1)

(a)The Seifa of the next Mishnah states that, when the Beis Hamikdash stood, the witnesses would desecrate the Shabbos 'because of Takanas ha'Korban' - meaning that it is a Mitzvah to bring the Korban Musaf of Rosh Chodesh on the exact day that it falls due (and not to postpone it).

(b)We can deduce from there that - just as the Seifa of the Mishnah permits desecrating the Shabbos for intrinsic reasons (and not because of the Mitzvah to sanctify Rosh Chodesh through the sighting of the witnesses) so too, in the Reisha (by Rosh Chodesh Nisan and Tishrei).

(c)In that case - it will only be necessary to break Shabbos, if Adar can be either short or full (as we asked at the end of the previous Amud), but not if it is always short (a Kashya against Rav, who maintains that Adar is always short).

2)

(a)When Ula arrived in Bavel from Eretz Yisrael, he announced - that they had declared Elul a full month ...

(b)... adding that the Bnei Bavel should be grateful for the big favor that the Bnei Eretz had done for the Bnei Bavel, by extending Elul.

(c)According to Ula, this was because of Yarkaya, and according to Rebbi Achah bar Chanina, it was because of Meisaya. The meaning of ...

1. ... 'Yarkaya' - is to prevent Yom-Tov and Shabbos from falling next to each other, because by the time the second day arrives, vegetables that are eaten raw will have withered (and that will detract from Simchas Yom-Tov).

2. ... 'Meisaya' - is to prevent Shabbos and Yom-Kippur from falling next to each other, because someone who dies on the first day and who cannot subsequently be buried for two days, will become putrid by then (and that is not Kavod ha'Briyos).

3)

(a)Initially, we suggest that the difference between the two reasons will manifest itself in a year when Yom Kippur falls after Shabbos. Yarkaya will not apply then - because one would only need the vegetables after Yom Kippur, when it is possible to obtain fresh ones.

(b)We reject this that suggestion however - on the grounds that there is no reason for Ula not to contend with the reason of 'Meisaya' as well.

(c)And we conclude that the difference between them is when Yom-Tov falls immediately before or after Shabbos - in which case 'Meisaya' will not apply (seeing as it is possible to bury the dead person on Yom-Tov through Nochrim).

4)

(a)Rebbi Acha bar Chanina will not agree that even when Yom-Tov falls next to Shabbos, one should declare Elul a full month because of 'Yarkaya' - since it is possible to soak the vegetables in hot water, and revive them (see also Rabeinu Chananel).

(b)Ula considered prolonging Elul a favor for the Bnei Bavel more than for the Bnei Eretz Yisrael - because Bavel, a low altitude country, contains the heat more than Eretz Yisrael, in which case the vegetables spoil quicker.

5)

(a)The Beraisa of Rabah bar Shmuel states that, although one is permitted to declare a leap-year whenever necessary, it is forbidden to postpone Rosh-Chodesh and declare a full month under any circumstances. To accommodate Ula and Rebbi Acha bar Chanina - we emend the Beraisa to read, not that one is forbidden to postpone Rosh Chodesh if the new moon was seen, but that it is forbidden to declare Rosh Chodesh, if it was not.

(b)We corroborate this emendation with Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi - who said that although one may frighten the witnesses into being silent and not testifying that they saw the new moon (in order to make the month a full month), one may not frighten witnesses who did not see the new moon to testify that they did see it, in order to make the month a short one.

(c)Abaye reconciles this with Rebbi Yochanan, who would frighten the witnesses into saying that they had seen the new moon, even when they hadn't - by establishing Rebbi Yochanan by Nisan and Tishrei (which, on account of their importance, seeing as all the Yamim-Tovim depend on them, required more flexiblity) whereas the Beraisa speaks by all the other months (See Tosfos DH 'Ha').

6)

(a)Rava leaves the original wording of Rabah bar Shmuel's Beraisa intact, by establishing it like Acherim - who holds that the number of days in each month is fixed (Nisan thirty days, Iyar, twenty-nine, Sivan thirty etc.) and cannot be changed (as we learned earlier in the Perek).

(b)Rav Dimi from Neherda'a then learns Rebbi Yehoshua's statement in the reverse - namely that one may frighten the witnesses, if necessary, in order to testify that they saw the new moon even though they did not (in order to make it a short month), but not vice-versa (in order to make it a full one).

(c)And the reason for this is - because the former does not appear to be false testimony, whereas the latter does ...

