This festival season, the first days of Rosh Hashanah and Sukkot will fall on Shabbat, as will Shemini Atzeret. This occurrence throws up some important questions: Why don’t we blow the shofar on Shabbat? Should we take the lulav on the first day of Sukkot irrespective of the day of the week, as was the ancient custom in Eretz Yisrael? Did our ancestors ever conceive that Jews would be celebrating Simchat Torah on Shabbat, which cannot happen in chutz l’Aretz?

Gavriel, Jochanan and Joshua discuss whether the danger of carrying a shofar or arba’a minim in a public domain, the Bavli’s rationale for banning their use on Shabbat, is a plausible historical explanation. They address the Yerushalmi’s alternative approach, which forces a rethink of the nature of the mitzvah of shofar and of the prohibition of shevut. Finally, Gavriel charts the history of Simchat Torah and its connections to kabbala, and argues there is no basis for dancing on the first day of Yom Tov, let alone on Shabbat.

Some things we reference in the podcast:

* Professor David Henshke’s article on sounding the shofar on Shabbat

* Rav Yehoshua Buch’s commentary on Yerushalmi Rosh Hashanah 4:1

* Rav Shaul Lieberman’s explanation of the prohibition of clapping, tapping and dancing on Shabbat

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