עירובין 41:1 — Soncino English Talmud

and, similarly, if the eve of the Ninth of Ab fell on a Sabbath a man may eat and drink as much as he requires and lay on his table a meal as big as that of Solomon in his time. If the Ninth of Ab fell on the Sabbath eve [food] of the size of an egg must be brought and eaten [before the conclusion of the day] so that one does not approach the Sabbath in a state of affliction’. It was taught: R. Judah stated: We were once sitting in the presence of R. Akiba, and the day was a Ninth of Ab that occurred on a Sabbath eve, when a lightly roasted egg was brought to him and he sipped it without any salt. And [this he did] not because he had any appetite for it but in order to show the students what the halachah was. R. Jose, however, ruled: The fast must be fully concluded. ‘Do you not agree with the’, said R. Jose to them, ‘that when the Ninth of Ab falls on a Sunday one must break off while it is yet day?’ — ‘Indeed [it is so]’, they replied. ‘What’, he said to them, ‘is the difference between beginning the Sabbath when one is in a state of affliction and between letting it out when one is in such a state?’ ‘If you allowed a person’, they replied: ‘to let it out [when in such a state] because he has eaten and drunk throughout the day, would you also allow a person to begin it when in a state of affliction, though he has not eaten or drunk all day?’ And in connection with this Ulla ruled: The halachah agrees with R. Jose. But do we act in agreement with the view of R. Jose seeing that such action would be contradictory to the following rulings: No fast day may be imposed upon the public on New Moons, Hanukkah or Purim, but if they began [the period of fasting prior to these days] there is no need to interrupt it; so R. Gamaliel. Said R. Meir: Although R. Gamaliel laid down that ‘there is no need to interrupt it’, he agrees nevertheless that [the fasts on these days] must not be concluded, and the same ruling applies to the Ninth of Ab that falls on a Sabbath eve. And it was further taught: After the death of R. Gamaliel, R. Joshua entered [the academy] to abrogate his ruling, when R. Johanan b. Nuri stood up and exclaimed: ‘I submit that "the body must follow the head"; throughout the lifetime of R. Gamaliel we laid down the halachah in agreement with his view and now you wish to abrogate it? Joshua, we shall not listen to you, since the halachah has once been fixed in agreement with R. Gamaliel!’ And there was not a single person who raised any objection whatever to this statement. — In the time of R. Gamaliel the people acted in agreement with the views of R. Gamaliel but in the time of R. Jose they acted in agreement with the views of R. Jose. But [could it be maintained] that ‘in the time of R. Gamaliel the people acted in agreement with the view of R. Gamaliel’? Was it not in fact taught: R. Eleazar son of R. Zadok stated: ‘I am one of the descendants of Seneab of the tribe of Benjamin. Once it happened that the Ninth of Ab fell on a Sabbath and we postponed it to the following Sunday when we fasted but did not complete the fast because that day was our festival.’ The reason [then was] that [the day had been their] festival, but on the eve of [their] festival they did complete the fast, did they not? Rabina replied: A festival of Rabbinic origin is different [from a Sabbath]. Since it is permitted to fast for a number of hours on the former it is also permitted to complete a fast on its eves; [but as regards] the Sabbath, since it is forbidden to fast on it even for a few hours, it is also forbidden to complete a fast on its eves. ‘I have never heard’, said R. Joseph, ‘that tradition’, Said Abaye to him, ‘You yourself have told it to us and you said it in connection with the following: "No fast may be imposed upon the public on New Moons etc." and it was in connection with this that you told us, "Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: This is the view of R. Meir who laid it down in the name of R. Gamaliel; but the Sages ruled: One must complete the fast". Now does not this refer to all the days mentioned? — No; only to Hanukkah and Purim. This may also be supported by a process of reasoning^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^ᵃʰ^ᵃⁱ^ᵃʲ^ᵃᵏ^ᵃˡ^ᵃᵐ^ᵃⁿ^ᵃᵒ^ᵃᵖ^ᵃᵠ

^ᵃnote:The eve of the fast, if it falls on an ordinary day, is also subject to certain restrictions. At the last meal of the day it is forbidden to eat more than one cooked dish nor is it permitted to drink wine or eat meat on that day.
