Shulchan Aruch: Chapter 600 - An Egg Laid on Rosh HaShanah and the Order of Kiddush

SECTION 600 [The Laws Relating to] an Egg Laid on Rosh HaShanah and the Order of Kiddush. (1–7)

1 Even those who live in Eretz Yisrael celebrate Rosh HaShanah for two days.1 The reason they celebrate the other festivals for only one day is that [today] we know how the calculation of the months is determined. We know which day is appropriate to establish as the first day of [each] month,2 the day from which we calculate the [dates of its] festivals.

[In the present era,] the only reason that even Jews in the Diaspora celebrate [the one-day festivals] for two days is that they are obliged to uphold the custom of their forefathers,3 who would celebrate [the festivals] for two days during the period when [the day of Rosh Chodesh] was sanctified according to [the testimony of] witnesses.4 [At that time,] the matter was not dependent on calculations at all, but on the sighting of the [new] moon. The Jews in the Diaspora did not know which day had been established in Jerusalem as [Rosh] Chodesh and would therefore celebrate the holidays for two days because of their doubt. The Jews of Eretz Yisrael who were close to Jerusalem would celebrate [each festival] for only one day, for the Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem would send messengers to notify [people elsewhere]5 which day had been established as [Rosh] Chodesh for Nissan and Tishrei.6 [Accordingly,] in all the nearby places that the messengers would reach before the onset of the festival, it would be observed for only one day. Therefore their descendants today do not have to observe two days, for we know the calculations [on which the calendar is based] and are aware of the day to be established as Rosh Chodesh, from which the [dates of the] month will be marked.

This rationale applies to the festivals other than Rosh HaShanah. On Rosh HaShanah even the inhabitants of Eretz Yisrael have to observe the custom of their forefathers, who would celebrate it for two days during the time when [the day of Rosh Chodesh] was sanctified according to the sighting of the moon. For the matter did not depend on a knowledge of the calculations, but on the determination of the Court in Jerusalem based on the sighting of the moon (by witnesses).7 Although the Court would [normally] dispatch messengers to notify everyone [of the day proclaimed as Rosh Chodesh], the messengers were not able to depart beyond [Jerusalem’s Sabbath] limits on Rosh HaShanah, [because it] is a festival.8

2 Even for people in the Diaspora, Rosh HaShanah differs from other festivals.9 With regard to other festivals, even their forebears would observe two days only because of the doubt, i.e., they did not know which day had been declared Rosh Chodesh in Eretz Yisrael. Thus an egg laid on the first day may be used on the second day.10 [The rationale is that only one of those days is really a festival,] for if [the first day] is holy, [the second day] is ordinary, and the prohibitions of muktzeh and nolad11 do not apply. And if it is [the second day] that is holy, and [the first day] is ordinary, the egg was prepared on the day before the holiday.12

Now, their descendants know [the correct dates] and are aware that the first day is the essence of the festival and the second day is also a festival [only] by virtue of Rabbinic decree. Nevertheless, the law [now] applying to an egg [laid on the first day of a festival] is not comparable to that of an egg laid on two [Scriptural days of rest] that follow each other, such as a Shabbos and a festival, in which instance an egg laid on one may not be eaten on the second, as stated in sec. 513[:9. The rationale for the distinction is that] since they observe two days only because of the custom observed by their forefathers, they are not obliged to be more stringent than their ancestors themselves were. And their ancestors were allowed [to use such an egg] because of the reasons explained above.

3 [The above concepts do not apply] with regard to the two days of Rosh HaShanah. They are considered as one long day and a single continuum of holiness, even for the inhabitants of Eretz Yisrael.13 [Hence, the following law applies to] an egg that was laid on the first day, to any [produce] that was detached14 on the first day, or to anything snared on the first day. Just as it is forbidden on [the first day] because of the prohibitions of muktzeh and nolad, it is forbidden on the second day, because they are considered as one long day.

[There is one] exception: the deceased [may be buried] on the second day, as explained in sec. 526[:6].15

4 Why are [the two days of Rosh HaShanah] considered as one long day?16 [After all, today] we are aware [of the day] fixed for the new month [to begin], and we know that it is the first day [of Rosh HaShanah] that is of primary importance. [The two days are nevertheless considered as one long day,] because even when the Court would sanctify [the months] on the basis of the sighting [of the new moon], there were times when [this festival] was observed for two days.17

How did this come about? Originally, when [the eve of] the thirtieth of Elul arrived, the entire Jewish people and the Court would observe — from nightfall — the prohibitions against forbidden labor and would observe the sanctification of the day, lest witnesses come the following day and testify that they had seen the new moon that night.18 [Were that to happen,] that day would be declared as Rosh Chodesh Tishrei, which is Rosh HaShanah, and thus the [preceding] night would [have been observed as] a festival.

During the day the Court would be in session, anticipating the possible arrival of witnesses who had sighted the new moon. At whatever hour in the course of the day — until nightfall — they would come [and their testimony would be substantiated], that day would be duly sanctified as the first day of the new month, and Rosh HaShanah would be observed that day. And from that day onward, the days would be calculated [for the observance of] Yom Kippur and Sukkos.

[The witnesses] would always come before Minchah, i.e., before the time of the sacrifice of the daily afternoon offering.19 Once the witnesses were delayed and did not come until after Minchah. [The Kohanim had already] brought the daily offering and the Levites erred with regard to the psalm, i.e., they sang the psalm associated with the weekday [rather than the song to be recited on Rosh HaShanah], because they did not think that the witnesses would come that day. When they did come, that day was retroactively established as holy.

From that day onward,20 the Sages ordained that the Court would not receive the testimony of witnesses past Minchah. If the witnesses came after Minchah,21 that day would be considered as part of the previous month and would be counted as the thirtieth day of Elul. Yom Kippur and Sukkos would then be counted from the following day.22

The Court has the authority to do this, as [implied by] the verse,23 “These are the festivals of G‑d which you shall proclaim.” [The word osam in the latter phrase, אשר תקראו אתם, here translated as “which,”] is written without the letter vav, [and thus can also be read as] atem (“you”), [as if to lay stress on the suffix meaning “you” in the preceding verb. From this the Sages understood24 that the authority for declaring the dates of the festivals is entrusted to] “you,” [to the Court]. Even when [the judges] purposely [establish the first of the month on a day other than the day on which the new moon was first seen, their ruling is binding].25

Nevertheless, though [the Court] would not begin to calculate the festivals from this day [the thirtieth of Elul], and [in principle] it was to be considered as an ordinary weekday, and the following day would be the festival, they would not treat the day with disrespect. [Instead,] they would complete it until nightfall [in observance of] the prohibitions [of forbidden labor, as befits] the sanctity of the festivals as a result of the Rabbinic decrees. [The rationale is that] according to law, it was fit to be a festival according to Scriptural Law,26 [and it was not observed as such only because] license was given to the Court to postpone [the observance of the festival].

On the following day, Rosh HaShanah was observed as a festival according to Scriptural Law. These two days represent one continuum of holiness and are like one long day. They are both referred to as the festival of Rosh HaShanah, the first day being of Rabbinic origin and the second, of Scriptural origin.27

The communities beyond the [Shabbos] limits of Jerusalem would have to observe Rosh HaShanah for two days every year, lest the witnesses come after Minchah. Both days would then be holy and would be considered as one [long] day, for a single holiness rests upon them, the holiness of Rosh HaShanah. After the festival, the messengers would depart and would notify all the people of Eretz Yisrael which day had been sanctified as the first day of the month.28 Everyone would then calculate the dates for Yom Kippur and Sukkos from that day.

This was the procedure that was constantly followed until the Sanhedrin ceased to function, the practice of sanctifying the first day of the new month according to the sighting [of the new moon] was discontinued, and [the beginnings of] the months were thenceforth established on the basis of a fixed calendar. [Once that calendar was established,] everyone calculates the dates for Yom Kippur and Sukkos from the first day of Rosh HaShanah, because according to [the fixed calendar], Elul is always a short month.29 Nevertheless, everyone must maintain the custom of [our] forefathers who lived in the era when the first day of the month was sanctified according to the sighting [of the new moon] and, even in Eretz Yisrael, observed Rosh HaShanah as a two-day festival — as one long day and a single continuum of holiness. Thus, too, an egg laid on [the first day] may not be eaten on [the second], for the reason explained — lest the witnesses arrive after Minchah.

True, this rationale is not applicable in the [current] era, when the [calendar] is established according to [predetermined] calculations, so that the first day [of Rosh HaShanah] is always of primary importance and it is the festival mandated by Scriptural Law. Nevertheless, the second day may not be treated with disrespect, nor may it be modified with leniencies that our forefathers would not have taken.

5 On every festival, on the second day [observed only in] the Diaspora, the blessing Shehecheyanu is recited in the course of Kiddush, because of the uncertainty that our forefathers had (during the era in which the new month was sanctified according to the sighting [of the moon]). [Their uncertainty was that perhaps it was the second] day that was holy and the previous day an ordinary weekday, in which instance they would not have fulfilled their obligation by reciting Shehecheyanu the previous night.

As to the second night of Rosh HaShanah, by contrast, some authorities maintain that Shehecheyanu should not be recited. [They argue that] since the two days are a single continuum of holiness and are considered as one [long] day, the obligation was fulfilled by the Shehecheyanu that was recited the previous night, when the holiness of the [present] day began. If so, why should the blessing Shehecheyanu be recited again in the midst [of this continuum]?

Similarly, with regard to the sounding of the shofar on the second day, [these authorities maintain that] the blessing Shehecheyanu should not be recited, because [the obligation to recite it] was already filled when this blessing was recited [for the sounding of the shofar] on the previous day.

By contrast, other authorities hold that the blessing Shehecheyanu should be recited both in the course of Kiddush on the second night and before [the sounding of] the shofar on the second day. [These authorities argue that the fact that the two days] are considered as one long day is only because of the custom of our forefathers. In the days that Rosh Chodesh was sanctified [when the moon] was sighted, they were concerned that witnesses might have arrived at the Court after Minchah and thus the two days would be considered as one festival and one continuum of holiness. [Nevertheless, in such an instance] our forefathers would recite the blessing Shehecheyanu on the second day, even though they would observe [the two days] as one continuum of holiness and as one day. For if the witnesses came after Minchah, the following day would be the fundamental holiday according to Scriptural Law, and the first day would only be a Rabbinic institution and would be considered as an ordinary weekday when compared to the second day which had been determined as [the beginning of] the month. [These authorities conclude that] we, too, should therefore recite the blessing Shehecheyanu on the second night [of Rosh HaShanah] (even in Eretz Yisrael), just as it is recited on the other festive second days [observed in] the Diaspora, in order not to deviate from the custom of our forefathers.

6 The halachah follows the second opinion. Nevertheless, as an initial and preferred option, it is desirable that one distance himself from [any possibility of] reciting a blessing that may be [unnecessary], by putting on a new garment over which he is required [at that time] to recite the blessing Shehecheyanu, as stated in sec. 223.30 Alternatively, he should take a new fruit31 and place it before him while [reciting] the Kiddush and recite the blessing Shehecheyanu, while also keeping in mind the garment or the fruit.

If one has freshly-made grape juice,32 he should not use it for Kiddush in order that the blessing Shehecheyanu should [also] relate to it33 — because, as stated in sec. 272[:2], the most preferable way to perform the mitzvah of Kiddush is to recite it over aged wine.34 Instead, he should recite Kiddush over the aged wine, while [a cup of the fresh] grape juice is placed before him. When he reaches the blessing Shehecheyanu he should raise the cup of grape juice in his hand, or look at it, and recite that blessing. He should then drink from the cup of aged wine [and after it drink the grape juice].

If one does not have a new garment or a new fruit, he should nevertheless recite the blessing Shehecheyanu, for primacy is given to the latter view.35

7 The same applies to the sounding of the shofar on the second day [of Rosh HaShanah]. The preferred option is that the person sounding the shofar should put on a new garment, and wear it when reciting the blessing Shehecheyanu. (The Sephardic custom is not to recite the blessing Shehecheyanu [at all on the second day].36)

If the first day [of Rosh HaShanah] fell on Shabbos, and [hence] the shofar was not sounded, there is no need to wear a new garment when sounding the shofar on the second day, for the blessing Shehecheyanu has not yet been recited on the shofar [this year].