Au début, ils allumaient des balises [pour informer ceux qui étaient à distance que le mois avait été sanctifié, et ils n'avaient pas à engager des messagers pour les envoyer en exil pour les informer, car ils seraient informés par les balises.] Lorsque les Cuthites ont tenté de saper (l'institution de la Nouvelle Lune) [et eux aussi ont allumé des balises au mauvais moment, pour les tromper], ils ont ordonné que des messagers sortent [Car Beth-Din n'allumerait des balises que pendant un mois qui a été sanctifié le trentième jour; et s'ils ne les allumaient pas la veille du trentième jour, tous savaient que le mois était plein. Et une fois que Beth-Din a intercalé le mois et n'a pas allumé de balises à la veille du trentième jour— et les Cuthites les ont allumés dans leurs collines et ont trompé les Juifs en exil en rendant le mois défectueux (au lieu de plein)].
Bartenura on Mishnah Rosh Hashanah
היו משיא ין משואות – After they sanctified the Month, they did not need to hire messengers to be sent to the Diaspora to inform [them], since the fire-signals would announce them (i.e., that the New Month had been sanctified).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Rosh Hashanah
Introduction
Above in 1:3 we learned that the court used to send messengers out to let the people in the Diaspora know that the new month had been decreed. In our mishnah we learn that this custom was the result of another attempt by a non-Pharisaic/rabbinic group of Jews to disrupt the calendar.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Rosh Hashanah
משקלקלו הכותים – they also would carry torches at the inappropriate time, to deceive [the people], for the Jewish court would not carry torches other than at a [New] Month that was sanctified on the thirtieth day, and they would not use torches on the eve of the thirtieth day as everyone would know that the month is a leap one. And one time, the Jewish court declared the [New] Month] a leap one, and they did not make torches for the eve of the thirtieth day, and the Cuthians carried their torches in their mountains and deceived the members of the Diaspora to make it (i.e., the month) lacking a day.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Rosh Hashanah
Originally they used to light torches [to signal that the new month had been decreed]. When the Samaritans disrupted this, they decreed that messengers should go out. In tomorrow’s mishnah we shall learn how they used to light torches, or beacons, in order to let everyone in the Diaspora know that a new month had been decreed. Here we learn that they stopped doing this because the Samaritans disrupted the process by lighting torches on the night of the thirtieth even though the court had not decreed a new month. Again we see that one of the sects attempts to have other Jews, Jews who follow a rabbinic calendar, celebrate their holidays on the wrong day.