^ᵇnote:Ta'an 29b.
^ᶜnote:Wanting in MS.M. Ban reads ‘and it was taught’.
^ᵈnote:That a fast on the Sabbath eve must be broken before the Sabbath begins.
^ᵉnote:Cf. previous note and supra p. 281, n. 10.
^ᶠnote:His meal on the eve of the Fast.
^ᵍnote:Though it is the Sabbath day he must cease eating before the day comes to an end.
^ʰnote:Lit., ‘what to me’.
^ⁱnote:Lit., ‘to enter it’.
^ʲnote:I.e., to be fasting all the Sabbath eve until the Sabbath actually commenced.
^ᵏnote:Lit., ‘to go out from it’.
^ˡnote:I.e., to begin on the Sabbath the fast that fell on a Sunday. If the latter is permitted, why not also the former?
^ᵐnote:Lit., ‘you said’.
^ⁿnote:Lit., ‘will you say’.
^ᵒnote:A contrary ruling to the one given previously on the enquiry made at R. Huna's.
^ᵖnote:V. Glos.
^ᵠnote:It may be continued even on the days mentioned.
^ʳnote:But must be broken on every one of these days before they respectively draw to a close.
^ˢnote:Ta'an 15b. Cf. previous note.
^ᵗnote:Reading of marg. note. Cur. edd. in parenthesis, ‘R. Simeon b. Gamaliel’.
^ᵘnote:Sc. to lay down that the fast may be concluded even on a Sabbath eve in agreement with R. Jose.
^ᵛnote:Lit., ‘stood on his feet’.
^ʷnote:Lit., ‘see (good reason for the statement)’.
^ˣnote:Proverb. Cf. ‘follow the leader’.
^ʸnote:Lit., ‘all his days’.
^ᶻnote:A fast on the Sabbath eve accordingly must not be concluded. How then could this be reconciled with the practice in agreement with the view of R. Jose?
^ᵃᵃnote:Lit., ‘in his generation’.
^ᵃᵇnote:Who flourished after R. Gamaliel.
^ᵃᶜnote:This is the reading according to marg. glos. Cur. edd. insert ‘son of’ in parenthesis and omit the ‘R.’ before Zadok. MS.M. Eliezer’, omitting his father's name.
^ᵃᵈnote:Lit., ‘to after the Sabbath’.
^ᵃᵉnote:Ta'an. 12a. The tenth of Ab was allotted to them as the day on which they were entitled to bring the offering of wood for the Temple altar. The families that were entitled to such a privilege kept the respective days allotted to them as a family festival. (V. Rashi a.l. and cf. Ta'an. 26a, 28a).
^ᵃᶠnote:Why they did not complete the postponed fast.
^ᵃᵍnote:Sc. the usual date of the Ninth of Ab which is the proper fast day and which always occurred on the eve of their festival.
^ᵃʰnote:Which proves, since R. Eleazar son of R. Zadok was a contemporary of R. Gamaliel (cf. Bezah 22a), that on the eve of a festival a fast was completed even in the days of R. Gamaliel,
^ᵃⁱnote:Lit., ‘their words’.
^ᵃʲnote:As was stated supra, ‘When we fasted etc.’
^ᵃᵏnote:The completion of the fast does not involve even a full hour. If one may fast on a Rabbinic festival one should certainly be allowed on it a fast lasting only a portion of an hour.
^ᵃˡnote:Where the fast is to be completed its termination would encroach upon the Sabbath and one would incur the guilt of fasting on a Sabbath, however short the duration of that fasting might be.
^ᵃᵐnote:Ulla's (supra) that the halachah is in agreement with R. Jose.
^ᵃⁿnote:R. Joseph lost his memory as a result of a serious illness and his students often reminded him of traditions and rulings he had imparted to them in his earlier days.
^ᵃᵒnote:Who stated supra that the fast is not to be completed, and the same applies to the fast of the Ninth of Ab that fell on a Sabbath eve.
^ᵃᵖnote:The ruling of the Sages.
^ᵃᵠnote:Lit., ‘on all of them’, i.e., that even on a Sabbath eve the fast must be completed. Now since Rab described R. Jose by the plural noun of ‘Sages’ it is obvious that he intended the halachah to be in agreement with his view.