Rosh Hashanah

, the other of an animal with a blemish.1 Can a blemished animal be eaten [on the day of birth]?2 [We speak of one] of which we know for certain that it has not been born prematurely.3 Our Rabbis taught: On the first of Nisan is New Year for months,4 for leap-years,5 and for the offering of shekalim;6 some say, also for the renting of houses.7 ‘New Year for months’: whence do we know this? — Because it is written, This month shall be unto you the beginning of months, it shall be the first month of the year to you. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take unto then: every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. . . and ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, and they shall kill it8 etc. It is also written [elsewhere],9 Observe the month of Abib10 [springing corn]. Now which is the month in which there is springing corn? You must says this is Nisan; and this is called ‘first’. But cannot I say that it is Iyar? — We require springing corn’, and there is none. But cannot I say that it is Adar? — We require the bulk of the springing corn, and this we have not [in Adar]. But does the text say, ‘the bulk of the springing corn’? Rather, said R. Hisda; we learn it from here: Howbeit on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruits of the land.11 What is the month in which there is ‘gathering in’?12 You must say that this is Tishri, and the text calls it ‘seventh’. But cannot I say that it is Marheshvan, and by ‘seventh’ is meant the seventh to Iyar? — We require ‘gathering in’, and this we have not [in Marheshvan]. But cannot I say that it is Elul, and by seventh’ is meant seventh to Adar? — We require the bulk of the ingathering, which we have not [in Elul]. But does the text say, ‘the bulk of the ingathering’? — The fact is, said Rabina, that we cannot learn this from the Torah of Moses our teacher, but we have to learn it from the later Scriptures,13 [viz.,] Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat.14 Rabbah b. ‘ulla said, [We learn it] from here: So Esther was taken unto king Ahasuerus into his house royal in the tenth month which is the month Tebeth.15 R. Kahana said: [We learn it] from here, In the fourth day of the ninth month, even in Kislev.16 R. Aha b. Jacob said, [We learn it] from here: Then were the king's scribes called at that time in the third month which is the month of Sivan.17 R. Ashi said, [We learn it] from here: They cast pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day to day and from month to month to the twelfth month, which is the month Adar.18 If you prefer, I can learn it from here: In the first month which is the month Nisan.19 Why did not all the others derive it from here?20 — Perhaps ‘first’ here means, ‘first in relation to his [Haman's] affair’.21 Why did not our Tanna22 [reckon the first of Nisan as the New Year for months]? — Our Tanna speaks only of years, he does not speak of months. ‘For leap years’. Do we reckon [a New Year] for leap years from Nisan?23 Has it not been taught: ‘A leap year is not decreed24 before New Year,25 and if such a decree is issued it is not effective. In cases of emergency,26 however, the decree may be issued immediately after New Year, and even so the intercalary month must be [the second] Adar’!27 — R. Nahman b. Isaac replied: What is meant here by ‘leap years’? The closing of a leap year, as we have learnt: ‘They's testified that the year may be declared a leap year throughout the whole of Adar, since others asserted that this could be done only until Purim.’28 What was the reason of those who held that this could be done only until Purim? — Since a Master has stated that ‘enquiries are made regarding the laws of Passover for thirty days before Passover,29 People might be led into neglecting the rules of leaven.30 What says the other to this? — He says that people know that a leap year depends on calculation, and they say to themselves that the Rabbis have only now got the calculation right. 31 What of our Tanna?32 — He speaks only of commencements, not of terminations. ‘And for the offering of shekalim’.33 How do we know this [from Scripture]? — R. Josiah said: The Scripture says, This is the burnt-offering of each month in its month throughout the months of the year.34 The Torah here enjoins:35 ‘Renew [the year] and bring an offering from the new contributions’. That the ‘year’ here commences with Nisan is learnt by analogy with the text,36 It is the first to you of the months of the year.37 But why not suppose it is Tishri from the analogy of, From the beginning of the year?38 — To a year with which months are mentioned we apply the analogy of a year with which months are mentioned, but to a year with which months are mentioned, we do not apply the analogy of a year with which months are not mentioned. Rab Judah said in the name of Samuel: It is proper to bring the congregational sacrifices that are offered on the first of Nisan from the new contributions. If, however, they are brought from the old, the duty has been performed,39 but not in the most appropriate manner.40 It has been taught to the same effect: ‘It is proper to bring the congregational sacrifices which are offered on the first of Nisan from the new contributions; if, however, they were brought from the old, the duty has been performed, but not in the most appropriate manner. If a private person has offered them from his own property, they are unexceptionable, provided he hands them over to the congregation’. Surely this is self-evident? — You might think that we should have some scruples [in accepting them], in case v. B.K., Sonc. ed., p. 3, n. 3. show that there had been no change in the names of the months since the time of ‘kabbalah’. V. however, Tosaf. s.v. hrcsn . inserted an intercalary month) according as they judged necessary, subject to certain rules. year. coming year.