Study Sanhedrin folio 13A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
Text Excerpt
רבי יוסי אומר: אחד ועשרים יום. ושניהם מקרא אחד דרשו: ״חג האסיף תקופת השנה״. מר סבר: כוליה חג בעינן בתקופה חדשה, ומר סבר: מקצת חג בעינן בתקופה חדשה.
R' Yosei says: The year must be intercalated only if 21 days of Tishrei will pass before the autumnal equinox. The Talmud explains: And both of them expounded the same verse to arrive at their respective opinions: “And the Festival of the Ingathering at the turn of the year” (Exodus 34:22). They both interpret the verse to mean that the Festival of the Ingathering, which is referring to the intermediate days of Sukkot, must take place during the season of Tishrei, i.e., autumn. One Sage, R' Yehuda, holds that we require all of the Festival to take place in the new season, after the equinox. And one Sage, R' Yosei, holds that we require only some of the Festival, even one day, to take place in the new season, so the year must be intercalated only if the equinox would fall on the 22nd of Tishrei or later.
מאי קא סברי? אי קסברי יום תקופה גומר, בלאו הכי נמי, לא למאן דאמר כוליה חג איכא, ולא למאן דאמר מקצת חג איכא. אלא קסברי יום תקופה מתחיל.
The Talmud asks: What do they each hold? If they hold that the day of the equinox concludes the season, meaning that it is counted as part of the preceding season, then even if the season of Tammuz is not lacking more than this number of days until its completion, the year would need to be intercalated. According to the one who says that we require all of the Festival to take place in the new season, this is not sufficient to rectify the problem, as the 16th of Tishrei, which is the beginning of the Festival of the Ingathering, is still in the old season. And even according to the one who says we require only some of the Festival to take place in the new season, this is also not sufficient to rectify the problem, since if the equinox occurs on the 21st of Tishrei, the new season begins only on the 22nd, after the Festival of the Ingathering is over. Rather, they certainly both hold that the day of the equinox begins the new season.