(d)... since, whereas in the former case, the people who did not see the new moon, will think that they must have missed it, whereas in the latter case, the many people who did see it, will wonder why Beis-Din did not declare Rosh-Chodesh.

7)

(a)Shmuel claimed - that he was able to fix a calendar for the Bnei Bavel even without the sighting of witnesses (because he was conversant with all areas of astronomy).

(b)Aba the father of Rebbi Simla'i dismissed that claim - on the basis of Shmuel's own admission that he did not know how to explain the Beraisa of Sod ha'Ibur 'Nolad Kodem Chatzos O Nolad Achar Chatzos'. And if, he argued, Shmuel did not know that, perhaps there were other things that he did not know either.

8)

(a)When Rebbi Zeira said that the night and day must be from the new moon - he meant that if the old moon is still visible on the night following the twenty-ninth of the month, then that entire twenty-four period cannot be Rosh Chodesh, and the month must be a full one.

(b)He puts night first - because the day follows the night in these matters.

(c)At the time of the Molad - the moon is invisible for twenty-four hours.

(d)In view of what we just said, Rebbi Zeira's earlier statement is necessary (not as intrinsic Halachah, since it is obvious that the new moon will not be seen, but) - to teach us that it is forbidden to frighten witnesses into testifying that they saw the new moon during that twenty-four hour period [even according to the opinion of Rav Dimi from Neherda'a in 6d.], because everyone will know that their testimony is false.

9)

(a)Rebbi Zeira explains the Beraisa of 'Sod ha'Ibur' (referred to above by Aba the father of Rebbi Simla'i) 'Nolad Kodem Chatzos, b'Yadua she'Yera'eh Samuch li'Sheki'as ha'Chamah ... ' - to mean that, if the Molad occurred before midday, then the new moon will be visible in Eretz Yisrael before close to sunset (because the new moon is always hidden for six hours after its birth); otherwise, it will not have be seen, and we will know that witnesses who claim to have seen it, must be lying.

(b)In Eretz Yisrael, the new moon is always seen for the first time after the Molad - in the south-west corner of the sky.

10)

(a)We have already learned that at the time of the Molad, the moon cannot be seen for twenty-four hours - due to its minute size.

(b)Rebbi Zeira Amar Rav Nachman explains that in Bavel, the old moon disappears six hours before the Molad, and the new one can be seen eighteen hours after it. In Eretz Yisrael - it is the reverse: the old moon disappears for eighteen hours before the Molad, and the new one, six hours after it (as we just learned).

(c)The new moon is visible to the Bnei Eretz Yisrael so much sooner than it is to the Bnei Bavel - because they are west of Bavel, and the new moon appears in the south-west.

11)

(a)Rebbi Yochanan learns that the night precedes the day (as we saw above in Rebbi Zeira's first Halachah) from "me'Erev ad Erev" (of Yom Kippur). Resh Lakish learns it from the Pasuk there - "ad Yom ha'Echad v'Esrim la'Chodesh ba'Erev" (which teaches us that the obligation to eat Matzah ceases on the night following the twenty-first, which means that it must have begun on the night of the fifteenth).

(b)Abaye maintains that there is no practical difference between the two reasons. Rava says that the difference between them is that -according to Rebbi Yochanan, we reckon from the beginning of the night (which is when the fast of Yom-Kippur begins); whereas according to Resh Lakish, who learns it, not from the obligation to eat Mitzvah (which applies only on the first night until midnight), but from the Mitzvah of eating Matzah rather than Chametz (a Mitzvah that begins only after midnight of the first night (when the obligation to eat Matzah terminates), we reckon only from midnight.

(c)Practically speaking, this means that - according to Rebbi Yochanan, if the old moon is visible any time after nightfall, the new moon will not be seen until after the following nightfall; whereas according to Resh Lakish, it must not be visible as from midnight (and it does not matter if it was seen any time between nightfall and midnight).

12)

(a)When Rebbi Zeira Amar Rav Nachman says that the Safek of Yom-Tov is postponed (but not brought forward) - he means that in Chutz la'Aretz, where one observes two days Yom-Tov, one only needs to be concerned that the previous month was a full month and that Yom-Tov might be postponed by one day (to the sixteenth of the month); one does not need to take into account the possibility that both of the previous months were short months, in which case, Yom-Tov will fall on the fourteenth (which would mean observing three days Yom-Tov).

(b)The reason for this is - because for two consecutive months to be short is highly unusual. Consequently, had it occurred, everyone would somehow have got to know about it (even in areas where the Sheluchei Nisan or Tishrei could not reach.