[Avodah] When Early Shabbos is Rosh Chodesh

[Akiva Miller]

.
The date is Friday afternoon, July 29 2022. Depending on how far north
you're located, Plag Hamincha is about an hour and a half before Shkia.

Imagine a woman who is in the early stages of labor, and decides to make
"early Shabbos." Shortly after Plag, she lights the neros and davens
Kabalas Shabbos, including Maariv. (Why? Irrelevant. Husband? Irrelevant.
At home or in hospital? Also irrelevant.) Then she makes Kiddush and
Hamotzi, eats her seudah and says Birkas Hamazon. And there's still a few
minutes before Shkia.

I know that this is possible, because I've done it myself. Even with the
time spent davening Maariv at shul, and the time spent walking home from
shul, my wife and I occasionally finish benching only a few minutes before
or after shkia. (The seudah goes a lot faster when it's just the two of us.)

Anyway, back to our story, in which this woman gives birth to a proverbial
bouncing baby boy, just *before* the sun touches the horizon. Later on, her
rav gives her a Mazel Tov, with instructions about making a bris on Friday
morning.

"Seriously?" she asks the rav. "I lit the candles, davened Maariv, made
Kiddush, ate the seudah, and benched! Please tell me, in what way is my son
*not* a Shabbos baby?"

The rav answers, "Yes, you did accept the Kedusha of Shabbos, and
everything you did was correct. But the truth is that according to the sky
and the calendar, it was still *Erev* Shabbos."

So she has one more question: "We're talking about Friday, July 29. If you
say that by the calendar it was still Erev Shabbos, then by the calendar it
was still Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av, right? So please tell me: Was I
supposed to include Yaaleh V'Yavo when I benched? And, with or without
Retzeh?"

What do you think, my friends? Many of us will be in approximately this
same situation in a few months. Should we say Yaaleh V'Yavo and/or Retzeh?

In the much more famous Case Of The Long Shalosh Seudos, in which a person
ate a kezayis of bread during "Shabbos Afternoon Erev Rosh Chodesh", and
then ate another kezayis of bread during "Rosh Chodesh Before Havdala", the
Mishneh Brurah 188:33 brings two opinions. The first opinion (that of the
Magen Avraham) is that it would be contradictory to say both, so he should
say only Yaaleh V'Yavo, because that obligation is unquestioned, as
compared to Retzeh, which some Rishonim say to skip at such a late hour
even if Motzei Shabbos would *not* be Rosh Chodesh. The second opinion
(that of the Taz) is that the contradiction is not a problem, so one should
say both Retzeh and Yaaleh V'Yavo.

Can we apply those ideas to our case? My wild guess is that if the Taz says
to say both in the case where Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh are on different
days, then he would certainly hold that way when "Early Kabalas
Shabbos" causes them to overlap. But what of the Magen Avraham, who doesn't
allow the contradiction, and says to say only one or the other? I can see
that question go either of two ways: Perhaps the MA would tell us to say
only Yaaleh V'Yavo and not Retzeh, because Hilchos Bris Milah teaches us
that it is Only Erev Shabbos and not Actually Shabbos (or in more lomdish
terms, it was only Tosefes Shabbos, and not Shabbos Mamash). On the other
hand, Retzeh is a strong requirement at the evening seudah (which it isn't
at shalosh seudos), so I can easily imagine that a posek could be very
hesitant to suggest skipping Retzeh in this situation.

I'm really surprised that I've been unable to find this situation discussed
anywhere. Somehow, I anticipate that the answer will be something along the
lines of "once you have accepted and begun Shabbos, you can just ignore
Rosh Chodesh." But I find that difficult to understand, because of the Bris
Milah question. And even if we exclude Bris Milah, and focus only on
Hilchos Shabbos and Hilchos Brachos, it seems to me that if stretching out
the kedusha of Shabbos (on the Motzaei Shabbos side) isn't strong enough to
override the reality of Rosh Chodesh at night (when Yaaleh V'Yavo is not
m'akev the Amidah), then certainly, stretching out the kedusha of Shabbos
(on the Erev Shabbos side) isn't strong enough to override the reality of
Rosh Chodesh Afternoon (when Yaaleh V'Yavo *is* m'akev the Amidah).

All comments are welcome.

Akiva Miller

PS: Calendar Trivia: Our case is not as common as the Case Of The Long
Shalosh Seudos, but still, "Shabbos Motzaei Rosh Chodesh" does occur
exactly once each summer in the northern hemisphere:

When the first Seder is Monday night, RC Sivan is Friday.
When the first Seder is Motzaei Shabbos, RC Tammuz is Thu/Fri.
When the first Seder is Friday night, RC Av is Friday.
When the first Seder is Wednesday night, RC Elul is Thu/Fri.

Many communities begin scheduling "Early Shabbos" minyanim around
Nisan-time, so such miyanim do exist around RC Iyar. However, RC Iyar is
always two days, and those two days are never Thu/Fri.

.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20220506/a2271de9/attachment-0001.htm>