Siman - Rosh Hashanah Daf 19
- The twenty eighth of Adar was made a Yom Tov
The Gemara continues its discussion whether Megillas Taanis was annulled. Rav Tovi bar Masnah challenged the opinion that it was annulled, based on the following selection in Megillas Taanis: On the twenty eighth of Adar, good tidings came to the Jews that they would not have to remove themselves from Torah learning. For the Roman regime had issued a decree that the Jews may not engage in Talmud Torah, they may not circumcise their sons, and that they should be mechallel Shabbos. What did Yehudah ben Shamua and his colleagues do? They went and took advice from a Roman noblewoman, and she told them בואו והפגינו בלילה – “Go and cry out in public protest in the nighttime.” They did so, and as a result the Roman’s annulled their decrees, and the Rabbis made that day a Yom Tov. If Megillas Taanis was already annulled, why would the Rabbanon add more days after the Temple was destroyed? The Gemara answers that it is actually a machlokes Tannaim if Megillas Taanis was annulled, and concludes that it was annulled for all the days except for Chanukah and Purim.
- על אלול מפני ראש השנה ועל תשרי מפני תקנת המועדות
The Mishnah stated that the messengers go forth על אלול מפני ראש השנה ועל תשרי מפני תקנת המועדות – at the beginning of Elul on account of Rosh Hashanah, and at the beginning of Tishrei on account of fixing the proper times of the holidays. The Gemara asks, that once the messengers went forth for Elul there was no need for them to go forth again for Tishrei, since Elul was always twenty-nine days. And if you will say that they went because there is a possibility that Beis Din made Elul full, Rebbe Chinana bar Kahana said in the name of Rav: From the days of Ezra and onward, we never found Elul to be full!? The Gemara answers that they did not make it full because it was not necessary, but were it found to be necessary, they would make it full. Therefore, they sent messengers out. When the Gemara objects, since by declaring Elul full, Rosh Hashanah will be disrupted for the people living far away, since they will have counted only twenty-nine days, the Gemara answers, מוטב תיקלקל ראש השנה ולא יתקלקלו כולהו מועדות – Better that the observance of Rosh Hashanah be disrupted and the observance of all the other holidays are not disrupted.
- אדר הסמוך לניסן לעולם חסר
The Gemara discusses the month of Adar. It was sent to Mar Ukva: אדר הסמוך לניסן לעולם חסר – The Adar next to Nissan is always deficient, meaning it has twenty-nine days in an ordinary year, or in Adar Sheini in a leap year. Rav Nachman challenged this from a Mishnah: על שני חדשים מחללין את השבת על ניסן ועל תשרי – To offer testimony concerning two months, the witnesses may be mechallel Shabbos to inform Beis Din that they saw the new moon: concerning Nissan and Tishrei. Now it is understandable that if you say that Adar is sometimes full and sometimes deficient, then that is the reason we need to be mechallel Shabbos for Nissan; to testify about the new moon. But if you say that it is always deficient, why are we mechallel Shabbos? Rashi explains that even if no witnesses came, Beis Din would be mekadesh Rosh Chodesh on the thirtieth day. The Gemara answers, that it is still necessary משום דמצוה לקדש על הראייה – because there is a mitzvah to sanctify Rosh Chodesh through the sighting of the moon. The Gemara on the next Daf refutes this, since if this was so, then it would apply to all the other months, requiring the witness to be mechallel Shabbos. Nowadays, however, when we follow a fixed calendar, the Adar before Nissan is always חסר.
