ראש השנה 25

25:1

AND IN THE EVENING IN THE WEST. R. JOHANAN B. NURI THEREUPON SAID, THEY ARE FALSE WITNESSES. WHEN, HOWEVER, THEY CAME TO JABNEH RABBAN GAMALIEL ACCEPTED THEM. ON ANOTHER OCCASION TWO WITNESSES CAME AND SAID, WE SAW IT AT ITS PROPER TIME, BUT ON THE NIGHT WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN NEW MOON IT WAS NOT SEEN, AND RABBAN GAMALIEL [HAD ALREADY] ACCEPTED THEIR EVIDENCE. RABBI DOSA B. HARKINAS SAID: THEY ARE FALSE WITNESSES. HOW CAN MEN TESTIFY THAT A WOMAN HAS BORN A CHILD WHEN ON THE NEXT DAY WE SEE HER BELLY STILL SWOLLEN? SAID R. JOSHUA TO HIM: I SEE [THE FORCE OF] YOUR ARGUMENT. THEREUPON RABBAN GAMALIEL SENT TO HIM TO SAY, I ENJOIN UPON YOU TO APPEAR BEFORE ME WITH YOUR STAFF AND YOUR MONEY ON THE DAY WHICH ACCORDING TO YOUR RECKONING SHOULD BE THE DAY OF ATONEMENT. R. AKIBA WENT [TO R. JOSHUA] AND FOUND HIM IN GREAT DISTRESS. HE SAID TO HIM: I CAN BRING PROOF [FROM THE SCRIPTURE] THAT WHATEVER RABBAN GAMALIEL HAS DONE IS VALID, BECAUSE IT SAYS, THESE ARE THE APPOINTED SEASONS OF THE LORD, HOLY CONVOCATIONS, WHICH YE SHALL PROCLAIM IN THEIR APPOINTED SEASONS, [WHICH MEANS TO SAY THAT] WHETHER THEY ARE PROCLAIMED AT THEIR PROPER TIME OR NOT AT THEIR PROPER TIME, I HAVE NO APPOINTED SEASONS SAVE THESE. HE [R. JOSHUA] THEN WENT TO R. DOSA B. HARKINAS, WHO SAID TO HIM: IF WE CALL IN QUESTION [THE DECISIONS OF] THE BETH DIN OF RABBAN GAMALIEL, WE MUST CALL IN QUESTION THE DECISIONS OF EVERY BETH DIN WHICH HAS EXISTED SINCE THE DAYS OF MOSES UP TO THE PRESENT TIME. FOR IT SAYS, THEN WENT UP MOSES AND AARON, NADAB AND ABIHU AND SEVENTY OF THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL. WHY WERE NOT THE NAMES OF THE ELDERS MENTIONED? TO SHOW THAT EVERY GROUP OF THREE WHICH HAS ACTED AS A BETH DIN OVER ISRAEL IS ON A LEVEL WITH THE BETH DIN OF MOSES. HE [R. JOSHUA] THEREUPON TOOK HIS STAFF AND HIS MONEY AND WENT TO JABNEH TO RABBAN GAMALIEL ON THE DAY ON WHICH THE DAY OF ATONEMENT FELL ACCORDING TO HIS RECKONING. RABBAN GAMALIEL ROSE AND KISSED HIM ON HIS HEAD AND SAID TO HIM: COME IN PEACE, MY TEACHER AND MY DISCIPLE — MY TEACHER IN WISDOM AND MY DISCIPLE BECAUSE YOU HAVE ACCEPTED MY DECISION. GEMARA. It has been taught: Rabban Gamaliel said to the Sages: This formula has been handed down to me from the house of my father's father: Sometimes it [the moon] traverses [the heavens] by a long course and sometimes by a short course. R. Johanan said: What is the reason of the house of Rabbi? Because it is written, Who appointest the moon for seasons, the sun knoweth his going down. It is the