Daf Yomi Rosh Hashanah

Rosh HaShanah 2a and Rosh HaShanah 2b, the many cycles of the calendar, with different first days of the year for each, and then figuring out what it means for Nisan to be the first of the year for kings, and how we know it is.

Rosh HaShanah 3a and Rosh HaShanah 3b, proving that Jewish kings’ years switched over at Nisan, and then starting to show non-Jewish kings’ years switched at Tishrei, with thoughts on how the rebuilding of the Second Temple went.

Rosh HaShanah 4a and Rosh HaShanah 4b, how we know that non-Jewish kings have a different Rosh HaShanah than Jewish kings, and then the role of Nisan in the prohibition of bal te’aher, not to delay too long in fulfilling obligations to bring a sacrifice or give charity or other gifts.

Rosh HaShanah 5a and Rosh HaShanah 5b, how we know of the possibility of offering Shavuot’s sacrifices during the six days after Shavuot, how the verse of bal te’aher includes various gifts and donations in the prohibition of being late to give it.

Rosh HaShanah 6a and Rosh HaShanah 6b, permutations of bal te’aher: why we need verses for both where the person promised something and did not set it aside as well as where it was side aside but not offered (and what those verses are), that bal te’aher is a daily violation once the time limit has been passed, and whether heirs and/or women are implicated in bal te’aher.

Rosh HaShanah 7a and Rosh HaShanah 7b, other candidates for firsts of the year, and why our original Mishnah did not include them.

Rosh HaShanah 8a and Rosh HaShanah 8b, the debate about whether the Rosh HaShanah for animals is first of Elul or of Tishrei, first of Tishrei as the time when the world is judged, the relationship between different kinds of Rosh HaShanah, including how we know the beginning of shemittah is the first of Tishrei.

Rosh HaShanah 9a and Rosh HaShanah 9b, the source for the idea of mosifin me-hol al ha-kodesh, we add to sanctified time periods, of the importance of eating on the ninth of Tishrei, and what is essential to making a year a yovel year.

Rosh HaShanah 10a and Rosh HaShanah 10b, how planting a tree just before the first of Tishrei starts the cycle on orlah, how much before Rosh HaShanah is needed for tosefet shevi’it, the mandatory add-on to shemittah, and how much of a year can already count as a full year for halachic purposes,

Rosh HaShanah 11a and Rosh HaShanah 11b, the debate between R. Eliezer and R. Yehoshu’a about the roles of Nisan and Tishrei (especially Rosh HaShanah) in world and Jewish history.

Rosh HaShanah 12a and Rosh HaShanah 12b, finishing up the pictures of how the Flood was timed, and then more examples of where the 1st of Tishrei changes the year, for vegetables and other tithes, how we know the 3rd and 6th years of a shemittah cycle are for ma’aser oni, the poor person’s tithe, for vows, and then when in a growing cycle counts as the year for that product.

Rosh HaShanah 13a and Rosh HaShanah 13b, how we know the standard of having grown a third before Rosh HaShanah for produce to be considered part of a previous year, especially for shemittah, and then how legumes work with the standard of rooting in the ground or being completed.

Rosh HaShanah 14a and Rosh HaShanah 14b, why Shmuel needed three statements to convey his view of legumes and their change of year, why R. Akiva tithed an etrog twice on the 1st of Shevat.

Rosh HaShanah 15a and Rosh HaShanah 15b, examples of where a product grows from one year into the next, and how to decide which is the year that counts for tithing and for shemittah.

Rosh HaShanah 16a and Rosh HaShanah 16b, when in the year we are judged and for what, according to multiple opinions; how to change one’s decree or, on the other hand, bring uncomfortable scrutiny, and the three books of judgment, for Rosh HaShanah and in the future.

Rosh HaShanah 17a and Rosh HaShanah 17b, the judgment of the World to Come, who will be denied or given a permanently lower status, Gd’s leaning towards a kinder view than maybe deserved, leading into a discussion of Gd’s Attributes, openness to repentance, and the role of gezar din, divine decree, in allowing or not allowing repentance to restore a person’s future fully.

Rosh HaShanah 18a and Rosh HaShanah 18b, how divine decrees do or do not seal fates (and ways around them), then a new Mishnah about when messengers were sent to fix the calendar, sparking a discussion of which fast days are fixed enough to need messengers, and what happens with other fast days.

