Talmud Bavli
Talmud Bavli

Responsa for Rosh Hashanah 64:26

לא עולין באילן ולא רוכבין על גבי בהמה כו': השתא דרבנן אמרת לא דאורייתא מיבעיא זו ואין צריך לומר זו קתני:

EITHER WITH AN IMPLEMENT THE USE OF WHICH IS FORBIDDEN ON ACCOUNT OF SHEBUTH<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., merely to make a distinction between Sabbath (or holydays) and weekdays, and not because any 'work' in the strict legal sense is involved. For shebuth, v. Glos.');"><sup>45</sup></span> OR WITH ONE THE USE OF WHICH IS FORBIDDEN BY EXPRESS PROHIBITION.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Found in or based on the Pentateuch.');"><sup>46</sup></span> IF ONE, HOWEVER, DESIRES TO POUR WINE OR WATER INTO IT HE MAY DO SO.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And we do not say that he is carrying out repairs, which is forbidden on the Sabbath or holydays.');"><sup>47</sup></span> CHILDREN NEED NOT BE STOPPED FROM BLOWING; ON THE CONTRARY, THEY MAY BE HELPED<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'we occupy ourselves with them'.');"><sup>48</sup></span> TILL THEY LEARN HOW TO BLOW. ONE WHO BLOWS MERELY TO PRACTISE<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'one who occupies himself'.');"><sup>49</sup></span> DOES NOT THEREBY FULFIL HIS RELIGIOUS OBLIGATION, NOR DOES ONE WHO HEARS THE BLAST MADE BY ANOTHER WHEN PRACTISING. <big><b>GEMARA: </b></big>What is the reason [why these things may not be done]? - The blowing of the shofar is [based on] a positive precept,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XXIX, 1. It shall be a day of blowing the horn unto you.');"><sup>50</sup></span> whereas the observance of the holyday is [based both on] a positive<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XXIII, 24: In the seventh month . . shall be a solemn rest unto you.');"><sup>51</sup></span> and a negative precept,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. 25: Ye shall do no manner of servile work.');"><sup>52</sup></span> and a positive precept cannot override both a positive and a negative precept. NOR TO CLIMB A TREE NOR TO RIDE ON AN ANIMAL etc, Seeing that you have not allowed even Rabbinical [prohibitions to be broken],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The prohibitions to exceed the Sabbath limit and to remove debris are purely Rabbinical, without basis in the Pentateuch. (Rashi) .');"><sup>53</sup></span> need you mention Pentateuchal ones?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Riding and climbing are forbidden because they might lead to the cutting or plucking of a branch, which is forbidden by the Pentateuch. The argument is very forced, and Rashi is inclined to regard the whole sentence as spurious. [R. Hananel takes the prohibitions regarding the Sabbath limit and removing the debris to be the Biblical prohibitions referred to.]');"><sup>54</sup></span> - The Mishnah adopts the style of 'A, and needless to say B'.

Shut min haShamayim

They responded as follows: "These and these are the words of the living God!" (Eruvin 13b) Just as you dispute below, so we dispute above. For the Holy One, blessed be He, holds that the paragraphs beginning with the words 'vehayah' should be in the middle of the tefillin, and all of the heavenly host say that they follow their chronological order. "This is what He meant in saying, Through those near to Me I show Myself holy, and gain glory before all the people.” (Leviticus 10:3) - His glory is in the paragraph of his Kingship being first.*This was a widespread debate throughout the Jewish world. See, for example, a question sent from the community of Lunel to Maimonides asking a similar question to the one posed here, quoted in Kessef Mishneh on Mishneh Torah, Tefillin 3:5. The last comment seems to allude to the opinion of Rabbeinu Tam, with the paragraph of the Shema (termed a phrase of Kingship in Rosh Hashanah 32b:16) on the outermost side, the first one from the perspective of the one wearing the tefillin on their head.
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