1)

(a)Rav Huna explains that when our Mishnah says 'Lo Nir'eh Yeser al Shemonah', it means that - the Chachamim did not see fit to declare more than eight full months in the year.

(b)The advantage of declaring six full months as opposed to seven is - that Rosh Hashanah will fall on the same day as the Molad (of the moon [which is always four days, twelve hours and eight hundred and seventy-six Chalakim later than that of the previous year]), as opposed to one day later.

(c)The problem with fixing nine is that - Rosh Hashanah will then fall three days after the Molad (something that will cause people to talk).

(d)This poses a Kashya on our Mishnah - inasmuch as our Mishnah allows eight full months, even though that too, will cause people to talk.

2)

(a)We answer that our Mishnah speaks when the previous year was a leap-year - of which the last month (Adar Sheini) consisted of twenty-nine days ...

(b)... which will bring the following Rosh-Hashanah one day forward, balancing out one of the two days that the two full months moved it back.

(c)We are not nevertheless afraid that people will talk anyway, seeing as Rosh Hashanah is still one day behind the Molad - because nobody takes any notice of a discrepancy of only one day.

(d)The discrepancy is really - one and a half days, only since it is less than two days, we call it one.

3)

(a)Besides when the previous year was a leap-year of twenty-nine days (to offset the two day discrepancy between the Molad and Rosh-Hashanah) we might also establish our Mishnah - where the current year is a leap-year.

(b)And the reason that we establish it by the previous year is - because due to the fact that the Tana (by implication), permits four full months, a leap year (in which Adar Sheini is twenty-nine days) would mean that it would be a year comprising nine short months, something that nobody allows under any circumstances).

4)

(a)Ula disagrees with Rav Huna. He interprets 'Lo Nir'eh Yeser al Shemonah' to mean that - the Chachamim did not see fit to declare more than eight short months in the year ...

(b)... because if they were to declare nine short months - Rosh Hashanah would precede the Molad by three days.

(c)To explain why the Tana permits even eight short months, Ula, citing Rav Mesharshaya, establishes our Mishnah where the previous year was a leap-year, (just as Rav Huna did) - only according to him, Adar Sheini had thirty days (in order to offset one of the two short months).

(d)Rav Huna, who established our Mishnah by eight full months - agrees with Ula (though Ula does not agree with Rav Huna), because, in his opinion, Adar Sheini can be either full or short.

5)

(a)The fact that there is still a discrepancy of a day and a half between the Molad and Rosh Hashanah is not a problem - because people will merely say that there was a new moon, but they did not notice it.

(b)Even though Ula also establishes our Mishnah when the previous year was a leap-year, he disagrees with Rav Huna - in that, according to him, Adar Sheini always has thirty days, and never twenty-nine.

(c)In fact, this is a Machlokes Tana'im. The Tana Kama in a Beraisa maintains that Adar Sheini always has thirty days; whereas according to Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel - it sometimes has twenty-nine.

(d)In spite of Rav Huna agreeing with Ula, as we explained, Ula disagrees with Rav Huna regarding eight full months, which he forbids under any circumstances, as we explained.

6)

(a)We query Rav Huna from a Beraisa, which confines Shevu'os to 'Yom Henef' which means that - Shavu'os always falls on the same day of the week as the bringing and the counting of the Omer (on the sixteenth of Nisan).

(b)And when he continues 've'Ein Rosh Hashanah Chalah Ela be'Yom Henef O be'Yom Iburo' he means - that - Rosh Hashanah coincides either with the day on which the Omer was brought or with the thirty-first of Nisan (alias Rosh Chodesh Iyar following a full Nisan).

(c)This initially appears to conform with Ula - since, in the case of 'be'Yom Henef', both Kislev and Sivan would be short months, whereas in that of 'be'Yom Iburo' (which is one day in the week later) would mean that the months were regular (Malei Chaser, Malei Chaser).

(d)The problem it creates with Rav Huna is that - even according to him, it is possible for there to have been eight Melei'im (postponing Rosh Hashanah by an extra day), in which case, the Tana ought to have added 'O le'Or Or Iburo'.

