[2a - 17 lines; 2b - 46 lines]
1)[line 2]למלכיםLA'MELACHIM- for [determining when to date documents, which are dated by the year of the current] king
2)[line 3]ולרגליםLA'REGALIM- for [determining which] festival [comes first] (the Gemara will explain the significance of this)
3)[line 3]למעשר בהמהL'MA'ASAR BEHEMAH
(a)Once a year, one must designate every tenth Kosher animal born into his herd/flock over the course of the previous year as Ma'asar Behemah (Vayikra 27:32). This is accomplished by gathering all of each type of animal born in the previous year into a corral. They are then made to leave the corral in a single-file line through a narrow opening. Their owner stands by and counts them, marking every tenth one.
(b)Animals designated as Ma'asar Behemah are eaten by their owner. If they are unblemished, they are offered as a Korban Shelamim (see Background to 6:10) and eaten by their owner in Yerushalayim. If they have a Mum, their owner may slaughter and eat them as he would any Kosher animal.
(c)Animals born in different years may not be joined together for the purpose of being counted for Ma'asar Behemah. For this purpose, the year begins on the first day of Elul.
4)[line 6]ולשמיטיןLA'SHEMITIN(SHEVI'IS)
(a)The Torah requires that farmers desist from working the land every seventh year, as described in Vayikra 25:1-7. The fruits that grow during the seventh (Shevi'is) year are holy to the extent that: 1. they must be considered ownerless; anyone may come into any field and pick the fruit that he intends to eat. 2. The fruits may not be bought and sold in a normal fashion (see Insights to Sukah 39:2). 3. The Torah requires that the fruits of Shevi'is be used only for eating or drinking (in the normal manner of eating for that type of fruit) or for burning to provide light (in the case of oil). They may not be wasted or used for medicinal purposes or animal fodder, etc.
(b)One may not do any work with the land or with trees growing from the land that makes improvements.
(c)When one sells fruit of Shevi'is, the Kedushah of the fruit is transferred to the money paid in exchange for it (the fruit itself remains Kadosh as well).
(d)The Shemitah year is meant to teach the Jewish people to rely on HaSh-m for their sustenance, a fact that is not always clear to them during the six years in which they work their own fields.
5)[line 6]וליובלותLA'YOVLOS (YOVEL)
(a)The year after seven Shemitah cycles of seven years each is called the Yovel year. Tana'im disagree (Nedarim 61a) as to whether the fiftieth year follows those of the Shemitah cycle and does not count toward the next cycle, or whether it is both the Yovel year as well as the first year of the next Shemitah cycle.
(b)The Halachos of the Shemitah year that prohibit working the land and invest the produce that grows during that year with sanctity apply to the year of Yovel as well. In addition, at the start of the Yovel year, all Eved Ivrim (Jewish slaves; see Background to Erchin 25:10 and 29:2) are set free, and all properties sold since the previous Yovel return to their original owners. On Yom ha'Kipurim of the Yovel Year, a member of the Beis Din blows a Shofar to denote that the time has arrived to set the Avadim free (Vayikra 25:9).
(c)The Tana'im disagree as to when the Yovel year begins. The Chachamim rule that Yovel begins with the Shofar blast of Yom ha'Kipurim. Rebbi Yochanan ben Berokah maintains that it begins automatically with Rosh Hashanah, and the Shofar blast merely serves as a signal that the slaves should be freed (Rosh Hashanah 8b).
6)[line 6]לנטיעהLA'NETI'AH (ORLAH)
(a)In the first three years after a fruit tree is planted, its fruits are called Orlah and are Asurim b'Hana'ah (it is prohibited to benefit from them), as it states in Vayikra 19:23.
(b)If a person eats a k'Zayis of Orlah fruit, he receives Malkus. If he derives benefit from Orlah (or any other food that is Asur b'Hana'ah), according to most Rishonim he is punished with Malkus (TOSFOSto Chulin 120a DH Ela), while according to others, he is only punished with Makas Mardus, a Rabbinic institution of Malkus (RAMBAM Hilchos Ma'achalos Asuros 8:16 - see also Mishneh l'Melech to Hilchos Yesodei ha'Torah 5:8). Deriving benefit from the fruit juice is forbidden also, but only in the case of wine and olive oil is the one who benefits punished with Malkus.
(c)Although it is forbidden to benefit from fruits of Orlah, if one transgresses and sells the fruits, the money that he receives in return is not forbidden, as the Gemara teaches (Menachos 69b).
7)[line 6]ולירקותLA'YERAKOS- the first of Tishrei is Rosh Hashanah for vegetables in which one eats the plant itself.
8)[line 7]לאילןLA'ILAN- the fifteenth of Shevat is the new year for trees for the tithing of fruit
9)[line 10]לשטרותL'SHETAROS- a contract; i.e. the document has the date of when the king came to power. In our Gemara, the question is whether this document is predated and invalid.
10)[line 10]המוקדמיןHA'MUKDAMIN- loan documents, the dates of which precede the dates that the documents were signed
11)[line 12]שעמדSHE'AMAD- when a king is appointed on the 29th of Adar, that day counts as the first year of his reign.
