Introducing Rosh haShanah la-Behemah

There are four new years: The first of Nisan is the new year for kings and for festivals. The first of Elul is the new year for the tithe of behemah. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon say: the first of Tishrei. The first of Tishrei is the new year for years, for shmitah and yovel years, for planting and for [tithe of] vegetables. The first of Shvat is the new year for [fruit] trees, according to the words of Beit Shammai. Beit Hillel says: on the fifteenth of that month.

§ The mishna teaches that Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon say: The New Year for animal tithes is on the first of Tishrei. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: And both of them, Rabbi Meir and Rabbi Elazar, expounded the same verse in different ways. As it is stated in the verse: “The flocks are clothed in the meadows, and the valleys are wrapped in grain; they shout for joy, they also sing” (Psalms 65:14). Rabbi Meir holds: When are the flocks clothed in the meadows, i.e., when do the rams impregnate the ewes and thereby clothe them? It is at the time when the valleys are wrapped in grain, i.e., when they are covered in grain. And when are the valleys wrapped in grain? It is in Adar. Therefore, the sheep conceive in Adar and give birth five months later in Av, and so it is fitting that their New Year is on the first of Elul, as most of the year’s lambs have been born by then.

At four set times the world is judged: On Pesaḥ in respect to the produce. On Shavuot in respect to the fruit of the tree. On Rosh haShanah, all those who have come into the world pass before [Hashem] like a division of soldiers, as it says, “The One who fashions the hearts of them all, who discerns all their doings” (Psalms 33:15). And on Sukkot they are judged in respect of rain.

(for the significance of Sukkot to Rosh haShanah la-Behemah, see source № 40 below.)

And with a great shofar it is sounded, and a thin silent voice shall be heard. And the angels shall be alarmed, and dread and fear shall seize them as they proclaim: behold! the Day of Judgment on which the hosts of heaven shall be judged, for they too shall not be judged blameless by you, and all creatures shall parade before you as a herd of sheep. As a shepherd herds his flock, directing his sheep to pass under his staff, so too you shall pass, count, and record the souls of all living, and decree a limit to each persons days, and inscribe their final judgment.

MISHNA: In what manner does one tithe the animals? He gathers them in a pen and provides them with a small, i.e., narrow, opening, so that two animals will not be able to emerge together. And he counts the animals as they emerge: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine; and he paints the animal that emerges tenth with red paint and declares: This is tithe. Even if he did not paint it with red paint, or if he did not count the animals with a rod in accordance with the verse: “Whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be sacred to YHVH” (Leviticus 27:32), or if he counted the animals when they were prone or standing in place and did not make them pass through a narrow opening, these animals are tithed after the fact.

Ben Azzai says the dates are: On the twenty-ninth of Adar, on the first of Sivan, and on the twenty-ninth of Av. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon say that the dates are: On the first of Nisan, on the first of Sivan, and on the twenty-ninth of Elul. And why did Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon say the twenty-ninth of Elul, and why did they not say the first of Tishrei? It is due to the fact that the first of Tishrei is the festival of Rosh HaShana, and one cannot tithe on a Festival. Consequently, they brought it earlier, to the twenty-ninth of Elul.

The Gemara answers: The mishna states one reason and adds another. One reason is that we require a distinction between the new animals and the old animals. And another reason is because it is the festival of Rosh HaShanah and one cannot tithe on a Festival, due to the sakreta, a lead-based red paint for marking every tenth animal, as explained on 58b. It is prohibited to apply paint on a Festival.

The Gemara raises a question: From where is it known that the day of judgment is in Tishrei? As it is written: “Blow a shofar at the New Moon, at the covered time for our Festival day” (Psalms 81:4). Which is the Festival day on which the moon is covered, i.e., hidden? You must say that this is Rosh HaShanah, which is the only Festival that occurs at the beginning of a month, when the moon cannot be seen. And it is written in the next verse: “For this is a statute for Yisrael, a judgment of the elo'ah of Yaaqov” (Psalms 81:5), implying that this is the day of judgment.

Rabbi Yehoshua, son of Qorḥah, said: Forty days was Mosheh on the mountain, reading the Written Torah by day, and studying the Oral Torah by night. After the forty days he took the luḥot/stelae and descended into the camp on the 17th of Tammuz, and he broke in pieces the tables, and slew the sinners in Yisra'el. He then spent forty days in the camp, until he had burnt the [golden] calf, and powdered it like the dust of the earth, and he had destroyed the avodah zara/foreign worship from Yisrael, and he instituted every tribe in its place. And on the New Moon of Elul the blessed Holy One said to him: "Come up to me on the mount" (Ex. 24:12), and let them sound the Shofar throughout the camp, for, behold, Mosheh has ascended the mount, so that they do not go astray again after the worship of stars and constellations. The blessed Holy One was exalted with that Shofar, as it is said, "Elohim is exalted with a shout, YHVH with the sound of a Shofar" (Ps. 47:5). Therefore the sages instituted that the Shofar should be sounded on the New Moon of Elul every year.

