Rosh Hashana 1:8 — Who May Not Testify

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Rosh HashanaMesechtaמסכתראש השנה
1Perekפרקא׳
8Mishnahמשנהח׳
נושא · Topicאֵלּוּ הֵן הַפְּסוּלִיןWho May Not Testify
This Mishnah is:a listwhat does that mean?
Mishnah ראש השנה א׳:ח׳ · Rosh Hashana 1:8
אֵלּוּ הֵן הַפְּסוּלִין,
הַמְשַׂחֵק בְּקֻבְיָא,
וּמַלְוֵי בְרִבִּית,
וּמַפְרִיחֵי יוֹנִים,
וְסוֹחֲרֵי שְׁבִיעִית,
וַעֲבָדִים.
זֶה הַכְּלָל, כָּל עֵדוּת שֶׁאֵין הָאִשָּׁה כְשֵׁרָה לָהּ,
אַף הֵן אֵינָן כְּשֵׁרִים לָהּ:
These are the ones who are unfit:
one who plays at dice;
those who lend at interest;
those who race pigeons;
those who trade in sheviis produce;
and slaves.
This is the general rule: any testimony for which a woman is not fit,
they too are not fit for it.
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 rulingconditiongeneral rule
Summary Chart
Who May Not Testify▾
CaseRulingReason
Not everyone who saw the new moon may say so — who is disqualified from testifying?Dice players, lenders at interest, pigeon-racers, traders in sheviis produce, and slaves—
How far does the disqualification reach?As far as a woman's—
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▾

אֵלּוּ הֵן הַפְּסוּלִין — these are the disqualified

Tosafos Yom Tov reads the list by who is missing from it: a גזלן is nowhere here, though the Torah writes his disqualification outright — אל תשת ידך עם רשע. The absence teaches the list's level: פירוש מדרבנן, these are rabbinic disqualifications, people whose way with money made them suspect. And the chiddush of placing the list in our masechta: דאע"ג שהן כשרים מן התורה פסולים לעדות החדש — kosher by Torah law, yet barred from the month's testimony.

הַמְשַׂחֵק בְּקֻבְיָא — the dice player

Why is a gambler barred? Two rationales, and they differ in practice. Bartenura: winnings rest on אסמכתא לא קניא, so the winner holds what is not his — a rabbinic gazlan. The other view: gamblers are not really adding value to the world, not עוסקין בישובו של עולם. Tosafos Yom Tov names the split's test case: ואיכא בינייהו דגמר אומנות אחריתי — the occasional player who has a real trade.

זֶה הַכְּלָל — this is the rule

The rule measures these pesulim against a different witness entirely. Bartenura: there is testimony a woman IS kosher for — להעיד לאשה שמת בעלה, freeing an agunah — and for those, these rabbinic pesulim are kosher too; Torah-level sinners are not. And the rule's placement in our masechta carries an implication: a woman would not be qualified to testify for Kiddush Hachodesh. Tosafos, brought in Ikar Tosafos Yom Tov, adds a floor even for the listed men: מסיחין לפי תמן, speaking artlessly, they are no worse than the nochri whose offhand report is accepted.

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