Beitzah

and the Levites erred in the chant.1 [In consequence] they enacted that they should only receive witnesses until Minhah,2 but if witnesses came from Minhah onwards3 they observed [the remainder of] that day4 and the following day as holy.5 Rabbah said: Since the enactment of R. Johanan b. Zakkai, the egg is permitted;6 for we have learnt:7 AFter the destruction of the Temple8 R. Johanan enacted that testimony [concerning the appearance of new moon] should be admitted the [whole] day.9 Said Abaye to him: But have not Rab and Samuel both said that the egg is forbidden [on the second day]? — He replied to him: I quote to you R. Johanan b. Zakkai, and you tell me about Rab and Samuel!10 But for Rab and Samuel our Mishnah is a difficulty! — There is no difficulty. This [ruling] applies to us [Babylonians], but that [ruling] applies to them [the Palestinians].11 But R. Joseph12 says: Even from [the time of] the enactment of R. Johanan b. Zakkai and onwards the egg is prohibited [on the second day]. What is the reason? It13 is a matter which was decided by a majority vote14 and whatever was [forbidden] by a majority vote, requires another majority vote to permit it.15 Said R. Joseph: Whence do I infer this?16 From what is written: ‘Go say to them, return ye to your tents’.17 And [Scripture] further says: ‘When the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount’.18 And we have further learnt:19 The fourth [year] vineyard [fruit] was to be brought to Jerusalem [from all places] within a radius of one day's journey [from Jerusalem], and the following are its boundaries: Elath20 on the South,21 Akrabah22 on the North, Lydda23 on the West, and the Jordan on the East.24 And ‘Ulla said — others say Rabba b. Bar Hana in the name of R. Johanan — What is the reason? [It is] in order to decorate the streets of Jerusalem with fruits. And it was [further] taught: R. Eliezer had trees of the fourth year in a vineyard to the east of Lydda near Kefar Tabi25 was actually New Year's day. V. Tamid VII, 3-4. 30th as New Year's day, yet. where there was no uncertainty; and the people outside Jerusalem would need to observe both the 30th and the 31st of Ellul as New Year in case of such a contingency, so that the observance of two days for the New Year's Feast was an enactment of the Rabbis from the very beginning making two days one continuous day of holiness, and, therefore, an egg laid on the first day is prohibited even on the second. two days is holy. For, even if witnesses came towards the end of the 30th, the whole of the 30th would be regarded as New Year and the 31st would be regarded as a weekday. But if no witnesses came on the 30th, the 31st would be New Year's day and the 30th, though observed as a holy day, was in reality an ordinary day; and therefore the egg laid on the 30th in such a case would be permitted on the 31st. be regarded as New Year, however late the messengers came on that day. But in Babylon and all places outside Palestine, the observance of the two days was not affected by the enactment of R. Johanan, for there the two days were kept holy by the early Rabbinical enactment, and were regarded as one continuous day of holiness. of holiness. Assembly had been taken and declaring it now permissible; and as no such vote had been taken the status quo remains,i.e., the prohibition of the egg is still binding. V. Sanh. 59b. It is pointed out infra 5b that the vote of Assembly was not directly dealing with the egg but with the making of the two days one continuous day of holiness. facto cease at the expiration of the three days, but required from God direct permission to resume cohabitation. V. Tosaf. 5a, s.v. kf V. also Sanh., Sonc. ed. p. 403, n. 1. of the Theophany it could be inferred that the people might ascend the Mount. Yet it was not left for anyone to infer that they might ascend, but they had to await the express a authority of God. must be eaten before the Lord in Jerusalem, Lev. XIX, 23. If, however, the journey was too great, the fruit might be redeemed and the money expended in Jerusalem. V. Deut. XIV, 24-25. The Rabbis, however, ordained that for a radius of one day's journey from Jerusalem the fruit could not be redeemed but must be brought to Jerusalem. has yet been plausibly identified. be within one day's journey from Jerusalem.