Rosh Hashanah 4b (ד:) — the Talmud in English

And likewise, one is liable for

leket, shikhḥa

and pe'a.

All of these,

once three pilgrimage Festivals have passed over them

and he has not fulfilled his obligation,

violate “Do not delay.”

And even if the three pilgrimage Festivals did not occur in their proper order.

Rabbi Shimon says:

He violates “Do not delay” only if

three pilgrimage Festivals have passed over him in their proper order, with the Festival of Matzot first

, since the Festival of Matzot is the first Festival in the order of the three pilgrimage Festivals.

Rabbi Meir says: Once one pilgrimage Festival has passed over them

alone—

he violates “Do not delay.”

Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov says: Once two pilgrimage Festivals have passed over them—

he violates “Do not delay.”

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, says: Once the Festival of Sukkot has passed over them—

he violates “Do not delay.”

That is, “Do not delay” depends solely on the Festival of Sukkot. If, after the obligation has taken effect for a person, the Festival of Sukkot passes and he does not fulfill his obligation, he violates “Do not delay.”

We inquire:

What is the reason?

What is the reason of

the first tanna

, who says that three pilgrimage Festivals cause a person to violate “Do not delay”?

And we answer: In Deuteronomy chapter 16, verses 1–15, the Torah details the laws of the Festival of Matzot, the Festival of Shavuot, and the Festival of Sukkot.

And afterward it is stated, in verse 16: “Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord your God, in the place that He will choose: on the Festival of Matzot, on the Festival of Shavuot, and on the Festival of Sukkot. And he shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed.”

This requires explanation:

Now

,

since the matter emerges from them

, since the Torah has finished detailing the laws of the three pilgrimage Festivals—

why do I need it to return and write

, why did the Torah need to repeat, in the context of the mitzva of ascending for the pilgrimage,

“on the Festival of Matzot, on the Festival of Shavuot, and on the Festival of Sukkot”?

After all, once it says, “Three times in the year shall all your males appear,” it is self-evident that the reference is to these three pilgrimage Festivals.

Rather,

infer from this

that the intention of the verse is

to

teach about

“Do not delay.”

And this is the meaning of the verse: “On the Festival of Matzot, on the Festival of Shavuot, and on the Festival of Sukkot”—you shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed; rather, appear before Him in order to fulfill your vows to Him.

And Rabbi Shimon says:

The verse

does not need to say “on the Festival of Sukkot,” since

it is

the Festival about which the verse speaks

, as the verse “Three times in the year shall all your males appear” is stated in the section concerning the laws of the Festival of Sukkot. Therefore, it would have been sufficient for the Torah to say, “Three times in the year: on the Festival of Matzot and on the Festival of Shavuot.” It is superfluous to mention the Festival of Sukkot, since it is understood automatically.

If so,

why is it stated

also, “on the Festival of Sukkot”?

To teach that this is [the Festival of Sukkot],

the

last

of the three pilgrimage Festivals, and one does not violate “Do not delay” unless the three pilgrimage Festivals have passed in this order.

And Rabbi Meir

, who said that if one pilgrimage Festival passes over him, he violates “Do not delay”—

what is the reason?

What is his reason?

As it is written [Deuteronomy 12:5–6]

“And you shall come there

and you shall bring there

[to the Temple]

your burnt offerings

and your sacrifices.”

The verse says that when you come to the Temple for the pilgrimage Festival, you must fulfill your obligations. From here it follows that if one pilgrimage Festival passes over him and he does not fulfill his obligation, he violates “Do not delay.”

And the Rabbis

, as well as all the tannaim who disagree with Rabbi Meir, maintain that one cannot derive “Do not delay” from this verse. For

that verse

comes to teach a positive mitzva

: that there is a positive mitzva to fulfill one’s obligation at the first pilgrimage Festival.

But with regard to the negative commandment of “Do not delay,” if one pilgrimage Festival passes and he does not bring the offering, he does not violate a prohibition.

And from here there is a difficulty for Rabbi Meir. After all, the verse is stated in the language of a positive commandment, “and you shall bring there,” so how can one derive from it the prohibition of “Do not delay”?

And Rabbi Meir

will answer:

Since the Merciful One told him, ‘Bring it,’ and he did not bring it

, since the Torah commanded a person to bring his offerings at the first pilgrimage Festival and he did not bring them, this is considered delay.

And

automatically

, if he did not bring it,

he stands subject to “Do not delay.”

And Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov

, who said that once two pilgrimage Festivals pass over him he violates “Do not delay”—

what is the reason?

As it is written [Numbers 29:39], in the section concerning the appointed times:

“These you shall offer to the Lord on your appointed times.”

“Your appointed times” is in the plural, and

the minimum number of “appointed times”

is

two.

From here it follows that if two pilgrimage Festivals pass over a person and he does not fulfill his obligation, he violates “Do not delay.”

And the Rabbis

, who disagree with Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov, maintain that one cannot derive “Do not delay” from “on your appointed times,” because

that verse

is needed to derive

the teaching of Rabbi Yona:

As Rabbi Yona said: Rabbi Yona said: All the appointed times were made analogous

in this verse

each to the other.

