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אם אינן מכירין אותו – If the Jewish court does not recognize concerning the witness if he trustworthy or fit/valid.

Introduction As I have written on several occasions, the setting of the calendar was a point of great conflict between ancient Jewish sects, namely the Pharisees, Essenes, Sadducees and Dead Sea sect (which may overlap with the Essenes or Sadducees, or perhaps even both). This mishnah alludes to this strife when it relates that the minim, a generic rabbinic term for sectarians, tried to disrupt the process by sending false witnesses. It sounds like they wanted to trick the Pharisees into declare the new month on the wrong date. Even though the sectarians in this mishnah probably used a solar calendar, they still wanted to disrupt the Pharisaic/rabbinic calendar. It’s as if they wanted to say even according to your own system, you’re celebrating on the wrong day.

משלחים – the Jewish court that is in his city.

If they don’t know him [the one who came to testify], they send another with him to testify concerning [his reliability]. This section expresses the current halakhah (the halakhah that was valid at the time of the mishnah). When someone was sent to testify concerning the new moon, if this person was not known to the central court that accepted the testimony, then they would send with him a person who was known to the court to vouch for the witness’s reliability. Basically, he would tell the court that the witness was a “kosher yid” and not a sectarian.

אחר עמו – another pair of witnesses to testify about him before the Great Jewish Court which sanctifies the [New] Moon.

Originally testimony concerning the new moon was accepted from anyone. When the minim disrupted this, it was decreed that testimony should be received only from persons known [to the court]. This explains the background to the need for a second person to testify as to the reliability of the witness. Before the sectarians “ruined” it, everyone was trusted to testify. We should note that this mishnah is probably more “historiographical” than “historical.” That is to say, the mishnah teaches us how to view history, more than it teaches us what actually happened. The mishnah presents a pre-minim history in which everyone could trust one another; it was a moment of unity between all Jews. The minim came and disrupted this unity and now we have to suspect one another. Obviously a person hearing this mishnah will know how undesirable the minim really are.

משקלקלו המינין – that they hired false witnesses to deceive the Sages.

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).

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.

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.

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.

כלונסאות – long and tall trees/wood; the Aramaic translation is flag of a beam/pole (See Talmud Rosh Hashanah 22b), in order that it could be seen from afar.

How did they light the torches? They used to bring long poles of cedar and reeds and olive wood and flax fluff and they tied them all together with a string. And someone used to go up to the top of a mountain and light them with fire and wave them back and forth and up and down until he saw the next one doing the same thing on the top of the second mountain; and so on the top of the third mountain.
This mishnah teaches how the torches were made and how the signals were passed from the top of one mountain to another. The mishnah is simple to understand and so no commentary appears below.

‘וקנים ועצי שמן ונעורת של פשתן – all of these increase the flame.

מהר המשחה – The Mount of Olives that is opposite Jerusalem to its east.

At what places did they light the torches? From the Mount of Olives [in Jerusalem] to Sartaba, and from Sartaba to Gripina, and from Gripina to Havran, and from Havran to Bet Biltin. From Bet Biltin they did not move, but rather waved [the torch] back and forth and up and down until he saw the whole of the diaspora before him lit up like one bonfire.
This mishnah continues to discuss the torches used to let the Jews in the Diaspora know that the new month had been declared in Jerusalem. The mishnah traces a progression from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem all the way to Babylonia. At Bet Biltin the chain of torches would end for there the one waving the torch in Bet Biltin would be able to see all of the Diaspora lighting their torches in response. The Talmud relates that “Diaspora” here refers to Babylonia.
Since the mishnah is self-explanatory, I will again refrain from commenting.

כל הגולה – those who are in Babylonia.

כמדורת אש – so that each person can take a torch and ascend to the top of his roof.

לא היו זזים משם כל היום – the witnesses who went outside of their boundary limits on the Sabbath and came to testify, for one who is outside the boundary, only has his four cubits.

Introduction Our mishnah deals with the witnesses who have come to Jerusalem to testify that they saw the new moon.

There was a large courtyard in Jerusalem, and it was called Bet Yazek. There all the witnesses used to assemble and the court would examine them there. They would make large feasts for them there so that they would have an incentive to come. When the witnesses came to Jerusalem they were directed to a courtyard called Bet Yazek. The court would examine them there, as we shall see in tomorrow’s mishnah. Interestingly, they would make a big feast for them there in order to encourage people to come to testify. We again see how important the testimony concerning the new moon was for the rabbis.

