The Two-Day Rosh Chodesh (1)

Translated and adapted by Rav Eliezer Kwass

 

 

          The two-day Rosh Chodesh is a singular, puzzling phenomenon within the Jewish calendar system.  Why is there a need for two days at all?  If there is a good reason, why do not all the months require two days? 

 

ROSH CHODESH SHEINI?

 

          The parallel to the diaspora's two day Yom Tov and to the two days of Rosh Hashana naturally presents itself.  However, this parallel breaks down for three reasons: 

 

1. Only some of the Roshei Chodashim are two days. Based on the Yom Tov Sheini model, all of them should have been.

 

          Even the need to align the calendar with the astronomical length of the lunar month does not easily explain why some months have two days of Rosh Chodesh and others one. In our present system, a two-day Rosh Chodesh only appears after thirty-day months.  However, another approach was possible.  All of the months could still have had a one-day Rosh Chodesh, with the lengths of the months varying.  Alternatively, all of the months could have had two days of Rosh Chodesh, some of them the thirtieth of the previous and the first of the present month and others (similar to Rosh Hashana) the first and the second of the present month.

 

2.  According to the simple reading of the story of David and Yonatan (Shmuel I 20:27), two days of Rosh Chodesh were kept even in biblical times.  Here, the parallel to Yom Tov Sheini shel galuyot, which was only instituted at a much later date, certainly seems to break down.  [There still might be a way to explain that story based on doubt regarding which day is Rosh Chodesh - see commentaries on the verse in Shmuel, the Yerushalmi Ta'anit 4:3, the Tashbetz vol. 3, #244, and the discussion below.] 

 

3.  It is also noteworthy that whereas the first day of Yom Tov is always the main one, the first of the month is always the second day of Rosh Chodesh.  This raises the following question:  Now that we have a permanent calendar worked out, and diaspora Jews nevertheless continue their ancestral custom of observing two days of Yom Tov, which elements of the original two-day Yom Tov were retained in the present decree? If an essential element of the decree is making sure that the main day of Yom Tov precedes the other, [see Rosh Hashana 20b] then the two days of Rosh Chodesh (if they are part of the same decree) once again behave strangely. 

 

          Because of these objections it is unreasonable to assume that the two-day Rosh Chodesh is part of the two-day Yom Tov decree. This leaves us with two questions:

 

A.  Why decree two days of Rosh Chodesh -and then have one of these days be the last day of the previous month? What kind of ROSH Chodesh is this?

 

B.  If there must be such a system, then why not make all of the Roshei Chodashim two days?

 

THE TOSAFOT RID

 

          Indeed, the Tosafot Rid was asked why there are two days of Rosh Chodesh and didn't hesitate to reply, "You have asked well."  We quote the responsum (Teshuvot Tosafot Rid [Machon Hatalmud Hayisraeli], Responsum #32), in its entirety and we will base the rest of our discussion on it.

 

"Concerning your question about why there are two days of Rosh Chodesh: You have asked well!

 

Realize that the reason [why there are two days of Rosh Chodesh] is different from that of the two days of Yom Tov.  There are two days of Yom Tov because of doubt [regarding which is the real day], whereas the decree of two days of Rosh Chodesh does not stem from any doubt.  If that were so, every Rosh Chodesh should have been two days, even the thirty-day months. (Since a thirty-day month is always preceded by a twenty-nine-day month, its         Rosh Chodesh is only one day.)

 

It seems to me that this is the reason:  It is well known that the astronomical month lasts twenty-nine and a half days.  The thirtieth day should really have been split into two parts: the first of the previous month and the second of the subsequent one.  However, in order not to split a day in half the sages decreed that some of the months are 'malei' ('full' - thirty days) and some are 'chaseir' ('missing' - twenty-nine days).

 

Even so, logic dictates that the month should begin on the thirtieth; since part of the day is definitely holy (Rosh Chodesh), the whole day should be holy.  The next day, the thirty-first, should definitely not be holy.  However, since the sages decreed to attach the thirtieth day to the previous month, we sanctify the thirty-first day as the first of the following month. Even though we sanctify the thirty-first, we nevertheless make the thirtieth Rosh Chodesh too, for the thirtieth is the actual time of 'kiddush,' since half of that day in reality belongs to the next month, and should really have been Rosh Chodesh.  We also make the thirty-first Rosh Chodesh in order to count the days of the month from it; we want to avoid counting the days of the month from the thirtieth. Therefore, declare, 'Rosh Chodesh falls on these days of the week,' in order to indicate that the thirtieth is the actual time of Rosh Chodesh and that the days of the month are counted from the thirty-first day.  Both of these days are called Rosh Chodesh; the former with regards to 'kiddush' and the latter with regards to 'minyan' (counting).

 

This was already the practice in the days of the prophets, as it says with regards to David, 'On the second Chodesh day.' 

 

Even though the astronomical beginning of the month           occasionally does not fall out on the thirtieth, we follow the prearranged calendar paradigm decreed by the Sages and not the actual 'molad' (lit. the birth - the moment of the astronomical beginning of the month)."

 

          Thus, according to the Tosafot Rid, both days of Rosh Chodesh can correctly be called the beginning of the month because the month has two starting points.  One is the point at which the month astronomically begins, when the moon begins its cycle; the second is the beginning of the month with regards to the count of the days of the month.  Since the natural lunar month lasts twenty-nine and a half days, while the calendar month can only be composed of whole days, these two beginnings turn out to be on two distinct days. 

 

          When the previous month was only twenty-nine days (chaseir), both of the following month's beginnings, the point when the astronomical month begins and the day that begins the calendar month, come out on the same day.  However, when the previous month is thirty days (malei), the first day of Rosh Chodesh contains the beginning of the astronomical month and the second is counted as the first day of the next month. There are therefore two days of Rosh Chodesh, one astronomical and one calendar. 

