Rosh Hashanah 13a (יג.) — the Talmud in English

And perhaps it did not enter at all—

perhaps the verse is speaking of grain that had not begun to ripen at all during the Sabbatical year—

and the Merciful One says:

Let it lie fallow and continue!

For the verse teaches that the Sabbatical year continues to apply

until Sukkot,

and it is forbidden to plow and harvest during that time.

Rav Asi answered Rabbi Zeira:

That cannot enter your mind!

It is impossible to interpret the verse as referring to grain that had not reached one-third of its ripening during the Sabbatical year, for it is demonstrated from another verse that the verse speaks only of grain that had reached one-third of its ripening:

As it is written [

Exodus 23]:

“And the Festival of the Ingathering [

Sukkot]

at the going out of the year,

when you gather in your work from the field.”

What is the meaning of “ingathering”?

What is the ingathering mentioned in the verse?

If you say

that Sukkot is called “the Festival of the Ingathering,” and that the verse comes to teach us that Sukkot is

the festival that comes at the time of ingathering [

the time when it is customary to gather the grain from the field], this is difficult:

Is it not written

at the end of the verse

“when you gather in

your work from the field”? From this we know that Sukkot comes at the time of ingathering; why, then, did the verse need to call Sukkot “the Festival of the Ingathering”?

Necessarily, the verse does not mean to say that Sukkot is called the Festival of the Ingathering.

Rather, what is the meaning of “ingathering”?—

Harvest!

And this is what the verse said:

The “festival” that is “when you gather in your work from the field”—the “ingathering” during which you harvest—is considered “at the going out of the year,” belonging to the outgoing seventh year.

And the Sages are versed in this matter:

the Sages know

that any grain harvested during the Festival

of Sukkot

is certainly known to have reached one-third

of its ripening

before Rosh HaShana.

And it calls it

the verse calls that grain

“at the going out of the year,”

meaning that this grain belongs to the outgoing year.

From here they derived that grain belongs to the year in which it reached one-third of its ripening.

Rabbi Yirmeya said to Rabbi Zeira: And

is it the case that

the Sages are versed in this matter,

that the Sages are so expert in the nature of grain’s growth that they can distinguish

between

growth of

one-third

and growth of

less than one-third,

to the extent that they said that grain is fit to be harvested during Sukkot only if it reached one-third during the previous year?!

He said to him,

Rabbi Zeira:

Did I not tell you,

did I not already say to you:

Do not take yourself outside the halakha!

Do not remove yourself from accepting the halakha transmitted by the Sages [by scrutinizing how this can be possible ].

For

all

the

measures

given by

the Sages—

that is how it is:

they gave a precise and exact measure. For example:

a.

With forty se'a one [

a person]

immerses.

But

with forty se'a less a kortov [

a very small measure ] one

cannot immerse in them.

b. Food

the size of an egg contracts [

contracts or becomes impure]

food impurity.

For it is stated [Leviticus 11:34], concerning food impurity: “Of all the food that may be eaten, it shall become impure.” The verse teaches with the words “that may be eaten” that only food eaten at one time contracts impurity, and the Sages calculated that the throat can contain exactly the size of an egg, no less and no more.

But food measuring

the size of an egg less

the measure of

a sesame seed—

does not contract food impurity.

c. Likewise, a garment measuring

three

handbreadths

by three

handbreadths

contracts [

becomes impure and renders impure]

midras impurity,

because a garment of this size is fit for sitting. But a garment measuring

three by three less one hair [

a hair]

one—

does not contract

midras

impurity.

Rabbi Yirmeya then [

afterward]

said: What I said is not a valid point!

There is no substance to my objection: Are the Sages expert enough to say that grain harvested during Sukkot had reached one-third during the previous year?

For there is proof that the Sages are indeed expert in this matter:

For the members of the academy asked Rav Kahana [

the scholars asked Rav Kahana]:

The omer

that Israel offered when they entered the Land—

from where did they offer it?

