Taanit 35

אלא לאסור יום שלפניו ה"נ לא נצרכה אלא לאסור יום שלאחריו כמאן כרבי יוסי דאמר בין לפניו בין לאחריו אסור אי הכי בעשרים ותשעה נמי מאי איריא דהוי יומא דמקמי יומא דמיתוקם תמידא תיפוק ליה דה"ל יומא דבתר עשרין ותמניא ביה

in order to extend the restriction to the preceding day, so here also it was necessary in order to extend the restriction to the following day. With whose view will this agree?

דתניא בעשרים ותמני' ביה אתת בשורתא טבתא ליהודאי דלא יעידון מן אורייתא שפעם אחת נגזרה גזירה על ישראל שלא יעסקו בתורה ושלא ימולו את בניהם ושיחללו שבתות מה עשה יהודה בן שמוע וחביריו הלכו ונטלו עצה ממטרוניתא אחת שכל גדולי רומי מצויין אצלה

Is it with that of R'Jose,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In our MISHNAH:');">¹</span> who declared that the restriction applies equally to the day before and the day after it?

אמרה להם עמדו והפגינו בלילה הלכו והפגינו בלילה אמרו אי שמים לא אחים אנחנו לא בני אב אחד אנחנו לא בני אם אחת אנחנו מה נשתנינו מכל אומה ולשון שאתם גוזרין עלינו גזירות רעות ובטלום ואותו היום עשאוהו יו"ט

If so, with regard to the twenty-ninth Adar, why need you base your restriction on the ground that it is the day before the Daily offering was established;<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., the first of Nisan, v. supra.');">²</span> deduce it rather from the fact that it is the day after the twenty-eighth concerning which it has been taught: On the twenty-eighth of the month [Adar] the good news reached the Jews that they were no longer to be kept back from the study of the Torah.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' R.H. 19a; cf. Megillath Ta'anith, ch. 12.');">³</span>

אמר אביי לא נצרכה אלא לחדש מעובר

For once it was decreed that the Jews should not occupy themselves with the study of the Torah nor circumcise their children and that they should desecrate the Sabbath. What did Judah B'Shammua' and his colleagues do?

רב אשי אמר אפילו תימא לחדש חסר כל שלאחריו בתענית אסור בהספד מותר וזה הואיל ומוטל בין שני ימים טובים עשאוהו כיו"ט עצמו ואפילו בהספד נמי אסור

They went and took counsel with a Roman Matron with whom all the prominent Romans were wont to associate. She advised them, 'Arise and raise an alarm by night'.

אמר מר מתמניא ביה ועד סוף מועדא איתותב חגא דשבועיא דלא למיספד למה לי למימר מתמניא ביה לימא מתשעה ביה ותמניא גופיה אסור דה"ל יומא דאיתוקם ביה תמידא

They went and raised the alarm by night thus, 'O ye heavens, are we not your brethren? Are we not the children of one Father?

כיון דאילו מקלע (ליה) מילתא ובטליניה לשבעה תמניא גופיה אסור דה"ל יומא קמא דאיתותב ביה חגא דשבועיא

Are we not the children of one mother? Wherein are we different from every other nation and tongue that ye make harsh decrees against us? ' Thereupon the decrees were annulled and that day was declared a festive day!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For notes v. R.H., Sonc. ed. 19a. Why then state that the restriction on the twenty-ninth Adar was due to the matter of the Tamid.');">⁴</span>

השתא דאתית להכי עשרים ותשעה נמי כיון דאילו מיקלע מילתא ובטליניה לעשרים ותמניא עשרין ותשעה גופיה אסור דה"ל יומא דמקמי יומא דאיתוקם תמידא

-Abaye replied: It was necessary to state the restriction in this way in order to cover the case of a full month [where Adar has thirty days].<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In that case the thirtieth Adar would be the last day of the month and it could only be included in the restriction on the ground that it precedes the first Nisan and not that it follows the twenty-ninth Adar, seeing that a day (the twenty-eighth) intervenes.');">⁵</span> R'Ashi said: The same would be the case even when the month [of Adar] is deficient,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., it has twenty-nine days.');">⁶</span>

איתמר ר' חייא בר אסי אמר רב הלכה כר' יוסי ושמואל אמר הלכה כר' מאיר

because on a day following on a festive day fasting alone is forbidden but mourning is permissible; but as for this day [the twenty-ninth Adar] seeing that it is placed between two festive days it was considered as if it were a festive day itself, and therefore mourning too was forbidden thereon. The Master said: 'From the eighth day of the month until the end of the festival mourning is forbidden since then the date of the observance of the Feast of Weeks was definitely fixed.'

ומי אמר שמואל הכי והתניא רשב"ג אומר ומה תלמוד לומר בהון בהון שתי פעמים לומר לך שהן אסורין לפניהן ולאחריהן מותרין ואמר שמואל הלכה כרבן שמעון בן גמליאל

Why does he say, 'from the eighth of the same month'? Let him say, 'from the ninth of the same month' and the eighth day would ipso facto be forbidden because it is the day on which the Daily offering was established?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., one of the eight festive days.');">⁷</span>

מעיקרא סבר כיון דליכא תנא דמיקל כרבי מאיר אמר הלכה כרבי מאיר כיון דשמעיה לרבן שמעון דמיקל טפי אמר הלכה כרבן שמעון בן גמליאל

- The reason why it is stated 'the eighth day' is this, should it ever come to pass that the seven festive days be abolished,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Because of some misfortune that befalls Israel and it would be necessary to fast on these days.');">⁸</span> even then on the eighth day it would still be forbidden to mourn, because it is the first day on which the date of the Feast of Weeks was definitely fixed.

וכן אמר באלי אמר רבי חייא בר אבא א"ר יוחנן הלכה כרבי יוסי א"ל רבי חייא לבאלי אסברא לך כי אמר ר' יוחנן הלכה כרבי יוסי אדלא להתענאה

Now that you have arrived at this conclusion the same will apply also to the twenty-ninth Adar because should it ever come to pass that the twenty-eighth Adar be abolished as a festive day, even then the twenty-ninth would be forbidden seeing that it is the day before the Daily offering was established. It has been taught: R'Hiyya B'Asi said in the name of Rab, the halachah is in accordance with the view of R'Jose.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Who holds that the restriction applies both to the day before and the day after the festive days.');">⁹</span>

ומי אמר רבי יוחנן הכי והאמר ר' יוחנן הלכה כסתם משנה ותנן אע"פ שאמרו מקדימין ולא מאחרין

Samuel said, The halachah is in accordance with the view of R'Meir.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Who holds that the restriction applies only to the day following the festive day but not to the day before it. This view is anonymously stated in the Mishnah and in accordance with the accepted tradition that every anonymous statement in the Mishnah goes back to R. Meir. Hence the statement in our Mishnah is taken, to be the view of R. Meir.');">¹⁰</span> But did Samuel actually say so? Has it not been taught: R'Simeon B'Gamaliel said: Why does the text [in the Scroll of Fasts] repeat the word 'behon' [on them] twice?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' In the introductory sentence cited supra p. 84.');">¹¹</span> This is to teach you that the restriction applies to these days but not to th days immediately preceding or following the days enumerated in the Scroll of Fasts. On which Samuel's comment was that the halachah is in accordance with the view of R'Simeon B'Gamaliel! - At first he thought that as there was no other authority who took a lenient view as R'Meir did he decided that the halachah was according to R'Meir, but when he heard that Rabbi Simeon took an even more lenient view he decided that the halachah was according to R'Simeon B'Gamaliel. And so too said Bali in the name of R'Hiyya B'Abba, in the name of R'Johanan: The halachah is according to R'Jose. Thereupon R'Hiyya said to Bali: I will explain to you that when R'Johanan said that the halachah was in accordance with R'Jose, he meant only with regard to the prohibition of fasting.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' But not mourning.');">¹²</span> But did R'Johanan actually say so? Did not R'Johanan say that the halachah is in accordance with the anonymous opinion of a Mishnah,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' I.e., R. Meir.');">¹³</span> and it has been learnt: Although the Rabbis said that [the Megillah of Esther] could be read earlier<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Than the fourteenth and fifteenth days of Adar.');">¹⁴</span> but not later, yet