The Second Day of Yom Tov in the Geulah - Rabbi Menachem Cohen shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast from the Chabad Halacha Institute.

00:09 Speaker 2 Hello and blessings to everyone. With Hashem’s help, today we’ll talk about the central issue, the most important and most pressing issue there is: the true and complete Geulah, learning about Geulah and Moshiach, anticipating the Geulah, and living with the times as time goes on. The festivals, the second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora—how exactly does it work? Will there be a second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora? We know that today, for the vast majority of festivals, there is a difference between those who live in Eretz Yisroel and those who live outside it. In Eretz Yisroel, the first day of Pesach is celebrated for one day. Outside Eretz Yisroel, they observe two days, both the 15th and the 16th, with a second Seder night, and so on. The other festivals are also observed for two days. Shevi’i shel Pesach, too, is one day in Eretz Yisroel and two days outside it. Shavuos is one day in Eretz Yisroel and two days outside it. The first day of Sukkos is one day in Eretz Yisroel and two days outside it. At Simchas Torah, Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah are on the same day in Eretz Yisroel. Outside Eretz Yisroel, the first day is Shemini Atzeres and the second is Simchas Torah. This has many laws, many implications, and many practical halachic differences. What should someone do? What happens if someone travels from Eretz Yisroel to outside it? Do they have to observe two days or one? And what exactly should someone traveling from outside Eretz Yisroel to Eretz Yisroel observe? There are many laws and details involved, and when it comes up in practice, you need to ask a rabbi about your specific situation. There are two days in the year, two festivals—two festivals during the year—that do not differ between those in Eretz Yisroel and those outside it: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Rosh Hashanah is celebrated for two days even in Eretz Yisroel. We observe it for two days because of how this comes about. In a moment, we’ll look at the whole process

02:24 Speaker 2 for all the festivals: why is there a second day of Yom Tov? Then we’ll also understand why Rosh Hashanah is observed for two days, not one, even in Eretz Yisroel—throughout the world, in fact. By contrast, Yom Kippur is observed for just one day even outside Eretz Yisroel, for a very simple reason: observing Yom Kippur for two days could, G-d forbid, be dangerous. Fasting for two days could put people in danger, so Yom Kippur is observed for one day throughout the world. The halachic sources do discuss the possibility of observing two days of Yom Kippur outside Eretz Yisroel, and mention people who used to do so. There are details in halacha about what happens if someone observes two days—whether he may ask someone else to cook for him, or may not, and so on. But generally speaking, Yom Kippur is one day. Why, then, do we have a second day of Yom Tov? The Torah says one day of Yom Tov. One day of Yom Tov is a Torah requirement: Pesach has one day at the beginning and one day on the seventh day, Shevi’i shel Pesach, and so on. We also have Chol Hamoed, which is mentioned in the Torah—“For six days you shall eat matzos,” and so on. But where does it say there is a second day of Yom Tov? According to all opinions, the second day of Yom Tov is a rabbinic enactment. Why did our Sages institute it? The reason is simple. Our Sages saw that it was necessary—after all, sanctifying the new month, deciding when Rosh Chodesh falls, is up to the beis din. They are the ones who decide. The supreme beis din decides when Rosh Chodesh is: whether it comes after the 29th day of the previous month, so that the next day is already the first of the new month, or whether Rosh Chodesh

04:24 Speaker 2 comes after the 30th day of the previous month. Today we have a calendar, and we follow the arrangement established by Hillel the Elder—or, more precisely, by one of Hillel’s descendants. But in principle, it depends on the beis din. In the time of the Beis Hamikdash, there were no calendars; it wasn’t possible to make calendars, because everything depended on the beis din. If the beis din decided that a given month had thirty days, then it had thirty days, and Rosh Chodesh of the next month would only be on the 31st day. If the beis din decided that the month had twenty-nine days, then Rosh Chodesh would be on the 30th day. That was how it always worked. So the most important thing was to know when Rosh Chodesh Tishrei fell, for Rosh Hashanah and Sukkos, and when Rosh Chodesh Nissan fell, for Pesach. We needed to know exactly when the first of Nissan was so we would know when the 15th of Nissan was, when we celebrate Pesach. That depended on when the beis din declared the first of Nissan. They might have declared it after the 29th of Adar, or they might have declared it after the 30th of Adar. It all depended on the determination of the new moon, based on calculations of the moon. Now, once the beis din had established when the first of Nissan was, for example, they would publicize it everywhere. At first, they used signal fires, as it says. They would light a fire in one place, and then the signal would be passed along. Someone would see the fire—a bonfire burning in a town near the beis din—and someone farther away who saw it would light a bonfire too,

