The Mekor Mayim Hayim podcast מקור מים חיים - ההסכת

This festival season, the first days of Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot will fall on Shabbat, as will Shemini Atzeret. This occurrence throws up some important questions: Why don’t we blow the shofar on Shabbat? Should we take the lulav on the first day of Sukkot irrespective of the day of the week, as was the ancient custom in Eretz Yisrael? Did our ancestors ever conceive that Jews would be celebrating Simchat Torah on Shabbat, which cannot happen in chutz l’Aretz?Gavriel, Jochanan and Joshua discuss whether the danger of carrying a shofar or arba’a minim in a public domain, the Bavli’s rationale for banning their use on Shabbat, is a plausible historical explanation. They address the Yerushalmi’s alternative approach, which forces a rethink of the nature of the mitzvah of shofar and of the prohibition of shevut. Finally, Gavriel charts the history of Simchat Torah and its connections to kabbala, and argues there is no basis for dancing on the first day of Yom Tov, let alone on Shabbat.Some things we reference in the podcast:* Professor David Henshke’s article on sounding the shofar on Shabbat* Rav Yehoshua Buch’s commentary on Yerushalmi Rosh Hashanah 4:1* Rav Shaul Lieberman’s explanation of the prohibition of clapping, tapping and dancing on Shabbat Get full access to מקור מים חיים at mekormayimhayim.substack.com/subscribe

Jochanan, Gavriel and R. Noam Kaplan discuss the history of different wordings of the prayer texts, the the value of liturgical diversity, and the senselessness of the notion that there is an obligation to follow an ‘ancestral’ nusach. R. Noam also says a few words about his siddurim. Get full access to מקור מים חיים at mekormayimhayim.substack.com/subscribe

On Zoharism.This is the midrash Gavriel mentioned: https://www.sefaria.org/Yoma.69b.9 Get full access to מקור מים חיים at mekormayimhayim.substack.com/subscribe

Friend of the blog Meir (Faithless Flight) joins Jochanan to discuss some of the topics recently covered on his substack, Willful Creation, specifically here, here, and here. Topics include the questionable obligation to follow ancestral minhag, the leadership problem within Judaism, and reasoning from first principles. Get full access to מקור מים חיים at mekormayimhayim.substack.com/subscribe

Last episode, we interviewed prof. Yair Lorberbaum concerning major hiddushim he introduces in two recent articles of his on the Hakdamah (introduction) and Hilchot Mamrim in the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah. In this episode we summarise his arguments in English and discuss their significance and implications:* What parts of the Talmud Bavli did the Rambam really say are binding and what is the role of national acceptance?* How this limits the extent of the problem of the authority of the Babylonian courts* Why did the Rambam write the Hakdamah in this way? Get full access to מקור מים חיים at mekormayimhayim.substack.com/subscribe