Rosh Hashanah 4a — the Talmud in English

“And what is our concern”,

everything that the priests desire, give them from my property.

And

take also

young bulls [

cattle],

and rams [

male sheep],

and lambs [

sheep],

to bring up to the God of Heaven,

in order to bring them up to the God of Heaven.

And likewise

wheat [

grains],

salt, wine [

wine],

and oil [

oil],

according to the statement of the priests who are in Jerusalem [

according to the measure that the priests who are in Jerusalem will say],

let it be given to them day by day, so that there be no failure [

it shall be given to them every day, and you shall not forget].

And from here, Darius was a righteous king!

Rabbi Yitzhak said to

Rav Kahana:

Rabbi, from your own argument [

from your burden—from your claim: from the place from which you came to prove contrary to my words, from there I shall prove to you according to my words, and contrary to your words]:

For this is stated later in the scroll of Darius [in verse 10]:

“So that they may offer fragrant offerings to the God of Heaven [

give the Jews all these things, so that] they may offer sacrifices to the God of Heaven.

And pray for the life of the king and his sons,”

and they shall pray for the life of the king and his sons.

And from here, Darius did not intend to give his gifts for the sake of Heaven, but for the sake of the life of the king and his sons. And it may be learned from this that he became wicked.

And we raise an objection:

And

does

one who does this—

is it not a virtue!?

And is it so that one who does this, giving his property for a mitzva for the sake of his own life and the life of his sons, is not considered to have done something meritorious?!

And it was taught: One who says

“This sela is for charity

so that my sons may live, and so that I may merit through it life in the World to Come,” he is a completely righteous person,

if he is accustomed to give charity.

And we resolve:

It is not difficult:

Here,

in the beraita, in which we learned that one who gives charity for the sake of his son’s life is a completely righteous person, it is speaking

of

a person

of Israel,

whose heart is directed toward Heaven; and even if they afflict him from Heaven during his lifetime, he does not protest, but attributes the sufferings to his sins.

Whereas

here,

in Rabbi Yitzhak’s statement, that Darius is considered wicked because he gave of his property to the Temple for the sake of his own life and the life of his sons, it is speaking

of gentiles,

for if the Holy One, blessed be He, does not benefit them according to their due, they protest against Heaven.

And if you wish, say

there is another source from which it may be learned that Darius became wicked:

From where do we know that Darius became wicked,

Darius?

For it is written [

in Ezra 6:4], when Darius sent to the gentile authorities in Jerusalem that they should fulfill what was written in the scroll of Cyrus [the first], and this is what was written in the scroll:

The walls of the Temple shall be built in this manner:

“Rows of hewn stone—

three!”

Three rows of marble stones.

And a row of new wood.

And one row of wood.

And the expense—

from the king’s house it shall be given.

And the expenses for the building of the house shall be given from the king’s house.”

And the Gemara infers:

Why did he do this?

Why did Darius command that the walls of the house be built in such a manner?

He thought: If the Jews rebel against me—

I shall burn it with fire!

Darius thought: if the Jews rebel against me, I shall burn the Temple with fire. Therefore he commanded that they make rows of wood in the Temple.

And from here, Darius became wicked.

And we raise an objection:

Is it so,

that

Solomon,

the king, when he built the Temple—

did he not do this!?

But King Solomon did this when he built the First Temple.

And it is written

in the First Book of Kings [6:36], concerning the Temple that Solomon made:

“Three rows of hewn stone,

three rows of hewn stones,

and

upon them

a row of cedar beams.”

And one row of cedars that had been cut and carefully hewn!

And we resolve:

Solomon did it above.

Solomon made the row of wood above, so that the Temple would not burn.

But

whereas

he himself,

Darius,

did it below.

He made the row of wood below. So that if he burned it, the house would collapse.

And furthermore:

Solomon embedded it in the building.

He embedded the row of wood inside, between the rows of stone, so that it would not burn.

But

he himself,

Darius,

did not embed it in the building.

And furthermore:

Solomon plastered it with plaster,

he plastered the wood with plaster so that it would not burn.

