu said to Rabbi Yohanan:

What is the ruling regarding completing it!?

May I continue the recitation of the Shema from the place where I stopped and complete it, or must I return and recite it from the beginning?

He said to him,

Rabbi Yohanan said:

If you paused

during the interruption

for enough time to complete it in its entirety—

return to the beginning!

This proves that Rabbi Yohanan himself holds that if one pauses for enough time to complete the entire recitation, he returns to the beginning. The question therefore returns: How could Rabbi Yohanan say that one who sounds nine blasts over nine hours has fulfilled his obligation?

And we resolve: In fact, Rabbi Yohanan himself holds that even if one pauses for enough time to complete the entire recitation, he does not return to the beginning.

And

this is what he said to him

Rabbi Yohanan said to Rabbi Zeira:

As for me—

I do not hold

I do not agree with you concerning your having stopped reciting in the foul-smelling alleyways.

Rather, in my view, one who recites the Shema and reaches foul-smelling alleyways places his hand over his mouth and continues reciting [as explained in Berakhot 24b].

And likewise, regarding your question, “What is the ruling concerning completing it?” I do not agree with you. For from your words it is apparent that, in your view, one who interrupts his recitation must return, and you are merely uncertain as to what duration of interruption requires one to return to the beginning. I, however, hold that one who interrupts his recitation never returns to the beginning.

But

as for you,

since you asked whether one must return, it follows

that you hold

that one who interrupts his recitation returns, and you asked what duration requires one to return to the beginning?

The answer to your question is:

If you paused for enough time to complete it in its entirety,

that constitutes an interruption, and

return to the beginning.

The Gemara now cites a beraita discussing one who knows how to sound only some of the blasts, but not all of them. It also discusses one who does not know all three blessings [Kingship, Remembrances, and Shofarot]: Should he sound the blasts and recite the blessings that he knows?

The Sages taught:

On fast days [during the rest of the year], six additional blessings were added to the Amida prayer. After each of those six blessings, a tekia, a terua, and a tekia were sounded, as explained in tractate Ta’anit.

And those

blasts

that are sounded on fast days

do not invalidate one another,

for one who knows how to sound a tekia but not a terua [or vice versa] should sound what he knows.

Likewise, those six

blessings

that are added to the fast-day prayer

do not invalidate one another,

and if he does not know how to recite all the blessings, he should recite what he knows.

But the

blasts

of Rosh HaShana,

and the

blessings

of Kingship, Remembrances, and Shofarot

of Rosh HaShana and of Yom Kippur

invalidate

one another. If one knows how to sound a tekia but not a terua, or vice versa, he should not sound any blasts at all.

Likewise, if he does not know how to recite all the blessings, he should not recite only some of them.

And we inquire:

What is the reason?

Why do the blessings of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur invalidate one another, unlike the blessings of a fast day?

And we answer:

Rabba said:

Because they have an order in which all three are presented together, as

the Holy One, blessed be He, said: “Recite before Me on Rosh HaShana: Kingship, Remembrances, and Shofarot”:

Kingship—

so that you will crown Me as King over you.

Remembrances—

so that your remembrance will come before Me for good.

And with what?

With the shofar [

and therefore we recite Shofarot].

We learned in the Mishna:

One who recited

Kingship, Remembrances, and Shofarot in the Musaf prayer

and afterward a shofar became available to him

[it happened to become available]

a shofar—

he sounds a tekia, sounds a terua, and sounds a tekia

three times.

And we infer:

The reason is that he did not have a shofar originally,

which implies from our Mishna that the reason he sounds the blasts outside the order of the prayer is that he did not have a shofar at the time of prayer.

But if he had a shofar originally,

which indicates that if he had a shofar at the time of prayer,

when he hears them—

he should hear them in the order of the blessings.

He must hear the blasts in the order of the blessings [Kingship, Remembrances, and Shofarot].

Rav Pappa bar Shemuel rose to pray,

standing to pray Musaf privately.

He said to his attendant,

he said to his attendant:

When I signal to you,

when I indicate with my voice that I have completed a blessing [from among Kingship, Remembrances, and Shofarot]—

sound the blasts for me,

as the Sages instituted, to sound the blasts in the order of the blessings.

Rava said to him: They said

that the Sages instituted sounding the blasts in the order of the blessings

only in a communal setting,

in a group of the community, with ten people.

But a private individual completes his prayer, and afterward sounds all the blasts together.

It was taught likewise

in accordance with Rava’s statement:

When he hears them,

the blasts of the shofar, it is necessary that he: A.

1.

hear them in order,

in the order of the blasts instituted by Rabbi Abbahu [a. tekia, shevarim-terua, tekia; b. tekia, shevarim-terua, tekia; c. tekia, terua, tekia].

He must hear a tekia first, then a terua and a tekia, and he must not precede the first tekia with a terua. B.

2.

And

he hears the blasts

in the order of the blessings [

Tashrat for Kingship, Tashat for Remembrances, and Tarat for Shofarot].

When does this apply,

when he hears them

in a communal setting,

in a quorum.

