Rosh Hashanah 11b (יא:) — the Talmud in English

“A testimony concerning Yosef—He appointed him upon his departure

from the prison to rule over the land of Egypt.”

Etc.

That is, on that very day, on Rosh Hashana, God brought Yosef out to rule over the land of Egypt.

We learned in a beraita:

“On Rosh Hashana, the labor was annulled for our forefathers in Egypt,”

according to everyone.

And the Gemara brings a source for this:

It is written here

in the passage concerning the enslavement in Egypt:

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

And it is written there

in Psalms, later in the verse: “Sound the shofar on the New Moon, on the appointed time for the day of our festival. A testimony concerning Yosef—He appointed him.”

“I removed his shoulder from beneath the burden.”

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

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 statement:

“In Nisan they were redeemed”—

as it is stated!

As is explicitly stated in the Torah concerning the Exodus from Egypt.

“In Tishrei they are destined to be redeemed”—

it is derived

by means of a gezerah shavah

of the words “shofar” and “shofar”:

It is written here

in Psalms there:

“Sound the shofar on the New Moon,

“on the appointed time for the day of our festival,” on the festival of Rosh Hashana.

And it is written there

in Isaiah, concerning the future redemption:

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

Just as the sounding of the shofar mentioned in Psalms there is on Rosh Hashana, so too the sounding of the shofar mentioned concerning the future redemption will be on Rosh Hashana.

We learned in a beraita:

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

And we raise an objection concerning this:

From where do we know

this?

And we answer:

The verse states

in the passage concerning the night of Passover:

“A night of guarding.”

This teaches you that this is

the night that has been guarded and awaits

redemption

since the six days of Creation.

But the other one,

Rabbi Eliezer, who maintains that they are destined to be redeemed in Tishrei, interprets the verse “a night of guarding” as referring to

a night that is guarded and awaits

throughout all generations

against harmful forces.

We learned in the beraita above that Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua disagreed about 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 disagreed concerning the creation of the world,

they followed their respective positions

, they likewise disagreed according to their respective approaches concerning the time of the Flood, as follows:

For it was taught:

It is stated concerning the Flood:

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

“on this day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of heaven were opened” [and the Flood began].

Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Eliezer disagreed concerning which day was “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 following Nisan, since the count of the years of all the generations begins in Nisan.

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 of Kima

the tail of the constellation Aries —

sets during the day,

beneath the earth.

And

also

the fountains diminish

in Iyar, since the rainy season had already ended.

And because

the people of the generation of the Flood changed

their deeds,

from good to evil—

the Holy One, blessed be He, changed for them

the

work of Creation

in two respects:

A. The Flood fell by day. For it is stated: “In the middle of this very day Noah entered the ark.” Noah entered the ark only when the waters fell and compelled him to enter the ark, as it is stated: “And Noah entered the ark because of the waters of the Flood.” From here it follows that the Flood fell by day.

And how did the Holy One, blessed be 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 a breach was made in the heavens. Through it the waters descended to the earth. And since on the seventeenth of Iyar the constellation Kima was beneath the earth, the Holy One, blessed be He, had to change the order of the

work

of Creation,

and caused the constellation Kima to rise by day.

And He took two stars from Kima,

and a breach was made in the heavens.

And

through that breach

He brought

the Holy One, blessed be He,

a Flood upon the world.

B. On the seventeenth of Iyar the fountains diminish. The Holy One, blessed be He, changed the work of Creation, and the fountains grew stronger and swept them away.

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 count 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

fountains grow stronger

in Marheshvan, since that is the rainy season. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, did not need to change the work of Creation and cause Kima to rise by day. Nor did He need to strengthen the fountains, since Kima rises by day in Marheshvan, and the fountains likewise grow stronger at that time.