Pisqa’ 127¹

1

“Take care to observe the month of Aviv” (Dt.16:1)—

observe [the moon] for a month prior to Aviv,

so that Aviv falls at its proper time [in the spring]. ²

Is it possible to say that

if a [lunar] year is short [of the solar year] by fourteen or fifteen days.

you may add [to the month preceding Aviv]

fourteen or fifteen days

[enabling calendrical calculation to match the season]?

The Teaching states:

“The month” (Dt.16:1)—

not a day more or less [than a month].

 

Is it possible to say that

if a year is short by forty or fifty days,

you may add to the months preceding Aviv

forty or fifty days

[enabling the calendar to match the season]?

The Teaching states:

“The month” (Dt.16:1)—

not a day more or less [than a month]. ³

2

“Take care to observe the month of Aviv” (Dt.16:1).

Scripture recalls the festival calendar in three contexts:

in the Priestly Guide⁴ (Lv.23:1-44),

for the sake of teaching their sequence;

in the Book of Appointees⁵ (Nu.9:1-14),

for the sake of teaching sacrificial procedure;

in the Repetition of the Torah (Dt.16:1-17),⁶

for the sake of teaching the rules of intercalation.

 

This teaches you that Moses heard the festival calendar

from Sinai, recited it to Israel,

and repeated it as needed

at a time appropriate to the celebration.⁷

 

Another word:

He recited the legal traditions of

Passover in time for Passover,

the legal traditions of

the Closure-festival⁸ in time for the Closure-festival,

And the legal traditions of

the Feast [of Huts] in time for the Feast.⁹

On this basis they taught:

Moses warned Israel to repeat

the topic [of the upcoming festival],

and to expound upon it.¹⁰

1. H:172; JN1:313.
2. The biblical month of Aviv is “the first month” of the year (Ex. 12:2), and corresponds to the rabbinic month of Nisan, which in the rabbinic liturgical calendar constitutes the seventh month. Cf. Mechilta Ishmael, paskha’, 2.
3. //T. San. 2:7-8. Cf. Mechilta Shimon, ed. Nelson, p.37. For other parallels throughout the tannaitic corpus, see F:185, n. 8.
4. The Biblical book of Leviticus.
5. I.e., Numbers.
6. I.e., Deuteronomy.
7. // Sifre Nu., 66.
8. That is, `Atzeret, also known commonly as Shavuot, “the Feast of Weeks.”
9. // T. Meg. 4:5.
10. F: 185, n.12, noting the absence of 126.3 from many parallels in mss, regards the text of 127.2 as a copyist’s addition.