Originally they used not to leave the place the whole day, but Rabban Gamaliel decreed that they could go two thousand cubits from it in any direction. And these were not the only ones [who could go two thousand cubits in any direction], but also a midwife who has come to deliver a child, or one who comes to rescue from a fire or from bandits or from a river in flood or from a building that has fallen in all these are like residents of the town, and may go two thousand cubits [on Shabbat] in any direction. This section deals with the laws of Shabbat border limits, a subject which we learned in greater depth in Eruvin (see especially 4:1-3, for laws which deal with the topic addressed here.) A person is not allowed to go more than 2000 cubits outside of the city in which he began Shabbat. If he does so, he is stuck in his place and can’t walk more than another four cubits. In the case in our mishnah, witnesses came to Jerusalem to testify on Shabbat. This was permitted and indeed encouraged, as we saw in 1:4-5. Our mishnah teaches that originally such a person could not leave the courtyard because a person who leaves his Shabbat border cannot move more than four cubits in any direction. The courtyard which was enclosed was considered to be all within four cubits. However, this would discourage people from coming to Jerusalem to testify because they would know that they would be stuck there the whole day. In order to encourage people to come to testify, Rabban Gamaliel the elder, a sage who lived while the Temple still stood, decreed that they could move about like the rest of the people of the town. This means that they could move around all of Jerusalem and even go outside of the city 2000 cubits in any direction. The mishnah goes on to say that the same ruling applies to anyone who left his Shabbat border for a permitted reason. So a midwife who leaves her Shabbat border limit to go and deliver a child may now go all around the city she came into and may go 2000 cubits in all direction. The same is true for anyone who leaves his Shabbat border limit in order to save property. Since we want to encourage people to do so, they are allowed this concession.

לפני החמה או לאחר החמה – was the concave side of the crescent of the moon directed towards the sun, inclined towards the sun or in another direction? (see Talmud Rosh Hashanah 23b) And concerning this, it is taught at the conclusion [of the Mishnah] that if he said that it was towards the side of the sun, he didn’t say anything, for never does the sun see the concave side of the crescent of the moon, for the side that is enlightened [by the sun] always is inclined towards the sun and the concave side of the moon’s crescent is inclined in another direction.

Introduction As we mentioned in yesterday’s mishnah, once the witnesses arrived in Jerusalem they were brought to Bet Yazek where the court would examine them. Our mishnah teaches how they were examined.

בצפונה או בדרומה – For the moon distances itself from the sun – once to the northern side and once to the southern side, and if the Jewish court knew the my means of calculation that at the particular time, the moon should be at the northern side and the witnesses said that they saw it inclined towards the southern side or the opposite, it is clear that they are false witnesses.

How do they test the witnesses?
The pair which arrives first, they test them first. The first pair to get there would be the first pair that would be examined first come, first serve.

כמה היה גבוה – from the earth (i.e., on the horizon) according to what your eyes can see. If one of the witnesses says said that it was the height of two men and the other witness said [the height of] three [men], their testimony would be established. But if one said: “[the height of] three” and the other said, “[the height of] five,” their testimony would be invalid.

They bring in the older of them and they say to him, “Tell us, how did you see the moon in front of the sun or behind the sun? To the north of it or to the south? How high was it, and in which direction was it inclined? And how broad was it?” If he says [he saw it] in front of the sun, his evidence is rejected. As is usual in all court cases, they interrogate the witnesses one at a time. The examination would consist of several questions which would ascertain that the witnesses had actually seen the new moon. At the time of the new month (the molad, in Hebrew) the moon is found at sundown in the west near the sun. From that time on it goes further east away from the sun, until at the fifteenth of the month it is in the east opposite the sun. Right before the new moon it is west of the sun and it sets before the sun such that it looks as if it is “in front of the sun.” After the new month (the molad) it sets after the sun and is further from the horizon and it looks as if it is “after the sun.” Therefore, if he says that he saw it “in front of the sun,” he has not seen the new moon and his testimony is rejected. One who stands looking west at sunset, where he might see the new moon at the right time of the month has the north to his right and the south to his left. Therefore, when they ask north and south, what they mean is was the moon to the right or left of the sun.

