1 because he has plenty of verses at his disposal. TWO PERSONS READ A LONG SECTION . . . AT SHAHARITH, MUSAF AND MINHAH THEY READ [THE REQUISITE] SECTION BY HEART etc. The question was raised: How is this Mishnah to be understood? [Does it mean] that at Shaharith and Musaf [the section] is read from a Scroll of the Law and at Minhah by heart in the same manner as people recite the Shema’? Or, it means this: At Shaharith it is read from a Scroll of the Law and at Musaf and Minhah by heart in the same manner as people recite the Shema’? — Come and hear: At Shaharith and Musaf they assemble in the synagogue and read [from the Scroll of the Law] in the same way as all the year round, but at Minhah an individual reads it by heart. — R. Jose asked: May then an individual read by heart in public words of the Law? It must surely be that all assemble [in the synagogue] and read it by heart in the same way as the Shema’ is recited. ON ANY DAY WHEN HALLEL WAS RECITED THERE WAS NO MA'AMAD etc. What is the difference between the one and the other? — The one [Minhah] is a Biblical injunction and the other [Ne'ilah] is a rabbinic institution. THE WOOD-FESTIVAL OF THE PRIESTS AND OF THE PEOPLE etc. Our Rabbis have taught: Why was it necessary [to fix special days for] the Wood-Festival of the Priests and of the People? It is reported that when the exiles returned [to Palestine] they found no wood in the [Temple wood] chamber and the families here mentioned came forward and offered wood of their own. The prophets amongst them thereupon made it a condition that even should at any time the chamber be full of wood they should still continue their offerings, as it is said, And we cast lots the priests, the Levites and the people, for the wood-offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses at times appointed, year by year, to burn upon the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law. AND WITH THEM WERE THE PRIESTS AND THE LEVITES AND ALL THOSE WHO etc. Our Rabbis have taught: What is the incident connected with the Bene Gonbe ‘Ali and the Bene Koze Kezi'oth? It is reported that once the ruling power made a decree that Israel should not bring wood to the altar, nor bring their first-fruit to Jerusalem, and placed guards on the roads as Jeroboam the son of Nebat had done to prevent Israel from going on pilgrimage. What did the pious and sin-fearing men of that generation do? They took the baskets of the first-fruit and covered them with dried figs and carried them with a pestle on their shoulders, and when they reached the guards they were asked: Whither are you going? They replied: With the pestle on our shoulders we are going to make two cakes of pressed figs in the mortar we have yonder. When they had gone away from the guard they decorated the baskets and brought them to Jerusalem. It has been taught: The family of Salami Netofah acted in a similar way. Our Rabbis have taught: What is the incident connected with the family of Salami Netofah? It is reported that once the ruling power decreed that Israel should not bring wood to the altar and they placed guards on the roads as Jeroboam the son of Nebat had done to prevent Israel from going on pilgrimage. What did the God-fearing men of that generation do? They took the logs of wood and made them into ladders which they carried on their shoulders and proceeded on their journey; when they reached the guards they were asked: Whither are you going? They replied: [We are going] with the ladders on our shoulders to take down young pigeons from the dovecot at a place further on. When they had gone away from the guards they dismantled [the ladders] and brought them to Jerusalem. And it is of them and of men like them that Scripture says, The memory of the righteous shall be for a blessing; and of Jeroboam and his companions the verse adds, But the name of the wicked shall rot. ON THE TWENTIETH OF THE SAME MONTH THE FAMILY OF PAHATH MOAB: A Tanna taught: The sons of Pahath Moab b. Judah are identical with the sons of David the son of Judah; this is the opinion of R. Meir. R. Judah says: They are identical with the sons of Joab b. Zeraiah. ON THE TWENTIETH OF ELUL THE FAMILY OF ADIN THE SON OF JUDAH: Our Rabbis have taught: The sons of Adin the son of Judah are the same as the sons of David the son of Judah; this is the opinion of R. Judah. R. Jose says: They are the same as the sons of Joab the son of Zeraiah. ON THE FIRST OF TEBETH THE FAMILY OF PAROSH A SECOND TIME etc. With whose view does the Mishnah agree? It is neither with the view of R. Meir nor with that of R. Judah, nor with that of R. Jose. If it were in agreement with the view of R. Meir then [the Mishnah] would read, ‘the sons of David b. Judah a second time’; should it be with that of R. Judah then it should read ‘the sons of David b. Judah a second time’; if with that of R. Jose then it should read ‘the sons of Joab b. Zeraiah a second time’! — [The Mishnah actually] agrees with the view of R. Jose, but there are two Tannaim in dispute as to what R. Jose's view was. ON THE FIRST OF TEBETH THERE WAS NO MA'AMAD etc. Mar Kashisha the son of R. Hisda asked R. Ashiᵃᵇᶜᵈᵉᶠᵍʰ
