תלמוד על ראש השנה 39:15

Rebbi Ze`ira, Rebbi Immi in the name of Rebbi Joshua ben Levi: One entangles one who was seen to prolong it; one does entangle one who was not seen to sanctify it<sup>5</sup>Babli 20a. “Entangle” in this case means that one conducts the cross-examination of the witnesses in such a way that they get confused and confess that they cannot exactly testify to the appearance of the new moon, leaving the Court without witnesses. In this version, one may confound witnesses about what they saw, but not about what they did not see.. Rebbi Abba and Rebbi Ḥiyya in the name of Rebbi Joshua ben Levi: One entangles one who was not seen to sanctify it, one does not entangle one who was seen to prolong it<sup>6</sup>In this version one may not interfere with true testimony, but the court always may declare the 30th day as belonging to the next month.. The Mishnah disagrees with Rebbi Ze`ira: “If the Court and all of Israel saw it, the witnesses were interrogated but they did not manage to say “sanctified” before nightfall, it is sanctified⁷As noted at the end of Halakhah 2:6, the 31st day is automatically sanctified at sundown after the 30th..” Because of nightfall. Therefore not if there was no nightfall. This implies that one does not entangle one who was seen to prolong it⁸The Mishnah implies that the 31st day becomes consecrated only because of the slowness of the Court; no intentional dragging of feet.. A baraita disagrees with Rebbi Abba: “I could think that if two days were needed, one adds two days. The verse says, it. There is authorization only for one day⁹Sifra Emor Pereq 10(6); The verse referred to should be Lev. 23:4, where one reads אוֹתָם. There does not exist a verse referring to the first of a month using the expression אוֹתוֹ..” This implies that one does not entangle one who was not seen to sanctify it. A baraita disagrees with Rebbi Abba: “I could think that just as one intercalates a year according to necessity so one would sanctify the month according to necessity. The verse says, the new moon, one follows the new moon.¹⁰Sifra Emor Pereq 10(5). There never can be a month of 28 or 31 days.” This implies that one does not entangle one which was not seen to sanctify it. A baraita disagrees with Rebbi Abba: “I could think that if the moon was not seen for two days, they should sanctify the next month for two days. The verse says, they, there are, those would not be My festive seasons¹¹Tosephta 2:3, the verse referred to in the Tosephta is Lev 23:34 but here it is Lev. 23:4.”. Because it was not seen; therefore not if it had been seen¹²If it was not seen one could not retroactively declare the month to start from day 30.. This implies that one does not entangle one who was not seen to sanctify it. They wanted to say that they do not disagree. What Rebbi Ze`ira said, about all other months; what Rebbi Abba said, about Nisan and Tishre¹³Babli 20a, minority opinion of Abbai..