Kiddushin

that the ‘omer1 was first offered and then they ate. But on the view that [‘dwelling’ implies] after possession and settling,2 they could have eaten immediately? — They did not need to, for it is written, and the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat the manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.3 Now, it is impossible to say [literally], ‘until they came unto the land inhabited,’ since it is also said: ‘[until they came] unto the borders of the land of Canaan’;4 conversely, ‘unto the borders of the land of Canaan’ cannot be understood [literally], since it is also said: ‘until they came unto a land inhabited!’ How then [are these to be reconciled]? Moses died on the seventh of Adar and the manna ceased to descend, but they used the manna which was in their vessels until the sixteenth of Nisan. 5 Another [Baraitha] taught: ‘And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years’. Did they then eat [it] forty years: surely they ate it but forty years less thirty days?6 But it is to teach you that they experienced the taste of manna in the cakes which they brought forth from Egypt. Another [Baraitha] taught: On the seventh of Adar Moses died, and on the seventh of Adar he was born. How do we know that he died on the seventh of Adar? For it is written: [i] So Moses the servant of the Lord died there;7 [ii] And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days;8 [iii] Moses thy servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over [this Jordan];9 [iv] Pass through the midst of the camp, and command the people, saying: Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye are to pass over this Jordan;10 and [v] and the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month;11 deduct12 the preceding thirty three days,13 thus you learn that Moses died on the seventh of Adar.14 And how do we know that he was born on the seventh of Adar? — For it is said: And he [Moses] said unto them, I am an hundred and twenty years old this day; I can no more go out and come in.15 Now, ‘this day’ need not be stated;16 why then is it stated? It teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, sits and completes the years of the righteous [exactly] from day to day and month to month, as it is said,the number of thy days I will fulfil.17 It was taught: R. Simeon b. Yohai said: The Israelites were given three precepts18 on their entry into the Land,19 yet they are practised both within and without the Land, and it is logical that they shall be thus binding. If hadash, which is not permanently forbidden,20 nor is [all] benefit thereof prohibited,21 and its interdict can be raised,22 is [nevertheless] operative both within and without the Land;23 then kil'ayim, which are permanently forbidden,24 of which [all] benefit is prohibited,25 and the interdict of which cannot be raised, it surely follows that it has force both within and without the land; and the same logic applies to ‘orlah on two [grounds].26 R. Eleazar son of R. Simeon said: tribes did settle there. came to the borders etc.’, where Moses died. food (ibid. 2f.), and received the manna on the following day (ibid. 6f, 13). As they ate it until the sixteenth of the first month forty years later, these forty years were short by one month. consequently he was born on that day too.