Taanit 28b (כח:) — the Talmud in English

Mar Kashisha

son of Rav Ḥisda

said to Rav Ashi:

What is different

[How is it different]

with regard to Hallel—

that it overrides its own

[the maamad corresponding to it; that is, the maamad of Shaḥarit, which is at the time when Hallel is recited], as we learned: “Every day on which Hallel is recited has no maamad at Shaḥarit,”

And what is different

[and how is it different] with regard to the

additional offering, which does not override its own

[the maamad corresponding to it], the maamad of Musaf, but only the maamad of Minḥa, as we learned: “A day on which there is a Musaf offering has no [maamad] at Minḥa,” yet we did not learn, “It has no [maamad] at Musaf,” indicating that there is no maamad at Musaf?

Rav Ashi said to him:

How do you know that the Musaf offering does not override the maamad of Musaf?

On the contrary, certainly the Musaf offering overrides the maamad of Musaf!

For this follows by a kal va-chomer!

Now

[if] a maamad

that is not its own

[which is not at the time of Musaf, but only afterward]

is overridden

[it overrides] the

one corresponding to it

[its own, the maamad of Musaf],

all the more so

that it should override it!

He said to him,

Mar Kashisha:

This is what I meant to say to you

[this is what I intended to ask]: Why does the Musaf offering override even the maamad of Minḥa?

Let it override only its own

[and not override anything except its own maamad, at the time of Musaf]!

He said to him:

Indeed,

there is

a

Rabbi Yosei, who holds as you do

[who maintains your position].

As it was taught

[for this is what we learned in a beraita]:

Rabbi Yosei

disagrees with the first tanna, who said that every day on which there is a Musaf has no Ne'ila, and

says: Every day on which there is a Musaf

has a maamad.

Now, with regard to

which maamad

[which maamad, corresponding to which prayer] did Rabbi Yosei speak?

If you say

[if it is said] that the reference is to the

maamad of Shaḥarit,

that cannot be so, because

the first tanna also said precisely this

[for he said that there is no maamad of Ne'ila].

But there is one at Shaḥarit.

And

rather,

what can be said? That the reference is to the

maamad of Musaf, and Rabbi Yosei holds that it is not overridden?

Can it be that

the

one corresponding to it is also not overridden

[that even its own maamad, at the time of the Musaf offering, is not overridden by the Musaf offering]?!

And

rather,

what can be said? That the reference is to the maamad

of Minḥa?

But

the wood offering,

which comes at that time,

overrides it

[overrides that maamad]!

Rather, is it not—

you are compelled to say that the reference is to the maamad

of Ne'ila.

And Rabbi Yosei holds that the maamad of Ne'ila is not overridden because of the Musaf offering.

Infer from this

that specifically the maamad

corresponding to it,

at the time of Musaf itself,

is overridden

[by the Musaf offering]. But

one that is not its own

is not overridden

[a maamad that is not its own is not overridden].

Thus, Rabbi Yosei holds the same position as Mar Kashisha .

And we conclude:

Infer from this.

The Gemara asks: Why did the tanna teach only that on the first of Tevet there was no maamad at all, because Hallel, a Musaf, and the wood offering occurred on that day,

and let him also teach

[that]:

On the first of Nisan there was no maamad, because Hallel and a Musaf offering occur on it,

for it is Rosh Ḥodesh,

and

there is also

the wood offering

of the descendants of Arah son of Yehuda, as we learned in the Mishna!

Rava said: This teaches that Hallel on Rosh Ḥodesh

[reciting Hallel on Rosh Ḥodesh]

is not Torah-mandated

[it is not a matter of Torah law], but is merely a custom, and therefore does not override a maamad.

This is not so with regard to the recitation of Hallel on Ḥanukka. Since the Prophets instituted it, so that Israel should recite Hallel when they are redeemed from distress, it has the status of a Torah obligation .

For Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yehotzadak: There are eighteen days

in

the year

on which even

an individual completes Hallel

[because everyone is obligated to complete Hallel on them]. That is, on these days he recites all the psalms of Hallel and omits nothing.

And these are

those eighteen days:

The eight days of Sukkot

[the festival of Sukkot],

and the eight days of Ḥanukka,

and the first festival day of Pesaḥ .

and the festival day of Atzeret

[the festival of Shavuot].

And in the Diaspora

[outside the Land of Israel], where, because of uncertainty, two festival days are observed, there are

twenty-one days

on which an individual completes Hallel.

And these are

those twenty-one days:

The nine days of Sukkot

[with one additional day added because of the uncertainty],

and the eight days of Ḥanukka,

and the first two days of Pesaḥ

[with one additional day added here as well],

and the two festival days of Atzeret

[with one additional day added here as well].

There are eighteen days on which Hallel is recited in the Land of Israel, and another three days added in the Diaspora—there are twenty-one days in all.

The Gemara relates:

Rav arrived

[he happened to come]

in Babylonia.