ולאן היה נוטה – The heads of the crescent to which direction it leans – to the northern side or to the southern side.

After that they would bring in the second and test him. If their accounts were the same, their evidence was accepted. If the witnesses said the same thing, then there testimony is accepted.

וכמה היה רחב – for the moon changes its measure according to how far it is from the sun or closed to it.

And the other pairs were only questioned briefly, not because they were required at all, but so that they should not go out disappointed, so that they would be regular in coming [to testify]. Once two witnesses have testified, there is no need for more testimony from other witnesses. Nevertheless, the court didn’t want to just turn the rest of the pairs of witnesses away because if they did so they might not come back in the future reasoning that there was no need for their testimony. Therefore, they asked the witnesses a few questions in order to make them feel that their long trip to Jerusalem had not been in vain.

ראש בית דין אומר מקודש – as it is written (Leviticus 23:44): “So Moses declared [to the Israelites] the set times of the LORD.” From here that the head of the Jewish court says, “Sanctified.”

Introduction This mishnah describes the ceremonial declaration made by the court when they sanctified the new month. We should note that we have seen several occasions in which ritual was used by the rabbis in order to engage in polemics against a rival Jewish group such as the Sadducees. For example the ritual of the water libation was emphasized, as was the ritual in which they harvested the new barley, the omer, on the day after the first day of Pesah. Our mishnah may also describe a ritual used for at least slightly polemical purposes.

וכל העם עונין אחריו – As it is written (Leviticus 23:2): “[Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: These are My fixed times,] the fixed times of the LORD, which you shall proclaim [as sacred occasions].” It is read as "אתם" /”them” – for it is written defectively without the letter “VAV.”

The head of the court says, “Sanctified,” and all the people answer after him, “Sanctified, sanctified.” The ritual consists of the head of the court announcing that the new moon had been sanctified and the rest of the people responding, “Sanctified, sanctified.”

מקודש מקודש – Two times as it is written, “sacred occasions”/"מקראי קדש" – two occasions.

Whether the new moon is seen at its proper time or not at its proper time they sanctify it. Rabbi Elazar bar Zadok says that if it is not seen as its proper time they do not sanctify it for heaven has already sanctified it. According to the first opinion, this ritual is performed whether or not the court sanctifies the new moon on the thirtieth day of the previous month (the proper time), turning the previous month into a twenty-nine day month, or whether the previous month lasted a full thirty days and the new moon was not declared until the thirty-first day (not its proper time). Remember, a month can have only 29 or 30 days. Rabbi Elazar bar Zadok says that the ceremony was performed only if the month was sanctified at its proper time, meaning on the thirtieth day. If the new moon was not seen on this day, then it is as if heaven had sanctified the month by allowing it to last the full thirty days. Since heaven sanctified it, the court does not perform the ritual declaration. We should note that beneath the surface of this mishnah we again can detect the conflict between the court determining the new month by making a ritual declaration and the calendar being set by the cycles of nature that is heaven sanctifying the new month. As we have seen, this was a major debate among Second Temple Jews, and echoes of the debate seem to still be found in post-Temple rabbinic literature.

שנראה בזמנו – on the night of the thirtieth [of the previous month].

אם לא נראה בזמנו – and they establish Rosh Hodesh on the thirty-first [day].

אין מקדשין אותו – The sanctification of the month is not obligatory, as the Bible states (Leviticus 25:10): “And you shall hallow the fiftieth year…” Years you sanctify, as it is obligatory upon the Jewish court to say that the year is sanctified as the Jubilee year, but you do not sanctify months, for there is no obligation upon the Jewish court to state that the month is sanctified. But when it appears at the appropriate time, we sanctify it because it needs strengthening. And the Halakha is according to Rabbi Eleazar b’Rabbi Tzadok.

צורות לבנות – the measurement of the moon and to which side its horns incline.

