[Avodah] second day yomtov

[Eli Turkel]

> What I've heard is that it was 1 day in Eretz Yisrael, and that during the
time of the Gaonim, the people in Eretz Yisrael were pressured into changing
it.

<<Nope.  Why would they only have one day?  And if they were pressured, why
would it only be for RH and not the other YT?>>

Excuse me - the Baal Ha-Maor testifies that they kept only one day RH in EY
until his generation when the rabbis from Provence convinced them to change
Are you disagreeing with the Baal Hamaor?
See  Machloket Hamaor and Ramban on page gimel of the Rif in Beitzah

<< Would all those who received the message keep only one day of YomTov?>>

The original takanah was those in EY keep 1 day YomYov and those outside
keep 2 days.
This is based on the assumption that (at least in the days of the Bet
Hamikdash) those within EY would hear about the new moon by the 15th of the
month. Of course even then there were people in EY who for various reasons
were not in communication and so didnt know about. Nevertheless the gezera
was blanket and not dependent whether some individual heard or not.
The gemara actually has a case of someone who traveled from EY to Bavel and
knew the correct day

Part of the bebate is the definition of EY for this halacha. Rambam seems to
define it as where the messengers physically came in the old days.
While some achronim went with this le-chumra it is not the generally
accepted definition. How to define it is still debated - for example should
Eilat  keep one or 2 days of YomTov. There are a number of major poskim that
insist that people in Eilat keep 2 days. In practice I think the
overwhelming majority of people in Eilat both residents and Israeli guests
keep 1 day.

It is also unclear what the Jews in Alexandria during the Temple era did -
they were outside of EY
but not very far. I assume much less than a 15 day journey (in accouting for
shabbat etc).. In general the gemara which was written in Bavel has
relatively little about Alexandrian Jewry which was basically destroyed
shortly before the Bar Kochba revolt and so didn't exist in Amoraic times.
However, even in the Mishna the lights on the mountains to announce the new
month seemed directed towards Bavel and not Eygpt, of course there are few
mountains in the Sinai peninsula but alternatives are not discussed

-- 
Eli Turkel
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