Bava Batra 241:1

מועדי ה' נאמרו שבת בראשית לא נאמרה בן עזאי אומר מועדי ה' נאמרו הפרת נדרים לא נאמרה

The appointed seasons of the Lord, were said [but] the weekly Sabbath<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'Sabbath of the beginning', Heb. Shabbath Bereshith, [H] Saturday, the seventh day of the week, the weekly day of rest, is so called on account of its commemoration of the creation. Cf. Gen. II, 1-3. ');">¹</span> was not said [unto them].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The explanation follows in the Gemara infra. V. also note 12. ');">²</span> Ben Azzai said: The appointed Seasons of the Lord were said, [but] the annulment of vows was not said [unto them].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The explanation follows in the Gemara infra. V. also note 12. ');">²</span>

ר' יוסי בר נתן גמיר לה להא מתניתא ולא ידע ליה לפרושה אזל בתריה דרב ששת לנהרדעא ולא אשכחיה אזל בתריה למחוזא אשכחיה אמר ליה מאי מועדי ה' נאמרו שבת בראשית לא נאמרה

R. Jose b. Nathan<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In Neda. 78a. The reading is R. Assi. ');">³</span> studied this Baraitha and did not know [how] to explain it. Going after R. Shesheth to Nehardea and not finding him, he followed him to Mahuza [where] he found him. He said unto him: What [is meant by] 'the appointed seasons of the Lord were said [but] the weekly Sabbath,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. p. 496, n. 8. ');">⁴</span> was not said [unto them]'? [The other] replied unto him: [This is the meaning:] The appointed seasons of the Lord<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the New Moons and Festivals. ');">⁵</span>

אמר ליה מועדי ה' צריכין קידוש בית דין שבת בראשית אינה צריכה קידוש בית דין סלקא דעתך אמינא הואיל וכתיבי גבי מועדות תיבעי קידוש בית דין כמועדות קא משמע לן

require a proclamation by a court<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [H] lit., 'the sanctification of the house of law'. The calendar not having been fixed, the dates of the New Moons and Festivals were determined by the court in Jerusalem on the evidence of witnesses who saw the 'birth', [H] of the new moon. If the court was satisfied, after due investigation and cross-examining of witnesses, that the evidence was reliable, the New Moon, [H] was proclaimed, thus determining also the date of the festival which happened to fall in that month, since the Festivals always occurred, in accordance with the Biblical injunction, on the same day of the respective month. ');">⁶</span> [but] the weekly Sabbath does not require proclamation by a court;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Sabbath has been divinely ordained and sanctified at the Creation (Gen. II, 3), and is not subject to the proclamation of a human court. ');">⁷</span> for, it might have been assumed, since it<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Sabbath. ');">⁸</span>

מאי מועדי ה' נאמרו הפרת נדרים לא נאמרה מועדי ה' צריכין מומחין הפרת נדרים אינה צריכה מומחין

was written<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lev. XXIII, 3. ');">⁹</span> near the appointed seasons,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. vv. 4ff. ');">¹⁰</span> that it required a proclamation by the court as [do] the appointed seasons, [this,]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' That Sabbath 'was not said' unto them, i.e., that it required no human proclamation or sanctification. ');">¹¹</span>

והא ראשי המטות כתיב אמר רב חסדא אמר רבי יוחנן ביחיד מומחה

therefore, had to be taught. What [is meant by] 'the appointed seasons of the Lord were said [but] the annulment of vows was not said [unto them]'? — The [proclamation of the] appointed seasons of the Lord requires [a court of three] qualified mem<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A lay Court of three, or one qualified expert (Mumhe, v. Glos.), has not the right to proclaim the New Moon. ');">¹²</span> [but] the annulment of vows does not require [three] qualified men.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' But a lay Court of three may annul vows. Beth Shammai, also, derives this law in the same way. ');">¹³</span>

