Rosh Hashanah 5a (ה.) — the Talmud in English

Just as the Festival of Matzot requires lodging,

meaning that one must lodge in Jerusalem on the night following the first day of Passover

—so too, the Festival of Sukkot requires lodging.

And the Gemara explains

:

And there,

with regard to the Festival of Matzot itself,

from where do we derive

that it requires lodging?

Because it is written

[Deuteronomy 16], concerning the Paschal offering:

“And you shall turn in the morning, and go to your tents.”

And the verse cannot be referring to the morning of the first day of the Festival, since that is a day on which there is an obligation to appear in the Temple courtyard,

Rather, the intent of the verse is the morning of the first day of Chol HaMoed.

The conclusion arising from the words of the Gemara is:

a. According to the first tanna and Rabbi Shimon, the verse states, “on the Festival of Matzot, on the Festival of Weeks, and on the Festival of Sukkot,” to teach by means of a verbal analogy that if three Pilgrimage Festivals pass for a person and he has not fulfilled his obligation, he violates the prohibition of “do not delay.”

b. According to Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov, the phrase “the Festival of Matzot” is stated in order to juxtapose the Festival of Weeks to the Festival of Matzot, teaching that it has compensation throughout all seven days.

c. “The Festival of Sukkot” is written in the verse in order to juxtapose it to the Festival of Matzot with regard to lodging.

And we raise an objection:

And as for the first tanna and Rabbi Shimon,

who expounded the verse with regard to the prohibition of “do not delay”—

the compensation

for Atzeret, from where do they derive it?

From where do they derive that there is compensation for Atzeret throughout all seven days?

And we answer:

They derive it

that they have this law

from what

was taught by

Rabba bar Shmuel:

For Rabba bar Shmuel taught: The Torah said:

a. With regard to the New Moon

: Count

thirty

days, and sanctify

the first day of the

new month

through the additional offerings.

As it is stated [Numbers 11]: “Until a month of days.” And from here they learned that the month is counted in days.

The intent is not that there is a mitzva to count the days of the month, but rather that the month is reckoned by days and not by hours, despite the fact that the interval between one conjunction and the next is not thirty days, but rather twenty-nine days, twelve hours, and 793 parts [Rabbenu Tam in Tosafot, Chagigah 17b].

b. Likewise, the Torah said with regard to the Festival of Weeks

: Count

fifty

days, and sanctify

the Festival of

Atzeret

through its offerings.

And we learn by means of a binyan av:

Just as

the New

Moon,

whose sanctification through the additional offerings

applies to its counting,

on one of the units by which it is counted,

that is, since the month is counted by units of time consisting of days, as thirty units of one day are counted in it,

and on one of these days by which it is counted, the New Moon is sanctified through the bringing of additional offerings,

so too

the Festival of

Atzeret,

whose sanctification through the offerings of the Festival of Weeks

applies to its counting,

on one of the units by which it is counted, namely, the unit of time by which it is counted.

For Atzeret is counted by counting units of time consisting of weeks, as it is stated [Leviticus 23:15]: “And you shall count for yourselves seven complete weeks.”

From here it follows that the offerings of Atzeret have compensation throughout all seven days.

And we raise an objection:

Perhaps

the sanctification of the Festival of

Atzeret

through its offerings applies only for

one day,

since the Festival of Atzeret is counted by units of time consisting of days, as it is stated [there, verse 16]: “You shall count fifty days”!

Rava said

and resolved

: Is that so?

Do you count the seven weeks of

Atzeret

only according to units of time consisting of

days,

but according to units of time consisting of

weeks, do you not count them?!

But didn’t the Master say

[Abaye, in tractate Menachot 66a]:

The mitzva

of counting the Omer

is to count the days,

to count forty-nine days in the counting of the Omer, from the day the Omer was brought until the Festival of Weeks.

And there is a mitzva to count the weeks.

There is also a mitzva to count seven weeks from the day the Omer was brought until the Festival of Weeks.

And since the counting of the Omer includes units of time consisting of weeks as well, the sanctification of the Festival of Weeks through its offerings extends for the duration of one unit of time, namely, one week.

Furthermore,

with regard to the Festival of Atzeret—

“the Festival of Weeks” is written

[Deuteronomy 16:16]. From here it follows that the primary counting by which one counts until Atzeret is the counting of weeks.

We learned in a beraita: Those liable for valuations, a firstborn animal, animal tithe, and the Paschal offering: Once three Pilgrimage Festivals have passed for them, one violates the prohibition of “do not delay.”

We considered this:

And

as for the offering of

Passover—

is it fit to be offered on the Pilgrimage Festivals?!

Is the Paschal offering fit to be offered on all three Pilgrimage Festivals, such that you make one liable for violating “do not delay” when three Festivals have passed and he has not brought it?!

But with regard to the offering of

Passover,

a fixed time is assigned to it.

The Torah assigned it a time only on the fourteenth of Nisan.

Therefore,

if he offered it

on the fourteenth, at its appointed time,

he offered it;

he has already brought it, and it is obvious that the prohibition of “do not delay” is not applicable here.

But if he did not offer it—

it is rejected!

If he did not offer it at its appointed time, it is immediately rejected from being offered at another time, and therefore he immediately violates the prohibition of “do not delay”!

Rav Ḥisda said: “Passover”—

was included merely incidentally!

Indeed, the tanna mentioned Passover needlessly, because in truth, with regard to delaying the offering of the Paschal sacrifice, one violates “do not delay” immediately when the fourteenth of Nisan has passed without its being offered.

Rav Sheshet said: What is “Passover”

—what does “Passover,” mentioned in the beraita, refer to? It is

the peace-offerings of Passover

—the offering that remains from the Paschal offering.

For example, one had a Paschal offering that was lost, brought another in its place, and then found the first one; the first one is then offered as a peace-offering.

And if three Pilgrimage Festivals passed and he did not offer it as a peace-offering, he violates the prohibition of “do not delay.”

And we raise an objection:

If so,

if the beraita is indeed referring to delaying the offering of the peace-offerings of Passover, then

this is the same as peace-offerings

exactly!

For it is offered as a peace-offering, and “peace-offerings” was already taught in the beraita. Why, then, did the tanna need to mention the peace-offerings of Passover separately?

And we answer:

The tanna

taught the prohibition against delaying

peace-offerings that come on account of Passover,

such as a Paschal offering that was lost, another was brought in its place, and the first was then found; it is offered as a peace-offering.

And the tanna

also taught the law of delaying

peace-offerings that come on their own account.

For example, one initially designated an animal as a peace-offering.

The tanna must teach us the law of peace-offerings that come on account of Passover as well,

because

it might have entered your mind

to say that

since, on account of

the sanctity of

Passover,

they came,

these peace-offerings,