1But in matters of documents one writes the First Adar, the Second Adar. only that for the Second Adar one writes תִינייָן. Rebbi Jehudah says, the Second Adar one writes, and it is enough 54 This paragraph is thoroughly garbled, and the text of B is worse. The intelligible text is the original in Megillah (and Tosephta Megillah 1:6 ). In the anonymous opinion (ascribed in B to R. Meïr), for both months one writes Adar, but the second one is qualified by “second” (in Aramaic, the language of contracts in both Talmudim.) R. Jehudah agrees that “Adar” alone means the First Adar in an intercalary year, but the Second may be indicated by a single letter ת֗, first letter of the Aramaic word “second”. .
2“One repairs the roads, 4 Rural roads which might have been damaged during the rainy season, to prepare them for the pilgrims going to Jerusalem in the following month. and the streets 5 Municipal roads. , and water pools 6 Since the term is not discussed in the Halakhah, it is difficult to know whether one refers to religious miqwaot or to water supply for the pilgrims. Both kinds of pools may contain dust deposited there by the rains of the winter months. , and one looks after all public needs 7 Described in the Halakhah. .” “ 55 Tosephta Mo`ed Qaṭan 2:11. From here to the end of the Halakhah the text is from Mo`ed Qaṭan 1:1 (80b 66), with no or little relevance here. The Mo`ed Qaṭan text of the ms. is indicated by ק ; in addition there exist an Ashkenazic text of the Yerushalmi (A) edited by J. Sussman in Kobez al Yad 12 (1994), pp. 62–63. Most of the activities permitted in the baraita are for the benefit of individuals, not the public, most clearly delivering a new pair of shoes on the semi-holiday, mentioned last in the baraita . The only reason for its inclusion here is the identity of the expression “public needs”, applied both to public works in preparation for the holiday and permitted activities during the intermediate days of an extended holiday. The following are the public needs: One judges civil suits, and capital crimes, and cases of flogging, and one redeems valuations 56 Fixed amounts dedicated to the Temple, Lev. 27:2–6 . , and bans 57 Dedications reserved for the Cohanim, Num . 18:14 . , and dedications 58 Dedications for the upkeep of the Temple, other than currency. , one lets the suspected adulteress drink 59 Num . 5:11–31 . , and burns the Cow 60 Num . 19 . , and one breaks the neck of the calf whose neck was to be broken 61 For an unsolved murder case, Deut . 21:1–9 . , and one pierces the ear of a Hebrew slave 62 , and one purifies the sufferer from skin disease 63 , and removes the shoe from the block but one may not return it.”
3“One marks the graves.” Were they not already marked in Adar? Explain it if there was a flood caused by rain which rinsed it off 64 This also is copied from Mo`ed Qaṭan . The question is why one should hire people to mark graves (or in the next paragraph to check for kilaim ) on the semi-holidays approximately on the spring and fall equinoxes (Mishnah Mo`ed Qaṭan 1:2) when they already had been checked in late winter. The reason that one tries to have all public works done on semi-holidays is that at that time most journeymen are without work and ready to work for lower wages. One provides work for the poor and saves taxpayer’s money at the same time. Cf. Babli Mo`ed Qaṭan 6a. .
4“And also one goes to inspect for kilaim 8 Graves not in a cemetery, which must be clearly marked so ritually pure pilgrims will not be contaminated accidentally and then prevented from completing their pilgrimage. The whitewash characterizing these graves may have been damaged during the rainy season. .” Did they not already go in Adar? Explain it if the year was late and the plants not recognizable.
565 This text in addition is in Ma`aser Šeni 5:1, :Notes 17–25, ש ) and Sotah 9:1 (Notes 29–31 , ס ). Babli Mo`ed Qatan 6a. The biblical roots for the duty of the authorities to mark the places of graves with taxpayers’ money. From where about marks? Rebbi Berekhiah, Rebbi Jacob the son of the daughter of Jacob, in the name of Rebbi Onias from Hauran. Rebbi Yose said it, Rebbi Jacob bar Aḥa in the name of Rebbi Onias from Hauran. Rebbi Ḥizqiah, Rebbi Uziel the son of Rebbi Onias from Hauran in the name of Rebbi Onias from Hauran: impure, impure, he shall call out 67 Lev. 13:46 . An inappropriate reference since the verse refers to the impurity of the sufferers from skin disease, not of corpses. ; the impurity itself has to call out and say to you: go away! Rebbi Hila in the name of Rebbi Samuel bar Naḥman: The emissaries shall crisscross the land; if one sees a bone of a human he builds a sign near it . 68 Ez . 39:15 . { A bone } 69 Quoted from the parallels; in parallel to the following statements the source in the verse should be stated, except for the version of B which quotes the verse only up to a bone . , from here that one makes signs for bones. A human , from here that one makes signs for spine and skull. He builds , from here that one makes signs on fixed stones. If you say on loose ones, it would move and make other places impure. Near it , on a place of purity. A sign , from here the marks.
670 Tosephta Šeqalim 1:5 . If one found a single marked stone, even though one should not keep it so, if somebody forms a tent over it he is impure; I say a marked corpse 71 This expression has no explanation; B simply has “a corpse”, probably since the printer did not understand the word to be inserted. . Most parallels have קמצוץ “compressed”, a corpse buried with its head between the legs, so it fitted under the stone. This is not a Jewish burial custom. Since the majority of sources reads “impure”, they imply that Gentile corpses cause “tent impurity” ( Num . 19 , Babli Yebamot 61a ); only the texts in Ma`aser Šeni and the Tosephta follow R. Simeon who restricts tent (and any kind of biblical) impurity to Jewish bodies. was under it. If there were two, he who forms a tent over any one of them is pure; between them he is impure. If between them was a ploughed strip they are single stones, between them the area is pure and around them 62 impure.
7It was stated 73 Tosephta Šeqalim 1:5 . : One does not mark flesh, for perhaps it will decompose 74 Then it is no longer impure. . Rebbi Justus bar Shunem asked before Rebbi Mana: Will that not cause pure food to be retroactively made impure 75 If the carrier of pure food learns that he has crossed a place where human flesh (without enough bone to cause tent impurity) was buried. ? He said to him, it is better that these should become unusable for a limited time than that {the earth} become unusable forever.
8MISHNAH: Rebbi Jehudah says, originally they were uprooting and throwing down 76 The public employees checking the fields for kilaim tore out all kilaim growth and left it lying on the fields. . When the number of transgressors rose 77 The farmers did not check for kilaim themselves since the public employees not only weeded the fields for them but also provided them with animal fodder. , they were uprooting and throwing on the roadways 78 Then the uprooted growth was no longer animal feed but at least they got the fields weeded on public expense. ; they instituted that they were declaring the entire field as ownerless 79 Not the real estate but the crop growing on it. .
9HALAKHAH: “Rebbi Jehudah said.” It was stated: Rebbi Jehudah said, originally they were uprooting and throwing down before them; they were twice happy, first that they weeded their fields and second that they could use (the robbery) [the kilaim ] 80 The corrector’s [text] clearly is the correct one, supported by B; the scribe’s (text) possibly was caused by a lapse of attention. . When the number of transgressors rose, they were throwing it on the roadways, and still they were happy that they weeded their fields. They instituted that they were declaring the entire field as ownerless.
