This festival season, the first days of Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot will fall on Shabbat, as will Shemini Atzeret. This occurrence throws up some important questions: Why don’t we blow the shofar on Shabbat? Should we take the lulav on the first day of Sukkot irrespective of the day of the week, as was the ancient custom in Eretz Yisrael? Did our ancestors ever conceive that Jews would be celebrating Simchat Torah on Shabbat, which cannot happen in chutz l’Aretz?

Gavriel, Jochanan and Joshua discuss whether the danger of carrying a shofar or arba’a minim in a public domain, the Bavli’s rationale for banning their use on Shabbat, is a plausible historical explanation. They address the Yerushalmi’s alternative approach, which forces a rethink of the nature of the mitzvah of shofar and of the prohibition of shevut. Finally, Gavriel charts the history of Simchat Torah and its connections to kabbala, and argues there is no basis for dancing on the first day of Yom Tov, let alone on Shabbat.

Some things we reference in the podcast:

* Professor David Henshke’s article on sounding the shofar on Shabbat

* Rav Yehoshua Buch’s commentary on Yerushalmi Rosh Hashanah 4:1

* Rav Shaul Lieberman’s explanation of the prohibition of clapping, tapping and dancing on Shabbat

Jochanan, Gavriel and R. Noam Kaplan discuss the history of different wordings of the prayer texts, the the value of liturgical diversity, and the senselessness of the notion that there is an obligation to follow an ‘ancestral’ nusach. R. Noam also says a few words about his siddurim.

On Zoharism.

This is the midrash Gavriel mentioned: https://www.sefaria.org/Yoma.69b.9

Friend of the blog Meir (Faithless Flight) joins Jochanan to discuss some of the topics recently covered on his substack, Willful Creation, specifically here, here, and here. Topics include the questionable obligation to follow ancestral minhag, the leadership problem within Judaism, and reasoning from first principles.

Last episode, we interviewed prof. Yair Lorberbaum concerning major hiddushim he introduces in two recent articles of his on the Hakdamah (introduction) and Hilchot Mamrim in the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah. In this episode we summarise his arguments in English and discuss their significance and implications:

* What parts of the Talmud Bavli did the Rambam really say are binding and what is the role of national acceptance?

* How this limits the extent of the problem of the authority of the Babylonian courts

* Why did the Rambam write the Hakdamah in this way?

אנו משוחחים עם יאיר לורברבוים, פרופסור מן המניין בפקולטה למשפטים באוניברסיטת בר-אילן. נושא הדיון שלנו הוא שני מאמרים שפרסם לאחרונה ועניינו אותנו מאוד:

* האומנם, לפי הרמב”ם, התלמוד הבבלי הוא ספר החוק (והאם) מפני שהסכימו עליו כל ישראל?

* “פשט הדבר בכל ישראל”: הרמב”ם על אודות הסכמה על גזרות, מנהגות ותקנות

במחקרו עוסק פרופ’ לורברבוים בתחום המשפט העברי, תורת המשפט, הפילוסופיה של ההלכה, ומחשבת ישראל. במוקד מחקריו עומדים התיאוריה המשפטית של ההלכה והקשר בין משפט עברי והלכה לבין פילוסופיה ותאולוגיה בתקופות השונות, במיוחד בתקופות חז”ל והראשונים.

ראשי פרקים

0:57 הקטגוריות ההלכתיות של הרמב”ם

9:19 תפקיד ההסכמה לחקיקת חכמים וההבדל בין הסכמת רוב העם להסכמת כל העם

27:45 האם התלמוד הבבלי הוא ספר החוקים של ההלכה?

42:50 באיזה בית דין מדובר? מהי סמכות חלקי התלמוד שלא מהווים חקיקה?

52:10 האם ההקדמה תואמת את ההיסטוריה?

1:01:08 למה ההקדמה כה עמומה? למה טעו רבים כל כך בפירושה?

Issues discussed here include:

The real factions in medieval Judaism (not just rationalist vs. mystical)

How Kabbalah became legitimised (Ramban/Nachmanides had a lot to do with it)

How the Zohar was a rebellion against Ramban’s elitist legacy

The Spaniard that Gavriel couldn’t remember the name of was Yitzhak ben Moshe haLevi, also known as Profiat Duran, an interesting character in himself.

When was the Tosefta composed, and where did it come from? Did Rabbi Yohanan know the Tosefta? Did the Geonim? And, of course, why learn it?Not what I (Johanan) thought. Gavriel explains.

Some things we reference in the podcast:

* Article by ‘YU person’ whose name escaped us (Yaakov Elman)

* The project proposed by Gavriel as a way to better texts of the Oral Torah (aka the ‘Mishna Project’)

* More about the birkat kohanim example we discuss

This episode was intended to deal with the doctrinal and practical influence of kabbalah up until its culmination in Sabbateanism, including major updates from the current state of the literature. Unfortunately, our new microphones ran out of battery half way through, so only the first part survives. We hope to cover the rest (which really deserves an episode of its own, anyway) in another episode soon.

Issues discussed here include:

* Evolving views on the authorship and composition of the Zohar

* Explaining the mystery of how one man wrote the Zohar (he didn’t).

* How the Zohar came to be considered authoritative among poskim

* How hearsay influenced halachic practice

We are joined by Rav Noam Kaplan, שליט”א for a wide-ranging conversation about halachot commonly asserted today which Hazal… seem to have forgotten to tell us about. Topics include eiruvim, the kashrut of steam from food, bitter herbs, and the necessity of maintaining two sets of cutlery.Rav Noam received his ordination from R. Zalman Nechemia Goldberg. He has served as rabbi of the Auckland Hebrew Congregation in New Zealand, is the author/compiler of סידור נועם השם alongside several other siddurim, and an early adopter of tekhelet.

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