 

          The Rambam also works with the Tosafot Rid's explanation.  He writes (in Hilkhot Kiddush Ha-chodesh 8:4):

 

 

"The thirtieth is always made Rosh Chodesh according to this system.  If the previous month was chaseir, the thirtieth is the beginning of the next month.  If the previous month was malei the thirtieth is Rosh Chodesh because part of it Rosh Chodesh since it finishes off the previous month.  The thirty-first is also Rosh Chodesh of the next month and the count of days begins from it.  It is the day that has been set [as the first of the month] ('Yom Hakeviya'). Therefore according to this system some months have two days of Rosh Chodesh and others one."

 

          The two-day Rosh Chodesh, according to the Rambam and the Tosafot Rid, are apparently biblical and part of the basic law of Rosh Chodesh, kept even in the times of the prophets.

 

DAY 1 VS. DAY 2:  NATURE VS. HISTORY

 

          Though both days have the same status as the biblical level Rosh Chodesh, there may be a halakhic difference between them.  The Shibbulei Haleket (168), who quotes the responsum of the Tosafot Rid, asserts that "Mussaf and the song for Rosh Chodesh (sung by the Levites in the Temple) were only done on the second day, for based on that day the date of the holidays is calculated."  The Tosefta states that the sum of the year's musafei Rosh Chodesh was twelve - a figure which assumes the Tosafot Rid's approach.

 

          Why, if both days are equally (and biblically) Rosh Chodesh, should there be any difference between them?  The Tosafot Rid's theory can provide an explanation.  The two starting points of the month are related to two different realms of existence: NATURE and HISTORY. 

 

          The astronomical beginning of the month is a NATURAL phenomenon - when twenty-nine days and 793 chalakim (the hour is divided into 1080 chalakim - portions) pass, the moon begins a new cycle.  This beginning might take place in the middle of a day or night, not necessarily at the precise opening of one of man's calendar.  The movement of the heavenly bodies is independent of man, not taking his convenience into account at all. 

 

          The second starting point of the month, from which the count of days begins, is connected to HISTORY, to the calendar framework through which man measures the events of his life and of history.  The count of days does not precisely reflect the astronomical reality, but, rather, fits the way human life is organized.  "Only days are counted as parts of a month, not hours," say the sages.  Only whole units of the framework of man's life are counted, not fragments that would disturb his schedule.  The division of the month into units of days is a human scale of measurement which is based upon the pattern of man's life and activities.  This system of measurement is rooted in the verse, "This month will be for you the beginning of months," which is appended to the historical event of the redemption of Egypt.

 

          Indeed, both starting points are Rosh Chodesh, however, each is aligned with a different system, and, hence, the status and sanctity of the two are different.  The Mussaf sacrifice is connected to the system of holidays, the regalim and their sacrifices.  It follows that Rosh Chodesh's mussaf should be offered on the day that is the beginning of the calendar month - the second day of Rosh Chodesh.  The holiness of the regalim is so rooted in Jewish history and the dates of crucial events in Israel's exodus.  

 

ROSH HASHANA

 

          Based on the above presentation, it is clear why with regards to Rosh Hashana we do not find a similar split between the astronomical and the historical calendar.  Rosh Hashana's holiness is that of a mo'ed, related to man's life and history, and not to nature.  [See Tosafot on Rosh Hashana 8a s.v. "Li-tekufot":  "The world was created on the twenty fifth of Elul and Man on Rosh Hashana."  Other rishonim also quote this for halakhic purposes.  The original source of this assertion is the Pesikta quoted in Vayikra Rabba 29:1.]  Therefore, the holiness of Rosh Hashana is only related to the first of Tishrei, not the twenty-ninth of Elul, and the only reason to make the thirtieth of Elul Rosh Hashana would have been doubt (like Yom Tov sheini).

 

ROSH CHODESH'S DUAL NATURE

 

          Rosh Chodesh, then, has a dual nature whose two aspects are distinct when it is two days.  The second day is related to the holidays - "On your days of joy and on your holidays and on the beginnings of your months" (Bemidbar 10:10).  This day is holy and on it the mussaf sacrifice is brought.  The first day is related to kiddush ha-chodesh and the natural, astronomical beginning of the month.  We mention Rosh Chodesh in prayer, and eulogies and fasting is forbidden, but it is not in line with the rest of the holidays. 

 

          [One might suggest a distinction between the Ya'aleh Ve-yavo prayer of the first day and that of the second.  On the first day it recalls an event, "mei'ein hame'ora" (similar to Al Ha-nissim), on the second it expresses the holiness of the day.  See Shiurim Lezeikher Abba Mori vol. 1, shiur 6, where Ya'aleh Ve-yavo in prayer is seen as an act of sanctification of the new month (its practical relevance - when it was forgotten at night).  Consequently, one might distinguish between the first and second nights.  See Tosafot Berakhot 30b s.v. "Lefi," where two opinions are brought about forgetting Ya'aleh Ve-yavo on the second day of Rosh Chodesh.  The not unresolvable difficulty this leaves is that based on this, one should have to repeat Ya'aleh Ve-yavo if one forgot it at night on a one day Rosh Chodesh.]

 

 

FOR FURTHER THOUGHT:

QUESTIONS FROM THE RESPONSA (Answer and sources will appear next week with the second half of this article):

Can one skip Ya'aleh Ve-yavo of the Ma'ariv Shemoneh Esrei on Rosh Chodesh in order to finish quickly and be able to answer Kaddish with the tzibbur?   [The answer might be intuitively obvious, but - which two halakhic principles are relevant?]

 

 

[Adapted from an article in Daf Kesher #402, Av 5753, vol. 4, pp. 435-438.]