מי בראש? מי קובע ומי משפיע בקביעת מועד החודש?

disqualify the water of purification, i.e., water in which ashes of the red heifer have been placed, by drinking from it. The water that entered the bird’s mouth is disqualified, and some of it drips back into the container, disqualifying the rest. This applies to all birds except for the pigeon, because it sips the water from the container and none falls back in from its mouth. But if it is so that the tasil is a type of pigeon, let the mishna teach: Except for the pigeon and the tasil. Rabbi Zeira said: Although the tasil is a type of pigeon and sips the water as well, this, the tasil, sips the water and spits part of it back, and therefore disqualifies the water of purification, and that, the pigeon, sips but does not spit. Rav Yehuda says: The tzutzeyanei doves are fit for sacrifice on the altar, and they are the doves of Reḥava mentioned earlier. The Gemara raises an objection from a mishna (Nega’im 14:6): The Torah requires hyssop for the purification of a leper. It must be standard hyssop, and neither a hyssop of Greece, nor stibium hyssop, nor Roman hyssop, nor desert hyssop, nor any other kind of hyssop whose name is accompanied by a modifier. Likewise, tzutzeyanei doves should be unfit for sacrifice, because they have a modifier in their name. Abaye said: Any item whose name was modified before the giving of the Torah, and concerning which the Torah was particular when naming it, is unfit if its name is accompanied by a modifier, since the language of the Torah was formulated to exclude it. But the name of these tzutzeyanei doves was not modified, i.e., the modifier tzutzeyanei was not applied to them, before the giving of the Torah. Even though it was applied to them later, they are still fit for sacrifice. Alternatively, Rava said: The tzutzeyanei doves are called simply doves in their place of habitation. Similarly, Rav Yehuda says: These grasshoppers found among the shrubs are kosher and permitted for consumption. And those found among the cabbages are forbidden. Ravina said: And we flog those who eat them on their account, due to the prohibition: “And all winged swarming things are impure unto you” (Deuteronomy 14:19). And Rav Yehuda says: The bird called tzarda is permitted for consumption, and the barda is prohibited. And your mnemonic to remember which is which is this: Eat any bird except [bar] for it. As for the marda, it is uncertain whether it is kosher. Rav Asi says: There are eight uncertain cases: The ḥuva, ḥuga, suga, and harnuga, tushelemi, and marda, kuḥilna, and bar nappaḥa. The Gemara explains: What is their uncertainty? The gizzard of kosher birds can be peeled, as mentioned in the mishna, and the gizzard of non-kosher birds cannot be peeled, but the gizzard of these birds can be peeled only with a knife. The Gemara asks: But why should these not be kosher? Wasn’t there a certain duck in the house of Mar Shmuel whose gizzard could not be peeled, and they set the gizzard in the sun, and once it softened it could be peeled? The Gemara responds: There, when it softened it could be peeled by hand. Here, in these eight cases, even when it softened it could be peeled only with a knife. Abaye says: The swamp rooster is one of the eight uncertain cases, and this is the mardu, i.e., the marda mentioned earlier. Rav Pappa says: The swamp rooster is forbidden, but the swamphen is permitted. And your mnemonic to remember this is the statement of the Sages with regard to the verse: “An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter into the assembly of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 23:4), that an Ammonite man is unfit to enter the assembly, but not an Ammonite woman. Mareimar taught: The swamphen is forbidden, because the Sages saw that it claws its prey and eats it. And this is the giruta, a non-kosher bird (see 109b). Rav says: The bird called the shavor anderafta is permitted, but the piruz anderafta is forbidden. And your mnemonic to remember this is the known personality Piruz the Evil. Rav Huna says: The bird called the bunya is permitted. The parva is forbidden. And your mnemonic to remember this is the known personality Parva’a the Sorcerer. Rav Pappa says: The bird known as the reclining and eating mardu is permitted, while the bowing and eating mardu is forbidden. And your mnemonic to remember this is the verse: “You shall bow down to no other god” (Exodus 34:14). Shmuel says: The bird called the wine drinker is forbidden. And your mnemonic to remember this is the halakha: Those who drank wine are unfit for service in the Temple. And Shmuel says: The bird called the wine pourer is forbidden.

It happened that more than forty pairs of witnesses were on their way [to Jerusalem] and Rabbi Akiva detained them in Lod. Rabban Gamaliel sent to him saying: if you prevent the multitude [from coming to provide testimony] it will turn out that you cause them to stumble in the future.

Rabban Gamaliel had diagrams of the moon on a tablet [hung] on the wall of his upper chamber, and he used to show them to the unlearned and say, “Did it look like this or this?” It happened that two witnesses came and said, “We saw it in the morning in the east and in the evening in the west.” Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri said: they are lying witnesses. When they came to Yavneh Rabban Gamaliel accepted them. On another occasion two witnesses came and said, “We saw it at its proper time, but on the night which should have been the new moon it was not seen,” and Rabban Gamaliel accepted their evidence. Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas said: they are lying witnesses. How can they testify that a woman has given birth when on the next day her belly is between her teeth (swollen)? Rabbi Joshua to him: I see your argument. Rabban Gamaliel sent to him: I order you to appear before me with your staff and your money on the day which according to your count should be Yom Hakippurim. Rabbi Akiva went and found him in distress. He said to him: I can teach that whatever Rabban Gamaliel has done is valid, because it says, “These are the appointed seasons of the Lord, holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at their appointed times” (Leviticus 23:4), whether they are [proclaimed] at their proper time or not at their proper time, I have no other appointed times save these. He [Rabbi Joshua] then went to Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas. He said to him: if we call in question the court of Rabban Gamaliel we must call in question the decisions of every court which has existed since the days of Moses until now. As it says, “Then Moses and Aaron, Nadav and Avihu and seventy of the elders of Israel went up” (Exodus 24:9). Why were the names of the elders not mentioned? To teach that every group of three which has acted as a court over Israel, behold it is like the court of Moses. He [Rabbi Joshua] took his staff and his money and went to Yavneh to Rabban Gamaliel on the day which according to his count should be Yom Hakippurim. Rabban Gamaliel rose and kissed him on his head and said to him: Come in peace, my teacher and my student my teacher in wisdom and my student because you have accepted my decision.