Tanach · Rishonim on Tanach · Ibn Ezra · Torah
Ibn Ezra on Leviticus 23:4/אבן עזרא על ויקרא כ״ג:ד׳
אואחר כן הזכיר המועדים ואמר בשבת אלה הם מועדי ובמועדים אמר במועדם והטעם באיזה יום שיהיה מהשבוע והנה אני נותן לך כלל בדברי המועדים כי בזמן שבית המקדש קיים היו המועדים נמסרים לבית דין הלא תראה כי אמר על פסח חזקיהו ויועץ המלך ואחר שקבע ראש חודש ניסן עבר השנה ובזה תפשוהו חכמינו ז״ל כי היה ראוי שלא יעבר ניסן בניסן והמעתיקים אמרו כי בית דין היה מסתכל בדברים רבים בקביעות השנה ואמרו על רבי עקיבא שקבע שתי שנים מעוברות שנה אחר שנה לפי צורך השעה ואין בכל המקרא ראיה איך היו ישראל קובעים החדשים והמועדים ומה שאמר הגאון כי על חשבון העיבור היו נסמכים איננו אמת כי במשנה גם בתלמוד ראיות שהיה פסח בבד״ו גם שני מעשיות שם ועבור השנים קרוב מתוספת שנת החמה על הלבנה ואיננו על דרך הקדמונים ותחלת החשבון וי״ד פי׳ שים עם לבהר״ד ד״ח תתע״ו יבא המולד וי״ד כי שנה נוספה להחל מחשבון בהר״ד בעבור חמשה הימים שהיו קודם בריאת האדם ויום בשנה חשוב שנה וזה לא יזיק על כן לא תוכל לקחת תוספת שנה נוספה כי לא היתה והנה העבור אחר שנה וחצי שנה והעבור בנוי על המהלך התיכון על כן אמרו פעמים שבא בארוכה ובקצרה ואין הקביעות רודף אחר ראית הלבנה בירושלים או בקצה מזרח או במערב כלל והעד מקום המחברת התיכונה כי הנה היא על ירושלים ועוד שראינו פעמים רבות הלבנה בחדש ניסן בליל שני וכן היתה נראית בכל העולם וקביעות החדש היה ליל שלישי וכן אירע לשלשה חדשים קודם ניסן וזה נתקן בשנת גטר״ד בעבור הדחיה גם פעמים היה הקביעות בתשרי יום חמישי ולא נראית הלבנה בליל שבת והיה האויר זך וזה יקרה בכל שנה שהמולד קרוב מחצי היום והיתה הלבנה בחצי גלגל הגבוה גם אין הקביעות בנוי על עת התחברות המאורות אפילו במהלך האמצעי כי הנה בטור״ד גם גטר״ד יוכיחו ולולי שלא אאריך הייתי מפרש סוד העיבור וסוד ההלכה החמורה שהוא נולד קודם חצות והכלל שחז״ל העתיקו לנו שנסמוך על העיבור בגלות וכן קבלנו מפי נביאים ולא נוכל לעשות דבר אחר טוב ממנו וזה ששמו ב׳ ימים בגלות והוא על דבר ספק והמתענים יום הכפורים שני ימים מה יועילם בעבור הדחיות כי בשנת גטר״ד אם על המולד היה ראוי שיתענה בשמונה לקביעתנו וכי למה נעוות אנחנו חשבון שנתנו בעבור שנה אחרת וכן יקרה להם עם הראיה:
1Scripture then mentions the festivals (v. 4). The Torah says, even these are My appointed seasons, with regard to the Sabbath and in their appointed season with regard to the festivals. The meaning of in their appointed season is, in any day of the week in which they fall. Note, I will now lay down a general rule with regard to the festivals. During the time of the Temple the festivals were in the hands of the Beth Din. Do you not see that Scripture says, For the king had taken counsel (II Chron. 30:2), with regard to the Passover proclaimed by Hezekiah.3 After Hezekiah established the new moon of Nisan he proclaimed a leap year.4 Our sages, of blessed memory, criticized him for this, for he should not have added a Nisan on Nisan.5 10b. The transmitters of tradition said that the Beth Din took many things into consideration in estabhshing the year.6 11a,b. The Bet Din had to consider many things in deciding whether or not to make a year a leap year. They said, regarding Rabbi Akiba, that he established two leap years back to back according to the needs of the hour.7 12a. However, the text there speaks of three years. Hence Krinsky suggests emending I.E. to read three years. Vat. Ebr. 38 omits the word two. It reads, “He established leap years back to back.” There is no proof in Scripture as to how Israel established the months and the festivals. The Gaon’s statement to the effect that they relied on the intercalational calculation8 is not true, for there are proofs in the Mishnah and also in the Talmud that Passover fell on a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.9 There are also two stories in the Talmud [which show that they did not rely on a fixed calendar].10 2:9 records a controversy between Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Joshua as to when Yom Kippur fell in a certain year. If the rabbis of the Mishnah had used a fixed calendar there would be no place for this difference of opinion. The Mishnah (Ibid. 2:8) also reports an instance of two sets of witnesses contradicting themselves as to the position of the new moon. The latter shows that the month was established by actually seeing the new moon and not by calculation. See Weiser and Krinsky. Leap years11 come close to compensating for the additional days which a solar year has over a lunar year.12 The latter does not follow the way of the ancients.13 The calculation14, or molad baharad, which is the Hebrew abbreviation for five hours and 204 parts of an hour of the second day of the week. How do we arrive at this calculation? Ibn Ezra explains that we do so by counting back a year from the conjunction which occurred on the day that Adam was born. It should be noted that that year, except for the five days preceding the birth of Adam, did not exist in reality. It was a theoretical year. starts with the end of 14 hours of the sixth day;15 that is, add four days, eight hours, and 876 