Rosh Hashanah 11b — the Talmud in English

“A testimony in Joseph when He set him forth”

etc.

And so on.”

That is, on that day [on Rosh Hashanah], God brought Joseph forth to rule over the land of Egypt.

We learned in a beraita:

On Rosh Hashanah, the labor ceased from our ancestors in Egypt,

according to everyone.

And the Gemara brings a source for this:

It is written here

concerning the enslavement in Egypt [Exodus 6]:

“And I shall bring you out from beneath the burdens of Egypt.”

And it is written there

in Psalms, in the continuation of the verse: “Blow the shofar at the new moon, at the appointed time for the day of our festival. A testimony in Joseph when He set him forth.”

“I removed his shoulder from the burden.”

From here [it follows] that the burden of the enslavement in Egypt was removed on Rosh Hashanah.

We learned in a beraita: Rabbi Eliezer says: In Nisan they were redeemed from Egypt; in Tishrei they are destined to be redeemed in the future.

And the Gemara brings the source for his words:

In Nisan they were redeemed —

as it is stated!

As it is explained in the Torah concerning the Exodus from Egypt.

In Tishrei they are destined to be redeemed —

it is derived

We learn this by a gzera shava,

“shofar, shofar”:

It is written here

in Psalms there:

“Blow the shofar at the new moon

at the appointed time for the day of our festival,” on the festival of Rosh Hashanah.

And it is written there

[Isaiah 27], concerning the redemption in the future:

“On that day a great shofar shall be sounded”.

Just as the sounding of the shofar mentioned in Psalms [there] is on Rosh Hashanah, so too the sounding of the shofar mentioned concerning the redemption in the future is on Rosh Hashanah.

We learned in a beraita:

Rabbi Yehoshua says: In Nisan they were redeemed; in Nisan they are destined to be redeemed.

And we inquire about this:

From where do we know

this?

And we answer:

The verse says

[Exodus 12], concerning the night of Passover,

“A night of guarding.”

To teach you that this is the

night that is guarded and comes

for redemption,

from the six days of Creation.

And the other one,

Rabbi Eliezer, who holds that they are destined to be redeemed in Tishrei, explains the verse “a night of guarding” as meaning that it is

a night that is guarded and comes

in every generation

from harmful spirits.

We learned above in a beraita that Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua disputed when the world was created: according to Rabbi Eliezer, the world was created in Tishrei, whereas according to Rabbi Yehoshua, the world was created in Nisan.

And

since they disputed concerning the creation of the world, therefore

they followed their respective positions,

they disputed and proceeded according to their positions also concerning the time of the Flood, as follows:

For it was taught:

It is said [Genesis 7:11] concerning the Flood:

“In the six-hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month,

on this day all the springs of the great deep burst forth and the windows of the heavens were opened” [and the Flood began].

And Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Eliezer disputed what day was meant by “the seventeenth day of the second month” mentioned in the verse.

Rabbi Yehoshua says:

Since the world was created [according to his view] in Nisan, the second month mentioned concerning Noah is the month after Nisan, since in Nisan the counting of the years of all the generations begins.

Therefore,

that day

on which the Flood began

was the seventeenth of Iyar,

which is the second month from Nisan.

And it was

the day on which the constellation Kima

the tail of the constellation Aries

sets during the day

beneath the earth.

And

also

the springs diminish

in Iyar, for the rainy season had already ended.

And since

the people of the generation of the Flood changed their

deeds,

from good to evil —

the Holy One, blessed is He, changed for them

the

work of Creation,

in two matters:

A. The Flood descended by day. For it is said [Genesis 7:13]: “On that very day Noah entered the ark.” And Noah entered the ark only when the waters descended and forced him to enter the ark, as it is said [there, verse 7]: “And Noah entered the ark because of the waters of the Flood.” From here [it follows] that the Flood descended by day.

And how did the Holy One, blessed is He, bring the Flood? He took two stars from Kima, which is the tail of the constellation Aries, in which there are many stars, and an opening was made in the heavens. Through it the waters descended to the earth. And since on the seventeenth of Iyar the constellation Kima is beneath the earth, the Holy One, blessed is He, had to alter the work of Creation,

and raised

the

constellation Kima by day.

And He took two stars from Kima,

and an opening was made in the heavens.

And

through that opening

He brought

the Holy One, blessed is He,

a Flood upon the world.

B. On the seventeenth of Iyar the springs diminish. And the Holy One, blessed is He, altered the work of Creation, and the springs grew strong and flooded them.

Rabbi Eliezer says:

Since the world was created [according to his view] in Tishrei, the second month mentioned in the verse is counted beginning from Tishrei, in which the counting of the years of all the generations begins.

Therefore,

that day [“

in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month”] on which the Flood began

was the seventeenth of Marheshvan

which is the second month from Tishrei.

And it was

the day on which the constellation Kima rises by day

above the earth.

And

also the

springs grow strong

in Marheshvan, for that is the rainy season. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed is He, did not need to alter the work of Creation and raise Kima by day. And He did not need to strengthen the springs either, for the constellation Kima rises by day in Marheshvan, and the springs also grow strong at that time.