The Eri B. Sitt Edition and Audio Series of the Talmud Bavli, Tractate Rosh Hashanah, has been sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Soley and Cheryl Mizrahi, may God preserve them, for the success of both of their families, and for health, happiness, continued success, and much satisfaction and pleasure from their children. Through their dedication to Tractate Rosh Hashanah, may they merit sound judgment, blessing, and good fortune in all their endeavors. Amen.
Today’s page is being studied from 12b, beginning five lines from the bottom.
We begin with a teaching: The world was created in Tishrei. When we say that the world was created, we mean that the first human being, Adam Harishon, was created. He was created on the sixth day of creation, which was the first of Tishrei. The entire purpose of the world was humanity; therefore, the first human being was created on the first of Tishrei. That is the meaning of the statement that the world was created in Tishrei.
Our patriarchs were born in Tishrei. Rashi tells us that this refers to Avraham and Yaakov. We will learn later that Yitzhak Avinu was actually born in the month of Nisan. The patriarchs also died in Tishrei. On Pesach, Yitzhak Avinu was born. On Rosh Hashanah, Yosef left prison.
The work in Egypt stopped on the first of Tishrei, even though we did not leave Egypt until Nisan. Six months before the actual Exodus, the work stopped. The first redemption took place in Nisan, but we are destined to be redeemed in Tishrei. That is the first opinion.
Rabbi Yehoshua says no: The world was actually created on the first of Nisan. The early commentators ask: According to Rabbi Yehoshua, why do we observe the first of Tishrei as Rosh Hashanah? It would make sense to judge Adam, and humanity in general, on the day on which Adam was judged. If he was judged on the first of Nisan, because that was when he was created, then Rosh Hashanah should be in Nisan.
They answer on behalf of Rabbi Yehoshua that it makes sense to place Rosh Hashanah next to Yom Kippur. Since everyone agrees that Yom Kippur is the day of atonement, Rosh Hashanah was established in Tishrei, adjacent to it.
According to Rabbi Yehoshua, the patriarchs were also born in Nisan and died in Nisan. Yitzhak Avinu was born on Pesach. Yosef also left prison on Rosh Hashanah, and Rabbi Yehoshua agrees with that. The work in Egypt stopped on the first of Tishrei, and six months later, in Nisan, we were redeemed. According to Rabbi Yehoshua, we were redeemed once in Nisan, and the future redemption will also take place in Nisan.
How do we know that the world was created in Tishrei? The verse says that when God created the world, He commanded the land to bring forth vegetation that produces seeds and trees bearing fruit. The Gemara understands this according to the month in which the fields are filled with vegetation and the trees are filled with fruit. That refers to Tishrei, which is the end of the summer, when the fields are already filled with vegetation and fruit.
The verse is therefore understood as saying that the land should bring forth abundant vegetation and trees that produce fruit. This also corresponds to the time of year when rain begins. We know that it rained immediately after creation, and the plants began to grow. A cloud rose from the ground. Thus, according to this opinion, it makes sense that the world was created in Tishrei.
When the verse says that God commanded the world to be filled, as it were, with vegetation, it indicates that the fruit was already complete. The proof is that the world needed rain, and Tishrei is the rainy season. This is the proof offered for the opinion that the world was created in Tishrei.
Rabbi Yehoshua says: How do you know that the world was created in Nisan? The verse says that the land brought forth vegetation, grass that produces seeds, and trees bearing fruit. The Gemara understands this according to the month in which the vegetation and the trees begin to sprout and produce fruit. That refers to Nisan, which is the season of sprouting. Rabbi Yehoshua therefore derives from the wording of the verse that the world was created in Nisan.
It also makes sense that the world was created in Nisan because that is the mating season for animals. God would create the world at a time when the animals mate because He wanted their population to multiply.
How do we know that Nisan is the mating season for animals? We previously learned that the animals are pregnant with their young at the time when the stalks strike against one another and produce a singing sound. When does that happen? In Nisan. Thus, Nisan is the time of mating.
The end of the verse says that the trees will sing. This is understood by one opinion as referring to the time when the animals are pregnant, when the stalks in the fields strike against one another and produce a song. In any event, according to Rabbi Eliezer, the world was created in Nisan.
The other opinion, that of Rabbi Eliezer, which says that the world was created in Tishrei, understands the verse as indicating that the trees would produce fruit. This implies that the fruit was not yet present. According to Rabbi Eliezer, who says that creation took place in Tishrei, there was already fruit. What, then, does the phrase “trees bearing fruit” mean?
