Rosh Hashanah 13a — the Talmud in English

And perhaps it did not enter at all,

perhaps the verse is speaking of grain that did not begin to ripen at all during the seventh year,

and the Merciful One said—

Let it be released and continue!

for the verse says that the sabbatical year continues to apply

until the festival of Sukkot,

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

Rav Asi answered and said to Rabbi Zeira:

That cannot enter your mind!

It is not possible to interpret the verse as referring to grain that did not reach one-third during the seventh year, for it is demonstrated from another verse that the verse speaks only of grain that reached one-third:

For it is written [Exodus 23]:

“

And the festival of the ingathering

[Sukkot]

at the going out of the year,

when you gather your works from the field.”

What is ‘ingathering’?

What is the ingathering mentioned in the verse?

If you say,

if it is said that the festival of Sukkot is called “the festival of the ingathering,” and the verse comes to teach us that the festival of Sukkot is

a festival that comes at the time of ingathering

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

is it not written

at the end of the verse

“when you gather

your works from the field”? From this we know that the festival of Sukkot comes at the time of ingathering, so why did the verse need to call Sukkot “the festival of the ingathering”?

It is necessarily the case that the intention of the verse is not to say that the festival of Sukkot is called the festival of the ingathering.

Rather, what is ‘ingathering’?—

Harvest!

And so the verse said: “

The ‘festival’ that is ‘when you gather your works from the field’—the ‘ingathering’ in which you harvest—is considered ‘at the going out of the year,’ for it belongs to the departing seventh year.”

And the Sages have it established,

the Sages know

that every grain harvested during the festival

of Sukkot

is certainly known to have reached one-third

of its ripening

before the New Year.

And it calls it,

and the verse calls that grain

“at the going out of the year,”

that is, this grain belongs to the departing year.

And from here they learned that grain belongs to the year in which it reached one-third of its ripening.

Rabbi Jeremiah said to Rabbi Zeira: And

is it that

the Sages have it established,

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

between

growth of

one-third

and growth of

less than one-third,

to such an extent that they said that grain is not fit to be harvested during the festival of Sukkot unless it reached one-third in the previous year?!

He said to him,

Rabbi Zeira:

Did I not say to you,

and did I not already say to you:

Do not take yourself outside the halakha!

Do not remove yourself from accepting the halakha in the hands of the Sages [to scrutinize how this thing is possible ].

For

all

the

measures

that the

Sages gave—

this is so,

that they gave a precise and exact measure. For example:

1.

With forty seahs

[the person]

immerses.

But

with forty seahs lacking a kortov

[a very small measure ]

he cannot immerse in them.

2. Food

of the size of an egg renders impure

[renders impure or becomes impure]

with food impurity.

As it is stated [Leviticus 11:34], concerning food impurity: “From all the food that is eaten, it shall become impure.” The verse teaches, by “that is eaten,” that only food eaten at one time receives impurity, and the Sages estimated that the throat can contain exactly the size of an egg, no less and no more.

But food of the measure

of the size of an egg lacking

the measure of

a sesame seed—

does not render impure with food impurity.

3. And likewise, a garment measuring

three

handbreadths

by three

handbreadths

renders impure

[becomes impure and renders impure] with the impurity of

a seat,

because a garment of this measure is fit for sitting. But a garment of

three by three lacking one hair

[a hair]

one—

does not render impure with

the impurity of

a seat.

Afterward

[later]

Rabbi Jeremiah said: It is not a matter that I said!

There is no substance to what I challenged: Are the Sages expert enough to say that grain harvested at Sukkot reached one-third in the previous year?

For it can be proved that the Sages indeed are expert in the matter:

For the Fellows asked Rav Kahana

[the Fellows asked Rav Kahana]:

The omer

that Israel offered when they entered the Land—

from where did they offer it?

For they did not have time to grow grain themselves! And

if you say

that they brought an omer

that entered,

that ripened

in the possession of a gentile

before they arrived in the Land, this can be challenged:

Is it not that

“your harvest,” the Merciful One said,

and not the harvest of a gentile!

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

And before the Gemara finishes bringing Rav Kahana’s answer, and the conclusion of Rabbi Jeremiah’s words, the Gemara immediately wonders:

From where [do we know] that they offered it!?

From where were the questioners certain that the Children of Israel indeed offered the omer when they entered the Land?

Perhaps,

perhaps in truth they

did not offer

the omer offering when they entered the Land!

And we answer:

That cannot enter your mind!

It is not possible to say that the Children of Israel did not offer the omer when they entered the Land!

Because

it is written [Joshua 5:10–11]: “And the Children of Israel encamped at Gilgal,

“And the Children of Israel encamped at Gilgal,

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

[of the first festival day of]

Passover.”

And it follows that only

on the morrow

of the first festival day of

Passover they ate,

they ate from the produce of the Land. But

at first,

before the offering of the omer—

they did not eat.

For they refrained from eating the new grain before the offering of the omer, and only afterward, when the omer permitted them to eat it, on the day after the first festival day of Passover, did they begin eating from the produce of the Land.

And necessarily

they offered the omer, and afterward

and only afterward

they ate,

they ate.

After the Gemara finished explaining the matter of the offering of the omer in the first year, it returns to the question that they asked 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 finished ripening in the possession of Israel.

And Rabbi Jeremiah proved from here that the Sages are expert in the nature of the growth of grain, and know how to distinguish between grain that reached one-third in the possession of a gentile and grain that did not reach one-third:

For the Sages should have been concerned:

Perhaps,

perhaps at the time they bought the grain from the gentile it had already

entered

one-third in his possession,

and they did not have it established,

and they were not expert enough to recognize the matter. Why were they not concerned about this?

Rather,

necessarily

they have it established,

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

And if so,

here too,

also concerning grain harvested at Sukkot—

they have it established.

The Sages are expert enough to say that it certainly reached one-third before the New Year.

But the Gemara rejects Rabbi Jeremiah’s proof:

Perhaps it did not enter at all,

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

But where it entered a quarter,

in grain that had already ripened at least one-quarter of its ripening, it is still possible that

between one-third and less than one-third they do not have it established.

For the Sages are not expert enough to distinguish in this matter!

And the Gemara tries to uphold Rabbi Jeremiah’s words:

That cannot enter your mind!

It is not possible to say that the omer that the Children of Israel brought when they entered the Land had not begun to ripen in the possession of a gentile!

For 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, then this is difficult: Can

in five days it become full!?

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

Rather, necessarily, the omer that the Children of Israel offered when they entered the Land had begun to ripen in the possession of a gentile before they entered the Land, but did not reach one-third in the possession of a gentile. And from here Rabbi Jeremiah proved that the Sages were expert enough to distinguish between grain that reached one-third in the possession of a gentile and grain that did not reach one-third in the possession of a gentile.

But the Gemara retracts this answer:

Rather, what—what

do you have to say, that it concerns grain

that entered a quarter or a sixth,

that the omer that the Children of Israel offered reached a quarter or a sixth of its growth [which is less than one-third] in the possession of a gentile.

But

still,

there is nevertheless reason to wonder about this as well: Can

in five days—

can it become full!?

Can such grain finish becoming full in only five days?!

Rather, what do you have to say,

what are you forced to say? That the Land of Israel differs from all other lands, because

“the land of a gazelle” is written concerning it

[Daniel 11].

And the meaning of the matter is: Just as the gazelle is swifter than all the animals, so too the Land of Israel is swift to ripen its produce more than all the 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,

also in this case it is said that

“the land of a gazelle” is written concerning it

in the Land of Israel, and it differs from all other lands, and its produce hastens to complete all its ripening within five days.

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

And by this Rabbi Jeremiah’s proof that the Sages are expert enough to distinguish between grain that reached one-third and grain that reached less than one-third was rejected.

Nevertheless, it can still be said according to Rav Asi’s words, even without Rabbi Jeremiah’s proof, that the Sages are expert and know that every grain harvested at Sukkot certainly reached one-third before the New Year.

And it is stated [Exodus 23]: “And the festival of the ingathering at the going out of the year,” and “ingathering” means harvest. And so the verse said: Every grain harvested during the festival of Sukkot, which reached one-third before the New Year, belongs to the departing year.

Rabbi Hanina raised an objection against

Rav Asi’s words, and challenged his statement:

And can you really say that this ‘ingathering

is harvest’!?

Can you say that the “ingathering” mentioned concerning the festival of Sukkot means “harvest”?!

After all, why do you [Rav Asi] remove the word “ingathering” from its plain meaning in Scripture? Because you say that the word “ingathering” is superfluous, since it is stated later in the same verse: “when you gather your works from the field”! Your words can be rejected, for

is it not written

elsewhere in the Torah [Deuteronomy 16]:

“when you gather from your threshing floor and from your winepress”?

And the Master said

[Rabbi Yohanan ]:

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

For the verse comes to teach that the roofing of the sukkah should 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 receive impurity.

Accordingly, this is how the verse brought by Rav Asi [Exodus 23] should be interpreted: “And the festival of the ingathering”—a festival that comes from the refuse gathered from the threshing floors and the winepresses; and 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 they should make the festival of Sukkot: “when you gather your works [at the time when it is customary to gather the grain] from the field.”

Rabbi Zeira said: This matter was in our hands,

from Rav Asi’s words we thought to learn that concerning grain, one follows the year in which it reached one-third.

And Rabbi Hanina came

[and came]

and cast an ax into it

[threw an ax into it].

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

Rather,

since Rav Asi’s words were rejected, the question returns:

From where do we know

that concerning grain, one follows the year in which it reached one-third?

And we answer:

As it was taught

in a beraita:

Rabbi Jonathan ben Joseph says:

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

and it shall make

[and it shall produce]

the grain for three years.”