Sukkah 54b — the Talmud in English

And the Gemara rejects this:

If [you say] because

it also left out

the eve of Passover—

it is not an omission.

For it is possible to say

that indeed,

when our Mishna, which did not mention the eve of Passover,

whose opinion is it?—

It is Rabbi Judah’s!

And according to him, there were not twenty-seven blasts on the eve of Passover.

For

Rabbi Judah

said: In all their days, the third group did not reach the recitation of [

Psalms 116 ] “

I love, for He hears” in its first recitation of the Hallel,

because there were few people with it.

And it follows that they did not sound [the shofar] during three recitations,

and there were only forty-two blasts in it.

And

the Gemara is astonished at this rejection: How did you say that our Mishna did not mention the eve of Passover because it is Rabbi Judah’s opinion?!

And

you said

above that

the beginning

is

not according to Rabbi Judah,

because according to him, a blast and a terua are considered one blast!

And the Gemara resolves the astonishment at the rejection:

Perhaps this tanna

of our Mishna

agrees with him—

Rabbi Judah—

in one matter,

that on the eve of Passover there is no second and third recitation of the Hallel in the third group,

but disagrees with him in one matter,

that the tanna of our Mishna does not call the blast and the terua one blast?!

And if so, since the tanna did not leave out the eve of Passover, the earlier question returns:

Rather, what else

did he leave out?

This one he left out!?

And we answer:

He left out the eve of Passover that occurs on the eve of Shabbat,

when there are forty-eight blasts.

For indeed,

take out six,

take out the six blasts of the second and third recitations of the Hallel, and according to Rabbi Judah; but

add six.

One must add the six blasts before Shabbat.

We learned in the Mishna:

And they do not add to forty-eight.

And we raised a difficulty:

And

when

not

adding blasts beyond this number?

But there is the eve of Passover that occurs on Shabbat,

with a number of blasts greater than this.

For if

the tanna of our Mishna

according to

the opinion of

Rabbi Judah,

who says that there were no blasts for the second and third recitations of the Hallel in the third group—

there are fifty-one

blasts!

Twenty-one blasts on every day, and another nine for the additional offerings, and another eighteen blasts: three blasts for each of the three recitations of the two groups [the first and second]. And another three blasts for the first recitation of the third group. And together they are fifty-one blasts.

If according to the Rabbis—

fifty-seven

blasts there were, since according to them one must add the six blasts for the two additional recitations of the Hallel of the third group.

And we answer:

When it teaches, it teaches

something that occurs every year,

a day that occurs every year.

But

the eve of Passover that occurs on Shabbat, which does not occur

which is not

every single year—

it does not teach.

And we refute this: Is it so that

the eve of Shabbat during the festival—

does it occur every year?

But

sometimes you do not find it, and what is the case?—

For example, when the first festival day occurs on the eve of Shabbat,

for then Shemini Atzeret occurs on Friday, and there is no eve of Shabbat during the festival.

And we answer: There will always be an eve of Shabbat during the festival of Sukkot, because it will never happen that the first festival day of the festival of Sukkot occurs on the eve of Shabbat.

For,

since if

it happens

that it must occur on

the first festival day on the eve of Shabbat,

we postpone it,

so that this should not happen, by intercalating the month of Elul [even though the moon was seen in it on the thirtieth of Elul, and there is no need to intercalate it].

And

what is the reason

for intercalating Elul [improperly] in order to postpone the first festival day so that it should not occur on the eve of Shabbat?

For

since

if

the first festival day of the festival occurs on the eve of Shabbat,

then

Yom Kippur

before it—

when is it?

On Sunday!

For it is four days before the festival of Sukkot. And it follows that Shabbat and the Yom Kippur following it are two consecutive days of complete cessation.

Therefore, we postpone it,

by intercalating the month of Elul, so that there should not be two consecutive days of cessation, and the dead should not putrefy, and the vegetables should not wither.

And we question:

Do we postpone it

because of Yom Kippur being consecutive to Shabbat?

But we learned: The fats of

the daily offering of twilight of

Shabbat—

are offered on Yom Kippur

that occurs immediately after Shabbat, the words of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Ishmael says: They are not offered on it.

And

concerning this

Rabbi Zeira said: When we were in Rav’s presence

when I was in Rav’s beit-midrash

in Babylonia, I would say

I thought that

this that was taught:

When Yom Kippur occurs on the eve of Shabbat, they did not sound

on it before Shabbat, since there was no need to cause the people to cease from work, for they were already ceasing because of the cessation of Yom Kippur.

And

likewise, if Yom Kippur occurred

immediately after Shabbat—

they did not make havdala

at the conclusion of Shabbat over a cup [of wine], between one sanctity and another, as they make havdala at the conclusion of Shabbat between Shabbat and the festival day that follows it, since the entering Yom Kippur is as stringent as the departing Shabbat, in that both are prohibited in labor.

I thought that this beraita—

is the view of everyone,

both according to Rabbi Akiva and according to Rabbi Ishmael, who disagree as to whether the fats of Shabbat are offered on Yom Kippur.

But

when I went up there,

when I went up to the Land of Israel,

I found Rabbi Judah son of Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi sitting and saying:

This beraita—

it is Rabbi Akiva’s view!

But Rabbi Ishmael disagrees with him.

And it implies that it is possible for Yom Kippur to be adjacent to Shabbat; rather, they disagree as to whether the fats of Shabbat are offered then on Yom Kippur or not!

And we answer:

It is not difficult.

This,

our Mishna, according to which we established that Yom Kippur is postponed so that it should not occur adjacent to Shabbat—

it is the Rabbis’

view.

This,

that we find that the fats of Shabbat are offered on Yom Kippur, implying that they can be adjacent since Yom Kippur is not postponed—

it is the view of Others [

Rabbi Meir ]

.

For it was taught: Others say:

It is impossible to intercalate the month of Elul in order to separate Shabbat and Yom Kippur, since the rule is:

There is between one Shavuot and another Shavuot, and there is between one Rosh Hashana and another Rosh Hashana [

after dividing all the days of the year into seven ]

only

a difference of

four days alone.

And if it was a leap year—

five

days.

And one may not add to the interval between them even for a need.

It was objected

to Rabbi Aha, who says that they sound [the shofar] for each and every additional offering, from that which was taught:

When the New Moon occurs on Shabbat—

the song of the New Moon overrides the song of Shabbat.

And if it is so,

that they sound [the shofar] for each and every additional offering—

let us say

also the song

of Shabbat, and let us say

also the song

of the New Moon!

Rav Safra said: What does “the song of the New Moon

the song of the New Moon

overrides

the song of Shabbat” mean?—

It overrides by preceding,

for they advance the song of the New Moon before that of Shabbat!

And

we raised a difficulty:

Why?

But

that which is frequent and that which is not frequent—

the frequent comes first!

Rabbi Yohanan said:

They do this

to make known that the New Moon was established in its proper time.

And we raised a difficulty:

And

when

do we make such a sign?

But we make another sign!

For we learned: The fats of the morning daily offering,

before they were burned, were

placed

on the ramp,

from the middle of the ramp and below, on the east,

side of the ramp.

And

the fats

of the additional offerings—

are placed from the middle of the ramp and below, on the west,

side of the ramp.

And those of the New Moon—

are placed below the ledge of the altar and below.

For it is in the upper half of the ramp.