Study Rosh Hashanah folio 16A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מתני׳ בארבעה פרקים העולם נידון: בפסח — על התבואה, בעצרת — על פירות האילן, בראש השנה — כל באי עולם עוברין לפניו כבני מרון, שנאמר: ״היוצר יחד לבם המבין אל כל מעשיהם״, ובחג נידונין על המים.
Mishnah: At 4 times of the year the world is judged: On Passover judgment is passed concerning grain; on Shavuot concerning fruits that grow on a tree; on Rosh HaShana all creatures pass before Him like sheep [benei maron], as it is stated: “He Who fashions their hearts alike, Who considers all their deeds” (Psalms 33:15); and on the festival of Sukkot they are judged concerning water, i.e., the rainfall of the coming year.
גמ׳ הי תבואה? אילימא הא תבואה דקיימא, כל הני הרפתקי דעדו עלה אימת איתדון? אלא תבואה דמזדרעא.
Talmud: The Mishnah taught that on Passover judgment is passed concerning grain. The Talmud asks: Which grain is judged on Passover? If we say it is the grain that is presently standing in the fields ready to be reaped between Passover and Shavuot, when was judgment passed with regard to all those events [harpatkei] that already happened to the grain while it was growing in the winter? Rather, the Mishnah must be referring to the grain that will be sown over the coming year.
למימרא דחד דינא מתדנא? והתניא: תבואה שאירע בה קרי או אונס, קודם הפסח — נידונית לשעבר, לאחר הפסח — נידונית להבא. אדם שאירע בו קרי או אונס, קודם יום הכפורים — נידון לשעבר, לאחר יום הכפורים — נידון להבא.
The Talmud asks further: Is this to say that only one judgment is passed concerning a particular crop, and no more? But isn’t it taught in a baraita: If grain suffers an incident or accident before Passover, it was judged in the past, the previous Passover; if this occurs after Passover, it was judged this Passover for the future. And similarly, if a person suffered an incident or accident before Yom Kippur, he was judged in the past, the previous Rosh HaShana; if this occurred after Yom Kippur, he was judged this Rosh HaShana for the future.