Study Rosh Hashanah folio 22A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
מעשה שעברו יותר מארבעים זוג ועיכבן רבי עקיבא כו׳. תניא, אמר רבי יהודה: חס ושלום שרבי עקיבא עיכבן. אלא שזפר ראשה של גדר עיכבן, ושלח רבן גמליאל והורידוהו מגדולתו.
§ It was taught in the Mishnah: There was once an incident where more than 40 pairs of witnesses were passing through on their way to Jerusalem to testify about Rosh Chodesh, and R' Akiva detained them in Lod, telling them that there was no need for them to desecrate Shabbat for this purpose. It is taught in a baraita: R' Yehuda said: Heaven forbid that R' Akiva detained them, for he would certainly not have made such an error. Rather, it was that Zefer, the head of the city of Geder, detained them. And Rabban Gamliel sent and they removed him from his high office because he had acted inappropriately.
מתני׳ אב ובנו שראו את החדש — ילכו. לא שמצטרפין זה עם זה, אלא שאם יפסל אחד מהן — יצטרף השני עם אחר. רבי שמעון אומר: אב ובנו וכל הקרובין כשרין לעדות החדש.
Mishnah: If a father and his son saw Rosh Chodesh, they should both go to the court in Jerusalem. It is not that they can join together to give testimony, for close relatives are disqualified from testifying together, but they both go so that if one of them is disqualified, the second may join together with another witness to testify about Rosh Chodesh. R' Shimon says: A father and his son and all their relatives are fit to combine together as witnesses for testimony to determine the start of the month.
אמר רבי יוסי: מעשה בטוביה הרופא שראה את החדש בירושלים, הוא ובנו ועבדו משוחרר, וקבלו הכהנים אותו ואת בנו ופסלו את עבדו. וכשבאו לפני בית דין — קבלו אותו ואת עבדו, ופסלו את בנו.
R' Yosei said: There was an incident with Toviyya the doctor. When he saw Rosh Chodesh in Jerusalem, he and his son and his freed slave all went to testify. The priests accepted him and his son as witnesses and disqualified his slave, for they ruled stringently that the month may be sanctified only on the basis of the testimony of those of Jewish lineage. And when they came before the court, they accepted him and his slave as witnesses and disqualified his son, due to the familial relationship.