But

if a person prays

without a communal setting,

without a congregation—

he hears them in order,

as the Sages arranged them: three sets, with a tekia, terua, and tekia in each set [Tashrat, Tashat, Tarat].

And

he hears them

not in the order of the blessings [

Kingship, Remembrances, and Shofarot]; rather, he sounds the nine blasts after the Musaf prayer, one after another. C.

C.

And a private individual who did not sound the blasts

himself—

his fellow sounds them for him

to enable him to fulfill his obligation.

And a private individual who did not recite

the blessings in the prayer—

his fellow does not recite the blessings on his behalf

to enable him to fulfill his obligation, if he himself is proficient. D.

D.

And it is a mitzva

that

with regard to those who sound the blasts [

meaning, the sounding of the shofar]

more

important

than those who recite the blessings.

More important than the mitzva of the prayer blessings.

How so?

If there were before him

two towns.

In one they sound the blasts, and in the other they recite the blessings—

one goes to the place where they sound the blasts

in order to fulfill the Torah mitzva of sounding the shofar,

and one does not go to the place where they recite the blessings,

since the blessings are only a rabbinic mitzva.

And we challenge this:

It is obvious,

it is plain and self-evident that it is preferable to fulfill the obligation of sounding the blasts. For

this

[the sounding]

is by Torah law,

whereas

this

[the prayer]

is rabbinic.

Certainly a Torah mitzva is more important than a rabbinic mitzva! Why, then, did the beraita need to teach this?

And we answer:

It was necessary,

the beraita did not need to teach this point itself, but rather to tell you

that even though

it happened that:

For this is certain,

if he goes to the place where they recite the blessings, there will certainly be ten people there, and the prayer leader will enable them to fulfill their obligation through the blessings.

But

if

this,

the sounding of the shofar, is

uncertain,

because perhaps the congregation has already sounded the blasts and gone home.

Nevertheless, it is preferable to go to a place where he may fulfill a Torah mitzva, even though it is uncertain, rather than to go to a place where he will certainly fulfill only a rabbinic mitzva.

We learned in the Mishna:

Just as the prayer leader is obligated

to pray himself [since no other person can enable him to fulfill his obligation]—

so each and every individual

is obligated to pray himself and cannot fulfill his obligation through the prayer of the prayer leader [whether on Rosh HaShana or on other days of the year].

Rabban Gamliel says: The prayer leader enables the public to fulfill their obligation.

It was taught: The Sages said

to Rabban Gamliel:

According to your words, why does the congregation pray

silently? The prayer leader enables them to fulfill their obligation through his prayer!

He said to them: In order

that at that time the prayer leader, too, should pray silently,

to arrange the prayer of the prayer leader.

For in their days, prayer books were not common, and they prayed by heart. The prayer leader would first pray silently in order to repeat the prayer so that it would be arranged in his mouth and he would not become confused.

Rabban Gamliel said to them: According to your words, why does the prayer leader go down before the ark?

After all, each and every individual is obligated to pray himself!

They said to him: In order to enable one who is not proficient,

and although we [the Sages] said that each individual is obligated to pray himself, this applies only to an individual who is proficient in the order of the prayer. But one who is not proficient fulfills his obligation through the repetition of the prayer leader.

He said to them,

Rabban Gamliel said to them: Since you admit that the prayer leader enables one who is not proficient to fulfill his obligation, then

just as he enables

one

who is not proficient—

so he enables one who is proficient!

Rabba bar bar Hana said that Rabbi Yohanan said:

After the Sages disputed with Rabban Gamliel, they retracted their view, and

the Sages concede to Rabban Gamliel

that the prayer leader enables even one who is proficient to fulfill his obligation.

And Rav said: The dispute still remains.

Rabbi Hiyya, son of Rabba bar Naḥmani, heard

the report stated here [the dispute between Rabbi Yohanan and Rav as to whether the Sages retracted their view].

He went and related the report,

he went and stated this teaching

before

in the presence of

Rav Dimi bar Hinnana.

He said to him,

Rabbi Hiyya, son of Rabba bar Naḥmani, said to Rav Dimi bar Hinnana:

Thus said Rav: The dispute still remains.

He said to him,

Rav Dimi answered Rabbi Hiyya: Even

Rabba bar bar Hana,

who said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan that the Sages concede to Rabban Gamliel,

also, this is what he meant,

this is what he added and said:

When Rabbi Yohanan stated this teaching,

when Rabbi Yohanan said this matter,

he disputed

with

Resh Lakish, who said: The dispute still remains.

And we question what was said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan, that the Sages concede to Rabban Gamliel:

But did Rabbi Yohanan really say this!?

Is it possible that Rabbi Yohanan said so?!

But Rabbi Hana of Sepphoris

[from the city of Sepphoris]

said that Rabbi Yohanan said: The halakha is in accordance with Rabban Gamliel.

And since Rabbi Yohanan said

“the halakha”—

it follows that they disagree!

It is evident that the Sages dispute his view!

For if everyone agreed on the matter, there would be no need to rule the halakha in this matter!