Sanhedrin 11b — the Talmud in English

Come and see

come and see:

what is there

what is the difference

between ![](pamud.bmp "

exact location of the folio")

the forceful early ones

the forceful ones of the earlier generations

and the humble later ones

the humble ones of the later generations—for Rabban Gamliel, who conducted his presidency with authority and cast fear upon the students, was called “forceful,” and nevertheless wrote “in my presence and in the presence of my colleagues,” whereas Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, who was humble, did not write “in my presence and in the presence of my colleagues.”

For it was taught

we learned in a beraita:

An incident involving Rabban Gamliel

who was sitting upon a raised step

a step

on the Temple Mount, and that Yohanan the scribe was standing before him

to serve him,

and three cut letters were lying before him

ready for writing.

He said to him

Rabban Gamliel to Yohanan:

Take one letter

take one letter,

and write

in it:

“To our brothers, the people of Upper Galilee

to our brothers, the people of Upper Galilee

and to our brothers, the people of Lower Galilee

and to our brothers, the people of Lower Galilee:

May your peace increase

may your peace increase

forever

, we inform you

we inform you:

the time of removal has arrived

that the time of removal has arrived

to separate tithes

to separate tithes

from the gathering-place of the olives

from the place where the olives are gathered.” And he sent the letter to the people of Galilee.

And Rabban Gamliel further said to Yohanan:

And take one letter

take another letter

and write

in it:

“To our brothers, the people of the South

the south of the Land of Israel:

May your peace increase

may your peace increase

forever

, we inform you

we inform you:

the time of removal has arrived

that the time of removal has arrived

to separate tithes

to separate tithes

from the sheaves of grain

from the wheat.” And he sent the letters to the people of the South.

Rabban Gamliel further said to Yohanan:

And take one letter

and take a third letter

and write in it:

“To our brothers, the exiles in Babylonia

to our brothers, the exiles in Babylonia

and to our brothers who are in Media

and to our brothers who are in Media

and to the rest of all the exile of Israel

and to the rest of all the exiles of Israel:

May your peace increase forever

may your peace increase forever,

we inform

you

we inform you:

that the fledglings are tender

that the fledglings are tender

and the lambs are thin

thin

the sheep are thin

and the time of spring has not arrived

and the time of spring has not arrived,

and the matter was good in my presence and in the presence of my colleagues

and the matter was good in my presence and in the presence of my colleagues

and we added to this year

and we added to this year

three days

thirty days.” And he sent the letter to the exiles of Israel.

Thus Rabban Gamliel, the “forceful” one, wrote “in my presence and in the presence of my colleagues,” whereas Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel, the “humble” one, wrote only “in my presence”!

The Gemara rejects this comparison:

Perhaps

it is possible that Rabban Gamliel wrote this

after they removed him

after they removed him from his presidency, and then he became humble.

The Sages taught: For three matters

they intercalate the year

and they are:

for the spring

if the grain has not yet ripened [finished growing], so that Passover will be in the month of spring, for so the Torah commanded [Exodus 13]; therefore they intercalate the year, and thereby postpone the festival, so that in the meantime the grain will fill out in its spring,

and for the fruit of the trees

if the court sees that the ripening of the fruit is delayed beyond the time of Shavuot —the festival of Weeks, which is the beginning of the time for bringing first fruits—they intercalate, since on Shavuot there will be no possibility of bringing first fruits, [even though first fruits may be brought until the festival of Sukkot; nevertheless, it is a hardship to make the pilgrimage another time],

and for the season

if the court sees according to its calculation that the season of Tishrei falls after the festival of Sukkot, they intercalate, for the Torah wrote concerning the festival of Sukkot: “the festival of ingathering at the turn of the year,” which is the season of Tishrei; and likewise, if the court sees that the season of Nisan falls after Passover, and the bringing of the omer on the sixteenth of Nisan will be in the season of Tevet, they intercalate, as it is learned from a scriptural derivation that the bringing of the omer is in the season of Nisan .

For two of them—

for two matters out of the three, and all the more so for all three—

they intercalate

the year

. And for one of them

but for one matter among the three

they do not intercalate.

And when spring is one of them

among the matters for which they intercalated

everyone rejoices

all the people rejoice, because if the grain is already complete and fit for eating, and they intercalate because of the fruit and the season, then they extend for them the period of the prohibition against eating the new grain hidden with the omer offering, as well as the prohibition against harvesting new grain, by another month, and the people are saddened; but if they intercalate because the grain has not ripened, they rejoice, for the people do not care about extending the time, since in either case the grain has not grown .

