תענית 18 — Soncino English Talmud

¹in order to extend the restriction to the preceding day, so here also it was necessary in order to extend the restriction to the following day. With whose view will this agree? Is it with that of R. Jose, who declared that the restriction applies equally to the day before and the day after it? If so, with regard to the twenty-ninth Adar, why need you base your restriction on the ground that it is the day before the Daily offering was established; deduce it rather from the fact that it is the day after the twenty-eighth concerning which it has been taught: On the twenty-eighth of the month [Adar] the good news reached the Jews that they were no longer to be kept back from the study of the Torah. For once it was decreed that the Jews should not occupy themselves with the study of the Torah nor circumcise their children and that they should desecrate the Sabbath. What did Judah b. Shammua’ and his colleagues do? They went and took counsel with a Roman Matron with whom all the prominent Romans were wont to associate. She advised them, ‘Arise and raise an alarm by night’. They went and raised the alarm by night thus, ‘O ye heavens, are we not your brethren? Are we not the children of one Father? Are we not the children of one mother? Wherein are we different from every other nation and tongue that ye make harsh decrees against us?’ Thereupon the decrees were annulled and that day was declared a festive day! -Abaye replied: It was necessary to state the restriction in this way in order to cover the case of a full month [where Adar has thirty days]. R. Ashi said: The same would be the case even when the month [of Adar] is deficient, because on a day following on a festive day fasting alone is forbidden but mourning is permissible; but as for this day [the twenty-ninth Adar] seeing that it is placed between two festive days it was considered as if it were a festive day itself, and therefore mourning too was forbidden thereon. The Master said: ‘From the eighth day of the month until the end of the festival mourning is forbidden since then the date of the observance of the Feast of Weeks was definitely fixed.’ Why does he say, ‘from the eighth of the same month’? Let him say, ‘from the ninth of the same month’ and the eighth day would ipso facto be forbidden because it is the day on which the Daily offering was established? — The reason why it is stated ‘the eighth day’ is this, should it ever come to pass that the seven festive days be abolished, even then on the eighth day it would still be forbidden to mourn, because it is the first day on which the date of the Feast of Weeks was definitely fixed. Now that you have arrived at this conclusion the same will apply also to the twenty-ninth Adar because should it ever come to pass that the twenty-eighth Adar be abolished as a festive day, even then the twenty-ninth would be forbidden seeing that it is the day before the Daily offering was established. It has been taught: R. Hiyya b. Asi said in the name of Rab, the halachah is in accordance with the view of R. Jose. Samuel said, The halachah is in accordance with the view of R. Meir. But did Samuel actually say so? Has it not been taught: R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said: Why does the text [in the Scroll of Fasts] repeat the word ‘behon’ [on them] twice? This is to teach you that the restriction applies to these days but not to the days immediately preceding or following the days enumerated in the Scroll of Fasts. On which Samuel's comment was that the halachah is in accordance with the view of R. Simeon b. Gamaliel! — At first he thought that as there was no other authority who took a lenient view as R. Meir did he decided that the halachah was according to R. Meir, but when he heard that Rabbi Simeon took an even more lenient view he decided that the halachah was according to R. Simeon b. Gamaliel. And so too said Bali in the name of R. Hiyya b. Abba, in the name of R. Johanan: The halachah is according to R. Jose. Thereupon R. Hiyya said to Bali: I will explain to you that when R. Johanan said that the halachah was in accordance with R. Jose, he meant only with regard to the prohibition of fasting. But did R. Johanan actually say so? Did not R. Johanan say that the halachah is in accordance with the anonymous opinion of a Mishnah, and it has been learnt: Although the Rabbis said that [the Megillah of Esther] could be read earlier but not later, yet^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ

^ᵃnote:In our Mishnah.
^ᵇnote:I.e., the first of Nisan, v. supra.
^ᶜnote:R.H. 19a; cf. Megillath Ta'anith, ch. 12.
