Nearly a month after we began Tractate Chullin, today we come to the end of chapter one, where the final mishnah states:
When there is a shofar blast, there is no Havdalah, and when Havdalah is recited, there is no shofar blast.
What is the mishnah talking about? Today, Jews are likely to hear the shofar only during Rosh Hashanah and at the conclusion of Yom Kippur. But in the ancient Jewish world, the shofar was sounded throughout the year. On Shabbat 35b, the sages teach that a series of shofar blasts brought Shabbat in every week: The first blast was to stop people working in the fields, the second to tell store owners to close up shop, a third to remind people to finish their cooking and finally a fourth:
The shofar-blower sounds a tekia (one long note), and sounds a terua (nine staccato notes), and sounds a tekia, and then he accepts Shabbat.
Following the Six Day War, archaeologists in Jerusalem discovered a platform at the top of the southwest corner of the walls of Jerusalem from which, they believe, the shofar-blower would announce Shabbat. It was marked with a plaque declaring it to be “the place of the trumpeter.”
A vestige of this tradition will be familiar to readers who have spent Shabbat in Jerusalem and other Israeli cities where a siren sounds 40 minutes prior to candle lighting to announce the coming of the day of rest. It should seem obvious that if we’re bringing in Shabbat or another holiday, there would be no need for Havdalah, which marks its conclusion, and no need for a siren if a holiday is ending. So why does the mishnah need to say this explicitly?
Some of you have perhaps already solved this puzzle: There are times when a holiday is immediately followed by Shabbat, or vice versa, so that a single moment is the conclusion of one holy day and the beginning of the next.
In Tractate Pesachim, we learned about the special Havdalah that is recited at the start of the Passover seder when it falls on Saturday night, and it’s not uncommon for festivals to fall on Friday, leading right into Shabbat. What changes do we need to make when Shabbat and a holiday occur on consecutive days? The mishnah suggests that we say Havdalah with this change:
“Who distinguishes between sacred and sacred.” Rabbi Dosa says that the formula is: “Who distinguishes between greater sanctity and lesser sanctity.”
Typically, the final blessing of Havdalah includes distinguishing “between sacred and secular” (ben kodesh l’chol). The mishnah suggests that when a holiday and Shabbat run into one another, the blessing should instead be “who distinguishes between sacred and sacred” (ben kodesh l’kodesh).
The Gemara also explores how the shofar blasts described in Shabbat 35b change when a holiday is adjacent to Shabbat. There, we learned that typically, the pattern involves three spaced out warning blasts followed by a final set: tekia, terua and a final tekia. On a holy day following another holy day, there’s no need for warning notes since work was prohibited already. All that’s required is the final set of notes, though there is a disagreement about the pattern:
Rav Yehuda said: One sounds a tekia, and sounds a terua from the midst of the tekia. And Rav Asi said: He sounds a tekia and then sounds a terua in one breath. Rav Asi instituted the practice in the city of Huzal in accordance with his halakhah.
Rashi explains that “terua from the midst of tekia” means, “before he finishes the tekia, he blasts a terua at the end of it.” Regarding Rav Asi’s practice, Rashi says that “in one breath” means that there’s no pause between notes, unlike our typical practice, in which the shofar blower does pause. In both cases, though, this pattern is different from the usual.
Regarding changes in Havdalah, the Gemara affirms the mishnah’s ruling that one should substitute the formula “between sacred and sacred,” and then continue with the typical list of differentiations recited at the conclusion of any Shabbat or holiday: “between sacred and secular, and between light and darkness, and between Israel and the nations, and between the seventh day and the six days of labor.” This formulation remains our practice today.
This is a fascinating discussion, but why is it found at the end of the first chapter of Chullin? Formally, this mishnah fits a pattern that dominates the end of this chapter: What’s true of x is not true of y, and what is true of y is not true of x. But for those looking for a deeper connection, I’d like to suggest that the topic of separation is as integral to kosher slaughter as it is to Havdalah. In our tractate, we’ve been learning about how the preparation of kosher meat for everyday consumption (with a sharp knife, without pause, with supervision and more) is separate from the way that non-Jews may source their meat. Just like the difference between kosher and non-kosher food, the separation between Shabbat, holidays and the work week is integral to Jewish life. Whether it’s listening to a Shabbat siren in Jerusalem or making Havdalah at a diaspora dining table, our lives as Jews divide into holy, secular and holy again.
Read all of Chullin 26 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on May 26, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
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