Study Rosh Hashanah folio 23A with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
to err. They will be unsure how to interpret the lighting of the torches, as they will say: Perhaps this month is deficient, i.e., of 29 days, and the reason that the torch sequence was not performed yesterday, on Friday, is due to the fact that it was impossible to do so on Shabbat. Or perhaps
The Talmud suggests: And let them perform the ceremony both for a full, 30-day month and for a deficient one, and when the New Moon occurs on Friday, in which case they would have to light the torches after Shabbat, let them not perform it at all. And since the torches are not lit this month at th
The Talmud answers: Even so, people might come to err, as they will say: This month is indeed full, and the reason that they are not performing the ceremony is that they were subject to circumstances beyond their control. Therefore, there might still be confusion as to the date of the New Moon th
The Talmud asks: And let them perform the ceremony of torches only for a full, 30-day month, and not perform it for a deficient month at all, in which case there will never be room for error. Abaye said: This cannot be done, because this would lead to a two-day suspension of work for the people,
§ The Mishnah taught: How would they light the torches? They would bring long poles [kelonsot] of cedar and other materials that burn well, tie them all together, and set them on fire. Rav Yehuda said that there are 4 types of cedar: Cedar, katrom, pinewood, and cypress. With regard to the identifi