Our Rabbis taught: Shimon ha-Pakuli
arranged the eighteen benedictions in order before Rabban Gamaliel in Yavneh. Said Rabban Gamaliel to the Sages: Can any one among you frame a benediction relating to the Minim?
Shmuel Hakotton arose and composed it. The next year he forgot it. And he tried for two or three hours to recall it, and they did not remove him [as chazzan]. Two questions.
1] How did Shmuel Hakotton forget the bracha? Did he not daven that whole year?
2] What is the connection between the cycle of the year and the forgetting of the bracha that is noted by the braisa that says "the next year he forgot it"?
The Rambam [Hil. Sanhedrin Chapter 16] rules that the Sanhedrin doesn't rule capital cases on erev Shabbos. The reason is [Sanhedrin 35a] that capital cases where an unfavorable decision is reached require הלנת הדין - postponing the final judgement until the next day. On Shabbos one doesn't judge so this would necessitate delaying the judgement until Sunday which might cause the judges to forget their reasons. ליבא דאישי אינשי - Once the heart forgets, it forgets.
A superficial reading of this gemara indicates that we are dealing with a simple case of forgetfulness. However this is not a tenable explanation. In two days these brilliant men [who knew so much including seventy languages] are going to forget their rationale??
The real meaning of the gemara is that they will lose the chiyus - the vitality and vibrancy of the svara. After two days their reasoning will no longer have the same excitement and life that it did originally.
Sanhedrin would only reveal the reason for a decree after 12 months [Avoda Zara 35a]. Why? Rashi explains that if the reason is revealed earlier people would come to pry and dig and question the reason given for the decree. Why should we care if people question the decree? The answer is rooted in the principle of נתפשטה הגזירה בכל ישראל - A decree only applies if it speads among the Jewish people. If people question the reason for the decree it might weaken the spreading of the decree. So for 12 months the reason is not revealed allowing the decree to spread and afterwards we don't care if people question the reason for the decree.
Now we return to our sugya. Shmuel Hakotton decreed that we should say the bracha of ולמשינים and had to wait 12 months to see if it will spread like any other decree. After 12 months he no longer felt the same chiyus, the vitality, he originally had when he made the decree. ליבא דאינשי אישי. If from Friday to Sunday one loses the chiyus of a svara, this most certainly might happen after 12 months.
That is the meaning of the gemara.
[Maamarei Pachad Yitzchak Sukkos 78]
I believe that this "forgetting" is one of our biggest challenges in life. People "forget" that life is so short and that there is a din vi-cheshbon at the end of days. Of course we are all aware of this but the EXPERIENCE loses its chiyus as we move on in life. Our job is to constantly bring to life our knowledge of what is real and true.
Love and blessings:-)
