Related%20passage for Rosh Hashanah 4:4

בָּרִאשׁוֹנָה הָיוּ מְקַבְּלִין עֵדוּת הַחֹדֶשׁ כָּל הַיּוֹם. פַּעַם אַחַת נִשְׁתַּהוּ הָעֵדִים מִלָּבֹא, וְנִתְקַלְקְלוּ הַלְוִיִּם בַּשִּׁיר. הִתְקִינוּ שֶׁלֹּא יְהוּ מְקַבְּלִין אֶלָּא עַד הַמִּנְחָה. וְאִם בָּאוּ עֵדִים מִן הַמִּנְחָה וּלְמַעְלָה, נוֹהֲגִין אוֹתוֹ הַיּוֹם קֹדֶשׁ וּלְמָחָר קֹדֶשׁ. מִשֶּׁחָרַב בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ הִתְקִין רַבָּן יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאי, שֶׁיְּהוּ מְקַבְּלִין עֵדוּת הַחֹדֶשׁ כָּל הַיּוֹם. אָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן קָרְחָה, וְעוֹד זֹאת הִתְקִין רַבָּן יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זַכַּאי, שֶׁאֲפִלּוּ רֹאשׁ בֵּית דִּין בְּכָל מָקוֹם, שֶׁלֹּא יְהוּ הָעֵדִים הוֹלְכִין אֶלָּא לִמְקוֹם הַוָּעַד:

In the beginning, they would accept witnesses to (the appearance of) the new moon the entire day. Once, the witnesses were late in coming and the Levites defaulted in the psalm [of the afternoon tamid, not chanting it at all. For usually, the witnesses came before the afternoon, for which reason they instituted the yom tov psalm for the afternoon tamid. And, for the morning tamid, where most of the time the witnesses had not yet come and it was not known whether the day would be sanctified (as Rosh Chodesh Tishrei, i.e., Rosh Hashanah), they did not institute the yom tov psalm, but the weekday psalm. And on that occasion (above), when the time for the offering of the afternoon tamid had arrived, and the witnesses had not yet arrived, the Levites did not know whether to chant the yom tov or the weekday psalm — and they chanted no psalm at all], wherefore they instituted that witnesses be accepted only until minchah, and if they came after minchah, that day was observed as holy, and the next day as holy. [When it got dark on the night after the twenty-ninth of Elul, they observed it (the thirtieth) as holy on the possibility that witnesses would come in the daytime and beth-din would sanctify it, so that the preceding night would be found to have been yom tov; likewise, the day after, until minchah. And if witnesses came before minchah, beth-din sanctified the New Moon and it was know that they had correctly observed (the day until then) as holy. And if witnesses came from minchah on, even though beth-din would not sanctify that day, and they would intercalate Elul and sanctify it (the New Moon) on the next day — still, they observed that day (the thirtieth) as holy, interdicting work, lest they come to "cheapen" it the following year and work the entire day, saying: "Last year we observed it as holy in vain, going back to treating it as a weekday from minchah on."] When the Temple was destroyed, R. Yochanan b. Zakkai ordained that they accept witnesses to the new moon the entire day. R. Shimon b. Karchah said: And this, too, was instituted by R. Yochanan b. Zakkai: that even if the head of beth-din were in a different place, [so that they would (by right) be constrained to go from the (regular) meeting place (of the Sanhedrin) to that place, the sanctification of the new moon being essentially vested in him, viz. (2:7): "The head of beth-din says: 'It is sanctified'"] — still, the witnesses were not required to go [to him, but] only to the (regular) meeting place [of the Sanhedrin, and they would sanctify it without the head of beth-din.]

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