06:09 Speaker 2 and another person would see that bonfire and light one as well, and so on. By seeing the bonfires, people would know that it was now Rosh Chodesh. That was the system, the way to find out when Rosh Chodesh was. That was how the news spread and how people knew when the first of Nissan or the first of Tishrei fell, and therefore when to observe Pesach and Sukkos. The same applied to all the other months. But when the heretics disrupted things—there were heretics in the time of the Second Beis Hamikdash who caused trouble—what did they do? They staged a deception to mislead people about when Rosh Chodesh was. They did not accept the Oral Torah, and some of them did not believe in the Torah at all. So they tried to confuse the people. What would happen? When the 30th day arrived, even though the beis din had decided that Rosh Chodesh would be the following day, they would already light fires on the mountaintops. Someone would see the fire and pass the signal along by lighting a fire too, and so on. Everyone would say, “Look, today is Rosh Chodesh,” when the beis din had not declared it. So the heretics disrupted the system. They realized they could no longer rely on those fires, on those signals, and came up with another solution. What was it? Messengers of the beis din. The beis din’s messengers would set out and travel as quickly as they could to every place they could reach. When they arrived, they would say, “We are messengers of the beis din.” The Jews could rely on them as genuine messengers of the beis din. Presumably, they knew them and knew they weren’t liars. It wasn’t

07:52 Speaker 2 Those people who tried to deceive them weren’t necessarily Sadducees or heretics who came to cause confusion. Though they tried to cause confusion too: they even tried to fool the beis din by saying they had seen the moon. In any case, there were various ways they tried to interfere, but, baruch Hashem, they didn’t succeed. The beis din’s messengers would go out and bring the news to each place. They would tell people, “Listen, even if we’ve arrived two or three days later, Rosh Chodesh was four days ago. Now you know when Rosh Chodesh was, and from here on you celebrate Pesach according to the date we’ve told you.” That was how it worked everywhere. The messengers went to all the places they could, but in the two weeks before Pesach or Sukkos, they could only reach places throughout Eretz Yisroel. Before Pesach they had two weeks to travel, but before Sukkos you have to subtract the days of Rosh Hashanah, the Shabbosos, and the holidays, because on those days you can’t travel beyond the two-thousand-cubit Shabbos boundary. So they didn’t travel on Shabbos or Yom Kippur; the beis din’s messengers’ journey did not override Shabbos or Yom Kippur. They reached only as far as certain places in Eretz Yisroel where Jews lived. Those were the only places they managed to inform exactly when Rosh Chodesh Tishrei and Rosh Chodesh Nissan had been. What about all the places the beis din’s messengers didn’t reach? They were told to observe Yom Tov for two days. Until they knew exactly when Rosh Chodesh had been, they would observe two days because of the uncertainty. What does “two days” mean? They would observe the first day of Yom Tov because of the uncertainty, and the second day of Yom Tov

