Rosh Hashanah 34b — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Yoḥanan said:

who

heard

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nine blasts,

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

over nine hours of the day—

he has fulfilled his obligation.

And even though the blasts are not successive, one after the other.

It was taught likewise: If one heard nine blasts,

even if they were scattered

over nine hours of the day—

he 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 in a matter beloved to a person, he is capable of hearing two voices at once, even when they emerge from two people.

And even if

the one hearing nine blasts

intermittently,

so that the tekia and the terua are not successive, one after the other, but rather with interruptions.

And even if

the intermittence was

the entire day—

he has fulfilled his obligation.

And since Rabbi Yoḥanan said, “If he heard nine blasts over nine hours, he has fulfilled his obligation,” it follows that there is an entire hour between the tekia and the terua, and likewise between the terua and the tekia following it, and nevertheless he has fulfilled his obligation.

And we raise an objection:

And did

indeed

Rabbi Yoḥanan say so

thus?!

But Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak: In

the recitation of the

Hallel and in the Megilla, if

he interrupted in the middle of its recitation, and

he waited the amount of time needed to complete all of it—

he returns to the beginning

of the recitation!

And if so, one who sounds the shofar and interrupted in the middle of the set, between the tekia and the terua, if he waited the amount of time needed to complete the entire set must return to the beginning!

And we resolve:

It is not difficult:

This,

that which Rabbi Yoḥanan said, “One who hears nine blasts over nine hours has fulfilled his obligation”—

is his own

this is his own opinion.

Whereas

this,

that which he said, “One who waits during the recitation of the Hallel and the Megilla the amount of time needed to complete all of it returns to the beginning”—

is that of his master,

this is the opinion of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak, his master.

And we raise an objection:

But

And does

his own opinion not [say so]!?

And is that which Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of his master [that if one waited the amount of time needed to complete all of it, he returns to the beginning] not also his own opinion?!

But

it is possible to prove that Rabbi Yoḥanan himself holds this way, from the following incident:

Rabbi Abbahu was going and following after Rabbi

Yoḥanan, and he was reciting the Shema.

Rabbi Abbahu walked behind Rabbi Yoḥanan and recited the Shema.

When he reached filthy alleyways, he became silent,

and when he reached filthy alleyways, he fell silent and stopped reciting, because according to Rabbi Abbahu it is forbidden to recite the Shema in filthy alleyways [Berakhot 24b]].

After he passed,

after he passed from the filthy alleyways,

he said to him

Rabbi Abbahu said to Rabbi Yoḥanan:

What is the law 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 Yoḥanan:

If you waited

during the interruption

the amount of time needed to complete all of it—

return to the beginning!

And from here, Rabbi Yoḥanan himself also holds that if one waited the amount of time needed to complete all of it, he returns to the beginning. And the question returns: How did Rabbi Yoḥanan say that one who sounds nine blasts over nine hours has fulfilled his obligation?

And we resolve: In truth, Rabbi Yoḥanan himself holds that even if one waited the amount of time needed to complete all of it, he does not return.

And

this is what he said to him,

Rabbi Yoḥanan to Rabbi Zeira:

As for me—

I do not hold [this].

I do not hold as you do regarding your having stopped reciting in the filthy alleyways.

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

And also, regarding your question, “What is the law concerning completing it,” I do not hold as you do, for from your words it is to be understood that in your opinion one who interrupts in the middle of his recitation must return, but you are uncertain what measure of interruption obligates one to return to the beginning. Whereas I 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 measure obligates one to return to the beginning?

The answer to your question is:

If you waited the amount of time needed to complete all of it,

this is an interruption. And

return to the beginning.

And now the Gemara brings a beraita discussing a person who knows how to sound only part of the blasts and not all of them. And likewise one who does not know all three blessings [Kingships, Remembrances, and Shofarot]: should he sound and recite the blessing for what he knows?

The Sages taught:

On fast days [of the rest of the days of the year], they would add another six blessings to the Eighteen Benedictions prayer. And after each of those six blessings, they sounded a tekia, a terua, and a tekia, as explained in tractate Ta’anit.

And those

blasts

that they sound on fast days

do not prevent one another,

for a person who knows how to sound a tekia but not a terua [or the reverse] sounds that which he knows.

And likewise those six

blessings

that they add in the fast-day prayer

do not prevent one another,

and if he does not know how to recite all the blessings, he recites that which he knows.

But

the blasts

of Rosh Hashanah

and the

Kingships, Remembrances, and Shofarot

of Rosh Hashanah and of Yom Kippur

of the Jubilee—

do prevent

one another. And if he knows how to sound a tekia but not a terua, or the reverse, he should not sound at all.

And likewise, if he does not know how to recite all the blessings, he should not recite only part of them.

And we inquire about this:

What is the reason?

Why do the blessings of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur prevent one another, and is their law different from that of the fast-day blessings?

And we answer:

Rabba said:

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

the Holy One, blessed is He, said: “Recite before Me on Rosh Hashanah: Kingships, Remembrances, and Shofarot:

Kingships—

so that you will crown Me over yourselves.

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 the blessings of

Kingships, Remembrances, and Shofarot in the Musaf prayer

and afterward obtained

[came upon him]

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 initially,

it follows from our Mishna that the reason he sounds not in the order of the prayer is that he did not have a shofar at the time of the prayer.

But if he had a shofar initially,

it follows that if he had a shofar at the time of the prayer,

when he hears them—

he hears them in the order of the blessings.

