כמה היה גבוה ולאין היה נוטה כו': תנא חדא לצפונה דבריו קיימין לדרומה לא אמר כלום והתניא איפכא לדרומה דבריו קיימין לצפונה לא אמר כלום
One Tanna taught: [If he says], To the north, his evidence is accepted; [if he says], To the south, his evidence is rejected.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Reading this sentence in its present context, we must suppose it to mean, 'if he says, (it was inclined) to the north' etc. This is very difficult to understand, and it is much more natural to suppose that the words to be supplied are 'that he saw it', and that this sentence is to be connected with the words in the Mishnah TO THE NORTH OF IT OR TO THE SOUTH. So apparently it is taken by Rashi. V. Maharsha, ad loc.');"><sup>2</sup></span> But it has been taught to the opposite effect: '[If he says], To the south, his evidence is accepted; [if he says], To the north, his evidence is rejected'? - There is no contradiction; one statement speaks of the dry season,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'the days of the sun': the summer months.');"><sup>3</sup></span>
Tosefta Rosh Hashanah (Lieberman)
Formerly it was customary to signal with beacons on the high mountain peaks: on the Mount of Olives, on Sartaba, on Agrippina, on the Tabor, on the Hauran and Bet Bilti. R. Shimon ben Elazar says: Also the mountains of Machaerus and Gadara and similar. When do you signal the month? [Answer:] On the night it was switched on. How [one should understand this] ? [Answer:] He fell on a Friday or Sabbath, one signals on Sunday because of it; when the month comes in its time, one signals for it; but if not, one does not signal for his sake. Because of all the months one signaled with signal fires. Said one: Before the sun , so he said nothing. [He said:] To the south of her, his words are valid. If one said: I saw him two ox sticks high, and if one said: three, then the testimony is valid. If one says three, and one says five, they are not taken together; but he is taken together with others [who make the same statement]. Says one I have seen him erect, and one says: I have seen him bent, so they are not taken together, but he is taken together with others [who make the same statement]. If he saw him half in the water, he said nothing; [he saw] him halfway through a cloud, he said nothing. [If he saw] him half through glass, he said nothing. R. Elazar ben R. Zadok says: If he is not seen in his time, the month is not sanctified; because heaven has it already sanctified. And likewise, R. Eleazar ben R. Zadok used to say: The messengers do not go to Syria until they have heard from the mouth of the court: Sanctified.
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