Rosh Hashanah 19

ופירות נטיעה זו אסורין עד ט"ו בשבט אם לערלה ערלה ואם לרבעי רבעי

The fruit of such a plantation is forbidden until the fifteenth of Shebat,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Although three years are reckoned to have been completed by the previous New Year.');">¹</span> whether as "uncircumcised" in [the year of] "uncircumcision", or as fourth year fruit in the fourth year',<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Tosef. Sheb. I.');">²</span>

מה"מ א"ר חייא בר אבא א"ר יוחנן ומטו בה משמיה דר' ינאי אמר קרא (ויקרא יט, כד) ובשנה הרביעית ובשנה החמישית

What is the ground for this ruling? - R'Hiyya B'Abba said in the name of R'Johanan (though some trace it back to the authority of R'Jannai) : Scripture says, And in the fourth year. and in the fifth year.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ibid. 24, 25. Stress is laid in the exposition on the word 'and'.');">³</span>

פעמים שברביעית ועדיין אסורה משום ערלה ופעמי' שבחמישית ועדיין אסורה משום רבעי

There are occasions when fruit appears in the fourth year and it is still forbidden on account of uncircumcision', and there are occasions when fruit appears in the fifth year and it is still forbidden on account of 'fourth year'. Shall I say that that is not [in agreement with] R'Meir,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The view that thirty days are required to count as a year.');">⁴</span>

לימא דלא כר"מ דאי ר"מ הא אמר יום אחד בשנה חשוב שנה דתניא פר האמור בתורה סתם בן עשרים וארבעה חדש ויום אחד דברי ר"מ

since R'Meir has affirmed<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'for if like R. Meir, surely he said'. kdg');">⁵</span> that one day in the year is reckoned as a year, as it has been taught: 'Par [bullock] is mentioned in the Torah without further qualification and means an animal twenty-four months and one day old.

ר' אלעזר אומר בן עשרים וארבעה חדש ול' יום שהיה ר"מ אומר כל מקום שנאמר עגל בתורה סתם בן שנה בן בקר בן שתים פר בן שלש

So R'Meir. R'Eleazar says, it means an animal twenty-four months and thirty days old.

אפילו תימא ר"מ כי קאמר ר"מ יום אחד בשנה חשוב שנה בסוף שנה אבל בתחלת שנה לא

For R'Meir used to say: Wherever 'egel [calf] is mentioned in the Torah without further qualification, it means of the first year; ['egel]<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' But par ben bakar means 'of the third year'. V. Tosaf. s.v. .');">⁶</span> ben bakar [young ox] means, of the second year; par [bullock] means, of the third year'! - You may still say [it is in agreement with] R'Meir.

אמר רבא ולאו ק"ו הוא ומה נדה שאין תחילת היום עולה לה בסופה סוף היום עולה לה בתחלתה שנה שיום אחד עולה לה בסופה

When R'Meir said that one day in a year is counted as a year, he meant at the end of a period,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' E.g.. the three-yearly period of the par.');">⁷</span> but not at the beginning.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' E.g., of the three-yearly period of 'uncircumcision.');">⁸</span> Raba said: Cannot we apply here an argument a fortiori,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' To show that it makes no difference whether the day is at the beginning or the end of the period.');">⁹</span> [to wit]: Seeing that in the case of a niddah,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' A menstruous woman.');">¹⁰</span> though the beginning of the [seventh] day is not reckoned as concluding her period,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Her period of uncleanness ending only at nightfall on the seventh day, and not at any hour earlier in the day.');">¹¹</span> the end of the [first] day yet counts for the beginning of her period,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., if she begins counting in the middle of a day, as soon as nightfall arrives she is reckoned as having completed one day. [The reference here is to Niddah who according to Biblical law was allowed to cleanse herself when seven days had passed from her first menstrual flow, provided it ceased on the seventh day before sunset. This law was later replaced by the more stringent Rabbinic rule necessitating a period of seven clean days after a single blood issue.]');">¹²</span> in the case of [a period of] years where one day is counted [as a whole year] at the end,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' As in the case of the par.');">¹³</span>