parts16, 6:4,5. to five hours and 204 parts of an hour of the second day of the week.17 Then the birth of the new moon will occur at the end of 14 hours of the sixth day.18 A year is added,19 for we start counting from five hours and 204 parts of an hour of the second day of the week20 because of the five days which preceded the creation of Adam, for a day into a year is considered a year.21 This presents no problem.22 You cannot add an additional year,23 for it did not yet exist. Note, an additional month was added to the year after a year and a half.24 (or yetizrah, creation), the year in which Adam was born (molad adam), and a half of the following year. The intercalation is based on the average25, p. 123). Also see Maimonides, M.T., Laws of the Sanctification of the New Moon, 6:1. The length of a junction varies. Its average time is 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3 and 1/3 seconds. The average movement (or conjunction) stands in contrast to the true conjunction of the sun and moon. movement of the moon.26 The sages therefore said that sometimes the birth of the moon comes at longer intervals; at times it comes at shorter intervals.27 25a. The establishment of the month28 is not tied to the sighting of the moon in Jerusalem,29 or in the far east,30 by stating that “the earth is round like a sphere. The water of the Great Ocean covers half of it, which is uninhabitable, the other half is dry and habitable” (W.M. Feldman, Rabbinical Mathematics and Astronomy, p. 104). or in the west [of the world].31 The place of the average conjunction of the moon32 is proof of this,33 for look, it is reckoned when occurring over Jerusalem.34 Furthermore, we have seen the moon many times on the second night of the month of Nisan. It was similarly seen in the entire world. However, the month was established on the third night [of the week].35 The same thing happened in the three months preceding Nisan. This occurs when the birth of the new moon of Tishri occurs at nine hours and 204 parts of an hour of the third day [of the week].36 It was enacted37 because of the postponement.38. “There are five separate occasions which necessitate the postponement of New Year’s day by one or even two days,” Feldman, op. cit, p. 191. For these dechiyot, see Maimonides, M.T., Laws of the Sanctification of the New Moon, Chap. 7. Also see Feldman, pp. 191-194. There are also times when the month of Tishri was established on the fifth day [of the week] and the moon was not seen on the night of the Sabbath. Now, the air was then clear. This occurs every year when the birth of the new moon39 is close to half of the day40 (yod chet = 18), i.e., the 18th hour. “If the molad of Tishri occurs at or past noon (i.e., the 18th hour of any day. Noon is the 18th hour of a day which consists of 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. Such a day begins at 6:00 P.M. New Year (Rosh Ha-Shanah) is postponed to the following day. Such a molad is called an Old Molad (molad zaken) because on the day of the new month, the moon is already old” (Feldman, pp. 191,192). and the moon is in half of its sphere’s apogee. The establishment41 is also not dependent on the time of the conjunction42 of the sun and moon. It is not even dependent on their mean conjunction, for note, the conjunction43 of the sun and moon at 15 hours and 599 parts44 of the hour on the second day45 (bet, tet-vav, tav-kof, peh-tet), which stands for two days, 15 hours, 599 parts. and similarly the conjunction at nine hours and 204 parts of the third day46 (gimel-tet, resh-dalet), which stands for three days, nine hours, 204 parts. is proof of this.47 If I did not want to go on at length I would explain the secret of the calculation of the calendar and the secret of the very difficult law, i.e., the rule regarding a moon born before midday.48 20b. The general principle is: our wise men, of blessed memory, transmitted to us the rule that we are to rely on the intercalated calendar in exile. We received the same from the mouth of the prophets. We cannot do anything better than it. The sages ruled that the festivals be observed for two days in the Diaspora because of uncertainty.49 Those who fast for two days in observance of Yom Kippur50 fast in vain51, pp. 11,12. due to the “postponements.” For in a year when the birth of the new moon52 occurs at nine hours and 204 parts of the hour on the third day of the week, they should fast on what is the eighth day of the month according to our calculation if they rely on the conjunction.53 Why54 manipulate the date of the start of one year55 because of another year?56 7:4. Those who fast for two days believe that our festivals should be based on astronomical reality. If that is the case, then all the rules of establishing the calendar should be discarded. This would happen to them57 if the month is established by seeing the new moon.58