פסחים 54:2 — Soncino English Talmud

Adam's raiment. Our Rabbis taught: Seven things are hidden from men. These are they: the day of death, and the day of comfort, the depth [extent] of judgment; and a man does not know what is in his neighbour's heart; and a man does not know from what he will earn; and when the Davidic dynasty will return; and when the wicked kingdom will come to an end. Our Rabbis taught: Three things [God] willed to come to pass, and if He had not willed them, it would be but right that He should will them. And these are they: Concerning a corpse, that it should become offensive; and concerning a dead person, that he should be forgotten from the heart; and concerning produce, that it should rot; and some say, concerning coins, that they should enjoy currency. MISHNAH. WHERE IT IS THE CUSTOM TO DO WORK ON THE NINTH OF AB, ONE MAY DO IT; WHERE IT IS THE CUSTOM NOT TO DO WORK, ONE MAY NOT DO IT. AND IN ALL PLACES SCHOLARS CEASE [FROM WORK ON THAT DAY]. R. SIMEON B. GAMALIEL SAID: A MAN MAY ALWAYS MAKE HIMSELF A SCHOLAR. GEMARA. Samuel said: There is no public fast in Babylonia save the Ninth of Ab alone. Shall we say that Samuel holds, [with regard to] the Ninth of Ab, its twilight is forbidden; but Samuel said: [with regard to] the Ninth of Ab, its twilight is permitted? And should you say, Samuel holds, The twilight of every public fast is permitted, — surely we learned: One must eat and drink while it is yet day. Now what is this to exclude is it not to exclude twilight? No: it is to exclude after nightfall. Shall we say that this supports him? [It was taught:] There is no difference between the Ninth of Ab and the Day of Atonement except that with the latter, its doubt is forbidden, while with the former, its doubt is permitted. What does ‘its doubt is permitted’ mean? Surely [that refers to] twilight? — No, [but] as R. Shisha the son of R. Idi said, It is in respect of the fixing of New Moon; so here too it is in respect of the fixing of the New Moon. Raba lectured: Pregnant women and suckling women must fast and complete [the fast] on that day [the Ninth of Ab], just as they fast and complete [the fast] on the Day of Atonement; and the twilight thereof is forbidden. And they said likewise in R. Johanan's name. Yet did R. Johanan say thus? Surely R. Johanan said: The Ninth of Ab is not like a public fast. Surely that means in respect of twilight? — No: in respect of work. [You say], ‘Work’! we have learned it: WHERE IT IS THE CUSTOM TO DO WORK ON THE NINTH OF AB, ONE MAY DO IT; WHERE IT IS THE CUSTOM NOT TO DO WORK, ONE MAY NOT DO IT. And even R. Simeon b. Gamaliel merely says that if he sits and does not work it does not look like conceit, yet he certainly does not forbid it? — Rather, what does ‘is not like a public fast’ mean? In respect of the Ne'ilah service. But surely R. Johanan said: Would that a man would go on praying all day! — There it is a [statutory] obligation, whereas here It is voluntary. Another alternative [answer] is, ‘What does ‘it is not like a public fast’ mean? In respect of the twenty-four [benedictions]. R. Papa said: What does ‘it is not like a public fast’ mean? It is not like the first ones but like the last [ones]. An objection is raised: There is no difference between the Ninth of Ab and the Day of Atonement except that with the latter, its doubt is forbidden, while with the former, its doubt is permitted. Now what does ‘its doubt is permitted’ mean? Does it not refer to its twilight? — Said R. Shisha son of R. Idi: No: [It is meant] in respect of the fixing of New Moon. Hence in all [other] regulations they are alike. This supports R. Eleazar. For R. Eleazar said: A man is forbidden to dip his finger in water on the Ninth of Ab, just as he is forbidden to dip his finger in water on the Day of Atonement. An objection is raised: There is no difference between the Ninth of Ab and a public fast except that on one work is forbidden, while on the other work is permitted, where it is customary. This [implies that] in all [other] matters they are both alike; whereas in respect to a public fast it was taught, When they [the Sages] ruled, Bathing is forbidden, they spoke only of the whole body, but not of a man's face, hands, and feet? — Said R. Papa:^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ^ᵗ^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ

^ᵃnote:This probably refers to Gen. III, 21: And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins, and clothed them (Rashi).
^ᵇnote:Lit., ‘covered’.
^ᶜnote:No man knows when he will be relieved of his anxieties.
^ᵈnote:Sc. Divine Judgment (Rashi).
^ᵉnote:This was probably said in order to discourage those who tried to calculate the advent of the Messiah on the basis of Scripture; cf. Sanh. 97a.
^ᶠnote:A covert allusion to Rome (Rashi).
^ᵍnote:Lit., ‘came up in (God's) intention to be created’.
^ʰnote:If kept too long. This is necessary in order to restrain the producer from withholding supplies and thus artificially raising the prices.
^ⁱnote:For the benefit of the poor who have no other means of obtaining sustenance (v. Marginal Glosses).
^ʲnote:Which is a fast-day in commemoration of the destruction of the Temple.
^ᵏnote:I.e., he may abstain from work even if he is not a scholar.
^ˡnote:I.e., if a public fast is proclaimed, it does not commence on the previous evening, nor is work forbidden, even where it is the practice not to work on the Ninth of Ab. (The Day of Atonement, of course, stands in a different category entirely.) In the whole of the subsequent discussion ‘public fast’ does not mean one of the statutory fasts, but a fast proclaimed on account of drought or disaster etc.
^ᵐnote:I.e., it is forbidden to eat at twilight on the eve of the fast, since he regards the twilight as possessing the full rigours of a fast-day. Twilight is a period of doubt, and it is not certain whether it is day or night.
^ⁿnote:v. infra.
^ᵒnote:E.g., if a man is in the wilderness and does not know what day was fixed as New Moon, he must observe two Days of Atonement (his doubt could only be whether the previous month had consisted of twenty-nine days or thirty days), but only one day as the Ninth of Ab.
^ᵖnote:On the fast-day itself. On a specially proclaimed public fast work is forbidden, whereas on the Ninth of Ab it is permitted.
^ᵠnote:On specially proclaimed public fast-days an extra service was added at the end of the day’, called ne'ilah, which means ‘closing’. R. Johanan states that there is no ne'ilah on the Ninth of Ab.
^ʳnote:If a man does not remember whether he has recited his statutory prayers, R. Johanan rules that he should recite them now, though there is an opposing view that a man must not pray when in this doubt. Now, since R. Johanan holds that a man must pray when in doubt, why should there not be a ne'ilah service on the Ninth of Ab, seeing that it is like a specially proclaimed public fast in many respects?
^ˢnote:On a public fast-day ne'ilah is obligatory; on the Ninth of Ab a man may recite it if he desires.
^ᵗnote:On public fast-days six benedictions were added to the usual eighteen which constituted the ‘Prayer’ par excellence (Ta'an. 15a). R. Johanan teaches that these are not recited on the Ninth of Ab.
^ᵘnote:In times of drought three public fasts were proclaimed, which began at daybreak. But if the drought nevertheless continued, another three were proclaimed, and these began the previous evening (v. Ta'an. Mishnah 10a and 12b). R. Johanan thus ruled that the Ninth of Ab begins on the previous evening, and eating is forbidden from twilight.
^ᵛnote:Lit., ‘the doing of work’.
^ʷnote:Which shows that on the Ninth of Ab washing of face and hands and feet is permitted.