Y om T o v Sheni Yom Tov Sheni - Chidushei Torah@NDS

wearing tefillin through the method of 32 השעת לאו בש. Thus, one who
wears tefillin even without a bracha is considered to have transgressed
the negative commandment of 33 ףסות לב. The consequences of this
are quite remarkable, for a ben Eretz Yisrael and a ben Chutz L’Aretz
can both be donning tefillin during Shacharit of Yom Tov Sheni and the
former is fulfilling the positive mitzvah of wearing tefillin whereas the
latter is transgressing a negative Torah prohibition. Furthermore, the
Rabbis instituted that all of the brachot and mitzvot of the first day of
Yom Tov should also be performed on the second day.
There is a disagreement among the Rabbis as to whether the
observance of Yom Tov Sheni today is based on minhag or a takana 34 .
There is no practical difference, however, on the observance of Yom
Tov Sheni.
Holiday Exceptions to Yom Tov Sheni
Why are there Two Days of Shavuot?
Based upon the enactment of Yom Tov Sheni,
some interesting scenarios arise. One is why
Yom Tov Sheni applies to Shavuot. Unlike the
other holidays, the date of Shavuot is not fixed
by the sighting of the new moon of the month
which the holiday falls (Sivan), but by the
date of Rosh Chodesh Nissan which is two
months earlier. This is because the festival of
Shavuot is determined by counting 50 days
from the second day of Pesach as is written
in the Torah and interpreted by the Rabbis 35 .
32 השעת לאו בש or literally, “sit and do not do”. The Sages were given the power to uproot a positive
mitzvah by commanding people to passively refrain from performing it. Many times השעת לאו בש
was enacted due to a fear that performing the mitzvah under certain circumstances could lead one
to unintentionally transgress a negative command. Such famous examples include not blowing a
shofar when Rosh Hashanah falls on Shabbat lest he comes to carry the shofar dalet amot in the
public domain, and not taking the arba minim on Sukkot when the first day of the holiday falls on
Shabbat lest he comes to carry the arba minim dalet amot in the public domain.
33 The Biblical Prohibition of not adding to the mitzvot. ב:ד םירבד ןייע
34 For an in-depth discussion of this subject, refer to ’ג ’יס םיאולימ ותוכלהכ ינש בוט םוי
35 )וט : גכ ארקיו( הפונתה רמע תא םכאיבה םוימ )חספ( תבשה תרחממ םכל םתרפסו Even though the verse says
count from the next day following the “Shabbat” , the Rabbis learn this to mean the day following
the first day of Pesach (i.e. “Shabbat” in the verse means Yom Tov, not the more conventional
meaning of the seventh day of the week).
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