1)

(a)The first of Nisan - is Rosh Hashanah for kings and for the Shalosh Regalim (as will be explained in the Sugya).

(b)Chazal instituted the insertion of the year of the king's reign in documents - due to Shalom Malchus (peace of the realm [see Tosfos DH 'Arba'ah']).

(c)According to the Tana Kama - the first of Elul is Rosh Hashanah for Ma'aser Behemah. We learn this from the Pasuk in Re'eh "Aser Te'aser (incorporating Ma'aser Dagan and Ma'aser Behemah) ... ha'Yotzei ha'Sadeh Shanah Shanah" (implying year by year, and not the crops and the animals of one year together with the crops and the animals of the next).

(d)According to Rebbi Elazar and Rebbi Shimon - the New Year for Ma'aser Behemah is the first of Tishrei.

2)

(a)When the Tana says that the first of Tishrei is Rosh Hashanah for ...

1. ... Shemitin and Yovlos - he means that min ha'Torah, the Melachos that apply to Shemitah and Yovel (such as plowing and sowing) are forbidden from then on.

2. ... planting - that with regard to Orlah (the prohibition of benefiting from a fruit-tree for the first three years), regardless of when the tree was planted, the second year (and subsequently, the third) begins on the first of Tishrei.

3. ... vegetables - that vegetables (whose Ma'aser is only mid'Rabanan) that are picked before that date and those picked after it, must be Ma'asered separately.

(b)Beis Shamai gives the date for the Rosh Hashanah for trees as the first of Shevat; Beis Hillel - as the fifteenth.

(c)The ramifications of this Halachah are - that fruit that budded on the trees before that date and fruit that budded afterwards, must be Ma'asered separately.

3)

(a)The Mishnah in Shevi'is says 'Shtarei Chov ha'Mukdamin, Pesulin; v'ha'Me'ucharin, Kesheirin'.

1. 'Shtarei Chov ha'Mukdamin' - are pre-dated documents.

2. 'Shtarei Chov ha'Me'ucharin' - are post-dated documents.

(b)Pre-dated documents are Pasul - because the earlier date enables the creditor to claim from the property sold by the debtor prior to the date on which the loan actually took place, whereas according to the Halachah, 'Meshubadim' (property from which the creditor has a right to claim), by definition, applies only to property owned by the debtor at the time of the loan or at any point after the loan was made, which he sold after the date of the loan.

(c)It is ...

1. ... invalid to the extent that one cannot claim from Meshubadim at all.

2. ... valid however, in that the creditor may still use it to claim his debt directly from the debtor (i.e. from Bnei Chorin), as if it was an oral loan which in effect, means validating the witnesses signatures [See Tosfos DH 'Shtarei']).

(d)In view of the Mishnah in Shevi'is, what Chazal achieved by fixing the Rosh Hashanah for kings as the first of Nisan will become clear in the following scenario - If a loan of one Manah is documented as having taken place in Kislev of the third year of King so-and-so's reign, and the witnesses testify that although they did not see the loan taking place, the debtor nevertheless admitted at having borrowed a Manah from the creditor. The same witnesses (who do not know whether the loan took place before or after they signed on the document) also testify that they did see the same debtor borrow a Manah in Tamuz of the third year of the same King's reign. If we were to reckon each king's reign by the date that he was crowned, then, should the Beis-Din not remember in which month the king was crowned, then they will not know whether Tamuz preceded Kislev (in which case, the document is post-dated and Kasher) or vice-versa (and it will be pre-dated and Pasul). But now that Chazal fixed Nisan as the new year for kings, Tamuz will always precede Kislev in this regard, and the document will be Kasher.

4)

(a)Besides informing us that the first of Nisan is the Rosh Hashanah for kings, when the Tana says that ...

1. ... if a king was crowned on the twenty-ninth of Adar, his second year begins on the first of Nisan - he is teaching us that even just one day in the year is considered a year.

2. ... if he was crowned on the first of Nisan, his second year only begins on the following Nisan - he is teaching us that even though the ministers reached their decision to crown him already in Adar, we only count the years of his reign from Nisan, when he was actually crowned.

5)

(a)Another Beraisa teaches us that if the king died in Adar and his successor was appointed in Adar, that year counts as both the last year of the first king and the first year of the second one - meaning that one may insert whichever king one wishes in one's document (but not both).

(b)The Chidush there is - that we ascribe one year to the reign of two kings.

(c)And when the Tana says ...

1. ... that the same will apply if the first king died in Nisan, and they appointed his successor in Nisan, he is telling us - that not only do we consider the last day in the year to be a whole year (following another principle that everything goes after the conclusion), but that we will even consider the first day of the year to be a full year, as well.

2. ... that if the first king died in Adar and they appointed his successor only in Nisan, then they ascribe the first year to the first king and the second year to the second - that even if, in addition to the ministers decision to anoint the second king already in Adar, he is also the son of the first king (which renders him the rightful heir to the throne - which is inherited), we nevertheless do not count his reign from the day that he is destined to rule, but from the day that he is actually crowned.

6)

(a)The Navi writes in Melachim "Vayehi bi'Shemonim v'Arba Me'os Shanah ... ba'Shanah ha'Revi'is b'Chodesh Ziv, Hu ha'Chodesh ha'Sheni la'Melech Shlomo ... ." - "Chodesh Ziv" refers to the month of Iyar.

(b)Rebbi Yochanan learns from ...

1. ... the Hekesh of the latter part of the Pasuk to the first half - that, just as the Exodus from Egypt is reckoned from Nisan, so too, is the reign of Shlomo.

2. ... the fact that the Torah dates Aharon's death as having taken place in the fifth month of the fortieth year, and Moshe's parting speech, in the eleventh - that we do not reckon the Exodus from Tishrei (even though that is when the world was created, which is why, up until then, the Torah counts Tishrei as the first month).

(c)We know that the Pasuk dealing with Moshe's parting speech is referring to the fortieth year after they left Egypt, rather than to the fortieth year after the construction of the Mishkan (which took place one year later) from Rav Papa's Derashah (on the next Daf) "Shenas Esrim" "Shenas Esrim" li'Gezeirah-Shavah. Likewise here - we will learn "Shenas Arba'im" "Shenas Arba'im" from Aharon, that the former, like the latter, took place in the fortieth year after the Exodus (and not after the construction of the Mishkan).

(d)And we know that the Pasuk dealing with Aharon's death preceded (in time) the Pasuk dealing with Moshe's final speech, and not vice-versa - because when Moshe began his final speech, Sichon was already dead (as the Torah records at the beginning of Devarim); whereas, when Aharon died, he was still alive.