Eruvin

black bread,1 new beer and vegetables?2 — This is no difficulty, one [statement referring] to garlic and leek while the other [refers] to other vegetables; as it was taught: Garlic is a vegetable, leek is a semi-vegetable;3 if radish appears a life-giving drug has appeared. Was it not, however, taught: If radish appears a drug of death has appeared? — This is no contradiction, the latter might deal with the leaves while the former with the roots, or the latter might refer to the summer while the former might refer to the winter. Rab Judah citing Rab said: In a town which abounds with ascents and descents men and beasts die in the prime of their lives.4 ‘Die’! Can one really think so? — Rather say: They age in the prime of life. R. Huna son of R. Joshua remarked: The crags between Be Bari and Be Narash have made me old.5 Our Rabbis taught: If a town is to be squared6 the sides of the square must be made to correspond to the four directions of the world: Its northern side, [for instance,] must correspond7 to the North, and its southern side to the South; and your guiding marks8 are the Great Rear9 in the North and the Scorpion in the South. R. Jose said: If one10 does not know how to square a town so as to make it correspond with the directions of the world, one may square it in accordance with the circuit of the sun. How? — The direction in which on a long clay the sun rises11 and sets12 is the northern direction.13 The direction in which on a short day the sun rises11 and sets12 is the southern direction.14 At the vernal and autumnal equinoxes15 the sun rises in the middle point of the East and sets in the middle point of the West,16 as it is said in Scripture: It goeth along17 the south, and turneth about the18 north;19 ‘It goeth along the south’ during the day ‘and turneth about the north’20 during the night. The wind turneth, turneth about moveth21 refers to the eastern horizon and the western horizon along which the sun sometimes moves22 and sometimes turns about.20 R. Mesharsheya stated: These rules23 should be disregarded for it was taught: The sun has never exactly risen in the North East and set in the North West, nor has it ever risen precisely in the South East and set in the South West. Samuel stated: Thee vernal equinox occurs only at the beginning of one of the four quarters of the day24 viz., either at the beginning of the day or at the beginning of the night or at midday or at midnight.25 The summer solstice only occurs either at the end of one and a half, or at the end of seven and a half hours of the day or the night.26 The autumnal equinox only occurs at the end of three, or nine hours of the day or the night,27 and the winter solstice only occurs at the end of four and a half, or ten and a half hours of the day or the night.28 The duration of a season of the year29 is no longer than ninety-one days and seven and a half hours; and the beginning of one season is removed from that of the other by no more than one half of a planetary hour.30 Samuel further stated: The vernal equinox never begins under Jupiter31 but it breaks the trees, nor does the winter solstice begin under Jupiter but it dries up the seed. This, however, is the case only when the new moon occurred in the moon-hour or in the Jupiter-hour.31 square (cf. supra 55a). setting in the North. As the days shorten and the nights lengthen the circuit of the sun appears steadily to diminish and the points of sunrise and sunset appear to move day after day from N.E. to E. and from N.W. to W. respectively (the autumnal equinox, when days and nights are equal) and then to S.E. and S.W. respectively (the winter solstice when the days are shortest and the nights longest). On the shortest day, therefore, the sun appears to rise in S.E., to move only along S., and to set in S.W., thus rising and setting in the South. and a quarter solar day's. The first vernal equinox which, according to tradition, occurred on the first of Nisan, which was then a Wednesday at the beginning of the first quarter of the solar day, i.e., at the ‘beginning of the night’ (solar days in the Heb. calendar beginning with nightfall) was consequently followed in the second year by a vernal equinox that began at the beginning of a second quarter of the solar day which was the ‘midnight’ of Thursday (the solar day again beginning as stated supra at nightfall). In the third year the equinox began at the beginning of a third quarter of the solar day, which was the ‘beginning of the day’ of Friday. In the fourth year it began at the beginning of the fourth quarter of the solar clay which was ‘midday’ of Saturday. The vernal equinox thus begins at a different quarter of the solar day in the course of every four years. equinox is, as stated infra, ninety-one days and seven and a half hours approx., representing thirteen weeks and seven and a half hours. When the first vernal equinox occurred at the beginning of a Wednesday (cf. prev. n.) the following summer solstice must have occurred thirteen weeks later at the end of seven and a half hours after the beginning of the night belonging to that Wednesday. When the second vernal equinox occurred at the midnight of Thursday the summer solstice must have occurred thirteen weeks later at the end of one and a half hours after the beginning of the day also a Thursday. Since the third vernal equinox occurred on a Friday at the beginning of the day the following solstice must have occurred thirteen weeks later at the end of seven and a half hours of the day also a Friday. Finally when the fourth vernal equinox occurred at midday on Saturday, the following solstice must have occurred at the end of one and a half hours of the night of the Sunday thirteen weeks later. and by adding the seven and a half hours to the respective summer solstices (cf. prev. nn.). the autumnal equinoxes, the same process as in the previous cases being repeated every four years. follows it. following order: Mercury, Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sun and Venus. It follows that every eighth hour is under the influence of the same heavenly body. Since, for instance, Mercury is in ascendancy in the first hour of the first day of the week, it is also in ascendancy in the eighth, the fifteenth and the twenty-second hour and so on ad infinitum. Similarly Venus who is in ascendancy in the seventh hour of the first day of the week is also in ascendancy in the fourteenth and the twenty-first hour etc. Now since the beginning of one season is removed from that of the next season (as stated supra) by thirteen weeks and seven and a half hours and since in every week (consisting of 7 X 24 hours) the same relative order and succession of the heavenly bodies is invariably repeated, the weeks may be entirely disregarded in the calculations that determine what heavenly body would exercise its influence at the beginning of a season. The seven and a half hours only having to be taken into consideration, and the number of heavenly bodies concerned being seven, it follows that the same heavenly body that was in ascendancy at the beginning of a season is again in ascendancy during the last half hour of that season and during the first half hour of the season that follows. Every season thus begins ‘one half of a planetary hour’ later than the preceding one.