Arakhin 9b (ט:) — the Talmud in English

And we explain their reasoning:

With regard to what do they disagree? With regard to the

month

of intercalation

of a

year,

how is it performed?

As it was taught: How many

days are there in the

intercalary month? Thirty.

That is, specifically, a full month.

Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel says: A month

may be of any length, sometimes full and sometimes deficient. Rav Huna holds in accordance with Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel, and therefore eight full months are possible—for example, when the preceding year was also a leap year and the intercalary month was twenty-nine days, as explained above. But Ulla holds in accordance with the first tanna, that the intercalary month is always full, and therefore eight full months are not possible, since in that case the molad would precede Rosh HaShana by two days. According to him, it is impossible to explain the matter as Rav Huna does, that the preceding year was a leap year, since the previous Rosh HaShana was not advanced on account of this; on the contrary, it was delayed, since the intercalary month is full.

Meitivī: Atzeret can fall only on the day

of the week in which the day

of the waving

of the omer falls, that is, the day after Passover. For that is when the first week of the count of the fifty days begins. On the forty-ninth day, seven weeks are completed, and on the fiftieth day, which is Atzeret, the eighth week begins. [And this corresponds to the established mnemonic: alef-tav, bet-shin, and so on: the second day of Passover is the day of Shavuot].

And Rosh HaShana can fall only either on the day

of the week in which the day

of the waving

that preceded it fell,

or on the eve of

the day

of its intercalation

of Nisan, which is the first of Iyyar. [It is called this because the thirty-first day of Nisan is called the intercalation of Nisan; through this day, which is the first of Iyyar, Nisan becomes an intercalated month. “The eve of its intercalation” means the night of the first of Iyyar.] It always falls on the third day of Passover, and its mnemonic is gimel-resh: the third day of Passover, Rosh HaShana.

And we raise a difficulty:

Granted, according to Ulla, who says that we make eight deficient months,

but we do not make eight

full months, [and in an ordinary year we make one full month and one deficient month. In a year in which there are eight deficient months, two additional deficient months are made, one among the winter months and one among the summer months.]

[in an ordinary year, one month is made full and the next deficient. In a year with eight deficient months, two additional months are deficient, one among the winter months and one among the summer months.]

It is possible

to find the case mentioned in the beraita. When

both [for example, Kislev and Sivan, which in an ordinary year are full] are

[for example, Kislev and Sivan, which in an ordinary year are full] are

deficient,

Rosh HaShana will fall

on the day of the waving

that preceded it, because the four summer months are deficient.

And in a year

in which one is full and one is deficient,

Rosh HaShana will fall

on the eve of

the day

of its intercalation

of Nisan, which is the first of Iyyar, because only three of the summer months are deficient.

But according to Rav Huna, who says that we also make

eight

full months,

this is difficult.

For sometimes it is possible to find

that Rosh HaShana falls

on the eve of the eve of its intercalation,

that is, on the day on which the second of Iyyar falls, for example, when all four of the summer months are full, in which case Rosh HaShana is delayed by an additional day.

And we answer:

Rav Huna could say to you: And according to Ulla, is it satisfactory?

Is it not difficult according to his view as well?

Eight

full months

are what we do not make, but seven

full months

we do make,

and that additional full month is either one of the summer months or one of the winter months.

Sometimes we do not make it in the winter

but

we make it in the summer,

and thus four of the summer months are found to be full. If so, even according to Ulla we can find a case in which Rosh HaShana

then four of the summer months are found to be full. If so, even according to Ulla we can find a case in which Rosh HaShana

would be on the eve of the eve of its intercalation! But then, which

beraita

is this? It must necessarily follow the view of

the Others. As it was taught: The Others say: There is no difference between Atzeret

the other sages.

this

Atzeret

and the one following it,

and there is no difference between Rosh HaShana and the Rosh HaShana

that follows it,

except four days

of the week

alone. [For an ordinary year, consisting of six deficient months and six full months, totals 354 days: fifty complete weeks and four additional days.]

[This is because an ordinary year, with six deficient and six full months, totals 354 days: fifty complete weeks and four additional days.]

And if it was a leap year,

there are

five

days between them. [In that case, as will be stated below, seven months are deficient and six are full. The year totals 383 days, leaving five additional days after dividing it into complete weeks.]

It is therefore explained that according to the Others, the months are always arranged in their regular order, one full and one deficient, and not as the tanna in our Mishna maintains. The beraita follows the view of the Others, and it is understandable that Rosh HaShana falls on the eve of its intercalation. In this way, the difficulty is resolved both according to Rav Huna and according to Ulla.

