Avodah Zarah, Daf Tet, Part 2

 

אמר רב פפא אי טעי האי תנא ולא ידע פרטי כמה הוה לישייליה לספרא כמה כתיב וניטפי עלייהו עשרין שנין ומשכח ליה לחומריה וסימניך (בראשית לא, מא) זה לי עשרים שנה אנכי בביתך

 

R. Papa said: If a Tanna is uncertain about the details [of what exact year it is] let him ask a notary what year it is according to his reckoning and add twenty to it and he will find his calculation. As a mnemonic sign take the verse, Thus I have been twenty years in Your house (Genesis 31:41).

 

If a Tanna a reciter of texts, forgets exactly how many years it has been since the Destruction of the Temple, he can ask a notary and then just add twenty. This is because notaries follow the secular dating which began 380 years before the destruction, when the Greeks began to rule. So for instance, if it s 452 according to the secular dating, then it is 72 after the destruction of the Temple.

אי טעי ספרא נשייליה לתנא כמה חשיב ונבצר מינייהו עשרין שנין ומשכח ליה לחומריה וסימניך ספרא בצירא תנא תוספאה

If on the other hand a notary is uncertain, let him ask a Tanna what the year is according to his reckoning and deduct from it twenty years and he will find his calculation.

As a mnemonic take, The Scribe is reducing the Tanna is adding.

 

Vice versa holds true for the notary.

What is interesting in this sugya is the existence of two separate ways of counting years a secular one and a religious one. Such a phenomenon continues to this day, although we use two altogether different systems, a Christian one and one that counts from the creation of the world.