Talmud for Bava Batra 241:6

HALAKHAH: ³⁹¹Babli 30b. One understands the Day of Atonement which is atonement for all of Israel. ³⁹²Babli 30b,31a; Bava batra 121a. Why on the Fifteenth of Av? Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa in the name of Rebbi Yasa: For this is the good time to cut wood, because any wood cut on this day does not develop worms; as we have stated there, “any wood containing a worm is disqualified from the altar.³⁹³Mishnah Middot 2:5. In the Babli the reason is given that this is the last day on which wood for the altar may be cut before the rainy season.” Rav Ḥiyya bar Ashi in the name of Rav, because on it Hoshea ben Ela abolished the guards which Jeroboam ben Nabath posted on the roads³⁹⁴To prohibit pilgrimages to Jerusalem.. Cahana asked [Rav]. He did all this good deed and it is written about him³⁹⁵2K. 17:3., against him came Salmanessar the king of Assyria? He answered him, because he removed the collar from his neck and hung it on the community’s neck. He did not say, all the people should go on pilgrimage, but, any one who wants to go may go. Rebbi Samuel bar Rav Isaac, but some say in the name of Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman: On it the tribes were permitted to intermarry. As it is written³⁹⁶Num. 36:7., family heritage should not be transferred from tribe to tribe; but the Children of Israel shall stick everyone to the family heritage of his forefathers, etc. And it is written³⁹⁷Num. 36:8., any daughter inheriting family heritage in the tribes of the Children of Israel, etc. How is it possible for a daughter to inherit from two tribes? Explain it if her father was from one tribe and her mother from another tribe³⁹⁸According to the Babli, a later generation read Num. 36 to apply only to the daughters of Salpaad and their contemporaries.. But the Rabbis say, on it the tribe of Benjamin was permitted to intermarry, as it is written³⁹⁹Jud. 21:18., cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin. They read a verse and included him; they read a verse and excluded him. They read a verse and included him⁴⁰⁰Gen. 48:5., Ephraim and Manasse shall be to me like Reuben and Simeon. They read a verse and excluded him, a people and community of peoples shall be from you and kings will come from your loins⁴⁰¹Gen. 35:11.
In the explanations, the terms “included” and “excluded” have to be switched. The text follows the usual pattern, that if possibilities A and B are raised, B is explained before A. Since the number 12 of tribe cannot be changed, either Joseph is counted as one tribe and Benjamin is included (35:11), or Ephraim and Manasse are counted as full tribes, there seems to be no place for Benjamin. This logic is not followed by the Babli., and Benjamin was not yet born. ⁴⁰²Thr. rabba, Introduction (33). Rebbi Abun said, digging stopped on it, as Rebbi Levi said, on every eve of the Ninth of Av, Moses had a declaration published in all the encampment and said, go out for digging, go out for digging. They went out, dug graves for themselves, and slept. In the morning they were getting up and found themselves missing 15’000 and detail⁴⁰³If always the same number died on the Ninth of Av and nobody during the year, the number would be 600’000:38 = 15’789.47.. In the last year they did that, got up, and found themselves whole. They said, maybe we erred in the computation. The same on the Tenth, the Eleventh, the Twelfth, the Thirteenth, and the Fifteenth. Since the moon was full they said, it seems that The Holy One, praise to Him, vacated this hard judgment against us. They got up and made a holiday.