Commentary for Rosh Hashanah 40:14

וליעבד נמי ארביסר דלמא חסרוה לאב וחסרוה לאלול

For us [in Babylon] six of these belong to the old moon and eighteen to the new;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which would imply that in Babylon the new moon is not visible till eighteen hours after its birth (Rashi) .');">⁷</span> for them [in Palestine] six to the new and eighteen to the old.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Which would imply that in Palestine the new moon is visible six hours after its birth (Rashi) .');">⁸</span> What is the practical value of this remark? - R'Ashi said: To confute the witnesses. The Master has just said: It is necessary that there should be [on New Moon] a night and a day of the new moon. Whence is this rule derived? - R'Johanan said: [From the text]. From evening to evening;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XXIII, 32, in connection with fasting on the Day of Atonement. This shows that the day follows the night in reference to the festivals.');">⁹</span> Resh Lakish said: [From the text], Until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ex. XII, 18, in connection with eating unleavened bread on Passover. This shows that the festivals end at even.');">¹⁰</span> What practical difference is there between them? - Abaye said: The difference between them is only one of exegesis.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'the interpretation of exegeses'.');">¹¹</span> Raba said: They differ in regard to [the hours up to] midnight.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' According to R. Johanan,the 'night' referred to is on the same footing as the night of the Day of Atonement which commences at nightfall. But according to Resh Lakish, it is on a par with the first night of Passover, which, in relation to the Paschal lamb, was a continuation of the afternoon before. Hence Resh Lakish holds that even if the old moon was seen in the early part of the evening, the next day may still be declared New Moon.');">¹²</span> R'Zera said in the name of R'Nahman: Wherever [an extra day is kept] out of doubt, we make it the succeeding day.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'wherever there is a doubt, we cast it forward'.');">¹³</span> This means to say that we keep [Passover and Tabernacles] on the fifteenth and sixteenth but not on the fourteenth.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., that we reckon fifteen days from the thirtieth day, and also from the thirty-first day of the previous Adar or Elul, out of doubt, but in no case from the twenty-ninth. This dictum would seem to be superfluous, as in no circumstances was New Moon proclaimed on the twenty-ninth day after the previous New Moon.');">¹⁴</span> But should not the fourteenth also be kept, in case both Ab and Elul<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Rashi reads 'Shebat'.');">¹⁵</span> have been declared short?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And in this case, what we suppose to have been the twenty-ninth day of Adar or of Elul would really have been the first of Nisan or of Tishri.');">¹⁶</span>

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