Rosh HaShanah 19a and Rosh HaShanah 19b, whether the holidays of Megillat Ta’anit are still observed in terms of ruling out fast days before or after, and why and when messengers would be sent out to announce when certain months were set, including whether the Adar before Pesah (and the added Adar in leap years) are always a certain number of days.

Rosh HaShanah 20a and Rosh HaShanah 20b, whether and how a court can adjust the months to be longer or shorter, the role of witnesses, and what kinds of untruths courts tolerate to adjust the calendar.

Rosh HaShanah 21a and Rosh HaShanah 21b, getting the word of when RH or Pesah are to the faraway places, keeping two days of Pesah because we will have to keep two days of Sukkot, times for keeping two days of Yom Kippur, and then the idea of violating Shabbat for witnesses to get to Yerushalayim to declare the new month.

Rosh HaShanah 22a and Rosh HaShanah 22b, finishing the first chapter with discussions of who is valid to testify about the New Moon, starting the second chapter with two systems that had to be put into place to avoid the interference of Beithusim and Kutim in the process.

Rosh HaShanah 23a and Rosh HaShanah 23b, a digression into the kinds of wood that qualify as erez, because those were the poles used for the bonfires to announce the New Moon, with ideas about Jerusalem being replanted and regrown, and then more on how the witnesses were gathered before and after they testified, where they were allowed to travel if they came from far on Shabbat, and what is obviously erroneous or false testimony about the New Moon.

Rosh HaShanah 24a and Rosh HaShanah 24b, how witnesses might contradict each other, and what happens, Rabban Gamliel’s images of moon and sun to show witnesses and how we may or may not make images of the stars (or have them made).

Rosh HaShanah 25a and Rosh HaShanah 25b, the importance of accepting the leadership of institutions, particularly of the Sanhedrin and its determination of the calendar, and then a new chapter, about when the court itself sees the New Moon and how it is verified and declared.

Rosh HaShanah 26a and Rosh HaShanah 26b, the kinds of animals whose horns we use for a shofar, for which kinds of days. With a digression to Biblical words that were unclear and taught by ordinary colloquial experience.

Rosh HaShanah 27a and Rosh HaShanah 27b, how we can blow both trumpets and shofar and yet fulfill the mitzvah of shofar, why we use gold sometimes and silver other times, and then ways in which a shofar can break or otherwise be made invalid, including the need to hear the sound of the shofar itself.

Rosh HaShanah 28a and Rosh HaShanah 28b, the idea that mitzvot are not there to confer benefit, whether or not mitxvot require intent, and how one can or cannot wrongly add to the Torah, the prohibition of bal tosif.

Rosh HaShanah 29a and Rosh HaShanah 29b, the role of intent in mitzvot, how Moshe’s actions helped Jews focus properly at critical junctures, who is or is not obligated in the mitzvah of shofar, and where shofar can be blown on Shabbat.

Rosh HaShanah 30a and Rosh HaShanah 30b, where Jews still blew on Rosh HaShanah on Shabbat, other practices of post-Destruction, and how we eventually got to always keeping two days of Rosh HaShanah.

Rosh HaShanah 31a and Rosh HaShanah 31b, the Tehillim the Levi’im sang during the daily sacrifices and Shabbat Mussaf and Minhah, the movements of the Shechinah on the way out of the Temple as the Jewish people’s spiritual state deteriorated, and the nine ordinances of Rabban Yohanan b. Zakkai.

Rosh HaShanah 32a and Rosh HaShanah 32b, the three blessings of Mussaf of Rosh HaShanah, where to place them, how many verses to include in each, where to find those verses.

Rosh HaShanah 33a and Rosh HaShanah 33b, who is obligated to blow, when we do or do not stop children from blowing on Yom Tov, and beginning with the technicalities of blowing, how long a blast, how many.

Rosh HaShanah 34a and Rosh HaShanah 34b, deriving the idea of a plain blast before and after the teruah, and that three sets is what is required, doubt about the nature of a teruah, and the extent to which the blasts are linked to each other and/or to the blessings of Malchuyot, Zichronot, and Shofarot.

Rosh HaShanah 35a, finishing the tractate. If that’s not enough to draw you in, nothing’s gonna.