The beraita continues and says:

Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel says: For the season.

And his intention was not clarified in the beraita, and the Gemara raises a question:

It was asked of them

the students of the academy asked: what is the explanation of the words of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel? Is his intention that

for the season they rejoice,

that if they intercalate the year because of the “season,” among the other matters for which they intercalate, they rejoice; and the reason for the joy is that if they intercalate it because of the fruit and the spring, the following year is delayed, and the festival of Sukkot will be during the days of winter, and the pilgrims will consequently suffer from the rain on their return ; but if they intercalate because of the season—that is, the solar year is delayed—the festival of Sukkot will not fall so close to the days of winter, and therefore they rejoice.

Or

it is possible that Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel’s intention is to disagree with the first tanna, who said that they intercalate only for two out of the three, and Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel comes to say:

that for the season

alone

they intercalate

without another reason joining it, and the reason is that intercalation because of the season is from the Torah, as it is written: “and the festival of ingathering at the turn of the year,” and it constitutes a compelling reason to postpone the year for its sake.

And we conclude:

teiku:

the question remains unresolved, and they did not resolve it.

The following beraita explains what was stated: that they intercalate the month because of the spring and because of the fruit.

The Sages taught: For three lands

districts in the Land of Israel

they intercalate the year

if the grain has not filled out in its spring, or if the ripening of the fruit is delayed in them; and these are: the land of

Judea and

the land of

Transjordan

the eastern region,

and

the land of

the Galilee.

And this is the law:

for two of them

in which spring has not arrived

they intercalate

for they follow the majority, and since spring has not arrived in them, they intercalate. For it is not called “the month of spring.”

And for one of them—

they do not intercalate,

even if it is the land of Judea, and they would need to bring the omer offering—which is brought from new grain—from a distant place; even so, they do not intercalate, for after the fact it is possible to bring the omer from grain that grew in Transjordan or in the Galilee.

And when

the land of

Judea

is

one of them

of the lands for which they intercalated the year,

everyone rejoices,

because

no omer comes

as the mitzva requires in the choicest manner

except from

grain that grew in the land of

Judea.

And if they intercalate the year because spring has still not arrived in the Galilee and Transjordan, then they will not bring the omer from Judea, where the new grain has already passed its time and is dry, and it is impossible to bring it, because carmel is required—tender grain—and instead they will have to bring it from the other lands. Furthermore, if the grain did not ripen in Judea, it is understandable that the people are not troubled if they extend the prohibition against eating from the new grain for another month, since they see that in the land of Judea—from which they bring the omer—the grain has not ripened; but if it ripened in Judea and they intercalate because it has still not ripened in the other lands, they are troubled that the time of the prohibition against eating new grain is extended for them, because they fix their eyes upon the grain in Judea.

The Sages taught: They intercalate the year only

in the permanent court

in

the land

of Judea,

and

after the fact

if they intercalated it in the Galilee—

it is intercalated,

these are the words of the Sages; but

Hananiah of Ono testified

that he received from his teachers: that even after the fact

if they intercalated it in the Galilee—

it is not intercalated.

Rabbi Judah, son of Rabbi Shimon ben Pazzi, said: What is the reason of Hananiah of Ono? Scripture says

It is an explicit verse:

“You shall seek His dwelling-place and come there,”

and we expound:

Every seeking that you seek—

may be only in the place of His dwelling

which is Jerusalem in the land of Judea, in which the Divine Presence dwells.

Our Sages taught

our Sages taught:

The year is not intercalated

at night

but only during the day. And if they intercalated it at night—

even after the fact

it is not intercalated .

And

likewise

the month is not sanctified

at night

but only during the day. And if they sanctified it at night—

even after the fact

it is not sanctified.

Rabbi Abba said: What is the verse

from which this law is learned

“Blow the shofar at the New Moon, at the covering, for the day of our festival.”

And they expound:

Which is the festival

that the verse calls “our festival”

? The one in which the month is covered.

For the moon is not seen then. —

You must say: This is Rosh Hashanah,

which is the only festival at the beginning of a month.

And it is written

and the conclusion of the verse is:

“For it is a statute for Israel, the judgment of the God of Jacob.”

And we expound that the statute, meaning the law that Israel carries out on that festival, namely the sanctification of the month, is like judgment.

Just as judgment

is performed

during the day

specifically, as is derived [on folio 37] from the expositions of the verses,

so too the sanctification of the month

which is the “statute,” is performed

during the day

specifically.