Rosh Hashanah 10a (י.) — the Talmud in English

And the beraita adds: Even though we said that when one plants thirty days before Rosh HaShana, once Rosh HaShana arrives it counts for him as the first year, nevertheless, the three years of orla do not conclude on Rosh HaShana, but:

And the fruit of this planting —

is forbidden until the fifteenth of Shevat.

If

this is speaking

with regard

to

orla,

then the fruit that formed before the fifteenth of Shevat in the fourth year is

orla.

And if

this is speaking

with regard

to

revai,

then the fruit that formed before the fifteenth of Shevat in the fifth year is still forbidden to be eaten outside Jerusalem, because of

revai. .

For although the first of Tishrei is the New Year for “planting,”

nevertheless, after three years have passed, the planting becomes a “tree,” and the third or fourth year among the years of the tree does not end until the fifteenth of Shevat.

And we raise an objection concerning this:

From where are these matters derived?

From where do we know that even after the three complete years of orla have ended, the prohibition of orla still applies to fruit that formed before the fifteenth of Shevat in the fourth year? And likewise, from where do we know that the law of revai continues even beyond the fourth year, until the following fifteenth of Shevat?

Rabbi Hiyya bar Abba said that Rabbi Yohanan said, and some attribute it

to

the name of Rabbi Yannai:

The verse says [Leviticus 19:23–25]:

“For three years they shall be orla for you; they shall not be eaten.

And in the fourth year

all its fruit shall be holy, for giving praise to the Lord.

And in the fifth year

you shall eat its fruit.”

The letter vav comes to add to the first matter and to say: “For three years they shall be orla for you,” and also in the fourth year it shall be orla.

And likewise with regard to revai: In the fourth year its fruit shall be holy, and also in the fifth year.

There are times when

the fruit forms

in

the fourth

year, and it is still

the planting

forbidden because of orla.

That is, when the fruit formed before the fifteenth of Shevat.

And

likewise

there are times when

the fruit forms

in the fifth year, and it is still

the planting

forbidden because of revai,

when it forms before the fifteenth of Shevat.

We learned in a beraita: With regard to one who plants, layers, or grafts less than thirty days before Rosh HaShana, the year does not count for him, and it is forbidden to maintain them during the Sabbatical year.

And we raise an objection concerning this:

Shall we say

that we must say that this beraita is

not in accordance with Rabbi Meir?

For if

you say that the beraita was taught by

Rabbi Meir,

the following difficulty arises:

Did Rabbi Meir not say

below that even

one day in a year counts

as a

year

in its entirety? And if so, even if one planted less than thirty days before Rosh HaShana, it should count for him as the first year among the years of orla. And the Gemara explains where we find that Rabbi Meir holds that one day in a year counts as a year:

As it is taught in a beraita: An “ox” mentioned in the Torah without qualification,

wherever an “ox” is mentioned without qualification in the Torah, it is an ox

twenty-four months old

[two years old]

and

one

additional day; this is the statement of Rabbi Meir.

Rabbi Elazar says:

An ox mentioned in the Torah without qualification is an ox

twenty-four months old, and

one

additional thirty days.

According to

what Rabbi Meir would say:

Wherever a calf is mentioned without qualification in the Torah,

it is

one year old

[as it is stated: “a calf and a lamb, each one year old,” Leviticus 9].

And wherever an “ox,

a calf” is mentioned,

it is

two

years old. And wherever

“an ox” is mentioned,

it is

three

years old.

Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Elazar disagree as to when an ox is considered three years old:

According to Rabbi Meir, once one day of the third year has begun, it is three years old, because one day in a year counts as a year.

According to Rabbi Elazar, however, the ox is three years old only after thirty days of the third year have passed, because thirty days in a year count as a year.

And since we learned in the beraita above that when one plants less than thirty days before Rosh HaShana, the year does not count for him,

if we say that the beraita was taught by Rabbi Meir, the following difficulty arises: Why does the year not count for one who planted less than thirty days before Rosh HaShana? According to Rabbi Meir, one day in a year counts as a year!

The Gemara resolves the beraita even according to Rabbi Meir:

Even

if

you say

that the beraita was taught even according to

Rabbi Meir,

the words of the beraita can be reconciled:

For

when

does Rabbi Meir say

that

one day in a year counts as a year?

Only

at the end

of the count of

a year.

For example, one day at the beginning of the third year, which is the end of the years required to qualify the ox for sacrifice.

But at the beginning

of the count of

a year,

for example, on the first day of the first year of the planting, which is at the beginning of the count of the years of orla,

he did not

say that one day counts as a year. Rather, he agrees in this matter that only thirty days count as a year. It follows from the Gemara’s resolution that the year at the end of the count is easier to count as a year on the basis of one day than is the year at the beginning of the count. For at the end of the count of years, according to Rabbi Meir, one day in a year counts as a year, whereas at the beginning of the count, only thirty days count as a year. Rava proves that this cannot be so; on the contrary, the end of the count is more stringent than its beginning:

Rava said:

How is it possible to say, as the one who answered above did, that the end of the count is more lenient than its beginning?

Is

it

not a kal va-chomer

that the beginning of the count is preferable to its end with regard to causing a partial period to be considered as the whole?

A woman who sees blood during her days of menstruation is not required by Torah law to count seven blood-free days; rather, she counts seven days from the beginning of her seeing.

Even if she saw blood throughout all seven days, provided that she stopped seeing it before the end of the seventh day, she may become pure immediately by Torah law, in the evening after the seventh day, when she immerses and becomes pure. And even if the woman saw blood on the first day of her seeing, close to sunset, once sunset arrived that day counted for her as one of the seven days that she must count for her days of menstruation, and from then onward she need count only six additional days in order to be able to immerse and become pure.

And if with regard to a menstruating woman, the beginning of the

seventh day

does not count for her at its end,

but she must wait throughout the entire day and immerse only in the evening that follows it,

nevertheless,

the end of the day

of the

first day counts for her at its beginning,

in that if she saw blood close to sunset, that day counts for her as one of the seven days, and from then onward she need count only six additional days.

A year, in which one day counts for it at its end,

with regard to the count of the years that qualify the ox for sacrifice.