{"id":10434,"date":"2007-01-04T23:57:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-04T23:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/production.ou.org\/life\/other\/masechet_roshhashanah3135\/"},"modified":"2015-10-23T07:58:34","modified_gmt":"2015-10-23T12:58:34","slug":"masechet_roshhashanah3135","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/torah\/masechet_roshhashanah3135\/","title":{"rendered":"Masechet Rosh Hashanah 31a-35a"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Coming Week’s Daf Yomi by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz<\/em><\/p>\n

This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim (original ideas) of Talmudic scholar Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, as published in the Hebrew version of the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud.<\/em><\/p>\n

This month\u2019s Steinsaltz Daf Yomi is sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. Alan Harris, the Lewy Family Foundation, and Marilyn and Edward Kaplan<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rosh HaShanah 31a-b<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

At the time of the destruction of the Temple<\/a>, the Jewish people were sent into exile. Rav Yehuda bar Idi quotes Rabbi Yochanan<\/a> as teaching that part of the exile included a parallel self-exile of God’s presence – the Shekinah<\/a><\/em> – which took place in ten stages (all of them hinted to in psukim<\/em>, or verses, in Tanach<\/a><\/em>), beginning with a gradual withdrawal from the Holy of Holies<\/a>, from the Temple Mount<\/a> and from the city of Jerusalem<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the same time that God was removing His presence from the Temple, the Sanhedrin<\/a> was gradually removing itself from its offices on the Temple Mount, as well, making its way to the Galilee<\/a> (see map<\/a>), where most of the remaining Jews were to live under Roman rule.<\/p>\n

The Sanhedrin’s first stop after leaving Jerusalem was the city of Yavneh<\/a>, which was established as a center of Torah<\/a> study by Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai<\/a>, and became most famous under the direction of Rabban Gamliel of Yavneh<\/a>. Throughout its continuing travels, the Sanhedrin was headed by descendants of the family of Hillel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It appears that the Sanhedrin was moved to Usha<\/a> in the aftermath of the Bar-Kokhba<\/a> revolt, where a series of Rabbinic enactments – called takanot Usha<\/a><\/em> – were established. Under the leadership of Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel<\/a> there was an unsuccessful attempt to return the Sanhedrin to Yavneh, but due to the overwhelming devastation in the southern part of the country, they returned to the Galilee, first to Usha and then to Shefar’am<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi<\/a> first sat in Bet She’arim<\/a> together with the Sanhedrin, but he was forced to move to Tzippori<\/a>, which was on a higher altitude, for reasons of health. His son, Rabban Gamliel<\/a>, settled in Teverya<\/a>, and the Sanhedrin remained in that city until it was finally dissolved.<\/p>\n

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Rosh HaShanah 32a-b<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The daily Amida<\/em> prayer, which contains 19 blessings (and is popularly called shmoneh esrei<\/a><\/em>, referring to the original 18 blessings, to which one was later added), is made up of three introductory blessings, 13 requests, and three concluding blessings. On Shabbat<\/a> and holidays, the requests are removed and the amidah<\/em> contains the introductory and closing blessings, with a single blessing in the middle that focuses on the holiness of the day.<\/p>\n

The amidah<\/em> prayer of mussaf<\/a><\/em> on Rosh HaShanah<\/a><\/em> is unique in that it had three blessings between the introductory and concluding berakhot<\/a><\/em>. These three blessings<\/a> – referred to by the Gemara<\/a> as malchuyot, zichronot<\/em> and shofarot<\/em> (blessings over God’s monarchy, His remembrances and the shofar<\/a><\/em>), make up the longest amidah<\/em> of the year. Our Mishnah<\/a> teaches that aside from the closing blessing itself, each of these additional berakhot<\/em> is made up of ten passages from the Tanakh<\/a><\/em>. The passages serve to illustrate these three concepts.<\/p>\n

Several sources are brought to explain the need for collecting pesukim <\/em>to illustrate God’s monarchy.<\/p>\n