09:38 Speaker 2 because of the uncertainty, since they didn’t know exactly when Rosh Chodesh had been. Rosh Chodesh might have been on the thirtieth day, or it might have been on the thirty-first. So, because of that uncertainty, you observe Pesach on both possible dates: perhaps Rosh Chodesh was on this day, perhaps it was on that day. You observe Pesach for two days. The same goes for Shavuos—two days—and for Sukkos—two days, and so on. As for Rosh Hashanah, there was no way to reach all the places in time. Only in Jerusalem could they come and announce it, and even in Jerusalem itself, witnesses would sometimes arrive just before sunset, creating confusion and disorder. So they established that both in Jerusalem and everywhere else, Rosh Hashanah would be observed for two days. That is how it was established that Rosh Hashanah is two days, while the other holidays are one day in Eretz Yisroel and two days outside Eretz Yisroel—apart from Yom Kippur, which, as we said, is observed for one day because observing two would be dangerous. That is the law regarding the holidays, regarding the second day of Yom Tov. All this was when the Beis Hamikdash still stood, right? When the new month was sanctified based on sighting the moon. Later, the beis din stopped sanctifying the month based on sightings. There is a lot to explain about why they stopped; we gave a class on this subject, on the sanctification of the new month—why, and when, the beis din stopped sanctifying it, and so on. It is a lengthy subject, and we won’t go into it now. But once there was no longer a beis din of ordained judges, they stopped sanctifying the month based on sightings. Today, the sanctification of the new month is what’s called sanctification by calculation. What does that mean? Hillel, a descendant of Hillel the Elder, established

11:34 Speaker 2 the months by calculation so that today we can determine when Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkos, and Pesach fall. Everything follows the calculation Hillel made. It covers hundreds of years, and, I think, extends to the end of the sixth millennium. We can already calculate exactly when Rosh Chodesh and all the holidays will fall. It appears in siman 428 in the laws of Rosh Chodesh: the Tur gives the entire calendar there, and on that basis all our calendars are made today, showing exactly when everything falls, when Rosh Chodesh is, which months have thirty days and which have twenty-nine, and so on. So Hillel, in effect, sanctified all the months and all the years until the true and complete Geulah comes. Today, then, we are what is called “well versed in fixing the calendar”: we know exactly when Rosh Chodesh is set. So why do we observe two days? Even outside Eretz Yisroel, we could observe just one day, because we know exactly when Rosh Chodesh is. Why, then, do we need a second day of Yom Tov? Our Sages said to the Jews outside Eretz Yisroel: “Be careful to preserve the custom of your ancestors.” You must continue observing two days of Yom Tov, even today. But there is a difference: the first day is ordained by the Torah. The second day is no longer observed because of uncertainty; it has a somewhat different status in halachah. In the past, there was genuine uncertainty about a Torah obligation. For both the first and second days of Yom Tov, you really didn’t know exactly when Rosh Chodesh had been, so both days involved uncertainty about a Torah obligation. Today, though, since we know exactly when the month is set,

13:12 Speaker 2 when Rosh Chodesh was established and so on, the first day is certain—it is definitely ordained by the Torah. The second day is ordained by the Sages, because of “Be careful to preserve the custom of your ancestors.” That is the law up to this point; that is the halachic side. But what is the underlying source of this whole matter of a second day of Yom Tov? Where does the concept come from? Chassidus explains that the second day of Yom Tov comes about as a result of a spiritual decline. That is how the Alter Rebbe puts it in Likkutei Torah on Shemini Atzeres: “Yom Tov is an expression of joy. It is like a king who normally sits in his innermost chambers, but at a time of rejoicing reveals himself and appears before everyone. So too, Hakadosh Boruch Hu reveals Himself to us in His full glory, as He did when people made the pilgrimage to the Beis Hamikdash: ‘Just as they came to see, so they came to be seen.’ When the Beis Hamikdash stood, the joy was complete, and people could receive the revelation of G-dliness openly in their hearts, as though through an open window. But when the Beis Hamikdash does not stand, it says, ‘He peers through the cracks.’ The revelation of G-dliness therefore comes in a much more restricted way, through a small opening or crack, rather than all at once.” In other words, that is why a second day of Yom Tov is needed: only in this way can the revelation of G-dliness be received in full. Outside Eretz Yisroel, where people cannot receive in one day the G-dly light revealed on Yom Tov, they need a second day. But the people of Eretz Yisroel, of which it says, “A land that Hashem your G-d constantly watches over,” can receive that same good light in one day. So the Alter Rebbe says that we are really talking here about a spiritual decline, and that is why a second day of Yom Tov is observed. In principle, though, Yom Tov should be one day. Today, outside Eretz Yisroel, it is possible to receive the revelation of G-dliness

15:00 Speaker 2 All at once, so they receive it, as it were, in pieces, in portions. But in Eretz Yisroel they receive it in a single day, all at once. And this brings us to the interesting question: In the true and complete Geulah, will we continue to celebrate a second day of Yom Tov or not? Here we should point something out: Clearly, there will be no “second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora,” because it will no longer be exile. The question is whether there will be a second day of Yom Tov at all. So let’s first bring the view that says there will indeed be a second day of Yom Tov in the future. First there is a line of reasoning: holiness does not depart from its place. Once something becomes holy, it remains holy in the future as well. The Chasam Sofer says, “It is clear to me that there will be a second day of Yom Tov in the future”—of the Geulah, not of the Diaspora. This is what the Chasam Sofer says: “It seems to me that when Hashem expands our borders, speedily in our days, all the seas and islands in the great sea will belong to Eretz Yisroel”—including the islands in the Mediterranean. He says that on those stretches of land, those islands, it will be impossible to get the word out. How will you notify them? Even from distant places, even by signal fires, there are places at sea you won’t be able to reach. Therefore, he says, they will observe two days of Yom Tov—two days of the Yom Tov of our Geulah, not of the Diaspora. Along these lines, he also explains something the Magen Avraham writes: We actually have a hint to the second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora from the original Giving of the Torah. It says that everyone agrees the Torah was given on Shabbos. And anyone who works out the calculation—

16:50 Speaker 2 He writes as follows: The Torah was given on Shabbos, and the Exodus from Egypt was on a Thursday. What is the evidence that the original Exodus from Egypt was on a Thursday? I’m speaking about the original Giving of the Torah and the original Exodus from Egypt, in the year 2448. When was it? On a Thursday. What is the evidence? The tenth of the month, 10 Nissan, was Shabbos Hagadol. We really should have observed Shabbos Hagadol and celebrated the miracle involving the firstborn of Egypt on 10 Nissan. But Miriam also passed away on 10 Nissan, so we don’t celebrate the miracle of the firstborn of Egypt according to the date of the month. We observe it on Shabbos, the Shabbos before Pesach. It is called Shabbos Hagadol because of the great miracle involving the firstborn of Egypt: Hashem struck the Egyptians through their firstborn, because a great conflict broke out among them when they learned that the plague of the firstborn was coming. So if that Shabbos—the original Shabbos Hagadol—was 10 Nissan, the Exodus on 15 Nissan was on a Thursday. From 15 Nissan until Shavuos, that makes fifty-one days, not fifty days as it is today. Why? Because from Thursday, you count seven weeks, forty-nine days, and then another two days until Shabbos. That gives you fifty-one days. Count seven weeks and two days from Thursday and you reach Shabbos, fifty-one days later—and the Torah was given on Shabbos. How does that work out with the dates? Apparently, both Nissan and Iyar were full months, giving us fifty-one days. So the Magen Avraham asks: How can that be? Why does it—

18:39 Speaker 2 work out that way? Why were there originally fifty-one days? Usually there are fifty days from Pesach to Shavuos. Why, in this case, was the Torah given on Shabbos, the fifty-first day? The Magen Avraham says this hints at the second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora. Here we have a hint in the Torah to a second day of Yom Tov. That is why it was not fifty days but fifty-one, as we observe it today outside Eretz Yisroel: fifty days, followed by one additional day. Shavuos is one day, and then there is another day. What does that additional day represent? It is a hint in the original Giving of the Torah, which took place fifty-one days after the Exodus from Egypt. But the Chasam Sofer says: Wait, wait, wait. The Magen Avraham called this a hint to the second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora. What does that mean? At the Giving of the Torah, would Hakadosh Boruch Hu hint to the second day of Yom Tov in exile? The Chasam Sofer says, “Heaven forbid that at the Giving of the Torah, the day of His heart’s joy, there should be a hint to the second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora!” On that very day, they became free of the nations of the world. Exile? How could that be? “Rather, it must be a hint to a Yom Tov of the final Geulah. Fortunate is the one who waits and reaches it.” He says that in the future there will be a Yom Tov of the Geulah—a second day of Yom Tov of the Geulah. That is what will remain in the future as well. On the contrary, in the future the second day of Yom Tov will have an even stronger basis. It won’t be only because “the custom of your ancestors is in your hands”—“Be careful to uphold the custom of your ancestors”—but because the new month will actually be sanctified on the basis of sighting the moon, and the news will not necessarily be able to reach every place in the world. So they will observe a second day of Yom Tov of the Geulah.

20:11 Speaker 2 He says the same in Derashos Chasam Sofer: “I have already written elsewhere that, in my humble opinion, in the future, speedily in our days, amen, the two days of Yom Tov of the Geulah will not be uprooted from their place at all. They will commemorate how we were in exile and Hashem brought us up and redeemed our souls from every trouble.” That is what the Chasam Sofer says. We also see an indication in the words of the Rebbe shlita, Melech HaMoshiach, that there is room to say that a second day of Yom Tov will be celebrated as a continuation of the custom of our ancestors. On Simchas Torah 5749, the Rebbe mentioned that the second day of Simchas Torah is observed outside Eretz Yisroel because that is how the Jewish people have practiced for many generations. So there is room to say that they will continue this practice even after the sanctification of the months on the basis of sighting the moon is restored, when the promise “Restore our judges as in former times” is fulfilled. But the Rebbe says that at that time there will be no uncertainty about which day it is, because it will be possible to announce the sanctification of the new month immediately, everywhere. In the Chasam Sofer’s time, perhaps it really would have been difficult to notify every place. But today, with advances in technology, we see that, in practice, you can notify every place in the world in an instant—by radio and so on. You can reach every place, and even those who don’t have the equipment have someone else who can tell them. The news can be publicized. As for Rosh Hashanah, the Rebbe says in several places that it will indeed remain two days in the future, because the month is established on that very day, which is itself a festival. The news might not necessarily be publicized in time, and there is also the fact that it is observed for two days throughout the world. It will remain two days in the future as well. But regarding the other Yomim Tovim, the Rebbe says there will be no need to go around notifying every place—

21:53 Speaker 2 because the announcement will reach them. In other words, there will be no need to observe a second day of Yom Tov because of uncertainty about the date, since it will be possible to publicize everywhere exactly when the Yom Tov falls. But one could say that a second day of Yom Tov will be observed not because of uncertainty about the date, but because that has been the practice for generations. In many ways it is like Shavuos: There is no uncertainty about the date of Shavuos either, because Shavuos is always fifty days after the beginning of Pesach, after forty-nine days of counting the Omer. Shavuos is not determined by the date of the month. In principle, it could fall on the fifth, sixth, or seventh of Sivan; it does not necessarily depend on the date of the month. It is fifty days from Pesach, and between Pesach and Shavuos, almost every place can find out the exact, correct date. So why was a second day of Yom Tov observed? Not because of uncertainty, but so as not to distinguish between one festival and another. The Rebbe left the question requiring further study in 5749. In 5751, the implication of the Rebbe’s words was that the second day of Yom Tov would be completely discontinued throughout the world, leaving only one day. This fits the explanation in Chassidus that the entire world will rise to a level where there will be one revelation of G-dliness, one day, with Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s revelation coming through a window, as we said. So in a sicha in 5751, the Rebbe said—the Rebbe mentioned—that 29 Tishrei is Isru Chag specifically outside Eretz Yisroel, because uncertainty about the date leads people there to observe Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah on two separate days. But in Eretz Yisroel, Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah are on the same day, so Isru Chag is one day before the Isru Chag observed outside—

23:39 Speaker 2 to the Land of Israel. Then the Rebbe says that there is a question to examine concerning Isru Chag outside the Land of Israel: What would happen if Moshiach Tzidkeinu came on that day? Would we say that it became clear retroactively that the second day of Yom Tov was not Yom Tov, and therefore the laws of Isru Chag have no place on the following day? Or, since they already observed the second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora, would they observe Isru Chag the next day? So the sicha of Shabbos Bereishis 5751 seems to imply that the Rebbe leans more toward the view that we will observe one day of Yom Tov. That is especially so if we take into account that all Jews, or at least the vast majority, will come to the Land of Israel—as the Rebbe always mentions, we will all come together to our Holy Land, to the holy city of Jerusalem, to the Third Beis Hamikdash. So the vast majority of Jews will celebrate one day. Presumably, that will mean one day throughout the world as well, particularly since the Land of Israel is destined to spread throughout the entire world. The whole world will then have the holiness of the Land of Israel, and people will celebrate one day of Yom Tov. It could be that certain things will still be done for the following day, that it will retain some distinction because it was the second day of Yom Tov during the exile. But the whole world will become like the Land of Israel. The Land of Israel is destined to spread throughout the entire world, so there will be one day of Yom Tov throughout the world. This also connects with something else, a very interesting story from 5720, when a group of rabbis came. It was in 5720 or 5721, about sixty years ago. It was the first charter flight to bring people to the Rebbe for Tishrei. It was the first time such a large group had come. The Rebbe held a reception for them, and it made a very, very big impression. That group included many rabbis, and they came

25:35 Speaker 2 to the Rebbe. On the night after Yom Kippur 5721, the Rebbe delivered a special maamar for them and held a reception—the maamar “Lecha Amar Libi” 5720. And when they left at the end of the festival, the Rebbe held a “Tzeischem Leshalom” farewell. It was truly something very, very, very special. In general, everyone knows that the Rebbe receives his guests warmly, as they say, and greets everyone with a smiling face. Now, at certain times there were festive meals that not all the chassidim attended. The meal was held in the Frierdiker Rebbe’s apartment, with the Rebbe, shlita, Melech HaMoshiach, the Rashag, several distinguished chassidim, and rabbis in attendance. As is well known, there is a special significance to holding a meal on the night after Yom Kippur. This is also a point of halachah worth knowing. It says that having an actual meal that night is also a segulah for wealth. Some people break the fast with a few cookies and consider that sufficient. But it is brought down that if you make a meal, particularly if you set a table and have a proper, organized meal, it is a segulah for wealth. There is great significance to it. And with the Rebbe, shlita, Melech HaMoshiach, we see this in practice: there is a meal on the night after Yom Kippur. It is written that a heavenly voice goes forth and says, “Go, eat your bread with joy,” and so on. This has great significance. During the meal, the Rebbe was in very high spirits, and he said: “After all, the newspapers have reported that distinguished rabbis from the Land of Israel have arrived here. It would be fitting for them to say that they agree that Moshiach should come.” One of the rabbis present said, “Why do we need to agree? Who are we to give our consent? Let the Rebbe agree!” The Rebbe’s expression turned serious, but he did not

27:41 Speaker 2 respond to those words. Well, a few days passed, and Yom Tov of Sukkos arrived. They sat together then too; it was another of the days on which those meals were held. These accounts are printed in the book HaMelech Bimesibo, which records the main points of what was said during the meals. One of the rabbis then asked the Rebbe how the students who had come from the Holy Land should conduct themselves in practice on the second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora. The second day of Yom Tov was coming up. Many Jews had come, as we said, from the Land of Israel to outside the Land. What was their status? Did they need to observe the second day of Yom Tov or not? The Rebbe, shlita, said: “The second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora? You could have avoided it altogether.” Of course, that rabbi then apologized, but the Rebbe did not respond. First of all, this shows us how important it really is to rule and to urge the rabbis to issue a ruling that this is what must happen. We will indeed rule that the Geulah must come immediately, right now. But we can also understand that the Rebbe said this as a way to avoid all those questions, because we will all be in the Land of Israel, all be at the Beis Hamikdash. Yet the Rebbe’s wording—“The second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora? You could have avoided it altogether”—sounds more like what we said just now: that the Rebbe wanted to do away with the very concept of a second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora. Once the true and complete Geulah comes, there will no longer be a second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora. There will be just one day throughout the world, except for Rosh Hashanah, which, as we said, will be two days. But generally speaking, there will be one day. Well,

29:23 Speaker 2 the main thing is that we should truly merit, very soon, to avoid the second day of Yom Tov in the Diaspora. And when will we avoid it? Presumably, even on that second day we will celebrate Yom Tov with great joy in the true and complete Geulah, immediately, right now.