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Rosh Hashanah 019: Emes and Sheker
Jacob Siegel asked:
The gemara discusses the concept of meaymim lkadesh, that we
"intimidate" witnesses to say that they saw the new moon in order to
be able to be koivea the chodesh "on time." How are we to understand
this concept, given the importance of Truth in Torah thought (e.g.,
Chosamo Shel HKBH Emes) and particularly when it comes to eidus
sheker!! Artscroll quotes R. Chananel that this is only talking about
eidim that are not sure whether they saw or not and we are meayem so
that they err on the side of kevius hachodesh. Even this explanation
is dochuk, a) even to "intimidate" an eid how to testify is seemingly
sheker and b) the loshon hagemara explicitly states "to say they saw
it WHEN THEY DID NOT SEE IT - aF aL pI sHELO RAOOHOO"
IT BECOMES HARDER TO UNDERSTAND ON AMUD BEIS WHEN THE GEMARA PRESENTS
AN ARGUMENT THAT WE ONLY "INTIMIDATE" IN A CASE WHERE IT DOES NOT
LOOK LIKE SHEKER. At the expense of sounding glib, allow me to say
that the sevara of "mechzi kshikra" sounds alot like "as long as you
will not get caught." I thought to say that the sevara is that Bais
Din is concerned that others will learn to be meshaker so they are
careful to only be meayem when it is not readily apparent that there
is something "fishy" going on, but even that does not explain how
this process works.
What is the pshat?
Jacob Siegel, Miami, USA
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The Kollel replies:
Rabeinu Chananel explains that witnesses who are sure of what they
saw but would normally be rejected by Beis Din are instead reinforced
by Beis Din. This is because Beis Din is certain the calculation is
correct, and can therefore say with certainty that the witnesses'
claim to have seen the moon is correct even though the witnesses are
not testifying in a normally acceptable fashion. In this context,
Me'aymin does not mean "threaten" but rather "reinforce" (see Pnei
Yehoshua). "Af Al Pi Shelo Ra'uhu" means even though we know their
testimony translates into them not having seen the moon, because of
our knowledge of the calendar we reinforce their words even though
they may not have actually seen it.
Alternatively, the Pnei Yehoshua seems to learn according to the
Rambam (Hilchos Kidush ha'Chodesh 3:19) that Me'aymin is a matter of
not accepting witnesses who want to make the first set of witnesses
into Eidim Zomimim or to contradict their testimony. We lock them out
of Beis Din, similar to not accepting witnesses Min ha'Minchah
ul'Lemalah (regarding Rosh Hashanah, see 30b).
All the best,
Yaakov Montrose
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