7)

(a)We counter th Kashya on Rav Huna - by pointing out that one can ask the same Kashya on Ula, according to whom it is also possible for Rosh ha'Shanah to coincide with 'Or Or Iburo' (since, firstly, our Mishnah, by implication, permits seven Chaserim, and secondly, that extra Chaser might have taken place in the summer (after Rosh Chodesh Iyar was already fixed Malei.

(b)To accommodate both Amora'im, we therefore establish the Beraisa - like Acherim (Rebbi Meir), who maintains that a year must follow the fixed pattern Malei Chaser, Malei Chaser, which means that there are always four (and a half) days between one Rosh Hashanah and the next, except for a leap-year, where Adar Sheini is Malei, in which case there are five (and a half).

8)

(a)The problem with this answer, based on the Beraisa's ruling (in connection with Rosh Hashanah) 'Sheneihem Chaserim, be'Yom Henef' is that - when all's said and done, Rosh Hashanah cannot coincide with Yom Henef (seeing as this only happens when there is an extra Chaser, but not when the months run in order, as we have already explained).

(b)We answer by citing Rav Mesharshaya - who establishes the case in a leap-year, where Adar Sheini has thirty days, bringing Rosh Hashanah back from Leil Iburo to Yom Henef.

(c)When Rav Ada bar Ahavah asked Rava whether Acherim is coming to teach us numbers, he meant that - what he ought to have said was 'Ein Me'abrin es ha'Chodesh Ela le'Tzorech', in which case the fact that there are only four days between one Rosh Hashanah and the next would have been self-understood.

(d)Rava replied that Acherim needed to say 'Ein Bein ... ' to stress that - the months must run in order (Malei Chaser, Malei Chaser) even if the new moon was not seen, by which he teaches us that it is not necessary to fix Rosh Chodesh through the sighting of the moon.

9)

(a)When Ravina asks that there is the day ...

1. ... of hours (Yoma de'Sha'i') - he is referring to the eight hours over and above the four that divide the Molad from one year to the next, in which case, every three years there will be five days between one calendar day and the next, even in an ordinary year.

2. ... of thirty years ('Yoma di'Telasin Shani') - he is referring to the additional eight hundred and sixty-four Chalakim (of which there are one thousand and eighty in an hour), which make up one day in every thirty years.

(b)Shmuel states that a lunar year comprises a minimum of three hundred and fifty-two days and a maximum of three hundred and fifty six. It comprises ...

1. ... three hundred and fifty-two days - if there are two Chaserim in the year.

2. ... three hundred and fifty-six days - if there two Mele'im.

3. ... three hundred and fifty-four days - in a regular year (of Malei Chaser ... ).

(c)Shmuel therefore holds - like Rav Huna, who permits two Mele'im in a year.

10)

(a)The Beraisa states that in a case where someone undertakes as many sets of Nezirus as there are days in ...

1. ... the sun year - he must observe three hundred and sixty-five sets of Nezirus.

2. ... the lunar year - he must observe three hundred and fifty-four sets of Nezirus.

(b)The Problem with Shmuel is that, according to him - he ought to observe three hundred and fifty-six sets of Nezirus (le'Chumra).

(c)We answer with the principle that in the realm of Nedarim, we always go after the vernacular - and when people refer to the lunar year, they generally have in mind the average moon-year of the majority of years.

11)

(a)Rebbi was surprised when, one year, Rosh Hashanah fell on the day of the Molad - even though they had declared three Chaserim that year.

(b)Rebbi Shimon his son put his mind at rest however, by reminding him that the previous year had been a leap-year in which Adar Sheini had comprised thirty days - in addition to which, they had declared two Mele'im (which combined to cancel out the three Chaserim of that year, thereby alleviating Rebbi's dilemma).

(c)Rebbi subsequently declared - 'Ner Yisrael, Kein Havah!' ('Light of Yisrael; so it was!')