Rosh Hashanah 10b (י:) — the Talmud in English

And is it not

a matter of logical inference

that

when one day [at the end of the first year]

counts

toward the year for it, then

at its beginning, at the beginning of the allocation of the years, this should follow by a kal va-chomer—?!

For the beginning of the count is more lenient than its end, as we learned concerning a menstruating woman.

Rather, necessarily, according to Rabbi Meir, who maintains that one day of a year is considered a year at the end of the years, even at their beginning one day of a year is considered a year.

And now, necessarily, the above beraita [which stated that one who plants less than thirty days before Rosh HaShana does not have that year counted for him] is not in accordance with Rabbi Meir.

And we challenge this:

If so, what is the case?

In accordance with whose opinion will you establish the beraita?

If it is in accordance with

Rabbi Elazar [who maintains that thirty days of a year are considered a year], then according to Rabbi Elazar one needs

then according to Rabbi Elazar it is necessary to have

thirty

days for the seed to take root in the ground,

and

an additional

thirty

days

are required [are needed] in order for them to be considered a year. For as long as the seed has not taken root in the ground, it is like something placed in a house. [And the first year does not begin to be counted until the seed has taken root.]

Therefore, one who plants less than sixty days before Rosh HaShana does not have that year counted for him according to Rabbi Elazar. And how can the above beraita be established in accordance with his opinion?

As we learned [Shevi'it 2:6], that planting does not take root in the ground in less than thirty days:

One may not plant

saplings,

nor layer

—that is, bend a branch from the tree into the ground [so that a new tree will grow]—

nor graft

a tree onto the trunk of another tree, on

the eve of the Sabbatical year—

less than thirty days before Rosh HaShana,

since the time required for the planting to take root is thirty days.

And if one planted, layered, or grafted

within those thirty days—

he must uproot it!

Rabbi Yehuda says: Any graft that does not take root within three days

will no longer take root,

even within thirty days.

Rabbi Yosei and Rabbi Shimon say:

The time required for it to take root is

two weeks [fourteen days].

And Rav Naḥman said in the name of Rabba bar Avuha: According to

the tanna

who says

that planting takes root in

thirty

days, one who plants before the Sabbatical year

must

precede it by

thirty

days for it to take root,

and

an additional

thirty

days for the addition to the Sabbatical year.

And

And according to the one who says

that planting takes root in

three

days, one who plants on the eve of the Sabbatical year

must

plant in advance

thirty-three

days before the Sabbatical year.

And

And according to the one who says

that planting takes root in

two weeks, one who plants before the Sabbatical year

one who plants before the Sabbatical year

must

precede it by

two weeks and

an additional

thirty days.

Accordingly, if we say that the above beraita [which states that one who plants less than thirty days before Rosh HaShana does not have that year counted for him] follows Rabbi Elazar’s opinion, that thirty days of a year are considered a year, then even if he planted more than thirty days before Rosh HaShana, that year would not be counted for him, since he must precede it by an additional thirty days for it to take root [according to the first tanna in the Mishna cited above concerning the Sabbatical year].

Alternatively,

even if we say that Rabbi Elazar

holds in accordance with Rabbi Yehuda

that planting takes root in three days [and not in thirty days], the difficulty nevertheless remains: For

three

days are needed for it to take root,

and

an additional

thirty

days

are required! And why, then, did we learn in the beraita that if one plants thirty days before Rosh HaShana, that year counts for him?

Necessarily, it is impossible to establish the above beraita [which states that one who plants less than thirty days before Rosh HaShana does not have that year counted for him] in accordance with Rabbi Elazar.

Rather, in fact,

necessarily the beraita was taught by

Rabbi Meir,

who maintains that one day of a year is considered a year.

And when he said,

what Rabbi Meir said [in the beraita], that one must precede the planting by

thirty

days before Rosh HaShana, this is because according to Rabbi Meir thirty days are needed

for it to take root.

And we challenge this: Since we have said that according to Rabbi Meir the planting takes root only after thirty days,

if so,

why did we learn in the beraita that if one plants thirty days before Rosh HaShana, that year counts for him?

After all,

thirty-one days are required!

He must precede it by thirty-one days before Rosh HaShana: thirty days for it to take root, and one additional day so that it will be considered the first year of orla [since one day of a year is considered a year]!

And we answer:

He holds

Rabbi Meir

that the thirtieth day counts

[is considered]

for both purposes,

both as the end of the days required for it to take root and with regard to the principle that one day of a year is considered a year.

The Gemara explains the reasoning of Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Elazar [who disagree over how many days of a year are considered a year]:

Rabbi Yoḥanan said: And both of them

[Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Elazar]

derive their opinions from one verse:

It is stated concerning the Flood [Genesis 8]:

“And it came to pass in the six hundred and first year

[of Noah’s life],

in the first

[month],

on the first day of the month

that the waters dried up from upon the earth.”

And Rabbi Yoḥanan explains Rabbi Meir’s opinion:

Rabbi Meir holds: Since as yet

only

one day has entered

[entered]

the year

of the six hundred and first,

and it calls

and Scripture calls

it

the

“year” —

infer from this

that

one day of a year is considered a year.

But the other one,

Rabbi Elazar [who maintains that one day of a year is not considered a year], rejects Rabbi Meir’s proof and responds:

Indeed,

if it had been written, “in the six hundred and one year,”

there would indeed have been a proof from here

as you say,

that one day of a year is considered a year.

But

now,

now that

it is written, “in the six hundred and first year,”

it can be explained that

“year”—

”—

refers to the six hundred.

That is, the word “year” refers only to the six hundred [which is written adjacent to it], and not to the one.

And what is meant by “one”?—

”?—

The beginning of one!

That is, after six hundred years, at the beginning of the one year.

And now Rabbi Yoḥanan explains Rabbi Elazar’s opinion:

And Rabbi Elazar,

who maintains that thirty days of a year are considered a year—

what is his reason?

It is because

it is written

in this verse:

“In the first

[month],

on the first day of the month.”

Since as yet

only

one day has entered [entered]

the month, and it calls it

Scripture calls it

“month”—

infer from this

that

one day of a month is considered a month.

And from

this principle,

that one day of a month is considered a month,

we learn that even

thirty days of a year are considered a year.

And

just as we find that one day is considered

a “month” \-

” \-

for purposes of its count,

a unit of time consisting of one day, by which the month is defined and counted—for a month is the total count of thirty days [as it is stated [Numbers 11], “until a month of days”]—is considered as the unit of time of the entire month.

And

from this it follows that even with regard to a

year,

one

for purposes of its count

is considered a year. And a year is counted by means of the count of the months, as it is stated [Exodus 12]: “For the months of the year.”

And from here Rabbi Elazar learned that thirty days [a month] of a year are considered a year. [

It follows that both of them,

Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Elazar,

hold that the world was created in Nisan].

It was taught in a beraita:

Rabbi Eliezer says:

a.

In Tishrei

the world was created.

b.

In Tishrei the Patriarchs were born—

Abraham and Jacob.

c.

In Tishrei the Patriarchs died—

Abraham and Jacob.

d.

Isaac was born on Pesaḥ.

e.

On Rosh HaShana Sarah was remembered

favorably before the Holy One, blessed be He, and it was decreed that she would conceive. And likewise,

Rachel and Hannah were remembered.

f.

On Rosh HaShana Joseph left the prison.