Rabbi Yitsḥaq said: Why does one sound [tokin] a blast on Rosh haShanah? The Gemara is astonished by the question: Why do we sound a blast? The Compassionate One states in the verse: “Sound [tiku] a shofar” (Psalms 81:4). Rather, the question is: Why does one sound a staccato series of shofar blasts [teruah] in addition to a long continuous shofar blast [tekiah]? The Gemara is still surprised by the question: Sound a teruah? The Compassionate One states: “In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial proclaimed with the blast of horns [teruah]” (Leviticus 23:24). Rather, Rabbi Yitsḥaq asked about the common practice in Jewish communities, which is not explicitly stated in the Torah: Why does one sound a long, continuous shofar blast [tekiah] and then a staccato series of shofar blasts [teruah] while the congregation is still sitting before the silent prayer, and then sound again a tekiah and a teruah while they are standing in the Amidah prayer? He answers: In order to confuse the Accuser/the Satan, for this double blowing of the shofar demonstrates Israel’s love for the mitsvah, and this will confuse Satan when he brings his accusations against Yisrael before the heavenly court, and the Jewish people will receive a favorable judgment.

When the Accuser perceives how much Yisra'el cherish the mitsvot, he simply has nothing to say.

When a ram’s horn/Shofar is sounded in a town, do the people not take alarm? Can misfortune come to a town if YHVH has not caused it?

Elohim said, “Let the earth bring forth every kind of living creature: behemah, remes/creeping things, and wild creatures of every kind.” And it was so. Elohim made wild creatures (ḥayot) of every kind and behemah of every kind, and all kinds of creeping things of the earth. And Elohim saw that this was good. And Elohim said, “Let us make Adam/earthling in our image, after our likeness. They shall rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the behemah, the whole earth, and all the creeping things that creep on earth.”

Remember the Shabbat day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the 7th day is a Shabbat of YHVH your elo'ah: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your behemot, or the sojourner in your settlements. For in six days YHVH made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore YHVH blessed the Shabbat day and hallowed it.

Observe the Shabbat day and keep it holy, as YHVH your elo'ah has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the 7th day is a Shabbat of YHVH your elo'ah; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or your donkey, or any of your behemot, or the sojourner in your settlements, so that your male and female slave/serf may rest as you do. Remember that you were a serf in the land of Mitsrayim and YHVH your elo'ah freed you from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore YHVH your elo'ah has commanded you to observe the Shabbat day.

Mosheh replied (to Pharaoh), “We will all go, young and old: we will go with our sons and daughters, our flocks and herds; for we must observe YHVH’s festival.”

“Consecrate to me every first-born; man and behemah, the first issue of every womb among the Children of Yisrael is mine.”

But every first-born donkey you shall redeem with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. And you must redeem every first-born male among your children.

Then YHVH said to Mosheh and Aharon, “Each of you take handfuls of soot from the kiln, and let Mosheh throw it toward the sky in the sight of Pharaoh. It shall become a fine dust all over the land of Mitsrayim, and cause an inflammation breaking out in boils on human and behemah throughout the land of Mitsrayim.”

Now the atōn/jenny (female donkey) saw YHVH’s messenger, so she crouched down beneath Bil’am. And Bil’am’s anger flared up; he struck the jenny with his staff. Then YHVH opened the mouth of the jenny and she said to Bil’am: “What have I done to you that you have struck me (on) these three occasions?”

The Gemara analyzes a similar case. Rabba bar bar Ḥana says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: If one saw a young animal resembling a pig that was trailing after a ewe, the ewe is exempt from having its future offspring counted a firstborn. And the pig-like animal is forbidden for consumption “until he comes and instructs righteousness to you” (Hosea 10:12), i.e., until Elijah the prophet arrives and determines the halakhah.[...] The Gemara explains: It was necessary for Rabba bar bar Ḥana to teach the case of a pig, as, had he taught a case involving a lamb, I would say: Even if you say that Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel holds that an animal that has given birth might be merciful toward the offspring of another, this is so only with regard to its own species, but with regard to an animal that is not of its own species, it would not show mercy and would not nurse the offspring. Therefore, Rabba bar bar Ḥana teaches us the case of a pig, to convey that an animal might be merciful, and this is also true even where the offspring is not of its own species, as it could be said that perhaps the animal was merciful in such a case as well.