He saw that they were reciting Hallel on Rosh Ḥodesh

[he saw the local inhabitants reciting Hallel on Rosh Ḥodesh].

Rav thought that they were reciting and completing Hallel, and therefore

he considered stopping them

[Rav considered interrupting them and preventing them from doing so]. For we said that Hallel is completed only on the eighteen days mentioned above!

Once he saw that they were omitting portions

[they were not reciting all of Hallel, but omitting some of the psalms, as we do on Rosh Ḥodesh, when we do not recite the psalms “Not to us” and “I love that the Lord hears”],

he said: Infer from this that the custom of their ancestors is in their hands.

That is, it was merely a custom among them, and there was no need to prevent them from doing so.

The tanna taught: An individual should not begin

reciting Hallel on Rosh Ḥodesh.

But if he began

reciting it,

he completes it

reciting it to the end .

We learned in our Mishna:

“Five things befell our ancestors on the seventeenth of Tammuz, etc.”

The Gemara explains how we know that those five things indeed occurred on the seventeenth of Tammuz:

That

the Tablets were shattered

on the seventeenth of Tammuz—

from where do we know

[this]?

As it was taught: On the sixth of the month

of Sivan,

the Ten Commandments were given to Israel.

Rabbi Yosei says: On the seventh of it

[the month of Sivan].

The one who says

that they were

given on the sixth

of Sivan

holds

that they

were given on the sixth,

of it, and

on the seventh

of it

Moses ascended

Mount Sinai.

And

the one who says

that they were

given on the seventh

of it holds that they

were given on the seventh, and

on that same day,

on the seventh

of Sivan,

Moses ascended

Mount Sinai.

And from where do we know that Moses ascended the mountain on the seventh of Sivan?

As it is written: “And He called to Moses on the seventh day,”

and it is written

later in the verse:

“And Moses entered into the cloud and ascended the mountain, and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.”

At the end of those forty days Moses descended from the mountain, and on the day he descended he shattered the Tablets.

Now, in order to determine on which date Moses shattered the Tablets, we must calculate when those forty days ended.

And this is the calculation:

Twenty-four

days

of Sivan,

which remained in the month of Sivan [which is a full month of thirty days] after the day on which Moses ascended the mountain,

and

another

sixteen of Tammuz

[sixteen days of the month of Tammuz],

thus

they completed

for him

forty

days from the time Moses ascended the mountain—

on the seventeenth

[on the seventeenth]

of Tammuz .

On that day,

he descended, came, and shattered the Tablets

[Moses descended and came down, and shattered the Tablets].

And it is written: “And it came to pass, when he drew near the camp and saw the calf, that he cast the Tablets from his hands and shattered them beneath the mountain.”

It is thus evident that the Tablets were shattered on the seventeenth of Tammuz!

The Gemara continues to explain how we know that those events occurred on the seventeenth of Tammuz.

The daily offering was abolished—how do we know that this occurred on the seventeenth of Tammuz—

Gemara

[this is what we received from our teachers]. That is, there is no proof of this from the verses; rather, the tanna received it from his teachers.

We further learned in our Mishna that on the seventeenth of Tammuz

the city was breached.

The Gemara asks: Could it be that

on the seventeenth

of Tammuz

was

this event?

But it is written

[in the Book of Jeremiah]:

“In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the famine prevailed in the city,” and it is written immediately afterward

[in the following verse]:

“And the city was breached, etc.”

Thus, the city was breached on the ninth of Tammuz!

Rava said: It is not difficult.

For

here,

the statement in the Book of Jeremiah that the city was breached on the ninth of Tammuz, refers to

the First

[the destruction of the First Temple].

Whereas what

here,

in our Mishna, we learned—that it was breached on the seventeenth—refers to

the Second

[the destruction of the Second Temple] .

We find Rava’s statement explicitly in a beraita.

As it was taught: In the First [Temple] the city was breached on the ninth of Tammuz; in the Second [Temple], on the seventeenth of it.

The Gemara again returns to explain how we know that those events occurred on the seventeenth of Tammuz.

That

Apustmus burned the Torah

on the seventeenth of Tammuz—

Gemara

[this is what we received from our teachers].

That

Manasseh

set up

an image in the Sanctuary

on the seventeenth of Tammuz—

from where do we know

[this]?

As it is written: “And from the time that the daily offering is removed and the abomination that makes desolate is set up.”

That is, at the time when the daily offering was removed, on the seventeenth of Tammuz, as we said above, based on the tradition we received from our ancestors, at that same time the abomination that makes desolate was set up—that is, an image was placed in the Sanctuary.

The Gemara asks:

And

could it be that

there was one

[there was only one image]?

But it is written: “And upon the wing of abominations

he makes desolate,” ,

and “abominations” is plural, indicating that there were two!

Rava said:

In truth, at first

there were two

[there were two images].

One fell upon the other and broke its hand.

[One of them fell upon the other and broke its hand.]