Rosh Hashanah 21b (כא:) — the Talmud in English

Mishna:

According to Torah law, witnesses who saw the renewal of the moon on Shabbat desecrate Shabbat and leave beyond the Shabbat limit, traveling to Jerusalem, in order to testify before the court.

However, the Sages prohibited desecrating Shabbat for most of the months, with the exception of Nisan and Tishrei, as follows:

For two months they desecrate Shabbat: For Nisan and for Tishrei.

For the establishment of these months is important. And we find that the Sages enacted

that during them messengers go out to Syria

to inform the people of the Diaspora when the new month was established.

And during them the festivals are arranged.

And since the arrangement of the festivals depends on these two months, they permitted desecrating Shabbat for them.

And when the Temple was standing,

they

would desecrate Shabbat even for all of them,

for all the months,

because of the ordinance concerning the offering,

so that they could offer the additional offering of the new month at its proper time.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna: For two months they desecrate Shabbat. During them [Nisan and Tishrei] messengers go out to Syria.

And we raise a difficulty: Is it so that

for two months

alone the messengers would go out,

and no more,

with no others?!

And it contradicts

the previous Mishna, for we learned in the previous Mishna:

For six months the messengers go out!

Abaye

said

and explained:

This is what it is saying:

This is what the tanna intended to say:

For all of them,

for the other months for which the messengers go out, the

messengers would go out in the evening.

Even though the court sits and sanctifies the new month only during the day, if the messengers knew that the court would certainly sanctify the month during the following day, they would go out on the preceding evening.

For example, if the renewal of the moon had already been clearly seen on the twenty-ninth day of the month, or on the night of the thirtieth, and there would certainly be witnesses to the matter.

Or, for example, if the court had not sanctified the month on the thirtieth day. It was certain that they would sanctify it on the following day.

But

for Nisan and for Tishrei

the messengers would not go out

until they heard from the court

that they said

“Sanctified”

during the day. [ Therefore, in the other months for which the messengers go out, the witnesses’ desecration of Shabbat would not provide additional time for the messengers’ journey, as follows, whereas this is not so with regard to Nisan and Tishrei:

For when it happened that the moon was renewed on Shabbat, then, in the other months for which the messengers go out, whether the witnesses would testify on Shabbat and the court would sanctify the month that same day, or whether the witnesses would not desecrate Shabbat and the court would sanctify the month on the following day [the day on which the month was made full], in every case the messengers would go out at the conclusion of Shabbat:

If they sanctified it on Shabbat, they would go out at the conclusion of Shabbat because their journey does not override Shabbat. And if they did not sanctify it on Shabbat, it was clear that they would sanctify it on the following day, and during the other months the messengers go out in the evening.

But in Nisan and Tishrei, if the witnesses would not desecrate Shabbat and the court would sanctify the month on the following day, the witnesses could not leave at the conclusion of Shabbat until the day arrived and the court said, “Sanctified.” Consequently, the time during which the witnesses could travel would be shortened, and they would not reach the distant places before Passover.

A beraita also teaches this: For all of them they go out in the evening; for Nisan and for Tishrei

until they hear from the court: Sanctified.

The Sages taught:

From where is it derived that they desecrate Shabbat for them?

The verse states [

Leviticus 23 ]:

“These are the appointed times of the Lord,

holy convocations,

which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.”

The verse cautioned that the proclamation of the festivals as holy convocations must take place at their appointed times and not afterward, and this depends on the sanctification of the new month by the court. [

The new month is also called an appointed time; therefore, by Torah law, Shabbat is desecrated for all the months, even those in which there are no festivals].

One might have thought,

you might say:

Just as they desecrate

the witnesses’ Shabbat

until they are sanctified [

before the months have been sanctified] so that they will be sanctified at their proper time,

so they desecrate

the messengers’ Shabbat after the months have been sanctified

until [

so that]

the festivals will be observed

at their proper time.

The verse states: “Which you shall proclaim.”

This teaches you that specifically

for their proclamation you desecrate Shabbat, but you do not desecrate Shabbat for their observance.

We learned in the Mishna:

And when the Temple was standing, they would desecrate Shabbat even for all of them, because of the ordinance concerning the offering.

The Sages taught:

Initially, they would desecrate Shabbat even for all of them,

even

after the Temple was destroyed.

Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said to them: Is there

now

an offering

for whose sake it is necessary to desecrate Shabbat?

Therefore,

they enacted that Shabbat should be desecrated only for Nisan and Tishrei.

Mishna:

Our Mishna continues to discuss the witnesses’ desecration of Shabbat:

Whether it was seen

the moon at the time of its renewal

clearly,

in an unmistakable manner, when the sky was clear [Tiferet Yisrael],

or whether it was not seen clearly, they desecrate Shabbat for it.

Rabbi Yosei says: If it was seen clearly, they do not desecrate Shabbat for it,

because the people of Jerusalem certainly saw it as well, and they can testify without desecrating Shabbat.

An incident occurred in which more than forty pairs

in Lod

of witnesses passed by [

pairs] on their way to Jerusalem to testify concerning the renewal of the moon, and it was Shabbat,

and Rabbi Akiva detained them in Lod,

because all these witnesses were not needed.

Rabban Gamliel sent him: If you detain the multitude

when they are not needed,

you will cause them to fail in the future,

so that they will refrain from coming to testify when they see that their testimony is not accepted; and perhaps in the future one of them will be needed, as he alone saw the renewal of the moon.

Gemara:

And we raise a question:

What indicates that this word “clearly

is an expression of revelation?

From where did we learn that “clearly” is an expression of revelation [that the matter is visible to everyone]?

Rabbi Abbahu said: The verse states [

Psalms 12 ]:

“The words of the Lord are pure words,

like

silver refined

which is refined

clearly in the earth,

in an exposed place in the depths of the earth,

purified sevenfold.”

And since the Gemara brought this verse, it brings a teaching in the name of Rav and Shmuel, who expounded this verse:

Rav and Shmuel

disagreed as to whether the gates of understanding were given to King Solomon as they were given to Moses our teacher, as follows:

One said:

What is the meaning of “purified sevenfold”?

“Sevenfold” means seven times seven, that is, 49.

From here we learn that

fifty gates of understanding were created in the world.

And all of them

were given to Moses, lacking

one

gate.

As it is stated [

Psalms 8 ]: “What is man that You are mindful of him,

and that You have made him slightly less than God,”

than the angels.

And that psalm is expounded [in the chapter “Rabbi Akiva”] with reference to Moses our teacher.

And since it was said about Moses “sevenfold,” meaning that 49 gates of understanding were given to him, we learn that fifty gates of understanding were created, for it is stated, “and that You have made him slightly less.”

And concerning this it is stated [Ecclesiastes 12]:

“Kohelet sought to find words of delight.”

That is,

Kohelet sought to be like Moses.

A Divine voice went forth and said to him [

there, later in the verse]:

“And what is written is upright, words of truth!”

It was already stated in the Torah [

Deuteronomy 34 ]:

“And there has not arisen a prophet

among them

in Israel like Moses,”

but

among the kings there has arisen one.

Rather,

how

do I understand

the verse

“Kohelet sought to find words of delight”?

This is the meaning of the verse:

Kohelet sought to adjudicate cases involving the heart

on the basis of his wisdom,

without witnesses and without warning.

A Divine voice went forth and said to him [

later in the verse]:

“And what is written is upright, words of truth!”

That is, it was already stated in the Torah [Deuteronomy 17]:

“At the mouth of two witnesses

a matter shall be established.”