Sukkah, Daf Nun Daled, Part 5

 

Introduction

At the end of yesterday’s section we learned that the rabbis intercalate (add a day) to Elul to make sure that Yom Kippur never falls on Sunday. Our section questions this assertion.

 

ומי דחינן ליה? והא תנן: חלבי שבת קריבין ביום הכיפורים,

ואמר רבי זירא: כי הוינן בי רב בבבל, הוה אמרי: הא דתניא: יום הכיפורים שחל להיות ערב שבת לא היו תוקעין, ובמוצאי שבת לא היו מבדילין – דברי הכל היא.

כי סליקית להתם, אשכחתיה לרבי יהודה בריה דרבי שמעון בן פזי דיתיב וקאמר: רבי עקיבא היא!

 

But do we postpone it? Have we not in fact learned: The fats [of offerings performed on] Shabbat may be offered on Yom Kippur;

And R. Zera stated: When I was in the school of Rav in Babylon I used to say that that which has been taught, "If Yom Kippur fell on the eve of Shabbat, they did not sound the trumpet, and if it fell at the conclusion of Shabbat they did not recite the Havdalah" is agreed to by all, but when I came up to Palestine I found R. Judah the son of R. Shimon b. Pazzi sitting and teaching that it was in agreement with R. Akiba only?

 

The Talmud now cites several pieces of evidence that Yom Kippur could fall on Sunday (or Friday, where it also no longer can fall). First of all, there is a mishnah that states that if they don’t have enough time to burn all of the forbidden fats on the altar on Shabbat, they can do so the next day, even if the next day is Yom Kippur. Clearly, Yom Kippur could fall on Sunday. Second of all, R. Zera relates a baraita that discusses various issues related to a case where Yom Kippur fell either immediately before or after Shabbat. R. Zera thought that all agree with that baraita, but R. Judah corrected him and related it only to R. Akiba. In any case, all seem to agree that Yom Kippur can fall on Friday or Sunday.

 

לא קשיא, הא – רבנן, הא – אחרים היא. דתניא, אחרים אומרים: אין בין עצרת לעצרת, ואין בין ראש השנה לראש השנה אלא ארבעה ימים בלבד, ואם היתה שנה מעוברת – חמשה.

 

This is no difficulty since the one statement is according to the Rabbis and the other according to "the Others , for it has been taught, "Others say: There cannot be more than four weekdays difference between Shavuot of one year and the next, and between Rosh Hashanah and the next" and if the year was prolonged, there would be five days.

 

There is a dispute between tannaim over whether the rabbis can add a day to a month (intercalate it) for some ulterior motive, such as making sure that Yom Kippur never falls on Friday or Sunday. The rabbis of our mishnah in Sukkah do allow for this to be done (that’s why the first day of Sukkot is never on erev Shabbat). However, there are "others" who say that there are always four days between the day on which a holiday occurs in one year, and the day in which it occurs in the next. For instance, if Rosh Hashanah begins on Sunday this year, next year it will be Thursday. This is because there are always 354 days in the year, 50 weeks plus four days. The months always alternate between 30 and 29 days, 59 days in two months. So there are always four extra days. During a leap year, another month is added, and this month has 29 days. So that would push next year’s holiday back another day of the week (4 weeks plus one day). The important issue is that according to these "others" the rabbis never manipulate the calendar in order to cause a holiday to fall on a specific day. The year cannot have 355 days.

I should note that today’s calendar is fixed and has been since the fourth century. It was arranged so that Yom Kippur would never fall on Friday or Sunday.