Rosh Hashanah 41

תרי ירחי חסירי קלא אית להו

- If two [successive] months<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Viz., (apparently) Ab and Elul, or Tebeth and Shebat. Rashi: Tebeth and Tammuz are always, according to the principles of fixed calendar, defective, and if Shebat' which follows Tebeth, Ab and Tammuz were also to be defective, it would have become known to the Diaspora before the advent of the festivals.');">¹</span> are declared short, the thing becomes known. Levi once arrived in Babylon on the eleventh of Tishri.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., according to the reckoning of the Babylonians who were not aware that the previous month had been prolonged in Palestine by one day. huk He either came from near the frontier or just before nightfall, before they had broken their fast (v. Tosaf. s.v.) .');">²</span>

לוי אקלע לבבל בחדסר בתשרי אמר בסים תבשילא דבבלאי ביומא רבה דמערבא אמרי ליה אסהיד אמר להו לא שמעתי מפי ב"ד מקודש

He said [to the people there]: How good and sweet is the dish of the Babylonians on the great day of the West.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., this is the Day of Atonement in Palestine, and you are eating, or you are ready to break your fast, cf. p. 86, n. 10.');">³</span> They said to him, Testify [that this is the tenth day].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' And we will keep this day too.');">⁴</span> He replied: I did not [personally] hear the Beth din [in Jerusalem proclaim] 'sanctified'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., that the day was sanctified as New Moon and therefore he could not testify, although he knew from independent sources that this was rcugn asuen only ten days before, v. infra 21b. [MS.M.: ' (proclaim) ', 'prolonged' instead of ].');">⁵</span>

מכריז ר' יוחנן כל היכא דמטו שלוחי ניסן ולא מטו שלוחי תשרי ליעבדו תרי יומי גזירה ניסן אטו תשרי

R'Johanan issued a proclamation: 'In all those places which can be reached by the messengers sent out in Nisan but not by those sent out in Tishri,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The messengers sent out from Jerusalem to announce the New Moon of Nisan would be able to travel further by Passover than the messengers sent out in Tishri would be able to travel by Tabernacles, because the latter would lose two days on New Year and the Day of Atonement, when it was forbidden to travel.');">⁶</span> two days should be kept [on Passover],<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Although the inhabitants would know when the New Moon of Nisan had been proclaimed.');">⁷</span> Nisan being included so that there should be no mistake as to Tishri'.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., if they kept Passover only one day, they might come to keep Tabernacles only one day.');">⁸</span>

רבי אייבו בר נגרי ור' חייא בר אבא איקלעו לההוא אתרא דהוה מטו שלוחי ניסן ולא מטו שלוחי תשרי ועבדי חד יומא ולא אמרו להו ולא מידי שמע רבי יוחנן ואיקפד אמר להו לאו אמרי לכו היכא דמטו שלוחי ניסן ולא מטו שלוחי תשרי ליעבדו תרי יומי גזירה ניסן אטו תשרי

R'Aibu B'Nagri and R'Hiyya B'Abba once arrived at a certain place which had been reached by the messengers sent out in Nisan but not by those sent out in Tishri, and though the inhabitants kept only one day [of Passover] they did not reprove them. When R'Johanan heard this he was annoyed and said to them: Did I not tell you that in places which have been reached by the messengers sent out in Nisan but not by those sent out in Tishri they should keep two days, Nisan being included so that no mistake should be made in Tishri? Rabbah was accustomed to fast two days [on the Day of Atonement].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Being uncertain whether the month of Elul, which normally consisted of twenty-nine days, had not been prolonged by the Beth din in Jerusalem.');">⁹</span>

רבא הוה רגיל דהוה יתיב בתעניתא תרי יומי זימנא חדא אשתכח כוותיה

Once he was found to be right.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'it was found (to be) according to him'.');">¹⁰</span> R'Nahman had once fasted the whole of the Day of Atonement, when in the evening a man came and told him, To-morrow is the great day in the West. He said to him, Whence are you?

ר"נ יתיב בתעניתא כוליה יומי דכיפורי לאורתא אתא ההוא גברא א"ל למחר יומא רבה במערבא

He replied, From Damharia.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' [Damar S.W. of Sura. V. Obermeyer p. 298.]');">¹¹</span> 'Blood will be his latter end'<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Heb. Dam tehi Aharitho - a play on the name Damharia.');">¹²</span> he ejaculated, applying to himself the verse, Swift were our pursuers.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lam. IV, 19.');">¹³</span>

א"ל מהיכא את א"ל מדמהריא א"ל דם תהא אחריתו קרי עליה (איכה ד, יט) קלים היו רודפינו

R'Huna B'Abin sent an instruction to Raba: When you see that the cycle of Tebeth<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. supra p. 30, n. 5.');">¹⁴</span> extends to the sixteenth of Nisan,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Inclusive. V. Tosaf. s.v.');">¹⁵</span> declare that year<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In other words, if the vernal equinox is known by calculation to fall after the sixteenth of Nisan a leap year is proclaimed.');">¹⁶</span>

שלח ליה רב הונא בר אבין לרבא כד חזית דמשכה תקופת טבת עד שיתסר בניסן עברה לההיא שתא ולא תחוש לה דכתיב (דברים טז, א) שמור את חדש האביב שמור אביב של תקופה שיהא בחדש ניסן

a leap year and have no scruples,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Although this follows the view only of an individual authority, as recorded in Sanh. 13b.');">¹⁷</span> since it is written, Observe the month [hodesh] of Abib,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Deut. XVI, 1.');">¹⁸</span> which signifies, See to it that the Abib of the cycle<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the beginning of the vernal equinox. The day on which the vernal equinox begins is called Abib because on that day the corn begins to ripen by the effects of the sun (Rashi) . V. Sanh., Sonc. ed., p. 60 notes.');">¹⁹</span>

אמר להו רב נחמן להנהו נחותי ימא אתון דלא ידעיתו בקביעא דירחא כי חזיתו סיהרא דמשלים ליומא בעירו חמירא

should commence in the earlier half [hodesh]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'newness'. I.e., the first fourteen days. The New Moon of Nisan must be timed so that this can take place.');">²⁰</span> of Nisan. R'Nahman said to those who were going to sea: As you will not know when New Moon is fixed, [I will tell you what to do].

אימת משלים בחמיסר והא אנן מארביסר מבערינן לדידהו דמגלו להו עלמא מארביסר משלים:

When you see the moon ceases shining with daylight,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'completing (its course) by day'.');">²¹</span> clear away leaven [for Passover]. When does it so shine? On the fifteenth [of the month]. But we clear away leaven on the fourteenth? - For them, as they had a clear view,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'as the world was revealed to them'.');">²²</span> the moon commenced to shine into the day from the fourteenth.