Mishna Rosh Hashanah

  • "When the festival of the New Year occurs on Shabbat, they would blow shofar in the Temple but not in the outlying areas. After the Temple was destroyed, Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai established that they would blow in every place in which there is a Rabbinic court." (Rosh Hashanah 4:1)"

  • The first statement of the Mishnah is puzzling. If blowing shofar is melakhah- מלאכה (the category of work forbidden on the Sabbath), then why is it not forbidden inside the Temple? And if blowing shofar is not melakhah- מלאכה , why would it be forbidden outside of the Temple? Clearly, any solution to this problem will need some other kind of understanding of blowing shofar.

  • Rava disagrees and the halacha is determined like Rav Yochanan Ben Zakai:

    Conclusion:

     The message of the Gemara is not that a correct understanding is irrelevant, or that there aren't correct (and incorrect) understandings; to the contrary, careful thinking and evidence-based argument are crucial. But they are as important as allowing diverse views to be expressed. 

    The process is as important as the conclusion.

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