They had not had enough time to grow grain themselves! And

if you say

that they brought an omer

that had entered,

that had ripened

in the possession of a gentile

before they reached the Land, this is difficult:

Does not

the Merciful One say, “your harvest,”

and not a gentile’s harvest!

It is impossible to offer the omer from grain that grew in a gentile’s possession.

And even before the Gemara finishes presenting Rav Kahana’s answer and Rabbi Yirmeya’s conclusion, the Gemara immediately raises a question:

From where do you know that they offered it?!

From where did the questioners know with certainty that the Israelites indeed offered the omer when they entered the Land?

Perhaps,

perhaps in fact they

did not offer it

when they entered the Land!

And we answer:

That cannot enter your mind!

It is impossible to say that the Israelites did not offer the omer when they entered the Land!

Because

it is written [

Joshua 5:10–11]: “And the Israelites encamped at Gilgal,

and they ate from the produce of the Land on the morrow [

the day after the first Festival day of]

Passover.”

This implies that only

on the morrow

of the first Festival day of

Passover did they eat

from the produce of the Land. But

initially,

before the omer was brought—

they did not eat.

They refrained from eating the new grain before the omer was offered, and only afterward, when the omer permitted them to eat it, beginning on the day after the first Festival day of Passover, did they begin eating from the produce of the Land.

Necessarily,

they offered the omer, and afterward

only then

they ate,

they ate.

After the Gemara completed its explanation of the matter of offering the omer in the first year, it returns to the question asked of Rav Kahana:

The omer that Israel offered when they entered the Land—

from where did they offer it?

He said to them,

Rav Kahana: They could bring it from

any

grain

that had not reached one-third in the possession of a gentile

before they entered the Land, and once they entered the Land it completed its ripening in the possession of an Israelite.

Rabbi Yirmeya proved from here that the Sages are expert in the nature of grain’s growth and know how to distinguish between grain that reached one-third in the possession of a gentile and grain that had not reached one-third:

For the Sages should have been concerned:

Perhaps,

perhaps at the time they purchased the grain from the gentile, it had already

entered

its one-third in his possession,

and they were not versed in it,

and did not know how to recognize the matter. Why, then, were they not concerned about this?

Rather,

necessarily,

they are versed in it;

the Sages are expert in this matter and knew how to distinguish between grain that had reached one-third in the possession of a gentile and grain that had not reached one-third in the possession of a gentile.

And if so,

here too,

also with regard to grain harvested during Sukkot—

they are versed in it.

The Sages are expert enough to say that it certainly reached one-third before Rosh HaShana.

But the Gemara rejects Rabbi Yirmeya’s proof:

Perhaps it did not enter at all,

perhaps when the Israelites arrived in the Land, they examined the grain and found grain that had not begun to ripen at all, and they brought the omer from it; this is something recognizable to everyone.

But where it had entered a quarter,

with regard to grain that had already completed at least a quarter of its ripening, it is still possible that

they are not versed in distinguishing between one-third and less than one-third.

The Sages were not expert enough to distinguish between them!

The Gemara attempts to uphold Rabbi Yirmeya’s statement:

That cannot enter your mind!

It is impossible to say that the omer brought by the Israelites when they entered the Land had not begun to ripen in the possession of a gentile!

As it is written [

Joshua 4:19]:

“And the people went up from the Jordan

[to the Land of Israel]

on the tenth of the month

the first [Nisan].”

And if it enters your mind that it did not enter at all,

and if you say that they offered the omer from grain that had not begun to ripen at all before they entered the Land, this is difficult: Could it be that

in five days it would become full?!

Can grain that had not ripened at all become full in five days?!

Rather, necessarily, the omer that the Israelites offered when they entered the Land had begun to ripen in the possession of a gentile before they entered the Land, but had not reached one-third in the gentile’s possession. From here Rabbi Yirmeya proved that the Sages were expert enough to distinguish between grain that had reached one-third in the possession of a gentile and grain that had not reached one-third in the possession of a gentile.

