[Avodah] Yom Tov Sheni for Olim LeReget to the Beit Mikdash

[rabbirichwolpoe at gmail.com]

REMT:
> On a related matter, Tosafos in P'sachim 58b, d.h. K'ilu, says that
> Lo AD"U Rosh (or, rather, Lo D"U -- he says nothing about Sunday) was
> practiced during the time of kiddush al pi r'iya. This does not imply
> that Lo BD"U Pesach was in effect, since it is not an independent rule,
> but a consequence of Lo AD"U Rosh and the fixed number of days we now
> have between Pesach and Rosh Hashana.

Question:
How strictly wad LO AD"U or LO D"U applied?

If you have a strict LO AD"U, then sfeiqa deyoma is de facto limitted
to the case of Mon. Vs. Tues. [Which as we have it is only 1/9 possibiity]

> As for Rabban Gamliel's Yom Kippur, as R. Zev Sero pointed out, it
> wasn't an attempt to manipulate the calendar. Witnesses came on the
> thirtieth, and he was m'kadesh the new month (otherwise, the old one
> would automatically have been a thirty-day month). Then, when the moon
> was not visible that night, R. Yehoshua contended that it proved that
> the witnesses must have been wrong, and he therefore held that the
> month should indeed have been thirty days and Rosh Chodesh should be
> on the thirty-first. However, he was informed by R.Akiva that whether
> R. Gamliel's kiddush was based on true or false witnesses, what was done
> was valid and could not be undone because "atem afilu muta'in."

I dunno.

Re: The first 2
R Yochanan Ben Nuri says "eidei sheqer heim" because their internal
eidus was contradictory. As such AFAIK their eidus is passul. But RG
said they simply were mistaken

In the second R Dosa b Hyrcanos says Sheqer re: the moon's
disappearance...

This is how I understand P'shat:

This mihsnah is saying RG took very "flaky" eidim and accepted their
edus because of his cheshbon, something that comes accross to me as
"The ends justify the means" in that «wink wink» the eidim were really not
solid eidim but RG "heard what he wanted to hear and disregarded the rest"

And no one defended his tactic! R Aqiva only defended his Authority to
"pull shtick" [so to speak] because what's done is done even be'ta'us.

No one defended him by saying : "RG was simply someich on palginan
dibbura" etc.

Technically the eidim gave a piece of emes but the on the whole the
eidus was really passul as "eidei sheqer heim"

Thus, RG arrived at a correct verdict by dubious means. And afaik no one
defended his tactics, only they told R Yehoshua not to deviate from the
results lest we break up into sects. IOW we cannot have two calendars
even if RG was "playing fast and loose"

Limmud z'chus:
Now RG might have felt compelled to get in the qiddush Hachodesh "on
time" and extenuating curcumstances may have pressed him to pull this
"fast one.". So there is room to be melamed zechus, But his colleagues
did. not seem to do so. Only later generations were more forgiving

My 2 Cents

PS See artscroll yad avraham RH 2:8 [P. 53 in old edition]

Although RG knew they could not have seen the moon on both occassions..

Also see above that the Aruch Laner that states "New moon is never
visible in the morning"

GS
RRW
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