Daf Yomi - Lulav or Shofar on Shabbos

Daf Yomi - Lulav or Shofar on Shabbos

Lulav or Shofar on Shabbos

“It Refers to Tithing in Our Days”

(Bechoros 61a)

Rabbi Akiva Yosef Schlesinger, zt”l, an outstanding talmid chacham, lived in Yerushalayim well over a hundred years ago and authored Lev Ha’Ivri. He aroused a great halachic furor when he announced that he had investigated, researched, and discovered that in Yerushalayim one should blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah that falls on Shabbos (Sefer Mikra’ei Kodesh: Yomim Noraim 32). To this day, Jerusalemites argue about whether he actually did this himself or not, but an interesting incidental halachic issue arose from his statement.

If he indeed blew the shofar on Shabbos, should one (at that time) endeavor to hear him blow the shofar since, after all, it is Rosh Hashanah? The Sages indeed ruled that one must not blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah which falls on Shabbos. However, if there is a possibility to hear shofar-blowing without transgressing their regulation, why would one not strive to hear it, as one who hears the sounds of the shofar being blown transgresses no prohibition?

Before we study the different facets of the doubt, let us proceed to another instance. A pe...