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Week 40 - Thursday - 31 August 2000

ROSH HASHANAH: CHAPTER 2: MISHNAH 1

If they do not know him, they send another with him to testify about him. Originally they accepted testimony of the New Moon from any man; after the sectarians' evil practices, they enacted that they should accept only from those they knew.

Kehati

This mishnah continues to teach the law of the witnesses to the New Moon and their reliability.

If they - the Court, do not know him - the witness who comes to testify to the appearance of the New Moon, and they do not know if he is trustworthy and his testimony is reliable, they - the Court in his city, to whom he is known, send another with him to testify about him - before the Court which effects kiddush ha-hodesh, that he is a trustworthy person. The Gemara explains that "they send another" means another pair of witnesses, for one witness is not reliable. Testimony regarding the New Moon also requires two witnesses (see above, 1:6-7); Therefore, the Gemara also interprets "if they do not know oto [trans. above as "him"] as referring to the pair (zug) of witnesses (since oto is a masculine pronoun). Most of the commentators, however, interpret oto to mean "the witness" - i.e., the Court accepts the testimony regarding the New Moon only from two witnesses whom the Court knows to be reliable (for the reason explained in the second part of the mishnah), and if one of them is unknown to the Court, they send with him two witnesses to testify about him. The Gemara also states that just as the witnesses to the New Moon may violate the Shabbat (see the preceding chapter), those witnesses who are sent to testify to their reliability may also violate the Shabbat and go with them to the Court. And even if there is only one who knows them, he may violate the Shabbat and go with them, for a second witness who knows them may be found and join him. This section of the mishnah explains why the Court must know each one of the witnesses to the New Moon, for

Originally they accepted testimony of the New Moon from any man - in Israel, because every Israelite is presumed fit, until proven to be unfit; but after the sectarians' - the Sadducees and the Boethusians, evil practices - they hired false witnesses to mislead the Court (see below), they enacted that they should accept testimony regarding the New Moon only from those they knew - from witnesses known to the Court to be reliable.

The Sadducees and the Boethusians were two sects during the Second Temple period who denied the oral Torah and interpreted the written Torah literally. One of the subjects on which they disagreed with the Sages was the counting of the omer: since it is written, "And you shall count to you from the morrow after the Shabbat" (Lev. 23:15), they would say, the reaping of the omer is not on the day after the first holy day of Pesah, according to the interpretation of the Sages (who based this ruling on an oral tradition), but rather on the first day following the first Shabbat after the first holy day of Pesah, according to the literal meaning of the words, "from the morrow after the Shabbat." According to their interpretation, the Festival of Shavuot would always fall on Sunday. They were therefore interested in misleading the Sages regarding kiddush ha-hodesh, especially that of the month of Nisan, which they wanted to be on Shabbat, so that the first day of Pesah would fall on Shabbat, and the waving of the omer would take place on the morrow of the Shabbat, following their interpretation, with the Festival of Shavuot falling on Sunday. Similarly, the Gemara cites a baraita: "What damage was inflicted by the Boethusians? Once the Boethusians wanted to mislead the Sages (according to Rashi, the thirtieth day of Adar fell on Shabbat, and the new moon was not seen at its proper time, and the Boethusians want the first day of Pesah to fall on Shabbat [see above]); they hired two men for four hundred zuz, one of ours (whom they did not know) and one of theirs. Their man delivered his testimony and went out. Ours - they said to him, "Tell, how did you see the moon?' He said to them, 'I was going up to Maaleh Adumim, and I saw it lying between two rocks, its head resembled a calf, its ears resembled a kid, its horns resembled a deer, and its tail was resting between its thighs, and I looked at it and I was startled and I fell backward; and if you do not believe me, here are two hundred zuz tied up in my sheet.' They said to him, 'What compelled you to do this?' He said to them, 'I heard that the Boethusians wanted to mislead the Sages, and I thought: I will go and I will inform them, lest unworthy people come and deceive the Sages.' They said to him, 'The two hundred zuz are yours and your hirer will be stretched out on the pole (for lashes - Rashi).' At that time they enacted that they would accept only from those they knew."

ROSH HASHANAH: CHAPTER 2: MISHNAH 2

Originally they would light flares; after the Cutheans' evil practices, they enacted that messengers should go forth.

Kehati

Originally they would light flares - they would kindle torches on the hilltops (see the following mishnah), in order to announce the proclamation of the New Moon. The Gemara quotes a baraita: "They kindled flares only for the moon that was seen at its proper time, to effect kiddush ha-hodesh. And when would they raise? On the night following its announcement." I.e., they would light flares only when the Court proclaimed the new month on the thirtieth day, in which case they would raise the signals on the thirtieth day, at night, to proclaim that the preceding month was deficient (twenty-nine days long), and the day which had now ended was Rosh Hodesh. If the thirtieth day, which had been sanctified to be Rosh Hodesh, fell on a Friday, they would raise the signals on Saturday night, after the Shabbat. If, however, the new month was determined only on the thirty-first day, they would not light flares at all, and it would thereby be known that Rosh Hodesh was on the thirty-first day;

After the Cutheans' - the Samaritans' evil practices - once the Court proclaimed a leap month (i.e., they determined Rosh Hodesh to be on the thirty-first day), and there was no need for signals (see above), but the Cutheans raised signals on the night following the thirtieth day, thereby causing Israel to think that kiddush ha-hodesh had been effected on the thirtieth day. According to another version, this mishnah reads as the previous mishnah: "after the sectarians' evil practices" (Rashi), they enacted - that they would not light flares, but rather that messengers should go forth - to announce on which day the Court had effected kiddush ha-hodesh, as was taught above (1:3).

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