It is a blessing for future generations. The world was created with fruit already present, and the verse teaches that, in future generations, the trees will continue to produce fruit.
According to the other opinion, Rabbi Yehoshua, the verse says that the trees were bearing fruit, which seems to imply that the fruit was already present. If he says that the world was created without fruit, what does he do with that phrase?
He understands it according to the teaching that all of creation was made in its complete form. The creations were created already mature. Adam was not created as a baby; he was created fully formed and mature. The same applies to the trees. The phrase “trees bearing fruit” does not necessarily mean that fruit was already present. Rather, the trees were created in a state of complete development, prepared to produce fruit immediately.
They were not saplings. They were created as fully developed trees, with everything necessary to produce fruit, even though the fruit itself was not yet present.
A second description of creation is that everything was created according to its will. According to Rashi, this means that each part of creation was asked whether it wanted to be created, and each answered yes. Others explain that this refers to the spiritual force associated with each creation, which accepted the divine will to be created and to follow the will of the Holy One, blessed be He. The sun accepted its instruction to emerge every day, the moon to emerge every night, and the stars to shine. All of them accepted the divine instruction.
A third description is that everything was created according to its desire. Some explain this phrase as meaning that each creation was made according to its beauty. Tosafot also brings this explanation: Every creation has a particular aesthetic beauty and a characteristic that distinguishes it from all others. Thus, it was created according to its beauty, or according to the form it desired.
The straightforward interpretation of the Gemara is that the trees were created according to their will and according to their complete form.
A question is asked about Rabbi Yehoshua: If there was no fruit when the world was created, how did Adam Harishon eat from the tree? He ate from it on the very day he was created, yet there was supposedly no fruit.
We must therefore say that, according to Rabbi Yehoshua, Gan Eden was different. In Gan Eden, the trees already had fruit from the beginning. The discussion is referring to the rest of the world.
Rabbi Eliezer says: From where do we know that the patriarchs were born in Tishrei? The verse says that King Shlomo gathered the Jewish people in the month of Eitanim, during the festival. We know that the First Temple was inaugurated in Tishrei, because the verse mentions the festival of Sukkot, which takes place in Tishrei.
Why is the month of Tishrei called the month of Eitanim? Eitanim means the strong or mighty ones. Why would Tishrei be called by that name?
It is the month in which the mighty ones of the world were born. Who are the mighty ones of the world? The patriarchs. Thus, the month of Eitanim is the month in which the patriarchs were created.
How do we know that the word “eitan” means strong? It says, “Your dwelling is strong.” When Bilaam blessed the Jewish people, he referred to their dwelling as strong and mighty.
There is also a verse that says, “Hear, mountains, the dispute of God, and you mighty foundations of the earth.” This is the voice of my beloved, meaning God, who is coming, leaping over the mountains and skipping over the hills.
Who are the mountains? They are the patriarchs, who are compared to mountains on account of their merit. Who are the hills? They are the matriarchs, who are compared to hills.
What does this refer to? Rashi explains that the Creator will hasten the redemption. He will skip and leap so that the time of redemption will arrive quickly. The mountains are the patriarchs, and the hills are the matriarchs.
Thus, the mighty ones are the patriarchs. The verse says, “Hear, mountains,” and later says that He skips over the mountains. Since the mountains refer to the patriarchs, we know that the mighty ones also refer to them. Therefore, the month of Eitanim is the month in which they were born.
Rashi says that the verse itself establishes this connection. It says, “Hear, mountains,” and “Hear, dispute.” The words are synonymous in that passage. Since the mountains are the patriarchs, as indicated by the phrase “leaping over the mountains,” the mighty ones also refer to the patriarchs. This is how we know that the month of Eitanim is the month in which they were born.
Rabbi Yehoshua says: From where do we know that the patriarchs were born in Nisan? The verse says that, in the four hundred and eightieth year after the Exodus from Egypt, in the month of Ziv, King Shlomo began building the Temple.
The month of Ziv is the second month, Iyar. Why is it called Ziv? Ziv means light, illumination, or radiance. It is the month in which those who illuminated the world were born. Who were they? The patriarchs.
They were not born in Iyar, but in Nisan. By Iyar, however, they were already in the world. That means they had been born in Nisan. Therefore, once the second month arrived, the world was already illuminated because the patriarchs had already been born. This is why the second month is called the month of Ziv.
That is at least Rashi’s first explanation. Let us return to the question: What does the opinion of Rabbi Yehoshua do with the phrase “the month of Eitanim”? We said that it is the month in which the mighty ones were born.