But

he himself,

Darius,

did not plaster it with plaster.

And the Gemara brings another source that Darius became wicked:

Rav Yosef, and some say,

and it is possible that

Rabbi Yitzhak said

this:

From where do we know that Darius became wicked

Darius?—

from here,

from this verse, which is stated [Nehemiah 2:6]:

“And the king said to me,

Darius.

And the shagel

was

sitting beside him.”

What is “shagel”?

Rabba bar Lima said in the name of Rav: A female dog,

a female dog for intercourse [and the descendants of Noah were warned not to do this].

And we raise an objection:

If so,

since we said that shagel means a female dog, one may object:

That which is written [

what is written in Daniel 5:23], that Daniel said to Belshazzar, king of Babylon:

“And against the Lord of Heaven you exalted yourself,

and against the Master of Heaven you acted arrogantly,

and the vessels of His House they brought before you,

and the vessels of the Temple they brought before you,

and you and your nobles, your shagel, and your concubines drank wine from them.

And you and your ministers, and your shagel and your concubines, drank wine from them.”

And if shagel is a female dog,

it is difficult: is a

female dog—

is she one who drinks wine!?

Is a female dog capable of drinking wine?!

Rather, it follows that the shagel is not a female dog!

And we resolve:

This is not difficult—

they train her, and she drinks.

It is possible to train the female dog to drink.

If so,

since we said that shagel is a female dog, there is another difficulty:

For it is written [

Psalms 45], in praise of the people of Israel:

“Daughters of kings are among your precious ones,

they will make you precious in the future.

The shagel stands at your right hand in the gold of Ophir,

in refined gold brought from Ophir.”

And if shagel is a female dog—

what is he announcing to them,

the

prophet to Israel?

And is it praise that the female dog will stand at their right hand?!

And we resolve:

This is what it is saying.

This is the meaning of the verse:

In the merit that the Torah is beloved,

the

Torah to Israel as

just as the

shagel is beloved to the gentiles,

therefore

you have merited the gold of Ophir,

refined gold brought from Ophir.

And if you wish, say

that the words of Rabba bar Lima, who explained that the shagel who sat beside Darius was a female dog, can be resolved in another manner:

In truth, shagel—

she is a queen.

And Rabba bar Lima,

who said that the shagel who sat beside Darius was a female dog—

he learned it as a tradition!

He received this matter from his teachers, that the shagel mentioned concerning Darius was a female dog.

And why does Scripture call her

the verse

“shagel”?

Because

she was beloved by him like a shagel,

like a queen.

Alternatively,

because

he seated her in the place

of the

shagel.

If you wish, say: From where do we know that Darius became wicked

Darius?—

from here,

from this verse [Ezra 7:22]:

As Scripture recounts, Darius sent a letter through Ezra the scribe, who came up from Babylon, and in it he commanded the officials appointed over the king’s treasuries to place in Ezra’s hand for the service of the Temple:

“Up to one hundred talents of silver.”

Up to one hundred talents of silver.

And up to one hundred kors of wheat.

And up to one hundred kors of wheat.

And up to one hundred baths of wine.

One hundred “baths” [the bat is a certain measure] of wine.

And up to one hundred baths of oil.

One hundred baths of oil.

And salt, which is not written.

And for salt he did not set a measure; rather, they shall give according to need.”

And the Gemara infers:

At first, without a limit.

At first Darius commanded that it be given for the service of the Temple according to the priests’ desire, without a limit.

But

whereas

now,

now, when Ezra came up from Babylon, he commanded that they give them only

with a limit,

only in a fixed measure.

And from here you learn that he became wicked.

And we raise an objection:

But perhaps, at first, he did not know the limit.

Perhaps at first Darius did not know what measure was needed for the service of the Temple, and therefore commanded that they give according to the priests’ request. But ultimately he learned how much was needed, and therefore commanded that they give them according to the need. If so, it cannot be proved from here that Darius became wicked.

And we conclude that indeed it cannot be proved from here that Darius became wicked.