Rabban Gamaliel had diagrams of the moon on a tablet [hung] on the wall of his upper chamber, and he used to show them to the unlearned and say, “Did it look like this or this?”
It happened that two witnesses came and said, “We saw it in the morning in the east and in the evening in the west.” Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri said: they are lying witnesses. When they came to Yavneh Rabban Gamaliel accepted them.
On another occasion two witnesses came and said, “We saw it at its proper time, but on the night which should have been the new moon it was not seen,” and Rabban Gamaliel accepted their evidence. Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas said: they are lying witnesses. How can they testify that a woman has given birth when on the next day her belly is between her teeth (? Rabbi Joshua to him: I see your argument.
This mishnah and the next one contain one of the most famous stories in rabbinic literature. In it Rabban Gamaliel and Rabbi Joshua clash over accepting what seems to surely be false testimony as to the new moon.
Section one: This section sets up the character of Rabban Gamaliel, who will play the lead role in the story. Rabban Gamaliel was the head of the court in Yavneh and he was the rabbi who would ultimately decide whether the witnesses’ testimony would be accepted and the new month sanctified. In order to facilitate this, he would have pictures of the moon in its different phases hung up in his upper chamber, where he would interrogate them.
Section two: The story now begins. Two witnesses come in front of some rabbi (it’s not clear whom they come in front of) and tell him that they saw the new moon in the morning in the east and in the evening in the west. This is impossible and hence Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas calls them lying witnesses. The witnesses proceed on to Yavneh and come in front of Rabban Gamaliel, who sanctifies the month based on their testimony. We as readers of the mishnah are properly shocked wasn’t Rabban Gamaliel the very rabbi who was especially fervent in checking the witnesses?
The same thing seems to happen a second time. Again witnesses offer impossible testimony, which Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas promptly rejects, this time using a graphic analogy. In Hebrew there is a pun which is lost in translation. The word for pregnant and the word for a thirty day month are the same.
In the final line of the mishnah, a new character is added, Rabbi Joshua. Rabbi Joshua agrees with Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas, setting the stage for his eventual clash with Rabban Gamaliel in tomorrow’s mishnah.

קיבלן ר"ג – not because he thought that it was possible that the moon could be seen in the morning in the east at the start of sunrise, and on that day itself, it would be seen in the west with the setting of the sun, for that is impossible, but rather, he accepted their testimony in what they said that they saw the moon in the west in the evening, because he knew the manner of the calculations that it was possible that it would appear that same night. And concerning that which they said that it (i.e., the moon) appeared in the east in the morning, he said, that they are in error and that clouds in the form of the moon appeared to them in the firmament, and that is what is taught in the Baraitha (Tractate Rosh Hashanah 25a): One time, the sky became covered with clouds and the image of the money appeared on the twenty-[ninth] of the month, etc. Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri said that they were false witnesses, for it appeared to him, according to his calculations, that it was not possible that moon should appear on that night that the witnesses said that they saw it, and he said that they are false witnesses because there was no time between the appearance and the beginning of the first quarter of the moon (i.e., New Moon) according to his opinion, so much time that it would be possible that it should appear on it. And on this, Rabban Gamaliel responded in the Baraitha: So I have received from the house of my father’s father, that sometimes it comes at lengthy [period of time] and sometimes it comes in a short [time], that is to say, that the time that there is between the beginning of the first quarter of the moon until the moon appears is not always equal. But there are times when the movement of the moon is quick and times when it is late. And according to the speed of the movement of the moon at that time, Rabban Gamaliel judged that it was appropriate that the moon should appear on that night, and therefore, he accepted their testimony.

ראינוהו בזמנו – on the night of the thirtieth

ובליל עבורו – on the light of the thirty-first.

וקבלן ר"ג – not because it is stated that the moon removed itself from the sun on the night of the thirtieth [of the month] until it would appear, and on the night of the thirty-first, it returned to being behind it and drew closer to the sun until it was covered, for the moon does not return to being behind it, but makes its path as it goes around in its circuit, but that Rabban Gamaliel knew in the calculations for that particular night so that when the witnesses said that they saw it, the moon had already distanced itself from the sun until it was it was possible that it would be seen. Therefore, he accepted their testimony, and regarding what they said on the night of its intercalation (i.e., proclamation of a full month) do not appear [to be valid]. It is possible that it was because the cloud covered it or another reason that caused that they (i.e., the witnesses) did not see it.

