Eruvin

And the Rabbis?1 — There [the reason for the observance]2 is3 that people shall not treat it with disrespect.4 R. JUDAH FURTHER RULED etc. And [the mention of the three cases5 was] necessary.6 For if we had been informed of the NEW YEAR7 only it might have been presumed that R. Judah maintained his view8 only in that case because the man does nothing,9 but that in the case of the BASKET, where it might appear that he prepares tebel,9 R. Judah agrees with the Rabbis. And even if we had been taught both, those cases10 it might have been presumed [that R. Judah maintained his view11 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 fruit12 or as liquids that excluded,12 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]13 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:14 ‘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 It15 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.16 A stag that was caught17 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,18 but R. Shesheth did not eat It.19 ‘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 Assi20 learned (or, as others say: Issi21 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 he22 meant this: And so also did R. Jose forbid [such a procedure] on the two festival days of the New Year23 in the diaspora?’24 — If so [instead of the expression,] ‘of25 the diaspora’ it should have read: ‘In the diaspora’ — ‘What difficulty, however,’ objected R. Assi, ‘is this? Is it not possible that he22 meant this: And so also did R. Jose treat the prohibition of [such a procedure] on any of the two festival days of the diaspora26 as did the Rabbis on the two festival days of the New Year27 on which they permit [a similar procedure]?28 R. Shesheth subsequently met Rabbah b. Samuel and asked him, ‘Has the Master learnt anything on the question of festival sanctities?’29 — ‘I have learnt’, the other replied, ‘that R. Jose agreed in the case of the two festival days of the diaspora’.30 If you happen to meet them31 [R. Shesheth requested] mention to them nothing whatever about the matter.32 R. Ashi stated: Amemar told me personally that the stag was not at all caught33 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. 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. 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. 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. intonation: ‘Did not Issi learn?’ Cf. Rashi. name of R. Jose who is Invariably known for his reasoned statements and arguments. undoubtedly have shared the view of his colleagues.