But the Gemara retracts this resolution:

Rather, what

do you have to say—that the matter concerns grain

that had entered a quarter or a sixteenth,

that the omer brought by the Israelites had reached a quarter or a sixth of its growth [which is less than one-third] in the possession of a gentile?

Nevertheless,

still,

this too remains difficult: Could it be that

in five days—

would it become full?!

Could such grain complete its filling in only five days?!

Rather, what must you say?

You are forced to say that the Land of Israel differs from other lands, because

it is written of it, “a land of a gazelle” [

Daniel 11].

The meaning is that just as the gazelle is swifter than all other animals, so too the Land of Israel is quicker to ripen its produce than all other lands. Therefore, the grain that had reached a quarter or a sixth when they entered the Land ripened completely in only five days.

Here too,

it can likewise be said that

“it is written of it, ‘a land of a gazelle,’”

with regard to the Land of Israel; it differs from all other lands, and its produce ripens completely within five days.

Accordingly, it is possible that when the Israelites entered the Land, they examined the grain and found grain that had not begun to ripen at all, and it became full in their possession within five days, by the time of the omer harvest, even though grain does not ordinarily ripen within five days.

Thus Rabbi Yirmeya’s proof that the Sages were expert enough to distinguish between grain that had reached one-third and grain that had reached less than one-third was rejected.

Nevertheless, Rav Asi’s statement can still be maintained, even without Rabbi Yirmeya’s proof: The Sages are expert and know that any grain harvested during Sukkot certainly reached one-third before Rosh HaShana.

And it is stated [Exodus 23]: “And the Festival of the Ingathering at the going out of the year,” and “ingathering” means harvesting. Thus the verse said: Any grain harvested during Sukkot, which had reached one-third before Rosh HaShana, belongs to the outgoing year.

Rabbi Hanina raised an objection

to Rav Asi’s statement and challenged his words:

And can you say that this “ingathering”—

is harvesting?!

Can you say that the “ingathering” mentioned with regard to Sukkot means “harvesting”?

After all, why do you [Rav Asi] remove the word “ingathering” from its plain meaning in the verse? Because you say that the word “ingathering” is superfluous, since the continuation of the same verse states: “when you gather in your work from the field”! Your statement can be rejected:

For is it not written

elsewhere in the Torah [Deuteronomy 16]:

“When you gather in from your threshing floor and your winepress”?

And the Master said [

Rabbi Yohanan ]:

The verse is speaking of the refuse of the threshing floor and the winepress.

The verse comes to teach that the roofing of the sukka must be made only from things resembling the refuse of the threshing floor [the refuse of grain, such as straw] and the refuse of the winepress [the refuse of vines, such as branches], which grow from the ground and do not contract impurity.

Accordingly, the verse cited by Rav Asi [Exodus 23], “And the Festival of the Ingathering,” should be interpreted as follows: a festival that comes from the refuse gathered from the threshing floors and the winepresses; this is the name of the festival.

It is as though it said: “And the Festival of Sukkot at the going out of the year,” and the verse adds and explains when the Festival of Sukkot is to be observed: “when you gather in your work [at the time when it is customary to gather the grain] from the field.”

Rabbi Zeira said: We had this matter in our possession,

from Rav Asi’s words we thought we could derive that grain is governed by the year in which it reached one-third.

And

Rabbi Hanina came

and threw an ax at it [

he threw an ax at it].

That is, he rejected Rav Asi’s statement and said that the “ingathering” mentioned in the verse is not superfluous.

Rather,

since Rav Asi’s statement has been rejected, the question returns:

From where do we know

that grain is governed by the year in which it reached one-third?

And we answer:

As it was taught

in a beraita:

Rabbi Yonatan ben Yosef says:

It is stated [Leviticus 25:20–21]: “And if you will say, ‘What shall we eat in the seventh year? We will not sow.’ I will command My blessing for you in the sixth year,

and it will produce

[and it will make]

the grain for three years.”