Monday, February 18, 2008

a small הערה on the new perek

the mishna in the new perek calls Rosh Chodesh להבא while calling Rosh Hashana לעתיד. Why the change in description? I think it's very good according to the Gemara that says that Rosh Chodesh is referring to the 1st day of a 2-day Rosh Chodesh, so this day is not yet in the future month but is part of THIS month, just that we give it a din of להבא. The gr"a in many places tries to show how the gemara is hinted too in the mishna, and i perhaps hit 1 such example.

1 comment:

Avi Lebowitz said...

Both the Rosh and Rashi (mefaresh) seem to be bothered by the change in language. The Rosh says simply that loshon b'nei adam is to use the term l'haba to refer to rosh chodesh, and the term l'asid la'vo in the context of a year.
However, Rashi seems to say more than that, but it is difficult to understand what he means. Rashi explains like the 2nd peshat of the Ran that we are speaking about the day of rosh chodesh or rosh hashana that he is on when making the neder and saying that it is included in his neder. Rashi writes:ולהכי קראי "לעתיד לבא" לפי שהוא נמנה לימים ולחדשים הנכנסים שהוא אחר זמן, ולהכי קאמר "לעתיד" ולא קאמר "להבא" ע"כ
Sounds like the language of le'asid is more in the future than l'haba, similar to what you were saying.