Na początku zapalali latarnie [aby informować tych w oddali, że miesiąc został uświęcony, i nie musieli zatrudniać posłańców, aby wysłali ich na wygnanie, aby ich powiadomili, ponieważ zostaną powiadomieni przez latarnie]. Kiedy Cuthites próbowali podważyć (ustanowienie Księżyca w nowiu) [i oni również zapalili latarnie w niewłaściwym czasie, aby ich oszukać], zarządzili, że posłańcy wychodzą [bo bet-din będzie zapalał latarnie tylko przez miesiąc który został uświęcony trzydziestego dnia; a jeśli ich nie zapalili w przeddzień trzydziestego dnia, wszyscy wiedzieli, że miesiąc jest pełny. I raz bet-din przerwał miesiąc i nie zapalił latarni w przeddzień trzydziestego dnia— a Kutyyci zapalili ich na swoich wzgórzach i oszukali Żydów na wygnaniu, aby uczynić miesiąc ułomnym (zamiast pełnego)].
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.