He answers that Tishrei is called the strong month because it contains many commandments. Tishrei includes the commandment of the shofar, the lulav, the sukkah, and the other commandments observed during that month. It is called the strong month because it is laden with commandments.
Rashi mentions Yom Kippur, the sukkah, the lulav, the willow, and the water libation as examples of the commandments associated with Tishrei.
What, then, does the name Ziv mean? According to this explanation, it refers to the illumination brought to the world by the patriarchs. It can also refer to the brightness or beauty that the world enjoys from the trees, because this is when the trees begin to blossom.
The trees begin producing blossoms and fruit during Nisan and Iyar. We have a statement—and this is in fact the halachah—that when a person goes out to the orchards during Nisan or during the days of Nisan and sees trees beginning to blossom, he recites a blessing thanking God that nothing is lacking in His world, that He created beautiful creations and good trees for human beings to enjoy.
This blessing is recited when one sees the trees blossoming during the Nisan period of the year.
The Gemara continues: According to the opinion that the patriarchs were born in Nisan, they also died in Nisan. According to the opinion that they were born in Tishrei, they also died in Tishrei. Everyone agrees that they died in the same month in which they were born.
The proof is found in the words of Moshe Rabbeinu: “I am one hundred and twenty years old today.” Why does he say “today”? It means that his days and years had been completely fulfilled. The Holy One, blessed be He, sits and completes the years of the righteous day by day and month by month.
God says, “I will complete your days.” Therefore, we can assume that if the patriarchs were born in Nisan, they died in Nisan, because God completes their years.
The Gemara says that Yitzhak Avinu was born on Pesach. The angel told Avraham and Sarah, “At this time next year I will return to you.” Rashi explains that this means that at the next festival Sarah would have a son.
We must determine which two festivals are being discussed, with enough time between them for her to conceive and give birth. The festivals would have to be placed as far apart as possible in order to allow the proper amount of time for conception and birth.
Perhaps the angels came to her on Pesach, and the next festival was Shavuot. But could she have a baby in fifty days? That is impossible. It must therefore have been Shavuot when the promise was made, with the birth taking place on Pesach. From Sivan to Tishrei, however, is only five months. Could she give birth in five months? That is also impossible.
The answer is that it was a leap year, with an additional month of Adar, making the period seven months. The Gemara then asks: In the end, when we calculate the days of impurity, the period is still less than seven months. When the angels came, Sarah prepared bread for them but did not serve it. Why did she not serve them bread? Because she became a menstruant, and therefore did not serve them bread. We must account for at least a week during which she had to become purified. Thus, the period was seven months minus that time.
How, then, could the baby have been born after less than seven full months? The Gemara returns to the question of the two festivals.
Mar Zutra says that even according to the opinion that a woman in her ninth month cannot give birth in the middle of that month, because the baby must be full term in order to survive, everyone agrees that a baby can be born during the seventh month, even in the middle of that month. Therefore, although the pregnancy may not have lasted a complete seven months—perhaps it was six months and two weeks—that is sufficient. Once the seventh month has begun, the baby can be born and survive.
How do we know that a baby can be born once the seventh month has begun? We learn this from Hannah, who gave birth to Shmuel. The verse says that she gave birth after two seasons. A season consists of three months, so two seasons are six months. The verse refers to the minimum number of days in the two seasons, which is two. Thus, Shmuel was born after six months and two days, two days into the seventh month, and he survived.
The Gemara analyzes the calculation: “Two seasons of days”—a minority of two seasons and a minority of two days. Thus, Shmuel was born within the seventh month, even though only two days of that month had passed. This proves that a baby may be born in the seventh month and survive.
The greatest question on this passage comes from Rashi’s commentary on the Torah. Rashi clearly says that when the angels came to visit Sarah and tell her that she would have a baby on Pesach, Sarah was menstruating on Pesach. How do we know that she was menstruating? She prepared bread for the angels but never served it. Why did she not serve them the bread? Because, having become a menstruant, she did not want to serve them bread that was impure.
How can we say that this happened on Pesach when the Gemara says that the angels came on Sukkot and told her that she would have a baby at the next festival?
The gloss on the page offers the following reconciliation. In truth, the angels came on Pesach and made a mark on the wall, saying, “One year from today, when the sun reaches this spot, you will already have a baby.” At that time, Sarah did become a menstruant, which is why she did not serve them the bread. But this was not a normal menstrual period establishing a regular cycle through which she could become fertile and have children. Rather, some blood happened to appear, and she treated it as menstruation. That is why she did not serve the bread.
