1the earlier, stern authorities and the later, humble authorities, for although Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel was known as particularly humble, his proclamation was written with less modesty than that of his father, Rabban Gamliel, who was known to be particularly stern.
2As it is taught in a baraita ( Tosefta 2:6): There was an incident involving Rabban Gamliel, who was sitting on a step on the Temple Mount, and Yoḥanan, that scribe, was standing before him, and three blank documents cut from parchment and ready for writing were set before him.
3Rabban Gamliel said to the scribe: Take one document, and write: To our brothers, the people of the Upper Galilee, and to our brothers, the people of the Lower Galilee, may your peace increase. We are informing you that the time has come for eradication of tithes that had been separated from produce but not yet given to their designated recipients, as is to be done in the fourth and seventh years of the Sabbatical-Year cycle, to separate the tithe from the vat of olives, because most of the local olives were grown in the Galilee. Rabban Gamliel continued, instructing the scribe: And take one document, and write: To our brothers, the people of the South, meaning the area of Judea and its environs, may your peace increase. We are informing you that the time has come for eradication, to separate the tithe from the mounds of stalks of grains, because most of the local grain was grown in the Judea region.
4Rabban Gamliel continued to instruct the scribe: And take one document, and write: To our brothers, the people of the Diaspora in Babylonia, and to our brothers who are in Media, and to the rest of the entire Jewish Diaspora, may your peace increase forever. We are informing you that the fledglings are tender, and the lambs are thin, and time for the spring has not come. And consequently, the matter is good before me and before my colleagues, i.e., in our estimation, and I have consequently added thirty days to this year. The third letter indicates that evidently Rabban Gamliel included others in his decision. The Gemara rejects this, and explains: Perhaps this incident occurred after they deposed Rabban Gamliel from his position as Nasi . When he was reinstated, he shared his office with Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya. Therefore, he wrote the decision in the name of his colleagues as well.
5§ The Sages taught in a baraita ( Tosefta 2:2): The court may intercalate the year for three matters: For the ripening of the grain, if it is not yet time for the barley to ripen; for the fruit of the trees, if they have not yet ripened; and for the equinox, i.e., to ensure that the autumnal equinox will precede Sukkot . If two of these concerns apply, the court intercalates the year even if the third factor does not apply; but for only one of them the court does not intercalate the year.
6The baraita continues: And when the ripening of the grain is one of the concerns, everyone is happy. Since the grain is not yet ripe, the people do not mind waiting an extra month for Nisan. If the grain is already ripe, however, the extra month would simply prolong the period during which the grain may not be eaten due to the prohibition of the new crop, as the new crop may be harvested and eaten only after the sacrifice of the omer offering on the sixteenth of Nisan (see Leviticus 23:14). Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: For the equinox. The Gemara seeks to clarify this statement: A dilemma was raised before the Sages. When he said: For the equinox, did he mean this is the reason that everyone is happy, or did he mean that only for the equinox may the court intercalate the year? The dilemma shall stand unresolved.
7The Sages taught in a baraita ( Tosefta 2:2): The court may intercalate the year for three regional lands of Eretz Yisrael, meaning that the court considers the agricultural situation in three regions: Judea, and Transjordan, and the Galilee. If there is a concern about two of them, the court intercalates the year even if the third region does not need it, but if there is a concern about only one of them the court does not intercalate the year. And when Judea is one of them, everyone is happy, because the omer offering comes only from Judea. If the court therefore ensures that the crops in Judea ripen just before the omer is brought, the crops will certainly be ripe in the other regions as well, and there will be no complications with the prohibition of the new crop.
8§ The Sages taught in a baraita ( Tosefta 2:2): The court may intercalate the years only when located in Judea. And if they intercalated it when located in the Galilee, the year is nevertheless intercalated. Ḥananya of Ono testified: Even if the court already formally intercalated the year when located in the Galilee, it is not intercalated. Rabbi Yehuda, son of Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi, says: What is the reasoning of Ḥananya of Ono? The verse states: “But to the place that the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put His name there, to His abode shall you seek, and there you shall come” (Deuteronomy 12:5). This is interpreted as: Every pursuit that you shall pursue in the area of halakha must be only in the abode of the Omnipresent, in close proximity to Jerusalem, i.e., in Judea.
9The Sages taught in a baraita ( Tosefta 2:7): The court may intercalate the year only during the day; and if the court intercalated it at night, it is not intercalated. And the court may sanctify the month only during the day; and if the court sanctified it at night, it is not sanctified. Rav Abba says: What is the verse from which this halakha is derived? “Sound the shofar at the New Moon, at the concealed time for our Festival day” (Psalms 81:4). On which Festival is the new moon concealed? You must say it is Rosh HaShana, which occurs on the first of the month, before the moon is visible, whereas the moon is visible during the other Festivals, which occur later in the month. And it is written in the next verse: “For it is a statute for Israel, a judgment of the God of Jacob” (Psalms 81:5). Just as all civil judgment is done during the day, so too is the sanctification of Rosh HaShana, and the sanctification of the month in general, done during the day.
10The Sages taught in a baraita ( Tosefta 2:5): The court does not intercalate the year