2b----------------------------------------2b
12)[line 4]דאימנו עליהD'IMNU ALEI- the ministers voted to appoint him as the next king
13)[line 6]מונין שנה לזה ולזהMONIN SHANAH L'ZEH UL'ZEH- if a king died and was succeeded in Adar, that year is counted for both kings
14)[line 12]שתאSHATA- year
15)[line 19]ומלך בן מלך הואU'MELECH BEN MELECH HU- it is needed to teach that even in a case when the second king was already selected in Adar, and he is the son of the first king,, nevertheless he counts his first year from Nisan. when he is coronated.
16)[line 22]"ויהי בשמונים שנה וארבע מאות שנה לצאת בני ישראל מארץ מצרים בשנה הרביעית בחדש זו הוא החדש השני למלך שלמה על ישראל [ויבן הבית לה']""VA'YEHI BI'SHEMONIM SHANAH V'ARBA ME'OS SHANAH L'TZES BNEI YISRAEL ME'ERETZ MITZRAYIM BA'SHANAH HA'REVI'IS B'CHODESH ZIV HI HA'CHODESH HA'SHENI LI'MELOCH SHLOMO AL YISRAEL [VA'YIVEN HA'BAYIS LA'HASH-M]"-"And it was in the four hundred and eightieth year after Bnei Yisrael's exodus from the Land of Egypt, in the fourth year in the month of Ziv (Iyar), that is the second month, of Shlomo's reign over Yisrael, [he built the House for HaSh-m.]" (Melachim I 6:1) - The new year for kings is learned from this verse, which connects the years of King Shlomo's reign to the years from the Exodus, which itself is counted from Nisan.
17)[line 24]בחדש זיוCHODESH ZIV- the month of Iyar
18)[line 26]מקישMAKISH (HEKESH)
(a)One of the methods employed by Chazal when determining Halachah from the verses of the Torah is Hekesh. Hekesh entails comparing two subjects that are mentioned together in a verse.
(b)A Hekesh is a powerful way of determining Halachah. When two subjects are compared through a Hekesh, all possible parallels are drawn between them, unless a different Derashah teaches us otherwise ("Ein Hekesh l'Mechetzah"). Additionally, logical differences that would impede a Kal va'Chomer (see Background to Avodah Zarah 46:22) or a Gezeirah Shavah (see Background to Zevachim 103:30) do not stand in the way of learning one subject from another through a Hekesh ("Ein Meshivin Al ha'Hekesh").
(c)In our Gemara, the years from the Exodus from Egypt are counted from Nisan and compared with the years of King Shlomo's reign.
19)[line 29]מתשרי מנינןMI'TISHREI MANINAN- perhaps we count the years since Yetzi'as Mitzrayim (the Exodus from Egypt) based on Tishrei; i.e. the month of Tishrei that followed Yetzi'as Mitzrayim began the second year of the count
20)[line 34]בעשתי עשר חדשASHTEI ASAR CHODESH- on the eleventh month; i.e. the month of Shevat
21)[line 37]היאךHEI'ACH- but how do we know that the year mentioned in the latter text is learned out from the exodus?
22)[line 39]להקמת המשכןHAKAMAS HA'MISHKAN- the setting up of the Mishkan which was in Nisan of the second year after the Exodus
23)[line 40]לגזרה שוהGEZEIRAH SHAVAH
(a)In the Introduction to the Sifra (the Halachic Midrash to Vayikra), Rebbi Yishmael lists thirteen methods that Chazal use for extracting the Halachah from the verses of the Torah. One of them is Gezeirah Shavah, which is a Halachic device by which two similar words in the Torah from different subjects teach us that laws from one subject apply to the other.
(b)A sage is only permitted to use the method of Gezeirah Shavah if he received a tradition from his teachers that a Gezeirah Shavah exists between the two words. However, the comparison that he makes regarding which laws are applied from one subject to the other may be his own, if he did not learn it directly from his teachers.
(c)MUFNEH MI'SHNEI TZEDADIM - If two similar words in the Torah are free of any Derashah, they may be used unconditionally for the inference of a Gezeirah Shavah between the two topics.
(d)MUFNEH MI'TZAD ECHAD - If only one of the words is free, there is a Machlokes whether they may be used unconditionally for the inference of a Gezeirah Shavah (Lemedin v'Ein Meshivin), or if they can only be used for a Gezeirah Shavah if we have no logical argument against learning the Gezeirah Shavah (Lemedin u'Meshivin).
(e)EINO MUFNEH KOL IKAR - If both words are used for another Derashah, there is a Machlokes whether they can only be used for a Gezeirah Shavah if we have no logical argument not to learn the Gezeirah Shavah, or if they cannot be used at all for a Gezeirah Shavah.
24)[line 44]דילמא מעשה דשבט קדיםDILMA MA'ASEH D'SHEVAT KADIM- how do you know that in respect of these two incidents that of Av was prior? Perhaps that of Shevat was prior?