Rosh Hashana 1:2 — The Four Days of Judgment

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Mesechta Rosh Hashana
Mishnah 2 of 35
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MoedSederסדרמוֹעֵד
Rosh HashanaMesechtaמסכתראש השנה
1Perekפרקא׳
2Mishnahמשנהב׳
נושא · Topicבְּאַרְבָּעָה פְרָקִים הָעוֹלָם נִדּוֹןThe Four Days of Judgment
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Mishnah ראש השנה א׳:ב׳ · Rosh Hashana 1:2
בְּאַרְבָּעָה פְרָקִים הָעוֹלָם נִדּוֹן,
בְּפֶסַח עַל הַתְּבוּאָה,
בַּעֲצֶרֶת עַל פֵּרוֹת הָאִילָן,
בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה כָּל בָּאֵי הָעוֹלָם עוֹבְרִין לְפָנָיו כִּבְנֵי מָרוֹן,
שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (תהלים לג) הַיּוֹצֵר יַחַד לִבָּם, הַמֵּבִין אֶל כָּל מַעֲשֵׂיהֶם.
וּבֶחָג נִדּוֹנִין עַל הַמָּיִם:
At four points the world is judged:
On Pesach, over the grain;
on Atzeres, over the fruit of the tree;
on Rosh Hashana all who come into the world pass before Him like bnei maron, sheep filing one by one through a narrow gate;
as it says (Tehillim 33) He who fashions their hearts together, who discerns all their doings.
and on the Chag they are judged over the water.
A reading aid, not an exact translation.

This English is a clause-by-clause rendering to help you follow the Hebrew. It is not word-for-word literal, and it is not a transcript of the recorded shiur — the audio carries explanation and context the translation deliberately leaves out.

case/objectpermissive rulingreasonpasuk/proof text
Structure
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בְּאַרְבָּעָה פְרָקִים הָעוֹלָם נִדּוֹןבְּפֶסַחthe grainבַּעֲצֶרֶתthe fruit of the treeבְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָהevery person aliveוּבֶחָגthe waterthree follow the harvest — the fourth does not, and that is the question
Summary Chart
The Four Days of Judgment▾
CaseRulingReason
On which day is the grain judged?Pesach—
And the fruit of the tree?Atzeres—
And every person alive, passing before Him one at a time?Rosh Hashana — Tehillim 33 is brought as the proof—
And the water?the Chag—
Transcript
A machine transcript of the recorded shiur.

This is the shiur as spoken, transcribed automatically and left unedited — the wording is Ephraim's, and occasional transcription errors remain. It follows the audio word by word.

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Mishnah Insights
An amalgam of commentaries, including original insights.

These insights draw on the commentaries to this Mishnah and on the recorded shiur. Those commentaries often rest on earlier sources — the Gemara, the Yerushalmi, the Rishonim, and one another — without always saying so; where they do, we generally cite the one we read. Every commentary consulted is kept, verbatim, with this card.

Insights on this mishnah▾

בְּפֶסַח עַל הַתְּבוּאָה — on Pesach, for grain

Bartenura grounds each date in its korban: the Torah says הביאו לפני עמר בפסח כדי שאברך לכם תבואה שבשדות — bring the omer on Pesach so that your field grain be blessed — and the shtei halechem on Atzeres do the same for fruit. Wheat can speak for trees, Bartenura adds, because וחטה עץ קריה רחמנא, the Torah itself calls wheat a tree, per the view עץ שאכל אדם הראשון חטה היה. The omer itself is the first barley of the new crop.

כִּבְנֵי מָרוֹן — like bnei maron

Bartenura pictures the tithing pen: sheep sent out through a small opening one after another, ואין שנים יכולים לצאת כאחד — no two can pass together. Another girsa reads it as soldiers passing before their general to be counted, though most manuscripts of the Mishnah note the former. Both images carry one point: we each approach HaKadosh Baruch Hu singularly, by ourselves.

בְּרֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה — on Rosh Hashana

Tosafos Yom Tov asks on the words themselves: וקשיא לי כיון שאדם נדון בר"ה — if each person is judged on Rosh Hashana, his grain and fruit included, what is left for the other three days? He answers: שג' דברים נדונין לכל העולם, the three are the world's judgments, כל אחד נדון בזמנו, each in its season — while on Rosh Hashana each individual passes and וגוזרים עליו חלקו מדברים הללו, his personal share of them is decreed. He closes the passage: כל זה מדברי הר"ן.

כָּל בָּאֵי הָעוֹלָם עוֹבְרִין לְפָנָיו — all who come into the world pass before Him

Grain, fruit and water each get a judgment word — נִדּוֹן, נִדּוֹנִין. The Rosh Hashana clause alone says only that all pass before Him: the Mishnah does not use the term din of Rosh Hashana itself. The Maharsha took notice, and suggests our mishnah accords with the view that the actual judgment is delayed until Yom Kippur — so it would be wrong to use the term judgment in association with Rosh Hashana.

שְׁאֵלַת חָכָם

They pass before Him one by one, and yet Bartenura ends: כלן נסקרים בסקירה אחת, all are scanned in a single glance. Rambam says of our mishnah: אבל הנסתר ענינו קשה, its hidden matter is hard, without doubt. Lechem Shamayim sharpens it: שאחר שנסקרין בסקירה א' לאיזה טעם יצטרכו א"כ לעבור א' א' — if one glance takes in all, why pass one by one at all? He leaves it: ולא נודע מהות הסיקור. (See Rambam and Lechem Shamayim here.)

— Rambam; Lechem Shamayim
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A siyum · Mesechta Rosh Hashana

You have learned every Mishnah of Rosh Hashana — all 43 steps, from the four new years through the tefillos of the day. Hadran alach: we will return to you.

Hear the Siyum — the Summary of the Mesechta Back to the Mesechta