Rosh Hashana 4:1 — Blowing the shofar on Shabbos after the Churban

The Lived Mishnah·A Zeman Nakat Project
Mesechta Rosh Hashana
Mishnah 27 of 35
Audio · Listen with Ephraim Diamond
Listen with Ephraim Diamond · 4:39 0:00 / 4:39
0:00
4:39
Speed
Click any Hebrew phrase above to jump to where Ephraim reads it · Highlight holds while he discusses each phrase
MoedSederסדרמוֹעֵד
Rosh HashanaMesechtaמסכתראש השנה
4Perekפרקד׳
1Mishnahמשנהא׳
נושא · Topicשׁוֹפָר בְּשַׁבָּת לְאַחַר הַחֻרְבָּןBlowing the shofar on Shabbos after the Churban
This Mishnah is:a rule · a takanawhat does that mean?
Mishnah ראש השנה ד׳:א׳ · Rosh Hashana 4:1
יוֹם טוֹב שֶׁל רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה שֶׁחָל לִהְיוֹת בְּשַׁבָּת,
בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ הָיוּ תּוֹקְעִים,
אֲבָל לֹא בַמְּדִינָה.
מִשֶּׁחָרַב בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ,
הִתְקִין רַבָּן יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאי,
שֶׁיְּהוּ תּוֹקְעִין בְּכָל מָקוֹם שֶׁיֶּשׁ בּוֹ בֵית דִּין.
אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר,
לֹא הִתְקִין רַבָּן יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאי אֶלָּא בְיַבְנֶה בִּלְבָד.
אָמְרוּ לוֹ,
אֶחָד יַבְנֶה וְאֶחָד כָּל מָקוֹם שֶׁיֶּשׁ בּוֹ בֵית דִּין.
When Yom Tov of Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos,
in the Mikdash they would blow,
but not in the medinah.
After the Beis HaMikdash was destroyed,
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai enacted
that they blow in every place that has a beis din.
Said Rabbi Elazar:
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai enacted it only in Yavneh.
They said to him:
Both Yavneh and any place that has a beis din.
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▾
בַּמִּקְדָּשׁאֲבָל לֹא בַמְּדִינָהמִשֶּׁחָרַברַבָּן יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאיבְּכָל מָקוֹם שֶׁיֶּשׁ בּוֹ בֵית דִּין
Summary Chart
Blowing the shofar on Shabbos after the Churban▾
CaseRulingReason
When Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbos, where is the shofar blown?In the Mikdash — not in the medinah—
After the Churban, where may it be blown?Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai: Anywhere with a beis din—
Rabbi Elazar: Only Yavneh—
Chachamim: Yavneh and anywhere with a beis din—
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.

All Meforshim
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.

Why the shofar fell silent outside the Mikdash — and how Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai answered the Churban▾
עֲשֵׂה לְךָ רַב
Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai · Dor 1 · Churban — רבן יוחנן בן זכאי

The youngest and greatest of Hillel’s talmidim (Avos 2:8; Sukkah 28a). As Yerushalayim fell he had himself carried out in a coffin and secured from Vespasian the request ten li Yavneh va’chachameha — give me Yavneh and its sages (Gittin 56a–b) — pivoting the nation from Mikdash to beis medrash. His takanos (Rosh Hashanah 31b) built the world of zecher la’Mikdash, several of them the mishnayos in this series: the shofar on Shabbos, the lulav for seven days, the new grain.

What ‘medinah’ means here

The mishnah’s Mikdash/medinah line is itself a machlokes rishonim. Rambam holds ‘Mikdash’ means all of Yerushalayim and ‘medinah’ the rest of Eretz Yisrael, as he explains on the mishnayos that follow (Maaser Sheni 2:4, Shekalim 1:3, Sukkah 3:10). Rashi reads it the other way: ‘Mikdash’ is the Beis HaMikdash proper, and ‘medinah’ takes in even the rest of Yerushalayim. The shofar-on-Shabbos line was drawn at whichever boundary.

Why the shofar is silent outside — two reasons

Sounding the shofar is not melacha, so why is it barred outside the Mikdash on Shabbos? Bartenura and Tosafos Yom Tov give the Bavli’s gezeirah — lest one carry the shofar four amos in reshus harabim to bring it to someone who can sound it for him. The Yerushalmi does not know that gezeirah; it reads the limit from the pesukim, ‘yom teruah’ against ‘zichron teruah’ — on Shabbos the day keeps only a remembrance of the teruah, not the blast itself.

What the Chachamim add at the end

The mishnah seems to repeat itself: the takanah already permits sounding ‘wherever there is a beis din,’ and the Chachamim answer R’ Elazar with ‘both Yavneh and anywhere with a beis din.’ The difference the exchange turns on: the stam takanah follows the beis din wherever it happens to sit, even for a time, while the Chachamim permit sounding only where a beis din is permanently fixed.

▶ Listen from here on the radio
‹ ›
הֲדַרָן עֲלָךְ מַסֶּכֶת רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה
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