This teaches

that all of them

, all the sin-offering goats offered on all the appointed times,

atone for defilement of the Temple and its sacred offerings

, just as this atonement was stated with regard to the goat of the New Moon.

And Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon

, who said that once the Festival of Sukkot passes over them, they violate “Do not delay”—

what is the reason?

For

it was taught

in a beraita:

Rabbi Elazar, son of Rabbi Shimon, says:

It is stated in the section concerning the Festival of Sukkot: “Three times in the year: on the Festival of Matzot, on the Festival of Shavuot, and on the Festival of Sukkot.”

And this requires explanation: Even if

the Torah had not said

“the Festival of Sukkot,”

it would have been self-evident that the Festival of Sukkot is one of the three pilgrimage Festivals,

since

it is

the Festival about which the verse speaks!

If so,

why is “the Festival of Sukkot”

stated?

Rather,

to teach that this is [the Festival of Sukkot] the

factor

that causes a person to violate “Do not delay.”

And we raise an objection:

And

according to

Rabbi Meir

, who derives that one violates “Do not delay” at the first pilgrimage Festival from “and you shall come there, and you shall bring there,”

and likewise according to

Rabbi

Eliezer ben Yaakov

, who derives that one violates “Do not delay” after two pilgrimage Festivals from “on your appointed times,” there is a difficulty:

This

verse,

“on the Festival of Matzot and on the Festival of Shavuot

and on the Festival of Sukkot,”

which is superfluous—

what did they expound from it?

What did they derive from it?

And we answer: In their view, this verse is not superfluous, because

they need it

, the verse is necessary in their view,

for the teaching of Rabbi Elazar in the name of Rabbi Oshaya:

As Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Oshaya: From where is it derived with regard to Shavuot

[the Festival of Shavuot] that if one did not offer the peace-offering of rejoicing on it,

it has compensation throughout all seven days

, meaning that one may fulfill his obligation until six days after the Festival of Shavuot, so that altogether the peace-offering of rejoicing may be offered over seven days?

The verse states: “On the Festival of Matzot, on the Festival of Shavuot, and on the Festival of Sukkot.”

The verse makes

the

Festival of Shavuot analogous to the Festival of Matzot

,

to teach you: Just as the Festival of Matzot has compensation throughout all

seven

days of the Festival—

so too, the Festival of Shavuot has compensation throughout all seven days.

And we raise an objection: From where do we know that we should make the Festival of Shavuot analogous to the Festival of Matzot, so that it has compensation for only seven days, rather than to the Festival of Sukkot, so that it has compensation for eight days?

And let us make it analogous

—perhaps the Festival of Shavuot should be made analogous

to the Festival of Sukkot:

Just as there

, the Festival of Sukkot, there is compensation for

eight

days [until Shemini Atzeret],

so too here

, with regard to the Festival of Shavuot, there should be compensation for

eight

days!

And why did we say that there is compensation for Shavuot for only seven days?

And we answer:

Shemini

Atzeret

is an independent pilgrimage Festival

itself,

and is not part of the Festival of Sukkot. Therefore, there is compensation for the peace-offering of rejoicing of Sukkot for only seven days.

And we reject this answer:

You may say that we say

, all that we said—that

Shemini

is

an independent pilgrimage Festival

—we said only

with regard to

six laws, whose mnemonic is

Pazr Kashav. [See note ]

But with regard to the make-up offering -

according to

everyone

Shemini Atzeret

is the make-up for the first.

It completes the first day of the Festival of Sukkot.

As we learned [Chagiga 9a]:

One who did not bring the festival offering,

who did not bring his festival offering on

the first day of the Festival

of Sukkot, -

brings it throughout the pilgrimage festival.

He brings his festival offering on all the days of the Festival of Sukkot,

and

also on

the final day of the Festival,

on Shemini Atzeret.

From this point, the question returns: Why do we not derive the halakha of Shavuot from the Festival of Sukkot, which has make-up days for all eight days?

And we answer: Where there is uncertainty whether to increase or decrease, the Sages said:

If you grasp the greater measure -

you have grasped nothing!

If you adopt the greater measure, it may be that you have adopted something not in accordance with the law, since it is possible that you should have adopted the lesser measure.

But if

you grasp the lesser measure -

you have grasped!

For there is no doubt that you have adopted the lawfully correct measure, since the lesser measure is included within the greater measure.

Therefore, here, with regard to Shavuot, since we are uncertain whether to derive its law from the Festival of Unleavened Bread, whose make-up period is seven days, or from the Festival of Sukkot, whose make-up period is eight days, we adopt the lesser measure and say that the make-up period for Shavuot is only seven days.

And we challenge this:

Rather,

since we derive Shavuot from the Festival of Unleavened Bread and not from the Festival of Sukkot, the following difficulty arises:

For what halakhic purpose did the Merciful One write the Festival of Sukkot?

For what purpose did Scripture repeat and say, “the Festival of Sukkot”?

And we answer: In order

to juxtapose it,

to juxtapose it

to the Festival of Unleavened Bread,

and derive the following through this juxtaposition: