Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 1, scan section 68

separate himself entirely from a woman). And whence do we know that the Lord agreed to this also ? It is written [Deut. V. 27 and 28]: " Go, say to them. Return you unto your tents. But as for thee, remain thou here by me." And what was his object in breaking the tablets ? He thought : ' ' As concerning the i6o THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. Passover sacrifice, which is only one of the six hundred and thir. teen commandments, it is written [Ex. xii. 43] : ' No stranger shall eat thereof,* how can I give the tablets, which contain all the commandments, to the children of Israel, who are now all renegades?" And whence do we know that the Holy One, blessed be He, agreed even to this ? It is written [Ex. xxxiv. i]: "And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thyself two tables of stone like unto the first; and I will write upon these tables the words which were on the first tables which thou didst break." Said Resh Lakish: " * Which thou didst break' really means, ' which thou didst break rightfully.' " Another objection was raised : It is written [Ex. xix. 1 1] : " And they shall be ready against the third day." According to R. Jossi it should be the fourth day. This is no objection ! as it is said above that Moses added another day upon his own authority. Come and hear another objection: "The sixth means the sixth of the week and of the month." Is this not contradictory to the statement of the rabbis, who say: "The first of the month was the second day of the week ?" Yea, (it may be that) this Boraitha holds to the opinion of R. Jossi. Come and hear: On the fourteenth day of the month of Nissan, during which (month) the Israelites went out of Egypt, they killed the Passover sacrifice and on the fifteenth day they went out. On the night before that the first-born of the Egyp- tians were beaten. That day (the fifteenth) was the fifth of the week. Now, if the fifteenth of Nissan was the fifth of the week, we must certainly say that the first of the next month (lar) was Sabbath and the first day of the following month (Sivan) was the first day of the week. Is this not contradictory to the statement of the rabbis, that the first day of the month was the second day of the week ? The rabbis might have assumed that the month of lar was an intercalary month. Said R. Habibi of 'Huzunah to R. Ashi: Come and hear: It is written [Ex. xl. 17]: "And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first of the month, that the tabernacle was reared up," and a Boraitha teaches that this day was crowned tenfold, viz.: " That day was the first of the six days of the creation ; the first of the days on which the first prince presented his offering before the altar; the first of the days on which the priests (Aaron and sons) did their work in the sanctuary; the first day on which the children of Israel brought their sacrifices into the tabernacle ; the first of the days TRACT SABBATH. i6i on which the heavenly fire descended upon the altar; the first of the days on which the priests were permitted to eat the sacrifices in the tabernacle; the first of the days on which the Shekhina appeared in the tabernacle; the first day on which Aaron the High Priest blessed the Israelites in the tabernacle; the first of the days on which sacrifices were no more permitted to be brought on the high places outside of the tabernacle, and the first day of the first of the months." Now, if the first day of this year was the first day of the week, we must say the first of Nissan of the preceding year fell on the fourth day of the week, because we have learned in another Boraitha: " Anonymous teachers say that there can be not more than four days' differ- ence between one New Year's day and another." If a leap year intervened, then there may be a difference of five days. Is this not contradictory to the opinion of both the rabbis and R. Jossi ? According to R. Jossi there were seven short months (of twenty- nine days) in that year, but according to the rabbis there were eight such months, (consequently the difference from the last year was only in two days,) as this year was an extraordinary one. (And the first day of the month lar of the last year was on Friday.) Another objection was raised : We have learned in the Tract Seder Aulim that on the fourteenth day of the month of Nissan, during which (month) the Israelites went out of Egypt, they killed the Passover sacrifice; on the fifteenth they went out, and that day was Friday. Now, if the first of the month of Nissan of that year was Friday, we must say that the first day of the following (lar) month was on the first day of the week and the first of the succeeding month (Sivan) was on Monday. Is this not contradictory with R. Jossi ? R. Jossi will then say that this Boraitha is in accordance with the opinion of the rabbis. Come and hear another objection: R. Jossi says: " On the second day Moses went up on the Mount Sinai and came back. The same he did on the third day, but on the fourth day, when he came back, he remained." Came back and remained ? Whence did he come back — it does not say that he went up at all ? Say, then, on the fourth day he went up, came back, and remained. On the fifth he built an altar and offered a sacrifice. On the sixth he had no time. Shall we assume that he had no time because on that day the Israelites received the Torah ? (If we say that the second refers to the second day of the week, VOL. I. — II i62 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. it must be a fact that the Torah was given on Friday, and would this not be a contradiction to his [R. Jossi's] own opinion ?) Nay; he had no time because the Sabbath was at hand. A Galilean lectured in the presence of R, Hisda: Praised be the merciful God, who gave a triple law (the Pentateuch, Proph- ets, and Hagiographa) to a triple people (Kahanites, Levites, and Israelites) through a man who was the third child of his parents (Miriam, Aaron, and Moses), on the third day of sancti- fication and in the third month. We see from this that the Galilean held in accordance with the teachings of the rabbis. It is written [Ex. xix. 17]: " And they placed themselves at the foot of the mount." Said R. Abhdimi b. Hama b. Hassa: " It appears from this passage that the Holy One, blessed be He, inclined the mountain toward the children of Israel and gave them the choice of either accepting the Torah or being buried right under the mountain." Said R. Aha b. Jacob: " This would accord us the right to protest against any punishment inflicted upon us for violating the law. (For we were compelled to accept it.)" Said Rabha: Although (at that time they were compelled to accept it), at the time of Ahasuerus (King of Persia) they accepted it voluntarily. For it is written [Esther, ix, 27]: