Rosh Hashana 1:3 — The Months the Messengers Go Out For

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MoedSederסדרמוֹעֵד
Rosh HashanaMesechtaמסכתראש השנה
1Perekפרקא׳
3Mishnahמשנהג׳
נושא · Topicעַל אֵילוּ חֳדָשִׁים יוֹצְאִים הַשְּׁלוּחִיןThe Months the Messengers Go Out For
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Mishnah ראש השנה א׳:ג׳ · Rosh Hashana 1:3
עַל שִׁשָּׁה חֳדָשִׁים הַשְּׁלוּחִין יוֹצְאִין:
עַל נִיסָן מִפְּנֵי הַפֶּסַח,
עַל אָב מִפְּנֵי הַתַּעֲנִית,
עַל אֱלוּל מִפְּנֵי רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה,
עַל תִּשְׁרֵי מִפְּנֵי תַקָּנַת הַמּוֹעֲדוֹת,
עַל כִּסְלֵו מִפְּנֵי חֲנֻכָּה,
וְעַל אֲדָר מִפְּנֵי הַפּוּרִים.
וּכְשֶׁהָיָה בֵית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ קַיָּם,
יוֹצְאִין אַף עַל אִיָּר מִפְּנֵי פֶסַח קָטָן.
For six months of the year the messengers go out —
for Nisan, on account of Pesach;
for Av, on account of the fast;
for Elul, on account of Rosh Hashana;
for Tishrei, on account of the ordering of the festivals;
for Kislev, on account of Chanukah;
and for Adar, on account of Purim.
And when the Beis HaMikdash stood,
they would go out for Iyar as well, on account of Pesach Katan.
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 ruling
Structure
The Mishnah's Structure▾
נִיסָןPesachאִיָּרPesach Sheni (only while the Beis HaMikdash stood)סִיוָןתַּמּוּזאָבthe fastאֱלוּלRosh Hashanahתִּשְׁרֵיthe festivalsחֶשְׁוָןכִּסְלֵוChanukahטֵבֵתשְׁבָטאֲדָרPurimעַל שִׁשָּׁה חֳדָשִׁיםהַשְּׁלוּחִיןיוֹצְאִין
the months of the Jewish year — a messenger rides out where the date must be known
Summary Chart
The Months the Messengers Go Out For▾
CaseRulingReason
For which months do the messengers go out?Nisan · Av · Elul · Tishrei · Kislev · Adar (Pesach · the fast · Rosh Hashana · the festivals · Chanukah · Purim)—
And while the Beis HaMikdash stood?Iyar as well, for Pesach Katan—
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.

Insights on this mishnah▾

הַשְּׁלוּחִין יוֹצְאִין — the messengers go out

Melechet Shlomo reads the mishnah's grammar twice. First: אמאי קתני השלוחין יוצאין ולא קתני ב"ד שולחין שלוחין — the mishnah never says the beis din sends them; the messengers go out, as if of themselves. Second: it says עַל ניסן rather than בניסן, teaching that מיד בכניסת החדש צריכין להזדרז — the moment the month enters, they must already be hurrying out.

עַל שִׁשָּׁה חֳדָשִׁים — for six months

The list is curated, and the omissions teach. No messengers for Sivan though it holds Shavuos — Tosafos, brought in Tosafos Yom Tov: דבספירת עומר הדבר תלוי, the date hangs on the count from Pesach, not on its own Rosh Chodesh. And Av goes out for its fast while Tamuz does not, though five calamities fell on each: דחורבן ב"ה תקיפא טובא, the churban outweighs, and in Av צרה אחת הוכפלה בו — one calamity was doubled.

עַל אֱלוּל מִפְּנֵי רֹאשׁ הַשָּׁנָה — for Elul, because of Rosh Hashana

Rosh Hashana falls on a Rosh Chodesh, so no messenger can arrive in time for it. Bartenura explains the workaround: the golah kept Rosh Hashana on the thirtieth of Elul because דרב שנים אין אלול מעבר — in most years Elul is not extended — ועל כרחן הולכים אחר רב שנים. From that doubt grew the practice of keeping two days of Rosh Hashana. Rashash adds that this was no diaspora problem alone: גם בא"י צריכין לזה.

עוֹלָמוֹ שֶׁל הַמִּשְׁנָה
מִפְּנֵי חֲנֻכָּה — because of Chanukah

A month could be twenty-nine or thirty days, so a Jew far from the beis din could not place its twenty-fifth: if you did not know when Kislev started, you did not know which day was Chanukah. Lechem Shamayim gives the system's reach in days: the messengers covered Eretz Yisrael in half a month, fifteen days being what the farthest Jew needed — כדי שיגיע אחרון שבישראל לנהר פרת, to the Euphrates.

שְׁאֵלַת חָכָם

The closing clause, וּכְשֶׁהָיָה בֵית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ קַיָּם with its messengers for Iyar, reopens the Av clause before it: was Tisha B'Av kept as a fast while the second Beis HaMikdash stood? Rambam writes that the other fasts were then optional, yet on Tisha B'Av היו מתענין בו מפני תכיפת מיני האבל. Lechem Shamayim reads our mishnah as post-churban and cautions: ליכא למשמע דבזמן הבית לא היו מתענין כלל בט"ב. The Turei Even holds the opposite: when there is peace אין צום, and in Mikdash times no messengers went out for Av at all. (See Rambam here, Lechem Shamayim, and Turei Even.)

— Rambam; Lechem Shamayim; Turei Even
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