תנן התם אמר רבן שמעון בן גמליאל לא היו ימים טובים לישראל כחמשה עשר באב וכיום הכפורים שבהן בנות ירושלים יוצאות בכלי לבן שאולין שלא לבייש את מי שאין לו בשלמא יום הכפורים יום סליחה ומחילה יום שנתנו בו לוחות אחרונות אלא חמשה עשר באב מאי היא

But, surely, it is written the heads of the tribes!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Implying qualified men. How, then, can it be said that a lay Court of three may also annul vows? ');">¹⁴</span> — R. Hisda replied in the name of R. Johanan: [The text implies that annulment of vows may be performed] by one qualified man.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' One qualified man of the 'heads of the tribes' has the same right as a court of three laymen. 'Heads of the tribes' does not mean a court of qualified men but qualified men acting individually. ');">¹⁵</span> We learnt elsewhere:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ta'an. 26b. ');">¹⁶</span>

אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל יום שהותרו שבטים לבא זה בזה מאי דרוש (במדבר לו, ו) זה הדבר דבר זה לא יהא נוהג אלא בדור זה

R. Simeon b. Gamaliel said: Israel had no [other] festive days like the fifteenth of Ab and the Day of Atonement on which the daughters of Jerusalem went out in white garments, borrowed [for the occasion], so as not to shame those who possessed none [of their own]. One well understands why the Day of Atonement [should be such a festive occasion for it is] a day of pardon and forgiveness,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. Lev. XVI, 29ff. ');">¹⁷</span> [and it is also] a day on which the second Tabies<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. Deut. X, 1ff. [According to a tradition preserved in the Seder 'Olam 6, Moses spent three periods of forty days and forty nights on the mount, beginning with the seventh Sivan, and ending on the tenth of Tishri when he came down on earth with the second Tables.] ');">¹⁸</span>

רבה בר בר חנה אמר רבי יוחנן יום שהותר שבט בנימן לבא בקהל דכתיב (שופטים כא, א) ואיש ישראל נשבע במצפה לאמר איש ממנו לא יתן בתו לבנימן לאשה מאי דרוש ממנו ולא מבנינו

were given, but what is [the importance of] the fifteenth of Ab? — Rab Judah said in the name of Samuel: [It was] the day on which the tribes were allowed to intermarry with one another.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The prohibition on an heiress to marry into another tribe, in accordance with Num. XXXVI, 8, which requires an heiress to be 'wife unto one of the family of the tribe of her father', was removed. The prohibition was held to apply only to the generation of those who entered the land, and to lapse when the last of these had died. ');">¹⁹</span> What was their exposition?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' From what Scriptural text, and how, was it deduced that the prohibition was to lapse with the death of the first generation of those who entered the land? ');">²⁰</span> — This is the thing<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Num. XXXVI, 6. ');">²¹</span>

רב דימי בר יוסף אמר רב נחמן יום שכלו בו מתי מדבר דאמר מר עד שלא כלו מתי מדבר

[implies] this thing shall only apply to this generation.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra 120a. ');">²²</span> Rabbah b. Bar Hana said in the name of R. Johanan: [It was] the day on which the tribe of Benjamin was allowed to enter the congregation. [This was for a time prohibited], for it is written, Now the men of Israel had sworn in Mizpah saying: 'There shall not any of us give his daughter unto Benjamin to wife.'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Judges XXI, 1. ');">²³</span> What was their exposition?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Whence was it derived that the tribe of Benjamin could again be permitted to enter the congregation? ');">²⁴</span> — 'Of us,'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the prohibition, they maintained, applied to those only who had themselves taken the oath, since they specifically used the expression, 'of us'. ');">²⁵</span> but not of our children.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The children, therefore, i.e., the daughters of those who took the oath, could be married to the men of Benjamin. ');">²⁶</span> R. Dimi b. Joseph said in the name of R. Nahman: [It was] the day on which the dying in<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'the dead of'. ');">²⁷</span> the wilderness had ceased;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Cf. Num. XIV, 35. The last of that generation had died prior to that day, and all the survivors were thus assured of entering the promised land. ');">²⁸</span> for a Master said: Before the dying in the wilderness had ceased