He must hear the order of the blasts according to the order of the blessings [Kingships, Remembrances, and Shofarot].

Rav Pappa bar Shmuel stood to pray,

he stood to pray Musaf alone.

He said to his attendant,

he said to his attendant:

When I signal to you,

when I signal to you with my voice that I have finished a blessing [of the blessings of Kingships, Remembrances, and Shofarot]—

sound for me

as the Sages instituted, to sound according to the order of the blessings.

Rava said to him: They said

that the Sages should sound according to the order of the blessings

only in a public assembly,

in the group of the public, among ten people.

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

It was taught likewise

in accordance with the words of Rava:

When he hears them

the blasts of the shofar, it must be that he:

A.

hears them in order

of the blasts instituted by Rabbi Abbahu [A. tekia, shevarim, terua, tekia. B. tekia, shevarim, terua. C. tekia, terua, tekia].

And he must hear first a tekia, afterward a terua and a tekia, and he must not precede the terua to the first tekia.

B.

and

hears the blasts

according to the order of the blessings [tashrat for Kingships, tashat for Remembrances, and tarat for Shofarot].

the set of sustained blast, broken blasts, wavering blast, sustained blast for Kingship; the set of sustained blast, broken blasts, sustained blast for Remembrances; and the set of sustained blast, wavering blast, sustained blast for Shofarot].

In what case are these words said,

when he hears

in a public assembly,

in a quorum.

But

if a person prays

not in a public assembly,

not with the public—

he hears them in order,

as the Sages arranged three sets, and in each set a tekia, a terua, and a tekia [tashrat, tashat, tarat].

and

he hears

not according to the order of the blessings [Kingships, Remembrances, and Shofarot], but he sounds after the Musaf prayer, nine blasts one after the other.

Kingship, Remembrances, and Shofarot], but sounds the nine blasts one after another, after the additional prayer.

C.

And an individual who did not sound

himself—

his fellow sounds for him

to discharge him of his obligation.

And an individual who did not recite the blessings

the blessings in the prayer—

his fellow does not recite the blessings on his behalf

to discharge him of his obligation, if he himself is proficient.

D.

And the mitzva

that

in those who sound [that is, the sounding of the shofar]

the shofar,

is more

important

than in those who recite the blessings.

than the mitzva of the prayer blessings.

How so?

If there were before him

two towns.

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

one goes to the place where they sound

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

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

since the blessings are only a mitzva of rabbinic origin.

And we object:

It is obvious,

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

this [the sounding]

[the blasts] are

is from the Torah,

and

this [the prayer]

[the prayer] is

is rabbinic.

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

And we answer:

It is necessary,

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

that even though

it happened:

For this, certainly,

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

And

if

this,

the sounding of the shofar is

uncertain,

because perhaps the public already sounded and went to their homes.

Nevertheless, it is preferable to go to a place where it is possible that he will perform a mitzva from the Torah, even though it is uncertain, rather than to go to a place where he will certainly perform a rabbinic mitzva.

We learned in the Mishna:

Just as the prayer leader is obligated

to pray himself [for no other person discharges him of his obligation]—

so every individual

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

Rabban Gamaliel says: The prayer leader discharges the public of their obligation.

It was taught: They said to him,

the Sages

to Rabban Gamaliel: According to your words, why does the public pray

silently? The prayer leader discharges them through his prayer!

He said to them: In order

that at that time the prayer leader also prays silently,

to arrange the prayer of the prayer leader.

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

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

For every individual is obligated to pray himself!

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

and although we [the Sages] said that every individual is obligated to pray himself, this applies only to an individual 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 Gamaliel: Since you admit that the prayer leader discharges one who is not proficient, if so,

just as he discharges

one

who is not proficient—

so he discharges the proficient one!

Rabba bar bar Ḥana said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan:

After the Sages disputed with Rabban Gamaliel, they retracted, and

the Sages acknowledge Rabban Gamaliel

that the prayer leader discharges even the proficient one.

And Rav said: It is still a dispute.

Rabbi Ḥiyya, son of Rabba bar Naḥmani, heard

the report stated here. [The dispute between Rabbi Yoḥanan and Rav as to whether the Sages retracted].

He went and related this report,

he went and said this teaching

before him

in the presence of

Rav Dimi bar Ḥinnana.

Rabbi Ḥiyya said to him,

Rabbi Ḥiyya, son of Rabba bar Naḥmani, to Rav Dimi bar Ḥinnana:

Thus said Rav: It is still a dispute.

He said to him,

Rav Dimi answered Rabbi Ḥiyya: Even

Rabba bar bar Ḥana,

who said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan, “The Sages acknowledge Rabban Gamaliel,”

also said this,

he added and said:

When Rabbi Yoḥanan said this teaching,

when Rabbi Yoḥanan said this matter,

Rish Lakish disagreed

he disagreed

with him and said: It is still a dispute.

And we object to what we said in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan, that the Sages acknowledge Rabban Gamaliel:

And did Rabbi Yoḥanan say so!?

Is it possible that Rabbi Yoḥanan said this?!

But Rabbi Ḥana the Zipporite said [from the city of Zippori]

from the city of Sepphoris]

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The halakha is in accordance with Rabban Gamaliel.

And since Rabbi Yoḥanan said

“the halakha”—

it follows that they dispute!

It is proven that the Sages dispute him!

For if everyone agrees about the matter, there is no need to rule the halakha concerning this matter!