עירובין 39:2 — Soncino English Talmud

And the Rabbis? — There [the reason for the observance] is that people shall not treat it with disrespect. R. JUDAH FURTHER RULED etc. And [the mention of the three cases was] necessary. For if we had been informed of the NEW YEAR only it might have been presumed that R. Judah maintained his view only in that case because the man does nothing, but that in the case of the BASKET, where it might appear that he prepares tebel, R. Judah agrees with the Rabbis. And even if we had been taught both, those cases it might have been presumed [that R. Judah maintained his view in these only] because there is no prohibition On account of which these should be forbidden as a preventive measure, but that in the case of the EGG, where there is reason to forbid it as a preventive measure as fallen fruit or as liquids that excluded, he agrees with the Rabbis. [Hence it is that the three cases were] required. It was taught: In what manner did R. Judah mean his ruling, that ‘a man may conditionally [set aside terumah] for a basket [of produce] on the first festival day [of New Year] and may then eat it on the second day’, [to be carried out]? If, for Instance, he had before him two baskets of produce of tebel he makes this declaration: ‘If today is an ordinary weekday and tomorrow will be a holy day let this [basket of produce] be terumah for the other, and if today is a holy day and tomorrow is a weekday let my declaration be void’. He thus names it [conditionally] and puts It away. On the following day he says: ‘If today is a weekday let this [basket of produce] be terumah for the other, and if today is a holy day let my declaration be void’, and he thus names It and may then eat [the other]. R. Jose forbids this. And so also did R. Jose forbid [such a procedure] on the two festival days of the diaspora. A stag that was caught on the first day of a diaspora festival and slain on the second day of the festival was presented at the Exilarch's table. R. Nahman and R. Hisda ate it, but R. Shesheth did not eat It. ‘What’, said R. Nahman, ‘can I do with R. Shesheth who does not eat the meat of a stag?’ — ‘How could I eat it’, retorted R. Shesheth, ‘in view of what Assi learned (or, as others say: Issi learned): And so also did R. Jose forbid [such a procedure] on the two festival days of the diaspora’. ‘What, however’, objected Raba, ‘is the difficulty? Is it not possible that he meant this: And so also did R. Jose forbid [such a procedure] on the two festival days of the New Year in the diaspora?’ — If so [instead of the expression,] ‘of the diaspora’ it should have read: ‘In the diaspora’ — ‘What difficulty, however,’ objected R. Assi, ‘is this? Is it not possible that he meant this: And so also did R. Jose treat the prohibition of [such a procedure] on any of the two festival days of the diaspora as did the Rabbis on the two festival days of the New Year on which they permit [a similar procedure]? R. Shesheth subsequently met Rabbah b. Samuel and asked him, ‘Has the Master learnt anything on the question of festival sanctities?’ — ‘I have learnt’, the other replied, ‘that R. Jose agreed in the case of the two festival days of the diaspora’. If you happen to meet them [R. Shesheth requested] mention to them nothing whatever about the matter. R. Ashi stated: Amemar told me personally that the stag was not at all caught33^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ^ᵗ^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ^ᵃᶜ^ᵃᵈ^ᵃᵉ^ᵃᶠ^ᵃᵍ

^ᵃnote:How could they maintain their view in face of R. Jose's argument (cf. previous note)?
^ᵇnote:Of the first day also, where the witnesses came in the afternoon.
^ᶜnote:Not because it is actually holy and forms together with the day following it one entity of holiness.
^ᵈnote:It is in fact not holy; but if, where witnesses came in the afternoon, that day (the 30th of Elul) had not been treated to the end as a holy day, the public might on the next occasion come to regard the entire day with equal disrespect and would, in consequence, permit themselves to carry on their usual occupations and work all that day as if it had been one of the ordinary working days. Such laxity, however, would result in the actual desecration of a holy day where the witnesses happened to come before noon and that day (the one following the 29th of Elul) had been declared as the one and only day of the New Year festival. In order, therefore, to avoid such possible desecration It was ordained that the day following the 29th of Elul shall always be treated as a holy day irrespective of the time of day at which the witnesses appeared. Where, however, the witnesses did come in the afternoon, though that day is continued to be observed as a holy day for the reason stated, it is in fact an ordinary weekday, the second day only being actually holy and the New Year day.
^ᵉnote:The ‘ERUBS, the BASKET and the EGG.
^ᶠnote:For the realization of the full extent of R. Judah's view.
^ᵍnote:Bah reads: the first clause. Sc. the ruling about the ‘ERUBS on the eve of the New Year.
^ʰnote:That the two days are regarded as two entities of holiness.
^ⁱnote:on the festival day.
^ʲnote:Those of the ‘ERUBS and the BASKET.
^ᵏnote:That the two days are regarded as two entities of holiness.
^ˡnote:On a holy day it is forbidden to eat fruit that dropped from the tree on that day, as a preventive measure against one's climbing the tree and plucking them (cf. Bezah 2b); and it is similarly forbidden to drink the juice of fruit that exuded on that day, as a preventive measure against one's squeezing of the fruit (cf. op. cit, 3a). An egg might have been assumed to come under the former or latter category.
^ᵐnote:Which he points out.
^ⁿnote:Pointing to the basket he had set aside for the same purpose on the previous day.
^ᵒnote:The basket for terumah.
^ᵖnote:,uhkd ka ohcuy ohnh. Name denoting the three major festivals, as distinct from the New Year festival, of which two days were sometimes observed also in Palestine. Instead of the one day festivals that were Pentateuchally ordained for the fifteenth and twenty-first of Nisan (Passover), sixth of Sivan (Pentecost) and the fifteenth and twenty-second of Tishri (Tabernacles and the Eighth Day of Solemn Assembly) the diaspora, or rather those localities that were too far from Jerusalem for the official communications of the Sanhedrin and supreme court to reach them in time before the date of the respective festival, kept two days. Those whom the communications could reach in time knew exactly the day that was declared as the new moon and could calculate therefrom the day of the respective festivals. All others could not be sure whether the new moon of the month in question followed the twenty-ninth or the thirtieth of the preceding month. As In the former case Passover, for instance, would be fifteen days after the twenty-ninth of Adar and in the latter case sixteen days after that date both the fifteenth and the sixteenth were kept as holy days. This was the case with the three major festivals mentioned. And though, unlike the New Year festival which was sometimes kept in Jerusalem itself (as explained supra 39a) on two days, one of each of these pairs of days was invariably a weekday, R. Jose imposes upon both days the same restrictions as those of the New Year day's.
^ᵠnote:By non-Jews.
^ʳnote:Because the two festival days of the diaspora are in their opinion regarded as two entities, the one holy and the other not holy, so that if the first was not the holy day the stag was caught on an ordinary weekday and may well be eaten on the holy day that followed it; and if the first day was holy the stag may well be eaten after the day ended provided only that there was time enough since the conclusion of the holy day for the stag to be caught.
^ˢnote:Both days (v. previous note) are regarded by him as one entity of holiness.
^ᵗnote:So MS.M. Cur. edd. ‘Issi’.
^ᵘnote:The difference between this reading and the previous one, according to cur.ed. is taken to consist in the mode of its intonation: ‘Did not Issi learn?’ Cf. Rashi.
^ᵛnote:Assi or Issi.
^ʷnote:But not on those of the other festivals.
^ˣnote:R. Jose's point being that, in the diaspora, the two days are always one entity as they are sometimes in Jerusalem.
^ʸnote:Which implies: Festivals that are kept on two days in the diaspora only but not in Palestine.
^ᶻnote:Sc. relaxed it and permitted the procedure.
^ᵃᵃnote:Supra 39a: ‘The Sages agree with R. Eliezer that if on [the eve of] the New Year etc.
^ᵃᵇnote:This is rather a forced interpretation but is preferable to the difficulty of allowing a senseless ruling to stand in the name of R. Jose who is Invariably known for his reasoned statements and arguments.
^ᵃᶜnote:l.e., whether the two days of a diaspora festival are regarded as two entities of holiness or as one only.
^ᵃᵈnote:That they are regarded as two entities.
^ᵃᵉnote:R. Nahman and R. Hisda.
^ᵃᶠnote:Lit., ‘do not tell them and nothing’. R. Shesheth realized his mistake and desired to avoid his colleague's taunts.
^ᵃᵍnote:On the first day when it was brought to the Exilarch's house. If that had been the case R. Shesheth would undoubtedly have shared the view of his colleagues.