Rosh Hashana 1:4 — Desecrating Shabbos for the new-moon witnesses

The Lived Mishnah·A Zeman Nakat Project
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Mishnah 14 of 41
אִם אֶשְׁכָּחֵךְ יְרוּשָׁלָיִם
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MoedSederסדרמוֹעֵד
Rosh HashanaMesechtaמסכתראש השנה
1Perekפרקא׳
4Mishnahמשנהד׳
נושא · Topicחִלּוּל שַׁבָּת לְעֵדֵי הַחֹדֶשׁDesecrating Shabbos for the new-moon witnesses
This Mishnah is:a listwhat does that mean?
Mishnah ראש השנה א׳:ד׳ · Rosh Hashana 1:4
עַל שְׁנֵי חֳדָשִׁים מְחַלְּלִין אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת, עַל נִיסָן וְעַל תִּשְׁרֵי,
שֶׁבָּהֶן הַשְּׁלוּחִין יוֹצְאִין לְסוּרְיָא, וּבָהֶן מְתַקְּנִין אֶת הַמּוֹעֲדוֹת.
וּכְשֶׁהָיָה בֵית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ קַיָּם,
מְחַלְּלִין אַף עַל כֻּלָּן מִפְּנֵי תַקָּנַת הַקָּרְבָּן.
For two months they may desecrate Shabbos — for Nissan and for Tishrei,
since in them the messengers go out to Syria, and by them the festivals are set.
And when the Beis HaMikdash stood,
they would desecrate even for all the months, to ensure the Korban Mussaf is offered.
A reading aid, not an exact translation.

This English is a clause-by-clause rendering to help you follow the Hebrew. It is not word-for-word literal, and it is not a transcript of the recorded shiur — the audio carries explanation and context the translation deliberately leaves out.

case/objectpermissive rulingreasoncondition
Structure
The Mishnah's Structure▾
נִיסָןNissanאִיָּרסִיוָןתַּמּוּזאָבאֱלוּלתִּשְׁרֵיTishreiחֶשְׁוָןכִּסְלֵוטֵבֵתשְׁבָטאֲדָרעַל שְׁנֵי חֳדָשִׁיםמְחַלְּלִין אֶתהַשַּׁבָּת
the same wheel narrows — witnesses break Shabbos only for Nissan & Tishrei (in Temple times, all twelve)
Summary Chart
Desecrating Shabbos for the new-moon witnesses▾
CaseRulingReason
For which months may witnesses desecrate Shabbos?Nissan and TishreiMessengers go to Syria; the festivals are set by them
And when the Beis HaMikdash stood?For all the monthsTo ensure the Korban Mussaf is offered
Transcript
A machine transcript of the recorded shiur.

This is the shiur as spoken, transcribed automatically and left unedited — the wording is Ephraim's, and occasional transcription errors remain. It follows the audio word by word.

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Mishnah Insights
An amalgam of commentaries, including original insights.

These insights draw on the commentaries to this Mishnah and on the recorded shiur. Those commentaries often rest on earlier sources — the Gemara, the Yerushalmi, the Rishonim, and one another — without always saying so; where they do, we generally cite the one we read. Every commentary consulted is kept, verbatim, with this card.

Two months when a witness may break Shabbos▾
עוֹלָמוֹ שֶׁל הַמִּשְׁנָה
What ‘profaning Shabbos’ meant for the witnesses

A witness who saw the new moon had to reach the beis din to testify — and for that the Chachomim let him override Shabbos. The violations at stake were concrete: crossing the techum, the 2,000-amah Shabbos limit; riding an animal; carrying through a public domain — some forbidden mid’oraisa, some mid’rabbanan, all set aside so the month could be fixed on its right day (Bartenura). The testimony of two ordinary Jews was worth bending Shabbos to receive.

Is it the reason, or only the setting?

The mishnah ties the dispensation to two months ‘in which the messengers go out to Suria and by which the festivals are set.’ Is that the reason one may profane Shabbos — the far reach and the festival-dating make these months weightier? Or, as Rashi and the Meiri read it, only the setting: the months are simply the important ones, and the travel and festival-fixing are signs of their weight, not the cause. The one line does double duty, and the meforshim split on which.

Why aim Rosh Chodesh at Shabbos

Rebbi Akiva Eiger, citing the Turei Even, turns the case around. In Nissan and Tishrei the yom tov falls on the fifteenth; were Rosh Chodesh fixed on a weekday, that yom tov would halt the messengers partway and cost them travel-days. Fix Rosh Chodesh on Shabbos itself, and the witnesses’ single act of profaning Shabbos actually speeds the messengers — buying back the days they need to reach the far communities in time.

Series Insights
Series context▾
← Previous
Rosh Hashanah 1:3
How the calendar reached the nation
Mishnah 14 of 41
Rosh Hashana 1:4
Witnesses who override Shabbos for the new moon
Next →
Pesachim 10:3
The seder night, reshaped as remembrance

Where this sits

The mishnah legislates for its own present — two months, after the Churban — while pointing back to when the Bayis stood, when witnesses profaned Shabbos for every month so that the Korban Mussaf of Rosh Chodesh could be offered on its true day. That is the series’ signature move: the halacha itself becomes a memory of the Mikdash. What the Temple once demanded of the calendar still measures how far we will bend Shabbos to keep it.

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