[Avodah] YT Sheni

[Zev Sero]

Kohn, Shalom wrote:

> It is worth commenting on the very odd and obscure statement in
> the gemara Beizah about YT sheni generally, that once it was enacted
> by a beit din, even if the rationale for rule does not apply (given
> that we are now familiar with "keviah d'yarcha" (the lunar cycles),
> we are not empowered to change the edict unless a superior Sanhedrin
> is convened.  

Sorry, that is a complete misreading of the gemara.  This statement of
R Yosef is *not* about YT sheni generally, but about whether an egg
laid on the first day can be eaten on the second.  And the reason it
ought to be permitted (and indeed is permitted by Rabah) is *not*
because the calendar is now calculated and we no longer have sfeka
deyoma; but on the contrary: because, after a period in which there was
(occasionally) no sfeka, and during which that gezera had been made,
R Yochanan ben Zakai had restored the sfeka.

There are not two, but four periods to be considered:

1. The original situation: on the 30th of Tishri everyone would
observe yomtov on spec, and as soon as it got light the BD would sit
until eidim showed up.  If eidim showed up they would declare that
day to have been the true RH, and in Y'm that night would be chol,
and messengers would go out to tell the rest of the world about it.
If eidim didn't show up by dark, the BD would be mekadesh the 31st
day, and the 30th would be retroactively declared to have been chol.
Thus there was a sfeka deyoma, and each day was only kodesh if the
other was not.  Therefore an egg laid on the first day was permitted
on the second, mima nafshach.

2. The BD began closing at noon.  If eidim hadn't arrived by then,
they would declare that the 30th was a yomtov midrabanan, and the
31st would be RH de'oraita.  Let me repeat that, because it's the
most important part of this: the first day, which was by then *known*
to be the 30th of Elul and not the 1st of Tishri, was officially
declared to be a yomtov midrabanan.  Thus, when and if this happened
there was no sfeka deyoma; both days were vadai kodesh, and an egg
laid on the first would therefore be forbidden on the second.
In fact this never happened; not once in all the years that the
BD observed noon closing did the eidim fail to show up before noon.

But nobody could know in advance that it wouldn't happen that year;
therefore (R Yosef supposes) the Sanhedrin voted, as part of the
takana, that these eggs would henceforth be forbidden.  Abaye
refutes R Yosef by pointing out that there is no record of any such
clause having been included in the vote, and it makes no sense that
it should have been, since during this period the eggs would be
forbidden anyway, vote or no vote.


3. R Yochanan ben Zakai restored the BD to full yomtov hours; they
were once again open until either the eidim showed up or the sun set.
Therefore situation #1 was restored: once again there could only be
one day of kodesh; if the second day was kodesh it could only be
because the first day had turned out to be chol after all.  There was
no possibility of the first day being declared "the rabbinic feast of
the 30th of Elul".  Thus, the original mima nafshach was restored;
an egg laid on the first day ought to be permitted on the second.
However, in R Yosef's supposition, it was still forbidden, because
when RYBZ's BD voted on this resolution they forgot to include a
clause permitting the eggs.

4. Hillel II enacted the fixed calendar.  There is no longer sfeka
deyoma.  We know for sure that the first day of every yomtov is
the yomtov de'oraita, and the second day is a yomtov by rabbinic
decree.  Therefore both days are vadai kodesh, and in principle an
egg laid on the first day of every yomtov should be forbidden on the
second day, as it was in period #2.  However, the letter decreeing
this second day of yomtov specifically provided that it should be
observed as it had been during period #3.  Thus, even though there's
no sfeka deyoma, we act as though there was one (except on RH,
either because of R Ada and R Salman's reason, or because of Rava's
reason).

To repeat, in case it got lost amid all that, R Yosef's statement
to which you refer is about period #3, not #4.  Kidush Hachodesh was
going on every month in EY, and YT Sheni was in full force in Bavel
because they couldn't possibly know when the real yomtov was.  The
decree that R Yosef said had to be obeyed even though its reason no
longer applied was the one about the egg, which was forbidden as
though there were no sfeka deyoma, even though in fact there was one.


> This type of adherence to earlier rulings is at best an exception.
> (For example, we do not observe the prohibition on uncovered water
> because snakes are not prevalent, per Rabbeinu Tam, and prohibitions
> rooted in magic (keshafim) equally are unobserved).

Those were not davar shebeminyan.  If they were, we would be bound
to keep them regardless of changing circumstances.


> Another example is the changing rules on tumat keri re: studying
> Torah.

That was specifically permitted beminyan.  Until the vote permitting
it it remained forbidden.  And indeed the reason for the original
prohibition never went away; rather, a later BD decided that it was
doing more harm than good, and voted to repeal it.

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher