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Rabbeinu Tam

Menachot 20b – Two Shkiyas and Rabbeinu Tam’s Tzeit HaKokhavim – Part II
Posted on March 31, 2011 by Rabbi Dov Linzer
In a previous post we discussed the two major positions regarding bein ha’shemashot – that of the Geonim and GR”A who state that it begins at sunset and ends 13.5 minutes later; and that of Rabbeinu Tam who states that the visible sunset does not begin this period, and that it begins only at the “second sunset,” 58.5 minutes after the visible one, when the sun exits the western tunnel of the rakiya. Night would then come 13.5 minutes after that, at 72 minutes after visible sunset.

Is the definition of night dependent on location?  We had speculated that Rabbeinu Tam might have been inclined to define night as starting so late because in France, where he lived, it does not get really dark until a good while after sunset.   The GR”A’s position – that night begins 13.5 minutes after sunset, can work in Israel, where it gets dark quickly, and this was the assumed location of the discussions in the Gemara.  And, indeed, in Jerusalem they follow a variation of this position and define night as 25 minutes after sunset.  But what about elsewhere, such as Vilna or New York?  The GR”A relates to this directly (see Primary Sources – 2, source 3), and states that the duration of bein ha’she’mashot, and the time of tzeit, would change based on latitude.   The key determinant factor would be degree of darkness.  When, wherever a person may be, the night sky is as dark as it would be in Israel after 13.5 minutes, then it is night.  So, both Rabbeinu Tam and GR”A were sensitive to the realities of their location, however in Rabbeinu Tam’s case it led to a flat requirement of 72 minutes, whereas in the GR”A’s case it became a variable requirement based on location.

Rav Moshe Feinstein in Iggrot Moshe OH 4:62 (source 5 in Primary Sources – 2) adopts a curious interpretation of the common practice in New York to consider night to come 42-50 minutes after sunset.  Rather than attribute this to an adjusted GR”A  (it would not be that late even with latitudinal adjustment) or to a direct observation of when the sky is filled with stars (which fits with the Gemara and Rabbenu Yonah), Rav Moshe states that this practice is the position of Rabbeinu Tam adjusted downwards! That is, after 42-50 minutes in NY, it is as dark as it is in France after 72 minutes.  Now, this may very well be true, but given that Rabbenu Tam was explaining Gemarot that were referring to Eretz Yisrael, it is a little strange to take that position and adjust it downwards.  However, from a different perspective, what Rav Moshe says makes a lot of sense.   What he may be implicitly saying is something along these lines: Rabbeinu Tam would never have said that night comes 72 minutes after sunset in Eretz Yisrael.  When he said 72 minutes that was a judgment based at least on direct observation of the darkness of the sky (in France) as it was a pshat in the Gemara.  Therefore, since it is as dark in NY after 42-50 minutes as it is in Rabbeinu Tam’s France, this certainly would have qualified for night for Rabbeinu Tam, pshat in the Gemara aside.  And, indeed, Rav Moshe does state that the sky is full of stars at this time, and therefore it must be equivalent to Rabbeinu Tam’s 72 minutes.

The problem with this approach, of course, is that Rabbeinu Tam was explaining a Gemara.  As a result of this, he not only said that night comes later – and was strict on Saturday night,  but he also said that bein hashemashot came later – almost a full hour later – and was lenient on Friday evening.  If it were only a question of not declaring night until a certain degree of darkness was reached, then he would have started bein ha’shemashot at visible sunset.   Claiming that we are following Rabbeinu Tam also raises the question as to whether bein ha’shemashot starts for us at sunset or not.   Rav Moshe claims that in this regard we are strict like the GR”A, and play it safe at both ends.  Thus, we start bein ha’shemashot at sunset, like the GR”A, and we consider it to be night after 42-50 minutes like the (downwardly adjusted) Rabbeinu Tam.

The point of linking our practice with Rabbeinu Tam is not merely an academic one.  On the one hand, it downplays the need for being concerned with this position and being machmir for a full 72 minutes, since according to Rav Moshe we are already keeping Rabbeinu Tam!  Even more significantly, explaining our practice this way means that the period after sunset may be somewhat negotiable.  Rav Moshe does actually take this next step, and states that under certain circumstances, the first 9 minutes after sunset can be considered like day.  Why?  Because according to Rabbeinu Tam they are definitely day (they come before the “second sunset”), and according to the GR”A they may be day (9 minutes because this is the GR”A’s 13.5 minutes similarly adjusted downward).  This creates a ssfek sfeika – a double doubt – and thus this period can be treated as day, under certain special circumstances.    Rav Moshe never goes so far to say that one can do melacha on Friday evening at this time, but he does say that if a baby is born on Saturday during the first 9 minutes after sunset, then it is a Shabbat birth, and the bris can be held next Shabbat!  Rav Ovadya Yosef takes a similar position in certain areas of hilkhot niddah, but he does not adjust downwards, and would only say this if someone generally keeps 72 minutes.   This position was strongly attacked in Israel when it was issued, with many rabbonim declaring that it had never been the practice to treat the time after shkiya as anything but a classic bein ha’shemashot.

Personally, I find it very hard to rely on this Rav Moshe for two reasons.  First, as stated above, I don’t believe that our practice of 42-50 minutes can legitimately be connected to Rabbeinu Tam.  Thus, I would only consider Rav Moshe’s approach for someone who keeps a full 72 minutes.  Even then, it is questionable if this can be called a sfek sfeika, since it all boils down to one question – is it day or is it night?  Rav Moshe addresses this issue and argues that it nevertheless is a real sfeik sfeika.  Nevertheless, I would reserve this approach for someone who keeps a full 72 minutes after shkiya on normal occasions.

As I stated earlier, the practice of 42-50 minutes seems to be neither Rabbeinu Tam or GR”A, but based on direct observation.   Thus, bein heshemashot starts at normal sunset (there are no 2 sunsets), but – rather than resolving the contradiction of the two gemarot whether tzeit is 3/4 of a mil or 4 mil after sunset, we just wait 42-50 minutes when we know that there are stars throughout the sky, and hence definitely 3 medium-sized stars.

I will be making one more post on this topic, to return to the Tosafot in Menachot, and to explore whether according to Rabbeinu Tam there is any significance to the first sunset.

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One of the key Tosafots in Shas (Menachot 20b, s.v., ini) discusses the position of Rabbeinu Tam that there are two sunsets – the visible one, and then one occurring almost an hour later, when the sun – according to Rabbinic cosmology – exists the tunnel of the opaque dome of the rakiya, sky or firmament, and begins to travel above the rakiya from West to East so it can rise again the next morning.  This informs his position that the end of the day, tzeit hakokhavim, halakhically does not occur until 72 minutes after visible sunset. I present below a  conceptual discussion of his approach and the significance of the first sunset.

 

We see that Rabbeinu Tam believes in two shkiyas, sunsets, and that bein hashemashot begins at the second one.  The question remains whether the visible, “first,” shkiya has any halakhic significance for Rabbeinu Tam.  Here is where the Tosafot from the daf comes up.  Tosafot on 20b, s.v. nifsal, drawing on Rabbeinu Tam’s Sefer HaYashar, states that it does.   Tosafot is bothered why a special verse (biyom hakrivo et zivcho) is needed to invalidate blood of a korban that is not placed on the altar on the same day that the animal is slaughtered since we already know that all the avodot, sacrificial rites, must be done during the day.  Tosafot’s answer is that this extra verse tells us that the blood of a sacrifice becomes invalid even after the first shkiya.

 

The way to know, says Rabbeinu Tam, is based on the phrasing that is used.  Tosafot points out that when the Gemara states that blood becomes invalid at sunset, it uses the phrase bi’shkiyat ha’chama, at the setting of the sun.  This phrase, says Rabbeinu Tam, means the beginning of the setting, i.e., the first shkiya.  It is only when the Gemara uses the phrase mi’she’tishka ha’chama, when the sun has set, that it is referring to the second setting.  Making this distinction between the two phrases allows Rabbeinu Tam to state that the Gemara in Shabbat (35a) that placed tzeit at 3/4 of a mil (the time it takes to walk a kilometer, approximated at 18 minutes) after shkiya was talking about the second shkiya, because it used the phrase mi’she’tishka.  In contrast, the Gemara in Pesachim (93a) that gave the period of 4 mil was talking from the first shkiya because it used the phrase mi’shkiyat ha’chama.

 

It is interesting to consider the significance of this first shkiya within the approach of Rabbeinu Tam.   It seems, for Rabbeinu Tam, that the end of the day has 3 stages.  First there is physical sunset.  This is an ongoing process, which starts with shkiyat hachama, the setting of the sun, and ends with mi’she’tishka ha’chama, once it has finally set.  This is a period which is technically day, but seen as leading into night.  This roughly corresponds to the period that we call twilight (which comes after sunset), where there is still some direct sunlight lighting the sky.   Then comes the period which is the onset of night, but not fully night proper – this period is bein hashemashot, beginning at the “second shekiya” and roughly corresponds to what we call dusk.   And finally there is night proper, tzeit hakokhavim.

 

Dusk, bein hashemashot, which is the beginning of night, but not night proper, has the status of “doubtful day, doubtful night.”  As Rav Soloveitchik explained, in his article Yom VaLaila, “Day and Night,” in Shiurim liZekher Aba Mari, Yahrtzeit Lectures in Memory of My Father, vol. 1

 

The explanation of this “doubtful status” does not indicate that there Chazal had an uncertainty as to the facts, that they could not come to a conclusion whether this period was included in “day” or in “night.”  For behold, it is an explicit verse, “From the morning star until the emerging of the stars,” and certainly this is the definition of day.  Rather, at this time [of bein hashemashot] there is a dual status – of day and of night.  A duality is being stated here – this period is both day and night, and it all depends on the perspective with which you look at it… These two statuses, which contradict one another, create a new reality that this time period is a “doubt,” which is a way of expressing this tension between day and night.

(pages 103-104)

 

Rav Soloveitchik explains the competing definitions to be a definition based on light and darkness, as opposed to a definition based on sunrise and sunset.   For our purposes, we can look at it as different degrees of the light-darkness mix.  The period after the first shkiya, still has direct sunlight (although no visible sun), and is day.  The period after the “second shkiya,” is genuinely getting dark, but not fully dark, so it has this ambiguous status, which is defined halakhically as safek, a doubt.

 

For Rabbeinu Tam there is a nice parallel here to the period between amud hashachar, the morning star, and sunrise.  The mishna in Megilah (20a) states that all day mitzvot are valid from sunrise on, but if they were performed starting at amud hashachar one fulfills his obligation.  The standard explanation of this, and this is how Rashi explains it, is that day starts fully at amud hashachar but because it is not so obvious when that is, the Rabbis wanted people to wait until sunrise, lest they err.  Rav Soloveitchik explains this otherwise.  He states that this period corresponds to bein hashemashot, as it has elements of both light and darkness.  However, as opposed to bein hashemashot where this tension expresses itself halakhically in the form of safek, here it expresses itself halakhically in the form of lichatchila and b’dieved.  As a base position, lichatchila, this time between the morning start and sunrise is not yet day, because the sun has not risen and it is not fully light.  However, b’dieved, if one did a day mitzvah during this period, it will count as day, because it does have day elements to it.

 

Now, according to Rav Soloveitchik, it is strange that the counterpart to this 72 minute period in the beginning of the day is a mere 13.5 minute period at the end of the day.  It is also strange that in one case we treat the tension of day-night as a doubt, and in the other case as a lichatchila/b’dieved. However, according to Rabbeinu Tam this works out quite well.  Just as 72 minutes before sunrise counts as day (maybe – contra Rav Soloveichik – even li’chatchila on a d’oraitta level), so the first 58.5 minutes after sunset counts as day.  It is only the last 13.5 that has no parallel in the morning and is treated as a doubt.   The reason these “mixed times” – 72 minutes after the morning star, and 58.5 minutes after sunset – are treated as day rather than night, is because at the human level we respond to the presence of light and focus on it.  Once some light enters the sky in the morning, we feel that daytime has come.  And as long as there is still some sunlight in the sky, we cling on to the day, and feel that it has not yet gone: “My soul is to God like the watchers for the dawn, the watchers for the dawn.”  Only when all the sunlight has escaped, but it is not completely dark, are we willing to acknowledge the partial onset of night.

 

So, to return to the period after the first sunset – we now see that it already has a mix of light and dark, that it has elements of the night, but they are not yet dominant.  Thus, it is still technically day, but it is beginning to feel “night-ish”.  This is why, according to Rabbeinu Tam, the extra verse by sacrifices can teach that the blood of sacrifices is invalidated at the first sunset.  For this case, we will focus on the night element, and we will see this time as already night.  [This is somewhat parallel to Rav Soloveitchik’s lichatchila of treating the post-amud hashachar period as still night].  Perhaps we can even be more precise than that.  The verse that Tosafot was referring to does not teach that the blood becomes invalid at night, but rather “on the day that you slaughter you must apply the blood.”  That is, it must be the same day as the slaughtering.  Since this period now has night elements, even if it is not night proper, we cannot say that it is truly the same period – the same day – in which the animal was slaughtered.

 

This point brought out even clearer in the position of Ramban in Torat Ha’Adam (תורת האדם שער האבל – ענין אבלות ישנה, 105), which Shulkhan Arukh (אורח חיים הלכות שבת סימן רסא סעיף ב) follows.  Ramban asks – when Chazal tell us that there is a mitzvah of tosefet Shabbat or tosefet Yom HaKippurim, to add to Shabbat or Yom Kippur from the day before, starting when can one begin this period of addition?  He proceeds to present and analyze, and agree with, Rabbeinu Tam’s position on tzeit, bein hashemashot, and two shkiyas, and after much analysis concludes that the period of addition can begin at the first shkiya.  He then points out that this time is roughly equivalent to the period of plag hamincha which is 1 1/4 hours before the end of the day, which he assumes means before tzeit.  Thus, 1 1/4 hours = 75 minutes before tzeit, which is only 3 minutes earlier than sunset for Rabbeinu Tam.  As we know, plag hamincha is the time when one can daven aravit, and can even make havdalah on Shabbat (without a candle, of course, and this does not allow melakha, it just means you fulfill your obligation of havdalah!).  So, says Ramban, this is a time that can already be associated with the next day, so this is the time during which one can make a tosefet Shabbat.  Earlier than plag/sunset would be meaningless, but any time after this would be a meaningful addition to the following day.

 

Thus, for Ramban, sunset and plag effectively coincide.  And because the sun has already set, and the day is starting to darken, it is a time that can be – like in the case of the blood of korbanot – connected to the nighttime, or the next day, and thus can be used for davening ma’ariv or for making it into tosefet Shabbat.

 

Ramban takes this idea one step further, however.  How, he asks, can one make a tosefet for Tisha b’Av, if the Torah never indicated that such a tosefet could be made.  We could restate the question as follows: If the idea of tosefet is that one is bringing in kedusha of Shabbat into Friday afternoon, then how can this be applied to a day like Tisha b’Av which has no kedusha?  To this Ramban answers as follows:

 

For the accepting [of this period as the beginning of Tisha b’Av] makes it forbidden to him during this time, which is from sunset, which is plag hamincha, and  later, since he can make it an addition for the Torah days, he can also make it an addition for a Rabbinic day, because since he wants to add onto the day and make it like the day itself, [he is able to do so].

 

That is, according to Ramban, since this period begins at sunset, what a person is doing with creating a tosefet is not introducing kedushat Shabbat into Friday, but rather designating this time as actually nighttime, as Saturday itself!  Just like the verse considered it already night for the blood of sacrifices, a person can subjectively consider it night because of its night elements.  Thus, it can be done even without any kedusha.  It can be done on Tisha b’Av, just as a person can daven ma’ariv on a Wednesday after plag hamincha.

 

Ramban leaves this possibility saying “vi’zo shita t’luya” – this is a speculative possibility.  And, indeed, although this is a very logical and attractive position within Rabbeinu Tam’s universe, it requires one to adopt a very specific understanding of tosefet yom, one that we normally do not adopt in other halakhic areas.  Thus, even if one has already accepted upon herself tosefet Shabbat, we would still consider it to be Friday day for other halakhot (hefsek taharah, a baby being born, etc.).  However, it is quite possible that this is because we rule that bein hashemashot begins at sunset, and that the period of tosefet starts earlier.  So while for Ramban and Rabbeinu Tam this tosefet period, occurring after sunset, could be one of designating the time as night, for us, where it occurs before sunset, it can at most be one of introducing the sanctity of the next day into the current one.