Topics covered: Chapter 3, Mishna 4 Do I fulfill my obligation to hear the shofar on Rosh Hashana, if I heard it accidentally? For example, if I didn’t know it was Rosh Hashana? What if I heard it indistinctly and …

Topics covered: Chapter 3, Mishna 3, 4 Defining a kosher shofar and kosher shofar blast. What kind of damage renders a shofar unfit? What kind of interference or distraction renders a listening unfit, so that a person has not fulfilled …

Topics covered: Chapter 3, Mishna 1, 2, 3 Can a judge of the Sanhedrin also be a witness testifying about the new moon? Why may we not make a shofar out of a cow’s horn? Why did the High Priest …

Topics covered: Chapter 2, Mishna 7, Chapter 3, Mishna 1 The dramatic and far-reaching conflict between Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi began over the correct date of the new month. What was at stake? Why did it escalate? …

Topics covered: Chapter 2, Mishna 4, 5, 6 How were the witnesses examined when they testified about seeing the new moon? What kinds of details would reveal they were lying or unqualified? Why was it insufficient to see the moon …

Topics covered: Chapter 1, Mishna 4, 5, 6, Chapter 2, Mishna 1, 2, 3 Which witnesses were qualified to give testimony before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem? Who among them required character witnesses before they could testify? How did the Boethusians and …

Topics covered: Chapter 1, Mishna 3 Due to uncertainty regarding when the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem had declared the new month, Jewish communities outside Israel would observe Festivals for two days, but this was never decreed for Yom Kippur due to the …

Topics covered: Chapter 1, Mishna 3 What was it like when the Sanhedrin declared the beginning of a new month according to the testimony of witnesses who’d seen the new moon? What was gained when we left this system, and what …

Topics covered: Chapter 1, Mishna 3 What is Megillas Ta’anis was the first volume of the Oral Torah to be written down. It’s a list of festive days decreed by the Sages of the First and Second Temple periods. On …