[Avodah] [Areivim] second day of yom tov

[Lisa Liel]

On 10/6/2011 1:20 PM, Zev Sero wrote:
> On 6/10/2011 12:38 PM, Micha Berger wrote:
>> On Wed, Oct 05, 2011 at 11:25:38PM +0200, Eli Turkel wrote:
>> : Those outside of EY keep 2 days simply because it is an old minhag
>> without
>> : any modern rationale as demonstrated by the fact that it doesnt
>> hold in EY
>> : as Ilana mentions.
>>
>> The gemara explicitly says so, "minhag avoseihem beyadeihem". There
>> isn't
>> mention of keeping the idea alive in case it's needed when the Sanhedrin
>> is restored.
>
> "Hachaziku minhag avoseichem biydeichem" is the what, not the why.  The
> letter told the Bavlim to keep doing what they had already been doing,
> but the reason it gave was that perhaps due to future persecution they
> would make a mistake in the cheshbon.

Here's my problem with this.  There are a number of ways in which Yom 
Tov Sheni is treated, l'halakha, as Safek Yom Tov.  But if we're doing 
it as minhag avoteinu, and we *haven't* made a mistake due to 
persecution, then it isn't a safek at all, is it?

And in truth, we don't really hold that it's Safek Yom Tov, otherwise, 
the first day would be Safek Yom Tov as well.  And we do numerous things 
on most Yamim Tovim that are d'Rabbanan, which we presumably would not 
be doing if it was really a safek.  And yet, there are still those who 
treat it as a safek.

My second problem is the idea of "minha avoteinu b'yadeinu" trumping 
bracha l'lo tzorech and the like.  And then there's the inconsistency of 
no Yom Kippur Sheni.  I understand why we don't fast a second day, but 
at a time (not today, necessarily) when kiddush hachodesh was done al pi 
eidim, wouldn't people in chutz la'aretz need to keep a second day of 
Yom Kippur in case the 11th is really the 10th?  The excuse that fasting 
two days solid is unhealthy doesn't explain why all the other 
observances aren't kept.

Lisa