Riddles for the Rosh Hashanah Table

Riddles for the Rosh Hashanah Table

(For answers see below)

1. The Gemara in Kiddushin (33b) teaches that women are exempt from the mitzvah of shofar as it is a time bound mitzvah. The Shulchan Aruch (589:3) rules accordingly. The question is, it’s clear from the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah (16a) that the shofar helps: כדי שיעלה ז כרוניכם לפני לטובה – “That we be remembered in front of Hashem for good”. If so, just like we find that the Gemara (Kiddushin 34a) says that women are not exempt from the mitzvah of mezuzah: דאטו גברא בעי חיי נשי לא בעי חיי – “As do only men need to live and not women?”, we should say the same thing by shofar?
2. The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah (16b) teaches: R' Kruspedai said in the name of R’ Yochanan: Three books are opened on Rosh Hashanah: one for the absolute resho’im [utterly wicked], one for the pure tzaddikim [wholly good], and one for the beinonim – the average class of people. The wholly righteous are at once inscribed and sealed for life; the entirely wicked are at once inscribed and sealed for death; the average class are held in the balance from Rosh Hashanah until Yom Kippur; if they merit, they are inscribed for life, if not they are inscribed for death.” The following is from the shiurim of R’ Yom Tov Sanger
3. By the tzaddikim and resho’im we find that they are inscribe and sealed, however, by the beinoni we only find that he is inscribed, why don’t we find that he is inscribed and sealed? Why doesn’t the Gemara say: “If he merits then on Yom Kippur he is inscribed and sealed for life, and if he doesn’t, he is inscribed and sealed for death?”
4. The halachah is (Orach Chaim 339): אין דנין בשבת וביו''ט- “That we don’t judge on Shabbos and Yom Tov”. The question is, if this is the halachah, how can Hashem judge us on Rosh Hashanah, surely the Yerushalmi (Rosh Hashanah, Perek 3) teaches us that Hashem keeps the entire Torah?
5. The Rema records a custom to dip an apple into honey on Rosh Hashanah and daven that it should be a good omen for us to have a sweet new year. For this purpose, we traditionally use honey made by bees. Why don’t we use date honey, which is normally what the Torah refers to when it talks about honey?
6. How can there be a case, that one is allowed to blow 100 shofar blasts with a shofar, however, if he puts it down before doing all 100 blasts, it is forbidden for him to carry on?
7. When saying Tehillim on Rosh Hashanah is there a problem to say the perokim which are sang when singing Hallel?
8. The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah teaches us that we don’t use the horn from a cow for the mitzvah of tekias shofar as there is a rule ein kateigor naaseh saneigor, that a prosecutor can’t be a defender, and since we sinned with chet haeigel, we don’t want to do anything which may remind Hashem of our previous sins, therefore, we don’t use the horn of a cow. The question is, if so, how come we spend the entire day of Rosh Hashanah davening with our mouths, sadly many people use their mouths throughout the year for lashon hara, sheker etc. so why aren’t we scared that using out mouths will remind Hashem of our sins done with our mouths?
9. The Gemara in Megillah (32a) teaches: “Moshe enacted for Yisrael that they should be sho’alin v’dorshin [asking and giving lectures] about the topics of the day, Hilchos Pesach on Pesach, Hilchos Atzeres on Atzeres, and Hilchos Chag on Chag [Succos].” Why does the Gemara not mention that on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, one needs to learn Hilchos Teshuvah? Is there an obligation to learn Hilchos Teshuvah during the days of Teshuvah, just like there is a mitzvah to learn Hilchos Pesach and Hilchos Succos?
10. There was a story in a certain shul where the ba’al tokea announced before blowing shofar, “anyone who has a non-kosher phone, I am not being moitzi him, and he should go to a different shul to hear shofar”. After this announcement, an uproar broke out in the shul and some people argued that after making such an announcement it could be that no one fulfills his mitzvah, what is your opinion about this?
11. The was a story in a particular shul where the ba’al tokea blew the 100 shofar blasts, and after he finished he banged on the shofar to remove the saliva that built up inside and a worm came crawling out from the shofar. The shailah arose, if the tzibbur was yoitza their mitzvah of tekias shofar or not, what do you think?
12. Is there a special inyan for the ba’al tokea to blow the shofar with his eyes closed? And what about the people listening, is there an inyan for them to close their eyes?