Rosh Hashanah 8a (ח.) — the Talmud in English

And we challenge this:

But what of the Jubilee years

, which begin only through the act of sounding the shofar, and nevertheless were taught in the Mishna? And from here we must say that the tanna counted even New Years that take effect through an act.

And we answer: Our Mishna is according to the view of

Rabbi Yishmael, son of Rabbi Yohanan ben Beroka

, who holds that the Jubilee takes effect automatically on Rosh Hashanah and not through the sounding of the shofar on Yom Kippur.

Thus far, the Gemara has discussed the resolution of Rav Shisha, son of Rav Idi, who explained that the reason the sixteenth of Nisan and the sixth of Sivan were not mentioned in our Mishna is that their respective laws take effect only through an act. [The offering of the Omer and the two loaves].

Rav Ashi said

another reason why only four New Years, and no more, were mentioned in our Mishna:

For this is what the Mishna says:

There are four New Years, which

take effect

on four New Moons.

The fifteenth of Nisan, for the Festivals; the sixteenth of Nisan, for the Omer; and the sixth of Sivan, for the two loaves were not taught in our Mishna, because none of these takes effect on a New Moon.

According to Rav Ashi, these are the four New Years: (a) the first of Nisan; (b) the first of Elul; (c) the first of Tishrei; (d) the first of Shevat.

And therefore we challenge: Did the tanna teach at the beginning of our Mishna

the first of Shevat

, which is

in accordance with

the opinion of

Beit Shammai?!

But it is not the tanna’s practice to teach an unattributed Mishna according to the opinion of Beit Shammai, as the halakha is not in accordance with their opinion! And we answer: The tanna who taught at the beginning of our Mishna that there are four New Years did not intend to establish this as a definitive halakha. Rather,

this is what he is saying

: He immediately explained his words and said:

What I initially said, that there are four New Years, is not a definitive halakha. Rather,

three

of them are

according to everyone

.

And the fourth, which is

the first of Shevat

, is subject to

the dispute between Beit Shammai and Beit Hillel.

And when we said “three according to everyone,” this does not mean according to all the tannaim, for Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon disagreed with regard to what we learned—that the first of Elul is the New Year for animal tithe—and said that it is the first of Tishrei. Rather, the Gemara is referring here only to the dispute between Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai.

We learned in the Mishna: The first of Elul is the New Year for animal tithe [for one does not bring together the sheep born from this point onward with the sheep born in the previous year in order to tithe them together]. This is the opinion of Rabbi Meir, as our Mishna is unattributed in accordance with his view.

Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon say

: The New Year for animal tithe is

the first of Tishrei.

And now the Gemara explains the reasons of Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon:

Rabbi Yohanan said: And both of them

, Rabbi Meir and also Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon,

expounded one verse,

but they disagreed as to how to expound it:

As it is stated

[Psalms 65]:

“The sheep have donned flocks

; the ewes became pregnant [and it appears as though they serve as a garment for the lambs of the offering, which are called karim. Rav Hai Gaon]

and the valleys are covered with grain,”

they are covered with produce.

That is, the seeds begin to grow and become clearly visible on the ground, until the valleys appear to be covered with them.

And when the grain grows,

“they shout for joy and also sing,”

the wind blows through it, and then the stalks strike against one another, producing a sound resembling song, so that the stalks appear to be singing.

And everyone agrees that the ewes mentioned at the beginning of the verse should be understood through the grain mentioned at its end, as follows:

Rabbi Meir holds

that this is what the verse is saying:

When do “the sheep don

—they become pregnant—

flocks”?

—

When “the valleys are covered with grain,”

when the grain begins to grow. And when are “the valleys covered with grain”?

—

In Adar, for at that time the seeds grow and become clearly visible on the surface of the ground.

From here it follows that the ewes

become pregnant in Adar

. The gestation period of the ewes is five months.

And

it follows that they

give birth in Av

, which is five months after Adar.

And therefore,

their New Year

is

Elul.

This is because, as the Gemara will later derive, “when it is close to completion, it is tithed.” That is, on the month after the offspring have been completed [born], the New Year for animal tithe takes effect.

Whereas

Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon say

that this is what the verse is saying:

When do “the sheep don

[become pregnant]

flocks”?

—

When the stalks

“shout for joy and also sing.”

And

when do the stalks sing

, when the stalks have filled with grains of produce?

In Nisan.

From here it follows that the ewes

become pregnant in Nisan,

and their gestation period is five months,

and

it follows that they

give birth in Elul.

