About this episode
Raba distinguishes between two cases of hearing half a shofar blast – in one he allows it (one who hears half a blast in a pit and half out of the pit) but not in the other (half before dawn and half after dawn). Why? In the case where it is permitted, the Gemara questions this based on other sources that seem to indicate that one cannot hear half a shofar blast. Raba statement is reinterpreted since the original understanding was rejected. Can one fulfill the mitzva of shofar if the shofar was taken from an animal sanctified for a sacrifice? On what does it depend? Different answers are brought. Rava concludes that all is permitted as when one fulfills a mitzva it is not considered that one benefitted. Therefore, one can hear a shofar from a person or a shofar to whom he vowed not to derive benefit from. Do mitzvot require intent? If not, then if one forced a person to eat matza, one fulfilled the mitzva and likewise if one blew a shofar for the music, one would fulfill the mitzva. Are these cases exactly the same? Rava said that mitzvot do not require intent. Several sources are brought to question this statement of Rava, one of them being the case in our Mishna of passing a shul when the shofar is being blown.