^ᵈnote:For notes v. R.H., Sonc. ed. 19a. Why then state that the restriction on the twenty-ninth Adar was due to the matter of the Tamid.
^ᵉnote:In that case the thirtieth Adar would be the last day of the month and it could only be included in the restriction on the ground that it precedes the first Nisan and not that it follows the twenty-ninth Adar, seeing that a day (the twenty-eighth) intervenes.
^ᶠnote:I.e., it has twenty-nine days.
^ᵍnote:I.e., one of the eight festive days.
^ʰnote:Because of some misfortune that befalls Israel and it would be necessary to fast on these days.
^ⁱnote:Who holds that the restriction applies both to the day before and the day after the festive days.
^ʲnote:Who holds that the restriction applies only to the day following the festive day but not to the day before it. This view is anonymously stated in the Mishnah and in accordance with the accepted tradition that every anonymous statement in the Mishnah goes back to R. Meir. Hence the statement in our Mishnah is taken, to be the view of R. Meir.
^ᵏnote:In the introductory sentence cited supra p. 84.
^ˡnote:But not mourning.
^ᵐnote:I.e., R. Meir.
^ⁿnote:Than the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar.

²mourning and fasting are permitted. Now to what does this apply? Shall we say that it applies to those [who should read the Megillah] on the fifteenth [Adar] and they read it on the fourteenth? Is then mourning permissible [for them on that day]? Is it not written in the Scroll of Fasts, ‘The fourteenth day and the fifteenth day [of Adar] are the days of Purim and no mourning is permissible thereon,’ and Raba's comment on this was: It was necessary [to mention both these dates] in order to make it clear that what was forbidden on the one day was equally forbidden on the other! Again, should it refer to [those who should read the Megillah] on the fourteenth and they read it on the thirteenth [Adar]; [the question arises] that is Nicanor's Day. Or again, if it refers to those [who should read it] on the fourteenth and read it on the twelfth? But then that is Trajan's Day! Hence it can only have reference [to those who should read it on] the fourteenth and they read it on the eleventh, and yet it is stated that mourning and fasting are permitted thereon! — No; it has reference to those who should read it on the fourteenth and they read it on the twelfth, and as to your objection that it is Trajan's Day, this [festive] day was subsequently abolished because Shemaiah and his brother Ahijah were killed thereon. Thus R. Nahman once ordained a public fast for the twelfth of Adar and the Rabbis objected to this because it was Trajan's Day. Thereupon R. Nahman replied: This [festive] day has been abolished because Shemaiah and his brother Ahijah were killed thereon. Let, however, the restrictions [aforementioned] remain valid for the day seeing that it is the day before Nicanor's Day? — R. Ashi replied: If the festive character of the day had been once abolished [is it then feasible] that fasting should be forbidden thereon because it is the day before Nicanor's Day? What is Nicanor's Day? And what is Trajan's Day? It has been taught: Nicanor was one of the Greek generals; every day he waved his hand against Judah and Jerusalem and exclaimed, ‘When shall it fall into my hands that I may trample upon it?’ But when the Hasmonean Rulers proved victorious and triumphed over him they cut off his thumbs and his great toes and suspended them from, the gates of Jerusalem, as if to say of the mouth that spake arrogantly, of the hands that were waved against Jerusalem, May vengeance be exacted. What is Trajan's [Day]? It was said: When Trajan was about to execute Lulianus and his brother Pappus in Laodicea [Lydia] he said to them, ‘If you are of the people of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, let your God come and deliver you from my hands, in the same way as he delivered Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah from the hands of Nebuchadnezzar; and to this they replied: ‘Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were perfectly righteous men and they merited that a miracle should be wrought for them, and Nebuchadnezzar also was a king worthy for a miracle to be wrought through him, but as for you, you are a common and wicked man and are not worthy that a miracle be wrought through you; and as for us, we have deserved of the Omnipresent that we should die, and if you will not kill us, the Omnipresent has many other agents of death. The Omnipresent has in His world many bears and lions who can attack us and kill us; the only reason why the Holy One, blessed be He, has handed us over into your hand is that at some future time He may exact punishment of you for our blood’. Despite this he killed them. It is reported that hardly had they moved from there when two officials arrived from Rome and split his skull with clubs. WE DO NOT ORDAIN UPON THE COMMUNITY FASTS TO COMMENCE ON A THURSDAY etc.; WE DO NOT ORDAIN UPON THE COMMUNITY A FAST ON NEW MOON etc. What constitutes a beginning? — R. Aha said: Three fasts. R. Assi said: One. Rab Judah said in the name of Rab: The view [that one should not complete the fast] is in accordance with R. Meir who reported it in the name of R. Simeon b. Gamaliel, but the Sages say: He should complete the fast. Mar Zutra expounded in the name of R. Huna: The halachah is, one should complete the fast. MISHNAH. THE ORDER OF PUBLIC FASTS AFOREMENTIONED IS OBSERVED ONLY IN CONNECTION WITH [THE WITHHOLDING OF] THE FIRST RAIN, BUT IF THE CROPS HAVE UNDERGONE [AN UNUSUAL] CHANGE THE ALARM IS SOUNDED AT ONCE. THE SAME TOO IS DONE IF FORTY DAYS ELAPSED BETWEEN THE FIRST AND THE SECOND RAINFALL BECAUSE IT IS THEN A PLAGUE DUE TO DROUGHT. IF [RAIN] FALLS FOR CROPS BUT NOT FOR THE TREES, FOR THE TREES BUT NOT FOR CROPS, FOR BOTH OF THESE BUT NOT FOR CISTERNS, DITCHES AND CAVES THE ALARM IS SOUNDED AT ONCE. AND SO TOO IF NO RAIN FALLS UPON A PARTICULAR CITY, AS IT IS WRITTEN, AND I CAUSED IT TO RAIN UPON ONE CITY, AND CAUSED IT NOT TO RAIN UPON ANOTHER CITY; ONE PIECE WAS RAINED UPON ETC.14^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ^ᵗ^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ

^ᵒnote:On the days on which the Megillah is read earlier, v. Meg. 5a.
^ᵖnote:On the fourteenth.
^ᵠnote:Cf. Megillah I, 2.
^ʳnote:V. infra, that on which fasting is in any case forbidden.
^ˢnote:V. infra.
^ᵗnote:But it is the day before Trajan's Day and according to R. Jose the restriction is extended to it. How can then mourning and fasting be permissible thereon? How could then R. Johanan declare that the halachah is according to R. Jose?
^ᵘnote:[Identified with Julianus and Pappus, the martyrs of Lydia mentioned infra v. Aruch s.v. drv].
^ᵛnote:[The victory of Judas Maccabeus over Nicanor is mentioned in I Maccabees as the occasion for making the thirteenth of Adar a holiday. This was in 161 B.C.E. V. Zeitlin, Megillat Ta'anit, p. 82.]
^ʷnote:[xubhhruy The identification of this name with Trajan is disputed, particularly as Trajan is known to have died a natural death. It is suggested that this reference here is to Trajan's General, Lusius Quietus, who was executed by Trajan (Schurer I, 660 n. 62). Nothing can however as yet be said with certainty. V. HUCA, Lichtenstein Die Fastenrolle, p. 273.]
^ˣnote:hkpuhs So Rashi. [Aliter: GR. ** = GR. ** ‘dispatch’].
^ʸnote:So that the fasts that have been begun should not be interrupted.
^ᶻnote:vbuatr vghcr The first of the fructification (vghcr) rain that is expected to begin in the month of Marcheshvan, v. supra p. 20, n. 7 and Gemara.
^ᵃᵃnote:V. supra 6a.
^ᵃᵇnote:Amos IV, 7.