Q&A: Rabbeinu Tam Time
Rabbeinu Tam Time
Question
Hello, honorable Rabbi,
I wanted to ask whether in your opinion there is any reason to end the Sabbath at nightfall according to Rabbeinu Tam.
Rabbi Ovadia, of blessed memory, holds that since this is how the author of the Shulchan Arukh ruled, and since many medieval authorities (Rishonim) also hold this way, it follows that every God-fearing person should be stringent about it. Especially since we see that it is not completely dark at nightfall according to the Geonim, and this strengthens Rabbeinu Tam’s view that there are two sunsets.
What is difficult for me is that a baby born on Friday night at the time of nightfall according to the Geonim—everyone agrees, including Rabbi Ovadia, that he is circumcised on the Sabbath, even though according to Rabbeinu Tam there is a possible Torah-level prohibition here (since in his view the baby was born on Friday daytime). So how can we be stringent in accordance with a view that in practice we follow leniently regarding Torah prohibitions? Or alternatively, why would we not postpone the circumcision for this reason? Is this not decisive proof that Rabbeinu Tam’s view has been completely rejected in Jewish law?
Likewise, Rabbi Ovadia, of blessed memory, argues that one cannot say this opinion is correct only outside the Land of Israel, because the author of the Shulchan Arukh lived in the Land of Israel, and from this it is proven that this is how he ruled there as well; and since he was the leading authority of the Land of Israel, it is proper to be stringent in accordance with him.
What is difficult for me about this is: if so, how is it that nowadays the entire people of the land, and the Torah scholars as well, do not practice according to the ruling of Maran, the author of the Shulchan Arukh, if he was the leading halakhic decisor of the generation in his own time? I assume, of course, that this did not start only in the later generations after him. (And by the way, the same difficulty bothers me regarding Rabbeinu Tam tefillin: what did people practice until then? How were the scriptural passages arranged in all the generations before them? But that would take us too far afield.)
I would be glad to hear your opinion on the matter.
Answer
I’ll start from the end. It seems to me that Rabbeinu Tam’s position regarding tefillin was not first introduced in his own time. Even in the excavations at Masada they found tefillin in accordance with Rabbeinu Tam’s view. So this is apparently an ancient dispute. In Responsa from Heaven (I think section 3), he asked about this and was answered that just as there is dispute below, so too there is dispute above.
In general, in halakhic disputes I do not think it is correct simply to count opinions on each side, unless you are in doubt. If you have a position of your own, follow it.
There is no difficulty regarding circumcision, because the “stringency” you propose there would lead to a leniency. If you circumcise him on Friday according to Rabbeinu Tam, then according to the opposing view you have circumcised him before the eighth day. So it is certainly preferable to circumcise on the Sabbath; according to Rabbeinu Tam that would be a delayed circumcision, but at least not before its proper time. True, one could discuss why not postpone the circumcision, but that brings us into the question of whether a doubtful positive commandment overrides a prohibition (which the Sdei Chemed discusses at length). But this can be rejected on the basis of the law of circumcision at twilight, and that is not the place to go into it.
It seems to me that Rabbi Ovadia’s intention is not to treat this as a doubt, but rather that it is proper to be stringent in accordance with the view of the majority of the medieval authorities (Rishonim). Even so, he too agrees that the Jewish law does not follow Rabbeinu Tam, only that taking his view into account is a proper stringency.