Rosh Hashana 1:7 — A Father and a Son

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MoedSederסדרמוֹעֵד
Rosh HashanaMesechtaמסכתראש השנה
1Perekפרקא׳
7Mishnahמשנהז׳
נושא · Topicאָב וּבְנוֹ שֶׁרָאוּ אֶת הַחֹדֶשׁA Father and a Son
This Mishnah is:a case · with a machlokeswhat does that mean?
Mishnah ראש השנה א׳:ז׳ · Rosh Hashana 1:7
אָב וּבְנוֹ שֶׁרָאוּ אֶת הַחֹדֶשׁ, יֵלְכוּ.
לֹא שֶׁמִּצְטָרְפִין זֶה עִם זֶה,
אֶלָּא שֶׁאִם יִפָּסֵל אֶחָד מֵהֶן,
יִצְטָרֵף הַשֵּׁנִי עִם אַחֵר.
רַבִּי שִׁמְעוֹן אוֹמֵר, אָב וּבְנוֹ וְכָל הַקְּרוֹבִין, כְּשֵׁרִין לְעֵדוּת הַחֹדֶשׁ.
אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹסֵי, מַעֲשֶׂה בְטוֹבִיָּה הָרוֹפֵא,
שֶׁרָאָה אֶת הַחֹדֶשׁ בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם, הוּא וּבְנוֹ וְעַבְדּוֹ מְשֻׁחְרָר,
וְקִבְּלוּ הַכֹּהֲנִים אוֹתוֹ וְאֶת בְּנוֹ, וּפָסְלוּ אֶת עַבְדּוֹ.
וּכְשֶׁבָּאוּ לִפְנֵי בֵית דִּין, קִבְּלוּ אוֹתוֹ וְאֶת עַבְדּוֹ, וּפָסְלוּ אֶת בְּנוֹ:
A father and his son who saw the new moon — they should go.
Not that they join with one another,
but that if one of them is disqualified,
the other may join with someone else.
R' Shimon says: A father and his son and all relatives — they are fit for edus hachodesh, testimony on the new moon.
R' Yosi said: It once happened with Tuviah the doctor,
who saw the new moon in Yerushalayim — Tuviah, his son, and his freed slave.
The Kohanim accepted Tuviah and his son, and disqualified the slave.
And when the three came before Beis Din, they accepted Tuviah and the slave, and disqualified the son.
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/objectrestrictive rulingpermissive rulingTannareason
Structure
The shape of it▾
הַכֹּהֲנִיםהָאָבTuviah✓הַבֵּןhis son✓הָעֶבֶדhis freed slaveבֵּית דִּיןהָאָב✓הַבֵּןהָעֶבֶד✓each court keeps the one the other sent away
Summary Chart
A Father and a Son▾
CaseRulingReason
A father and his son both saw the new moon — do both of them make the trip?Both go—
Can the two of them act as a pair of witnesses for kiddush hachodesh?Tanna Kamma: No—
R' Shimon: Yes—
Tuviah the doctor, his son and his freed slave all saw the new moon — who did the Kohanim accept?The father and the son — not the slave—
And Beis Din?The father and the slave — not the son—
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▾

יֵלְכוּ — they should go

One word carries the ruling: Melechet Shlomo notes ילכו משמע אפי' בשבת — go, even on Shabbos, though father and son can never testify as a pair. The mishnah's own reason is שאם יפסל אחד מהן, and what יפסל means is itself read two ways. Rashi, brought in Tosafos Yom Tov: יכשל בפיו כשיבדקוהו — he may stumble under the court's questioning. Rambam: one may be found pasul outright, מפני שהוא גזלן or another disqualification.

כְּשֵׁרִין לְעֵדוּת הַחֹדֶשׁ — fit for testimony of the month

The machlokes turns on one pasuk, said to two brothers. Rabbi Shimon reads הַחֹדֶשׁ הַזֶּה לָכֶם, spoken to Moshe and Aharon: עדות זו של חדש תהא כשרה בכם ואף על פי שאתם אחים — this testimony is kosher in you, brothers though you are. The Chachamim read the same word the other way: עדות זו תהא מסורה לכם, לגדולים שבדור כמותכם — לכם hands the month's testimony to the court, it does not kosher the kin. Bartenura: ואין הלכה כרבי שמעון.

וְקִבְּלוּ הַכֹּהֲנִים — and the Kohanim accepted

The story's two courts rule in mirror image, and Tosafos, brought in Tosafos Yom Tov, gives the Kohanim's logic both halves: on relatives סברי לה כר"ש דמכשיר בקרוב, and on the freed slave ודרשו נמי כשרים ומיוחסים — they demanded lineage for this testimony, the way בדומין לך is darshened for courts. The Kohanim took yichus very seriously, and the episode is a window into Yerushalayim's inner workings, a priestly court beside the Sanhedrin ruling by its own lights.

שְׁאֵלַת חָכָם

Who were these Kohanim who accepted Tuviah and his son and disqualified his freed slave? Lechem Shamayim leaves it in difficulty: צ"ע אי אלו הכהנים, אם אינם ב"ד — and if they were not a beis din, their ruling is itself a wonder, for by the Torah's account הכהנים הם מורי התורה לישראל. (See Lechem Shamayim here.)

— Lechem Shamayim
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