And therefore,

their New Year

is

Tishrei

[which is close to the time when the offspring are completed, i.e., born].

And since two times are mentioned in the verse with regard to the grain:

a. “The valleys are covered with grain,” which is in Adar.

b. “They shout for joy and also sing,” which is in Nisan.

Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon disagreed as to which period of the grain should be compared to the conception of the sheep. The Gemara now explains why each of the disputing tannaim chose his comparison:

And the other one

, Rabbi Meir,

also—after all, it is written, “They shout for joy and also sing,”

which is in Nisan! Why, then, did Rabbi Meir say that the ewes become pregnant in Adar?

The Gemara explains:

That

verse speaks

of the late ones

, of ewes that are late to become pregnant,

which are in Nisan.

The verse says that they become pregnant in Nisan, when the grain has ripened, and when the wind blows through it, it appears as though it is singing.

But most ewes had already become pregnant in Adar, as we learned from “the valleys are covered with grain.”

The Gemara now explains the statement of Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon:

And the other one also, is it not written

as well:

“And the valleys are covered with grain,”

which is in Adar! Why, then, did they say that the ewes become pregnant in Nisan?

And we answer:

That

verse speaks

of the early ones

, those that become pregnant early,

which come from Adar.

Indeed, the ewes also become pregnant in Adar, but these are only the early ones, whereas most ewes do not become pregnant until Nisan.

But it still may be asked of each of the tannaim: The verse mentions two times, Adar and Nisan. From where did each one know at which time most ewes become pregnant and at which time only a minority become pregnant?

Granted, according to

the view of

Rabbi Meir

, who derived his statement from the order of the verse,

as it is written:

1.

“The sheep have donned flocks”

—

when “the valleys are covered with grain,” in Adar.

2.

And there is also

sheep that become pregnant when the stalks

“shout for joy and also sing,”

in Nisan.

From this Rabbi Meir learned that the primary time for the conception of the sheep is Adar, when the valleys are covered with grain.

But according to Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon

, who hold that the primary time for the conception of the sheep is Nisan, when the stalks sing, the following difficulty may be raised:

For according to their view,

it should have been the opposite

—it should have been written to say:

It would have been appropriate for the verse to state their teaching in the reverse order:

1.

“The sheep have donned flocks”

—

when

the stalks

“shout for joy and also sing,” in Nisan.

2.

And there is also

sheep that become pregnant earlier, in the month of Adar, when

“the valleys are covered with grain”!

Rather, said Rava

: Indeed,

everyone

agrees that this is what the verse is saying:

“The sheep have donned

most of

the flocks” when “the valleys are covered with grain,”

that is,

in Adar.

And here,

with regard to the New Year for animal tithe,

they disagree about this verse

; they disagree over how to expound the following verse:

It is stated [Deuteronomy 14]:

“You shall surely tithe

the produce of your seed.”

And from the repetition in the expression “You shall surely tithe,” the Sages expounded:

This verse speaks

of

two tithes: one

—

animal tithe. And one —

animal tithe. And one

— grain tithe [produce].

And the verse comes to equate one to the other. The tannaim disagreed as to how to make this equation:

Rabbi Meir holds: The verse equates

animal tithe with grain tithe:

Just as

grain tithe, when it is close to completion,

it is tithed!

For the New Year for grain tithe is the first of Tishrei [as will be explained in the beraita below, on 12a], and it is the month adjoining the completion of the grain’s processing. The grain remains in the fields throughout the summer so that it will dry. And from this we learn:

So too, animal tithe, when it is close to completion

—

—

it is tithed. For the New Year for animal tithe likewise takes effect close to its completion—that is, close to the birth of the offspring, which are born in Av, the fifth month after Adar, in which the gestation of the sheep ends.

From this Rabbi Meir learned that the New Year for animal tithe is the first of Elul.

And Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon hold: The verse equates

animal tithe with grain tithe:

Just as

the New Year of grain tithe

is the first of

Tishrei—

—

so too, the New Year of animal tithe

is the first of

Tishrei.

We learned in the Mishna:

The first of Tishrei is the New Year for years.

And we inquire:

For what halakhic purpose

does the New Year “for years” begin in Tishrei—regarding which halakha?[ ^216]

Rav Pappa said: For

the reckoning of the years of kings in

legal documents.

For it was customary to write on a document a date according to the number of years of the king’s reign: “In such-and-such a year of the king’s reign.”

And when the first of Tishrei arrived, a year was completed for the king. Even if he had begun to reign on the twenty-ninth of Elul, nevertheless, once Tishrei arrived they would write: “In the second year of the king.”

