Rosh Hashana 29

Just before we begin a new Mishna, the rabbis remind us of the importance of intention.  The person hearing the shofar must focus on the act of hearing.  The person sounding the shofar may not have to focus, because simply by sounding the shofar they are intentionally performing the mitzvah of calling out to the community.

Our Mishna reminds us that Moses could raise his hand and the Israelites prevailed against Amalek; he could lower his hand and the Israelites would suffer (Exodus 17:11).  Similarly, it reminds us that when people who were bitten by a snake looked at the serpent constructed on a pole (Numbers 21:8) they would live.  Could this be that Moses' raised arm or the serpent had power over the Israelites?  Or, suggests the Mishna, were these simply tools to help the people look up to the sky, ie. turn to G-d.

In discussing who is obligated to sound the shofar and who is obligated to hear the shofar, we move into a fascinating area of discussion.  What about women, minors, people who are deaf and/or mute, those without capacity to understand the mitzva, those who are half-free or half-slaves, those who are tumtum, who have not developed clearly gendered sexual organs, or those who are androgynous, who have both male and female sexual organs?  The Gemara suggests that we are all obligated to sound the shofar and to hear the shofar from our own kind. This gets tricky with those who are called tumtum, for we do not know the sex of each person who is tumtum.  Androgynous people, however, are able to sound for women and for men, as they are of the same kind as both.

We can see that the notion of discreet sexes posed a number of difficulties for our Sages.  Clearly people were as varied in antiquity as we are today.  However, today's post-modernist understanding of difference allows for more than one truth; more than one reality to exist at the same time.  We are not forced to understand the world through concrete categories.  If our Sages had been able to understand sex as beyond binary; perhaps as monolithic, like blue houses and red houses are all categorized as houses - perhaps our traditions would have included many more leaders and thinkers - women as well as men, trans Jews as well as simply gendered Jews.

The Gemara goes on to discuss when one should perform a blessing or another mitzvah, like reading the book of Esther, for the sake of others' obligations to hear those words.  Clearly our rabbis wish to end Perek III with the emphasis being upon the spiritual intention behind sounding/hearing the shofar.

Perek IV begins with Rosh Hashana 29 (b).  It introduces the idea of sounding the shofar when Rosh Hashana falls on Shabbat in very limited contexts: only in the Temple?  Only in cities with at least 23 judges, like Yavne?  Only within the synagogue rather than in the street?  Only in Jerusalem?   The rabbis note that we can find contradictory instructions on whether or not to sound the shofar on Shabbat.

The rabbis wonder why we are permitted to sound the shofar on Shabbat in the Temple if it is not allowed anywhere else.  According to Torah law, sounding the shofar is a skill rather than a labour and thus it is permitted. But could the shofar be a musical instrument?  Might it need fixing? What if one carried it more than four cubits?  The rabbis are aware of the fences that they build around Torah law.

We learn a great trick used by RabbanYochanan ben Zakkai.  He was in the Great Sanhedtrin in Yavne when Rosh Hashana fell on Shabbat.  He told the Beteira brothers, the halachic experts at the time, to sound the shofar even though it was Shabbat.  "Let us discuss this first," they replied.  Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai insisted that they sound the shofar first and then discuss the matter.  The brothers agreed to this.  Following the blowing of the shofar, there was no discussion.  Why?  For after the shofar had been sounded, these rabbis could not rule that their actions had been erroneous!  And so sounding the shofar on Rosh Hashana when it falls on Shabbat was permitted.

Did the brothers really miss this ruse?  Hard to believe.