2 : Why is Hallel different that it suspends its own Ma'amad while Musaf does not supersede its own Ma'amad? — R. Ashi replied: If [Musaf] suspends the Ma'amad of a service of which it is not part, [i.e., Minhah] all the more should it suspend its own Ma'amad? — R. Kashisha then said: This is what I mean to say: Let it [Musaf] suspend its own Ma'amad only! — R. Ashi replied: There is R. Jose who holds the same view as you. For it has been taught: R. Jose says: Any day on which there is Musaf there is also a Ma'amad. Now which Ma'amad [is here referred to]? Shall I say the Ma'amad of the Shaharith? [Surely] the first Tanna [of our Mishnah] also says likewise! Is it the Ma'amad of the Musaf? Does not Musaf suspend even its own Ma'amad! Is it the Ma'amad of Minhah? But this is already suspended because of the Wood-Festival! It must then surely be the Ma'amad of Ne'ilah. Hence the conclusion therefrom that Musaf suspends its own Ma'amad but it does not suspend the Ma'amad of any other service. Hence it is proved. Let [the Mishnah] also state that there was no Ma'amad on the first of Nisan, because there was Hallel, and Musaf offering and the wood-offering? — Raba replied: This proves that the recital of Hallel on New Moon is not a Biblical injunction. For R. Johanan said in the name of R. Simeon b. Jehozadak, On eighteen days in the year the individual [worshipper] completes the Hallel and they are, the eight days of the Feast of Tabernacles, the eight days of Hanukkah, the first day of Passover, and the Festival of Pentecost; but in the Diaspora [the Hallel is completed] on twenty-one days, and they are, the nine days of the Feast of Tabernacles, the eight days of Hanukkah, the first two days of Passover and the two days of Pentecost. Rab once came to Babylonia and he noticed that they recited the Hallel on New Moon; at first he thought of stopping them but when he saw that they omitted parts of it he remarked: It is clearly evident that it is an old ancestral custom with them. A Tanna taught: The individual should not deliberately begin to recite [the Hallel] but once he has begun he should complete it. FIVE MISFORTUNES BEFELL OUR FATHERS ON THE SEVENTEENTH OF TAMMUZ etc. Whence is it known that the Tables [of the Law] were shattered [on the seventeenth of Tammuz]? For it has been taught: On the sixth of the month [of Sivan] the Ten Commandments were given to Israel; R. Jose says: On the seventh of the month. He who says that they were given on the sixth takes the view that on the sixth they were given and on the seventh Moses ascended the mount. And he who says that they were given on the seventh holds that they were given on the seventh and on the seventh Moses ascended the mount. For it is written, And the seventh day he called unto Moses, and it is further written, And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up into the mount; and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights. The [remaining] twenty-four days of Sivan and the sixteen days of Tammuz make altogether forty. On the seventeenth of Tammuz he came down [from the mountain] and shattered the Tables, as it is written, And it came to pass as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf . . . and he cast the tables out of his hands, and broke them beneath the mount. [THE DAILY OFFERING] WAS DISCONTINUED. This is a tradition. A BREACH WAS MADE IN THE CITY. Did this then happen on the seventeenth? Is it not written, In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was sore in the city etc., and in the following verse it is written, Then a breach was made in the city etc.! — Raba said: This is no contradiction. The one refers to the First Temple and the other to the Second Temple. For it has been taught: In the First Temple the breach was made in the city on the ninth of Tammuz, but in the Second Temple on the seventeenth of Tammuz. APOSTOMOS BURNED THE SCROLL OF THE LAW. This is a tradition. AND PLACED AN IDOL IN THE TEMPLE. Whence do we know this? — For it is written, And from the time that the continual burnt-offering shall be taken away and the detestable thing that causeth appalment set up. Was there then only one detestable thing? Is it not written, And upon the wing of detestable things shall be that which causeth appalment? — Raba replied: There were two [idols] and one fell upon the other and broke its hand and upon it was found inscribedⁱʲᵏˡᵐⁿᵒᵖᵠʳˢᵗᵘᵛʷˣʸᶻᵃᵃ