מלאכה תנינא מקום שנהגו לעשות מלאכה בתשעה באב עושין ובמקום שנהגו שלא לעשות אין עושין ואפילו רשב"ג לא אמר אלא דכי יתיב ולא עביד לא מיחזי כיוהרא אבל מיסר לא אסר
What does 'its doubt is permitted' mean? Surely [that refers to] twilight? - No, [but] as R'Shisha the son of R'Idi said,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' v. infra.');"><sup>14</sup></span> It is in respect of the fixing of New Moon; so here too it is in respect of the fixing of the New Moon.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' 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.');"><sup>15</sup></span>
Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael
(Exodus 16:31) "And it was like coriander seed, white ('gad')": I do not know (from this) what it was like. R. Yehoshua says: It was like coriander seed. (But then I would think:) Just as coriander seed is red, so, this. It is, therefore, written "white." R. Eliezer says: It was like "haggadah" (from "gad"), which "pulls" a person's heart. Others say: It testifies ("maggid," from "gad") about itself that it is manna, for it falls neither on Sabbath, or festival, or Yom Kippur. R. Yossi says: Just as the prophet reveals ("maggid," like "gad") what is hidden, so, did the manna reveal it. How so? (see Yoma 75a) (Exodus 16:31) "and its taste was like dough fried in honey": R. Yehoshua says: like stewed eskriti. R. Eliezer says: Like fine flour floated on a sieve and kneaded with honey. (16:32) "And Moses said: This is the thing, etc.": I might think that Aaron placed it there in the fortieth year. It is, therefore, written (Ibid. 34) "And Aaron placed it before the (ark of) testimony." When was the ark made? In the second year (of the exodus). Thus, Aaron placed it there in the second year. And this is one of the ten things created on Sabbath eve (of the creation) at twilight: the rainbow, the manna, the staff (with which the signs were performed), the writing, (the form of the letters carved on the tablets), the shamir (a miraculous stone-cutting worm), the tablets, the opening of the mouth of the earth to swallow up the wicked, the opening of the mouth of (Bilam's) ass, the grave of Moses, and the cave where Moses and Eliyahu stood. Others say: Also the vestments of the first man and the staff of Aaron, its almonds and blossoms. Seven things are concealed from the eyes of man: the day of death, the day of consolation, the depth of judgment, the source of his livelihood, what is in the heart of his neighbor, the restoration of the kingdom of the house of David, and the uprooting of the kingdom of the "liable one" (i.e., Rome).
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