10From where that a declaration of forfeiture by a court makes it ownerless? 81 The following text is copied from Peah 5:1 ( פ ). From the middle of the text there are two Genizah sources edited by Ginzberg without noting the readings differing from the editio princeps ( Yerushalmi Fragments from the Genizah , New York 1909), one noted G (pp. 120,122,129,131), the other ג (pp. 121, 123–128,130,132–139). It is written 82 Ezra 10:8 . Babli Yebamot 89b . : Anybody who will not come within three days conforming to the decree of the rulers and the elders, all his property shall be devoted to destruction and he shall be separated from the community of the Diaspora 83 If the decree of the Court did not make the property abandoned, its destruction would have to be considered theft. Since Ezra was a teacher of the Law, his rulings have to be accepted. . From where that it 84 Produce declared ownerless by a decree of court. The intricacies of these rules are explained in Peah ; they have no relevance here. is free from tithes? Rebbi Jonathan, the son of Rebbi Isaac bar Aḥa understood it from the following 85 Tosephta Sanhedrin 2:9 , Sanhedrin Yerushalmi 1:2 (Note 207 ), Babli 12a; Nedarim 6:13 Note 83 . : “One intercalates 86 Since the Jewish year is both lunar and solar, but 12 lunar months are only approximately 254 days, in 19 years there have to be seven intercalary years of 13 months each. For details see the author’s Seder Olam (Jason Aronson, Northvale NJ, 1998). years neither in the Sabbatical year, nor in the year following the Sabbatical; but if they did intercalate it is intercalated.” The one month he adds, is it not free from tithes 87 Since the spontaneous growth of the Seventh Year may be taken by everybody, it is not your harvest and, hence, biblically free from heave and tithes even if taken by the owner of the land. If the Supreme Court declared the year intercalary against the rules, it is nevertheless a valid 13 months year and all produce is legally abandoned property. ? That refers to the Sabbatical year. What about the year after the Sabbatical? Rebbi Abun said, not to prolong the prohibition of new grain 88 New grain may be eaten only after the Omer sacrifice on the 16th of Nisan, Lev. 23:14 . The intercalation of a month, which always falls in Adar, unnecessarily postpones the harvest of new grain. . 89 This paragraph is an aside, taken from Ševi`it 6:4, also Nedarim 6:13 . It explains why our calendar today does not take the Sabbatical year into consideration when determining intercalary months in the 19 year cycle. Rebbi Ze`ira in the name of Rebbi Abbahu: That is only before Rebbi permitted the importation of vegetables from outside the Land. But after Rebbi permitted the importation of vegetables from outside the Land, the Sabbatical year is as any other year 90 The soil outside the Land of Israel is unclean (cf. Amos 7:17 ). In former times Jews did not use vegetables from outside the Land since it might have particles of soil still clinging to it. But after the last remnants of the ashes of the Red Cow disappeared, these laws became inoperative and it was possible for everybody, even the most scrupulous, to eat imported vegetables. This has to be dated to the times of Rebbi. Cf. commentary to Mishnah Berakhot 1:1 . .
11It was stated: One does not intercalate in the Sabbatical Year [nor in the year following the Sabbatical;] 91 Corrector’s addition, unjustified since the words also are missing in ג and in Peah . but only in other years of a Sabbatical period, but if they did intercalate it is intercalated. Rebbi Mana said, that refers to earlier times when years were in order, but now that years are not in order 92 Probably this means that since the Roman (Byzantine) government collects taxes from farmers also in the Sabbatical, they are forced to grow produce also in the Sabbatical; there no longer is any reason to treat the Sabbatical differently. , the Sabbatical year is like any other year. It was stated: The house of Rabban Gamliel intercalated immediately after the end of the Sabbatical year. Rebbi Avin said, from this 93 All the previous arguments which prove that the action of the court can free produce from the Biblical obligations of heave and tithes are not relevant since there is a biblical obligation to manipulate the calendar so that Passover should fall in the month of the Spring equinox. Hence, the obligation to intercalate is biblical rather than rabbinic. you do not infer anything. watch the spring month 94 Deut . 16:1 . . Watch it that it should come in its renewal.
12What text implies this 95 Which Mishnah text implies that property decreed ownerless by the court is legally abandoned property? ? “For a grain stack under which gleanings were not collected, all ears that touch the ground are for the poor.” 96 Mishnah Peah 5:1. Rebbi Immi in the name of Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish: This is from the House of Shammai. Rebbi Yose 97 With the text in Peah one has to read R. Yasa, contemporary of R. Immi, not R. Yose who has to be dated 2 generations later. said to him: We understand that according to everybody, this is a fine 98 As explained in Peah 5:1, Note 4 . There is no biblical reason why the ears touching the ground should be given to the poor; the farmer is fined since he put his sheaf on a place where the poor could not yet have taken the gleanings. The disagreement between the Houses of Shammai and Hillel is explained in ג : The House of Shammai hold that things abandoned exclusively for the use of the poor are legally abandoned whereas the House of Hillel hold that only things unconditionally abandoned are legally abandoned and therefore exempt from heave and tithes (Mishnah Peah 6:1). . Following the House of Hillel, the poor give tithes and eat.