As we learned

[in tractate Shevi’it 10:5]:

Promissory notes dated before

, whose written date precedes the time of the loan, are

invalid.

The document is invalid, and the loan is considered an oral loan rather than a loan documented in writing.

But

promissory notes

dated late

, whose written date is later than the date of the loan, are

valid.

And in order to know whether the document before us is dated early or late, they established a fixed day on which the king’s year begins. Through this, we can know which year of the king’s reign it is. This matter was explained at length at the beginning of the chapter.

And we challenge this:

But we learned

at the beginning of our Mishna:

The first of Nisan is the New Year for kings.

And we said

about this above:

For what halakhic purpose

did they establish a fixed day for their New Year?

And Rav Ḥisda said: For documents.

A king who ascended to the throne in Adar is counted as having entered his second year in documents as soon as the first of Nisan arrives!

How, then, did Rav Pappa say that the first of Tishrei is the New Year for documents?

And we answer:

It is not difficult.

Here,

at the beginning of the Mishna, where we learned that the first of Nisan is the New Year for kings, the reference is to a person who wrote in his document a date according

to

the years of

the kings of Israel.

Their New Year is in Nisan.

Whereas

here,

in the continuation of the Mishna, where we learned that the first of Tishrei is the New Year for documents, the reference is to a person who wrote in his document a date according

to

the years of

the kings of the nations,

whose New Year is in Tishrei.

And we challenge Rav Pappa’s statement, that when it says, “The first of Tishrei is the New Year for years,” this means for documents.

Rather,

from now there is a difficulty:

That which Rav Ḥisda said

above, concerning the beginning of the Mishna, where it says that the first of Nisan is the New Year for kings:

They taught

that the first of Nisan is the New Year for kings

only with regard to

the

kings of Israel.

But with regard to the kings of the nations

—

we count from Tishrei.

And is

Rav Ḥisda

—

coming to teach us a point stated explicitly in the Mishna itself?! The Mishna itself already says that the New Year for documents is in Tishrei. It is necessarily the case that one must distinguish between the kings of Israel and the kings of the nations, as above!

And we answer:

No.

Rav Ḥisda did not come to teach us the content of the Mishna.

Rather,

Rav Ḥisda

—

he came to teach us the verses.

He came to teach us the biblical verses from which the Sages learned that the years of the kings of the nations are counted from Tishrei, as the Gemara cited above [3a] the continuation of Rav Ḥisda’s statement, in which he brought a proof for this from the verse.

And if you wish, say instead

that Rav Ḥisda did not come only to teach us the biblical verses from which the Sages learned that the years of the kings of the nations are counted from Tishrei; he also came to teach us the law itself, that the years of the kings of the nations are counted from Tishrei.

This is because Rav Ḥisda holds that our Mishna did not state that the first of Tishrei is the New Year for the kings of the nations.

And

Rav Ḥisda

disagrees with Rav Pappa, who explained that what we learned—“The first of Tishrei is the New Year for years”—refers to documents.

Rather,

he taught it according to Rabbi Zeira:

He interprets our Mishna in accordance with the statement of Rabbi Zeira, as follows:

Rav Zeira said:

What we learned: “On the first of Tishrei is the New Year for years”—the reference is

to the seasons (tekufa),

according to which the time of the creation of the sun and moon at the time the world was created is calculated from the first of Tishrei, as is the calculation of the solar seasons, namely, the four seasons of the year [the Tishrei season, the Tevet season, the Nisan season, and the Tammuz season], as well as the calculation of the new-moon conjunctions of the months of the year.

And

our Mishna is in accordance with the view of

Rabbi Eliezer, who said: The world was created in Tishrei.

All the calculations of the seasons and conjunctions are based on the premise that the sun and moon began their courses in Tishrei.

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said

a different explanation:

What we learned, that the first of Tishrei is the “New Year for years,” refers

to judgment,

as the Holy One, blessed be He, judges all the inhabitants of the world on the first of Tishrei and decrees everything that will befall them until the following Tishrei.

As it is written [

Deuteronomy 11:12]: “The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it [the Land of Israel]

from the beginning of the year until the end of the year.”

And we interpret it:

“From the beginning of the year”—

one is judged as to what will be at its end,

at the “end of the year.”

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak continues to explain:

And

from where is it that

“the beginning of the year,” is the first of

Tishrei?!

As it is written [

Psalms 81:4]:

“Sound the shofar at the New Moon,

at the new moon

when the moon is concealed,

when the moon is concealed,

for the day of our festival.” [

According to Radak]