God returned to Sarah on Sukkot and said, “Now you will have a son. At the next festival, you will have a baby.” Sarah laughed and said, “What do you mean, a baby? I do not even have a menstrual cycle. How can I have a baby?” God answered, “Is anything difficult for God?” At that point, her cycle returned, and she gained the ability to conceive. Six months and some additional time later, on Pesach, she gave birth to Yitzhak Avinu.
The proof offered for this understanding is that, on Pesach, when the angels came, Sarah did not serve them bread because she was menstruating. Yet the verse says that Sarah did not have a menstrual cycle. What does that mean? We must explain that the blood she experienced was not a regular cycle. She still did not have a cycle that enabled her to become fertile. That is how Yitzhak Avinu was born on Pesach.
The Gemara continues with the question of when the patriarchs conceived. How do we know that they conceived on Rosh Hashanah? We derive this through an analogy based on the repeated words in the verses. Regarding Hannah and Rachel, the word “remembering” is used. The same word is used in connection with Rosh Hashanah. Therefore, we establish that they conceived on Rosh Hashanah.
Regarding Sarah and Hannah, the word “visiting” is also used. Thus, there is a double analogy: The word “visiting” appears regarding Sarah and Hannah, and the word “remembering” appears regarding Hannah and Rosh Hashanah. Since Hannah is connected to Rosh Hashanah through the shared word “remembering,” and Sarah is connected to Hannah through the shared word “visiting,” we know that Sarah also conceived on Rosh Hashanah.
The Gemara returns to Yosef. When Yosef was imprisoned in Egypt, he left the prison on Rosh Hashanah. The verse in Tehillim says, “Blow the shofar on the new moon,” referring to the month in which the shofar is blown. That is the month of judgment, as we have learned. What does the next verse say? In that month, Yosef was appointed to his position.
Thus, Yosef came out of prison on Rosh Hashanah and became the ruler of Egypt because the same psalm that speaks about Rosh Hashanah also speaks about Yosef.
The reason Yosef is called by a different form of his name there is that, on the night before he left prison, the angel Gabriel came to him and taught him seventy languages. Yosef needed to know all seventy languages so that he could converse with Pharaoh, who knew all the languages. Yosef knew the seventy languages in addition to the holy tongue.
According to the tradition concerning kings, whoever knows the greatest number of languages is supposed to be king. That is why Yosef was able to elevate himself to such a high position.
How did Gabriel teach Yosef seventy languages in one night? The verse added the letter hei, a letter associated with God, to his name. Instead of calling him Yosef, they called him Yehosef. Because of that additional letter hei in his name, he was given the ability to understand the seventy languages. This was a sign that he would emerge from prison and become the leader of Egypt.
The Gemara continues: The servitude in Egypt stopped on Rosh Hashanah. God said, “I will redeem you,” and “I will take you out from under the burdens.” What are these burdens? They are the hardships, difficulties, and burdens of Egypt.
What does the chapter of Tehillim that discusses Rosh Hashanah say? “I removed his shoulder from the burden.” This refers to the burdens of Egypt. When did that happen? This is how we know that the servitude stopped on Rosh Hashanah.
We know that we were redeemed from Egypt on the fifteenth of Nisan, as the Torah tells us. However, the future redemption will take place in Tishrei according to the first opinion.
We have an analogy based on the word “shofar.” One verse says, “Blow the shofar on the new moon,” referring to the first of Tishrei, the month in which we blow the shofar. Regarding the Messiah, another verse says, “On that day, a great shofar will be sounded.” Since the word “shofar” appears in both passages, we infer that something associated with Rosh Hashanah will occur in the future as well. Thus, we were redeemed in Nisan, but in the future we will be redeemed in Tishrei.
Rabbi Yehoshua says no: We were redeemed in Nisan, and in the future we will be redeemed in Nisan as well.
The night of Pesach is called the night of protection or anticipation. It is the night for which we wait. The night of Pesach has been preserved, as it were, from the time of creation to be a night of great hope and anticipation for the redemption. Therefore, it is called the night of anticipation: God has been waiting for this night from the beginning of creation, when the Messiah will come.
The other opinion explains the phrase “the night of protection” differently. It is the night on which we are protected from destructive forces. On that night, demons and harmful spirits do not have the ability to emerge. Similarly, on the night when we left Egypt, the dogs did not bark. Dogs usually bark because they can see demons and similar forces, but on that night no destructive forces were present. Every year, therefore, Pesach is called the night of protection, when those harmful forces are absent, and it is a night of protection.
Blessed is the Lord forever. Amen and amen.