sun which knows its going down, but the moon does not know its going down. R. Hiyya once saw the [old] moon in the heavens on the morning of the twenty-ninth day. He took a clod of earth and threw it at it, saying, Tonight we want to sanctify you, and are you still here! Go and hide yourself. Rabbi thereupon said to R. Hiyya, Go to En Tob and sanctify the month, and send me the watchword, ‘David king of Israel is alive and vigorous’. Our Rabbis taught: Once the heavens were covered with clouds and the likeness of the moon was seen on the twenty-ninth of the month. The public were minded to declare New Moon, and the Beth din wanted to sanctify it, but Rabban Gamaliel said to them: I have it on the authority of the house of my father's father that the renewal of the moon takes place after not less than twenty-nine days and a half and two-thirds of an hour and seventy-three halakin. On that day the mother of Ben Zaza died, and Rabban Gamaliel made a great funeral oration over her, not because she had merited it, but so that the public should know that the Beth din had not sanctified the month. R. AKIBA WENT AND FOUND HIM IN GREAT DISTRESS. The question was asked, Who was in distress? Was R. Akiba in distress or was R. Joshua in distress? — Come and hear, since it has been taught: ‘R. Akiba went and found R. Joshua while he was in great distress. He said to him, Master, why are you in distress? He replied: Akiba, it were better for a man to be on a sick-bed for twelve months than that such an injunction should be laid on him. He said to him, [Master,] will you allow me to tell you something which you yourself have taught me? He said to him, Speak. He then said to him: The text says, ‘you’, ‘you’, ‘you’, three times, to indicate that ‘you’ [may fix the festivals] even if you err inadvertently, ‘you’, even if you err deliberately, ‘you’, even if you are misled. He replied to him in these words: ‘Akiba, you have comforted me, you have comforted me’. HE THEN WENT TO R. DOSA B. HARKINAS etc. Our Rabbis taught: Why were not the names of these elders mentioned? So that a man should not say, Is So-and-so like Moses and Aaron? Is So-and-so like Nadab and Abihu? Is So-and-so like Eldad and Medad? Scripture also says, And Samuel said to the people, It is the Lord that made Moses and Aaron, and it says [in the same passage], And the Lord sent Jerubaal and Bedan and Jepthah and Samuel. Jerubaal is Gideon. Why is he called Jerubaal? Because he contended with Baal. Bedan is Samson. Why is he called Bedan? Because he came from Dan. Jepthah is Jepthah

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25:2

. It says also: Moses and Aaron among his priests and Samuel among them that call on his name. [We see therefore that] the Scripture places three of the most questionable characters on the same level as three of the the most estimable characters, to show that Jerubaal in his generation is like Moses in his generation, Bedan in his generation is like Aaron in his generation, Jepthah in his generation is like Samuel in his generation, [and] to teach you that the most worthless, once he has been appointed a leader of the community, is to be accounted like the mightiest of the mighty. Scripture says also: And thou shalt come unto the priests the Levites and to the judge thou shall be in those days. Can we then imagine that a man should go to a judge who is not in his days? This shows that you must be content to go to the judge who is in your days. It also says; Say not, How was it that the former days were better than these. HE TOOK HIS STAFF AND HIS MONEY IN HIS HAND. Our Rabbis taught: When he [Rabban Gamaliel] saw him, he rose from his seat and kissed him on his head, saying, Peace to thee my teacher and my disciple — my teacher, because thou hast taught me Torah publicly, my disciple because I lay an injunction on thee and thou dost carry it out like a disciple. Happy is the generation in which the greater defer to the lesser, and all the more so the lesser to the greater! [You say] ‘All the more so’! It is their duty! — What it means is that because the greater defer to the lesser, the lesser apply the lesson to themselves with all the more force. C H A P T E R III MISHNAH. IF THE BETH DIN AND ALL ISRAEL SAW IT, IF THE WITNESSES WERE TESTED AND THERE WAS NO TIME LEFT TO SAY ‘SANCTIFIED’ BEFORE IT GREW DARK, THEN THE MONTH IS PROLONGED. IF THE BETH DIN ALONE HAVE SEEN IT, TWO OF THEM SHOULD COME FORWARD AND TESTIFY BEFORE THEM, AND THEN THEY CAN SAY, ‘SANCTIFIED, SANCTIFIED’. IF THREE PERSONS SAW IT, THEY [THEMSELVES] CONSTITUTING THE BETH DIN, TWO [OF THEM] SHOULD COME FORWARD AND THEY SHOULD ASSOCIATE SOME OF THEIR COLLEAGUES WITH THE ONE LEFT, AND THEY [THE TWO] SHOULD TESTIFY BEFORE THEM AND THEY CAN THEN SAY, ‘SANCTIFIED, SANCTIFIED’. [THIS MUST BE DONE] BECAUSE AN INDIVIDUAL IS NOT AUTHORIZED [TO SAY ‘SANCTIFIED’] BY HIMSELF. GEMARA. What need is there to state IF THE BETH DIN AND ALL ISRAEL SAW IT? — It is necessary. You might think that since the Beth din and all Israel have seen it everyone knows about it and therefore they should not prolong the month. Therefore we are told [that this is not so]. But when once it has been stated IF THE BETH DIN AND ALL ISRAEL SAW IT, why should it further say, IF THE WITNESSES HAVE BEEN TESTED? — What it means is, ‘Or if the witnesses had been tested and there was no time left to say "sanctified" before it grew dark, then the month must be prolonged’. But when once it has been stated if IT GREW DARK THEN THE MONTH IS PROLONGED, why should the testing of the witnesses be mentioned at all? — It is necessary. For you might suppose that the testing of the witnesses is regarded as the commencement of a suit in court, and the pronouncement of ‘sanctified’, ‘sanctified’ as the end of the suit, and therefore they should sanctify at night, on the analogy of money suits, as we have learnt, ‘Money suits are heard by day and concluded [if necessary] at night’; so here we should sanctify at night. Therefore we are told [that this is not so]. But cannot I say that this actually is the case? — Scripture says, For it is a statute for Israel, a judgment for the God of Jacob. When does the word ‘statute’ apply? To the conclusion of the suit; and the All-Merciful calls it ‘judgment’. [Therefore we reason], Just as judgment is delivered by day, so here [the pronouncement must be] by day. IF THE BETH DIN [ALONE] HAVE SEEN IT, TWO OF THEM SHOULD COME FORWARD AND TESTIFY BEFORE THEM. Why so? Surely hearing should not carry greater weight than seeing? — R. Zera said, [It is necessary if] for instance, they saw it at night. IF THREE PERSONS SAW IT, THEY [THEMSELVES] CONSTITUTING THE BETH DIN, TWO [OF THEM] SHOULD COME FORWARD AND THEY SHOULD ASSOCIATE SOME OF THEIR COLLEAGUES WITH THE ONE LEFT. Why so? Here too we can argue that hearing should not carry greater weight than seeing? And should you reply that here too [it is necessary] if, for instance, they saw it at night, then this is the same case as the one [preceding]? — It was necessary to state the last clause [VIZ.]: BECAUSE AN INDIVIDUAL IS NOT AUTHORIZED [TO SAY ‘SANCTIFIED’] BY HIMSELF. For you might have thought that since it has been taught, ‘Money suits must be tried before three, but one who is a recognized legal expert can try them even alone’, so here too one might sanctify the month single-handed. Therefore we are told [that this is not so]. But cannot I say that this actually is the case? — There was no more universally recognized expert in Israel than Moses, and yet the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, [Do not sanctify the month] until Aaron is with thee, as it is written, And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, This month is to you. This implies that a witness may act as judge. Shall we say then that our Mishnah does not agree with R. Akiba, since it has been taught: ‘If the Sanhedrin saw a man slay a person

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