רואה אני את דבריך – to intercalate the month

הלך ומצאו ר"ע – to Rabbi Yehoshuaבור

Introduction This mishnah is the continuation of yesterday’s story of Rabban Gamaliel, Rabbi Joshua and Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas and the sanctification of the new moon based on erroneous testimony. At the end of yesterday’s mishnah, Rabbi Joshua agrees with Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas that the witnesses’ testimony was false and therefore Rabban Gamaliel should not have accepted it.

מיצר – on that the President/Nasi decreed upon him to desecrate Yom Kippur

Rabban Gamaliel sent to him: I order you to appear before me with your staff and your money on the day which according to your count should be Yom Hakippurim. The action begins with Rabban Gamaliel’s response to Rabbi Joshua. Rabban Gamaliel sends one of his messengers (henchmen) to him and demands that he come to Rabban Gamaliel on the day which he believes to be Yom Kippur, the day after Rabban Gamaliel would have celebrated Yom Kippur. This is a harsh decree, one delivered by the politically potent Rabban Gamaliel, to the wise yet weak Rabbi Joshua. Rabbi Joshua would be forced to desecrate the holiest day of the year by carrying his stick and money in the public domain and by going beyond the Shabbat border limit. Indeed, if Rabbi Joshua believes that that day is Yom Kippur, he would have to ignore Rabban Gamaliel’s demands rather than transgress such a serious prohibition.

אשר תקראו – that the Jewish court hung the Biblical verse on this calling

Rabbi Akiva went and found him in distress. He said to him: I can teach that whatever Rabban Gamaliel has done is valid, because it says, “These are the appointed seasons of the Lord, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times” (Leviticus 23:4), whether they are [proclaimed] at their proper time or not at their proper time, I have no other appointed times save these. Rabbi Akiva hears about the goings on and comes to Rabbi Joshua to offer him advice. His advice is based on a midrash. The verse seems to imply, at least according to its midrashic reading, that the holidays are holy whether or not the court decrees them to fall at their “proper” time or at the wrong time. In other words, Yom Kippur is when the court determines it to be, and not when it really should fall according to some predetermined “heavenly” time. If the court makes a mistake and sanctifies the new month of Tishri on the wrong day, then ten days later is still Yom Kippur. Rabbi Akiva is basically telling Rabbi Joshua that even if Rabban Gamaliel is wrong with regard to the new month, the day upon which he declares Yom Kippur to fall is still Yom Kippur.

בא – Rabbi Yehoshua near Rabbi Dosa

He [Rabbi Joshua] then went to Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas. He said to him: if we call in question the court of Rabban Gamaliel we must call in question the decisions of every court which has existed since the days of Moses until now. As it says, “Then Moses and Aaron, Nadav and Avihu and seventy of the elders of Israel went up” (Exodus 24:9). Why were the names of the elders not mentioned? To teach that every group of three which has acted as a court over Israel, behold it is like the court of Moses. Rabbi Joshua now goes to Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas, the same sage who said in yesterday’s mishnah that the witnesses were lying. This is a fascinating move. He is basically going to Rabbi Dosa and asking him, “What should I do? I agreed with you, and see what a predicament it has gotten me into.” Rabbi Dosa, like Rabbi Akiva, provides him with a midrash which supports him going to Rabban Gamaliel on the day which he thinks is Yom Kippur. Rabbi Dosa’s midrash teaches that the court that stands at every generation is equal in authority to that of Moses and his court. This is the ultimate statement of rabbinic authority. One shouldn’t think that the current rabbinic courts are inherently of a lesser status. Although the sages that live today may not be as close to the source, God and the Torah, as was Moses, their authority is nevertheless not diminished.

למה לא נתפרשו שמותן וכו' – for if a person would come to argue against the Jewish court of his days, to say – for this Jewish court is like Moses and Aaron or [like] Eldad and Medad, we would say to him: lest it is important like those whose who remained whose names were not [explicitly] spelled out.

He [Rabbi Joshua] took his staff and his money and went to Yavneh to Rabban Gamaliel on the day which according to his count should be Yom Hakippurim. Rabban Gamaliel rose and kissed him on his head and said to him: Come in peace, my teacher and my student my teacher in wisdom and my student because you have accepted my decision. Peace is finally made and rabbinic unity is restored. Rabbi Joshua is either convinced by Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas, or he realizes that he has no choice but to go to Rabban Gamaliel. Rabban Gamaliel greets him with open arms, praising him for both his wisdom and importantly, also for his acceptance of his decree.