Sukkah 54 - August 30, 22 Elul

Study Guide Sukkah 54

The gemara compares the mishna that mentions the 48 trumpet blasts (according to Rabbi Yehuda’s opinion) with a previous mishna that seemed to have a different calculation of the blasts. The mishna is attributed to Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaacov who held that three of the blasts were done at the altar ceremony (at the time of the placing of the willow branch, according to Rashi). The earlier mishna held that there were no blasts at the altar ceremony, and instead, blasts were sounded during the procession “at the tenth step.” What is the rationale for this debate? Rabbi Acha bar Hanina holds that each musaf sacrifice engenders its own set of nine blasts. If this is the case, then our mishna which cites the case of Friday afternoon chol hamoed as the case where one has 48 blasts is problematic for there are other cases (such as Shabbat of chol hamoed) where one might also blow 48 because of the extra musaf blasts. Rabbi Zeira initially suggests that on Shabbat  there were no blasts for the opening of the gates (which would mean there weren’t 48 blasts on Shabbat) but Rava rejects this for two reasons and notes that using the Shabbat case in the mishna would have advantages. Because of this, Rava suggests another explanation - that on Shabbat there were no blasts at the filling of the water as the water was filled the previous day. The gemara then notes a third case where there were 48 blasts, when Rosh Hashana fell on Shabbat, and ultimately comes to the conclusion that the example provides in our mishna was one of a few possible examples that could have been provided (tanna ve-shi'yer). What other case was left out? The gemara notes that the number 48 is not a maximum number of blasts because on the Passover holiday, there may have been more blasts in the temple - since the Passover sacrifice was offered in three groups and Hallel was recited by each group three times accompanied by blasts. This added another 27 blasts (3x3x3), thought Rabbi Yehuda held that the third group usually finished the sacrifice at the beginning of Hallel (thus engendering only 21 blasts). Together with the 3 blasts for the opening of the gates and the 18 for the daily sacrifices and the extra ones for the musaf, one might get to 51 or even 57 blasts, if the eve of Passover came out on a Shabbat. In order to save the integrity of the mishna (which said the maximum was 48), the gemara claims that the mishna was only talking about regular years and not atypical ones. This launches the gemara into a discussion whether it is possible to have the first day of Sukkot come out on a Friday, since such a year would also have Yom Kippur come out on a Sunday. This is a more fundamental debate between the rabbis and Acherim regarding whether the rabbis used a fixed calendar of days or fiddled with the calendar annually.