Rather, it is clear—

as we answered at first.

It is clear that it must be proved that Darius became wicked from what we proved above: from the fact that he built a row of wood in the walls of the Temple so that he would be able to burn it, and from the fact that he had a female dog for intercourse.

We learned in the Mishna: On the first of Nisan is the New Year for kings

and for festivals.

And from the language of the tannai it apparently follows that the first festival of the year is on the first of Nisan.

And we wonder: is it possible to say that the New Year of

festivals—

is on the first of Nisan!?

But

it is on the fifteenth of Nisan,

the Festival of Matzot!

He said—

in explanation:

Rav Hisda explained:

the intention of the Mishna is to say that

the festival that is in it,

the festival that is in the month of Nisan, which begins on the first of Nisan, is

the New Year for festivals.

And the

practical consequence

of the fact that Passover is the New Year for festivals is

for one who vows,

for one who undertakes money through a vow for the sake of the Most High,

for him to incur “do not delay”!

For if three festivals have passed in their order from the time he vowed, and he did not fulfill his vow to the Most High, he transgresses “do not delay,” concerning which it is said [Deuteronomy 23:22]: “When you vow a vow to Hashem your God—you shall not delay paying it.”

And the Mishna informs us that the first festival in the count of the three festivals, in order to transgress “do not delay,” is Passover [and the last is Sukkot].

And

our Mishna is according to the words of

Rabbi Shimon:

For it was taught: Whether one who vows,

one who says, “My value is upon me for the sake of the Most High,” whose value is assessed in order to sell him as a slave, and he gives the money to the consecrated property.

And whether one who consecrates

something for the repair of the Temple.

And whether one who declares an valuation,

who says, “My valuation is upon me,” and is obligated to pay the consecrated property a fixed value according to the number of his years of life.

Each one of these,

once three festivals have passed for him

and he has not fulfilled his vow,

transgresses “do not delay”,

even if three festivals have not passed for him in their order beginning from Passover.

For example, if he made his vow before Sukkot, he transgresses “do not delay” when Shavuot has passed, since three festivals have passed for him, even though they were not in their order from Passover.

Rabbi Shimon

bar Yohai

says:

He does not transgress “do not delay” unless

three festivals have passed for him in their order, and the Festival of Matzot

is

first

in this order.

And so,

thus

Rabbi Shimon ben Yohai would say: the

The

festivals

that cause a person to transgress “do not delay”

sometimes

are

three, sometimes

are

four,

and

sometimes

are

five.

How so?

If he vowed before Passover—

he transgresses “do not delay” after

three

festivals.

If he vowed

before Shavuot [

Shavuot]—he transgresses “do not delay” after

five

festivals.

For after he vowed and Shavuot and Sukkot passed, he begins to count three festivals from Passover. It follows that he does not transgress “do not delay” until after five festivals.

If he vowed

before the festival

of Sukkot—he transgresses “do not delay” after

four

festivals.

For after Sukkot has passed for him, he begins to count three festivals from Passover, and it follows that he transgresses “do not delay” after four festivals.

The Sages taught

in a beraita: who are those who transgress “do not delay,” and when do they transgress:

Those liable for valuations,

one who says, “My value is upon me,” whose value is assessed as a slave, and he gives his value to the consecrated property.

And those liable for declared valuations,

one who says, “My valuation is upon me,” who gives to the consecrated property the value fixed in the Torah, according to his years.

Those liable for herem declarations,

one who says, “This is herem for the repair of the Temple.”

And the consecrated properties,

one who says, “This is consecrated.”

And those liable for

sin-offerings and guilt-offerings

(one who transgresses a sin for which the Torah made him liable for a sin-offering or a guilt-offering).

And likewise one who voluntarily offered

burnt-offerings and peace-offerings.

Or one who vowed to give

charities.

And

those liable for

tithes,

the first tithe, the second tithe, and the poor tithe.

And one whose animal gave birth to a

firstborn.

And

those liable for

animal tithe

And

those liable for the

Passover-offering.