Page 30 - Chayei Adam LAYOUT sivan 5782

Chayei Adam - K’lal 139 - The Laws of Rosh Hashana Night & Rosh Hashana Tefilos

]6[ When one comes home from shul, his table should already be set with the
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candles lit like any other yom tov and he should make kiddush as described in
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hilchos yom tov K’lal 79 - the laws of kiddush. Since it is the beginning of the
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year, we are accustomed to eat foods which allude to positive things. The
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custom in our place is to eat a sweet apple, and the best thing to do is to first
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recite a borei pri ha’eitz and then eat a little of it and then dip it into honey
םדו רשב
peace, immediately. make no mention of such a hesitation. (See for
דכ
example the Chayei Adam 51:7 and the Mateh
28. Since it is like any other yom tov, as is Efraim 600:6 who discuss the halachic
clear from siman 11 below and from Shulchan challenges of eating underdeveloped grapes
Aruch O.C. 597 regarding the daytime meal. on the second night of Rosh Hashana.)
הכ

29. Chayei Adam’s note: I already wrote 30. Although it is the second of Tishrei
in hilchos berachos k’al 51:7 regarding our many have the practice to eat the simanim the
custom to use grapes for a shehechayanu, second night as well. (Elya Rabba, Mateh
but since we are not certain what the size of Efraim) Others do not. (See Elef HaMagen)
a white bean is, one should only borei pri
ha’adama over them. 31. Chayei Adam’s note: See the
See below note 93 that one should try to Ramban’s commentary to the beginning of
have a new fruit on the second night of Rosh parshas Lech-Lecha for an explanation of
Hashana, to ensure that his beracha of this. One must realize that all decrees
‘shehecheyanu’ in kiddush is not l’vatala (in which have been issued in this world down
vain). In Europe, grapes were a rare find and it below cannot be changed whatsoever, and
was common to try to get some for the this appears to be the reason why Chazal
second night of Rosh Hashana. However, the say that ‘since we say that omens are
grapes available were most often real…’
underdeveloped and the appropriate beracha The gemara (Krisus 5b) teaches that one
to recite on them was therefore borei pri who wishes to know if he will live out the next
ha’adama and not ha’eitz. Accordingly, the year should light a candle in a house without
Chayei Adam warns those who use them to be windows and see if its light lasts. If he wants to
sure to recite the appropriate beracha on know if his business will succeed, he should
them. Although the Gra is reported to have raise a chicken and see how it develops, and
shunned the practice of eating grapes on Rosh he should look for his shadow in a dark house
Hashana as it is reminiscent of Adam’s sin (in to see if he will return home safely from a
that according to the Zohar, the tree from journey. The gemara however forbids such
which he ate was actually a vine), most poskim conduct because it will be discouraging.

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