[Avodah] Rosh Hashanah and Easter

[Simon Montagu]

On Sat, May 2, 2009 at 6:44 AM, R. Mottel Gutnick <1 at mottel.gutnick.net> wrote:
>
> I have a theory about dechiyat ADU (the calendar rule that Rosh
> Hashanah may not occur on a Sunday, Wednesday or Friday). The reason
> for DU (Wed and Fri) is that Yom Kippur should not occur
> consecutively with shabbat, either because of food spoilage or
> because of unburied corpses having to wait for two days - both great
> health risks. The reason usually given for A (Sunday) is so that
> Hoshana Rabba should not fall on Shabbat, which would have interfered
> with the custom of "beating Hoshanot" (the willow twigs). This reason
> has always struck me as somewhat strange, and even somewhat feeble.
>
<snip>
> The ADU rule was a late development in medieval times

But the ADU rule (or more correctly IDO, following Ezra 8:17), and
specifically the connection between "Alef" and Hosha`ana Rabba are
mentioned already in the Yerushalmi (Sukka 4:1). Do you have a source
for it being a late development in medieval times?

I agree with you that the reason does seem somewhat feeble lich'ora.
Why are we concerned with Shabbat interfering with beating the willow
branches on Hosha`ana Rabba, and not with it interfering with teki`at
shofar, netilat lulav or mikra megilla? I would suggest two answers:

1) Those other mitzvot all have other days when they can be performed
(even though in the case of lulav we lose the mitzva d'oraita), but if
Hosha`ana Rabba was on Shabbat the `aravot would not happen at all in
that year.

2) We can learn from this that beating the `aravot is more important
than we might otherwise have thought, and do it with more kavvana.