And we raise a difficulty: How can the beraita be established as following the view of the Others?

Ultimately, according to the Others,

that Rosh HaShana should fall

on the day of the waving is impossible to find.

According to their view, that the months follow their regular order, Rosh HaShana always falls on the day on which the third day of Passover falls.

And we answer:

Rav Mesharsheya said: For example, it was a leap year,

and the

intercalary month of the year was thirty

days.

It

subtract the summer month [which in an ordinary year is one of the full months] and make it deficient,

[which in an ordinary year is one of the full months, and is made deficient]

alongside the month

of the intercalary year that we made full, corresponding to our having made Shevat and the first Adar intercalated. [In return for making Shevat and the first Adar intercalated, we make Nisan and Iyyar deficient. Thus, in a leap year, four of the summer months are deficient. In this manner,]

it is possible

that Rosh HaShana will fall

on the day of the waving.

Rav Adda bar Ahava said to Rava:

But did

the Others come to teach us a calculation? They should have said only: “We do not intercalate the month except when necessary” [apart from the six intercalated months]. It would then follow automatically that there are four days between one Atzeret and the next.

They should have said only: “We do not make a month full [apart from the six full months] except when necessary.” We would then know automatically that there are four days between one Shavuot and the next.

And he answered him:

This teaches us that we do not require

that there be

a mitzva to sanctify the month according to the sighting.

Even when witnesses who saw the new moon do not come, we sanctify the month on the night of the thirtieth, so that the preceding month will be deficient and the regular order—one full month and one deficient month—will not be disrupted. Had the Others said only, “We do not intercalate the month except when necessary,” we would have interpreted this as referring specifically to a situation in which there are witnesses to the sighting, and the month must be sanctified according to their testimony so that the months will follow their regular order, and they may not be disregarded. But when witnesses do not come, we would not sanctify the month on the thirtieth day. Therefore, the Others specified the calculation, to teach us that the month is sanctified in this manner as well.

Ravina strongly objected:

But the statement that there are only four days between one Atzeret and the next is not always true. For the reason is that the months are made to follow their regular order so that the year will total 354 days, corresponding to the number of days in twelve moladot, and twelve months will equal a lunar year.

But there is

one

day

that is added through the accumulation

of hours

once every three years. For twelve moladot total 354 days, eight hours, and 876 parts, and therefore every three years the additional hours accumulate to twenty-four hours. Consequently, the third year should total 355 days, that is, it should have seven full months. In that case, there would be five days between one Atzeret and the next. Furthermore, there is another difficulty: the additional 876 parts per year accumulate

to one day

every

thirty years.

The thirtieth year should also total 355 days, and in that case as well there are five days between one Atzeret and the next.

And we answer:

Since it does not occur

that there is a difference of five days

in every year, it is not counted

by

the Others. They spoke only of the difference in an ordinary year.

And Shmuel likewise held in accordance with Rabbi Huna,

that eight full months are also made.

For Shmuel said: A lunar year is neither less than 352 days nor more than 356 days. How so? Both

[of the months that are deficient in an ordinary year] were made

full,

and the year is therefore 356

days.

Two days were added to an ordinary year, which is 354 days.

Both

[of the months that are full in an ordinary year] were made

deficient,

and the year is therefore 350

days.

Two days were subtracted from an ordinary year.

Meitivī:

We learned in a Mishna:

“I am hereby a nazirite for the days of the sun”; he counts his naziriteship as 365 days, corresponding to the number of days

of the

solar year.

And if he said,

“for the days of the moon,” he counts his naziriteship as 354 days, corresponding to the number of days

of the

lunar year.

And this is difficult:

If it is so

according to Shmuel and Rav Huna, who say that eight full months are also made,

sometimes it is possible to find

350

and 356 days. Why did they mention specifically 354 days? And we answer:

Why, then, did they take specifically 354 days? And we answer:

With regard to vows, we follow ordinary human speech,

which is based on the

majority of years,

in which the months follow their regular order.

And Rabbi likewise held in accordance with Rav Huna,

that eight full months are made.

As it was taught: It once happened that Rabbi made nine

months

deficient

in a

year, and the molad

of Tishrei

appeared at its proper time [the day on which Rosh HaShana fell].

[on the day on which Rosh HaShana occurred].

And Rabbi was astonished and said: We made nine deficient months, and the new moon appeared at its proper time?

The molad should have been delayed by three days after Rosh HaShana, on account of the three deficient months he had made.

Rabbi Shimon bar Rabbi said to him: Perhaps it was a leap year,