Avoda Zara Daf 09 - Keeping Track of Years
Summary
- The shiur on Avodah Zarah 9 centers on historical-chronological calculations tied to Bayit Sheni and beyond, deriving the 26-year period of Roman partnership with Israel, enumerating successive regimes and their durations, and presenting conversion rules between Greek-era dating and post-Churban counts. It records three pre-Churban milestones from Rabbi Yishmael b’Rabbi Yosi, explains the Sanhedrin’s departure from Lishkat haGazit as the cessation of adjudicating *dinei nefashot*, and recounts Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava’s preservation of authentic *semicha* under lethal Roman decrees. It cites Tanna d’Bei Eliyahu’s six-thousand-year world schema, establishes the start of the “two thousand years of Torah” at ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן, gives practical methods to compute years into Yemot haMashiach and the current Shemitah year, warns against long-term investment in the diaspora after a set threshold, and clarifies a shtar that appeared six years “ahead” via an alternative reckoning of the Greek rise.
- The shiur is sponsored by Dr. David Linden, Arnon and children לעילוי נשמת גולדה בת שמחה עליה השלום, by the Gross family לעילוי נשמת חנה לאה בת משה צבי, רב משה יהודה בן רב נחום, חיה לאה בת נפתלי הירצקא, and צבי מנחם בן שמיהו, and by the Shulman family for the יארצייט of Mr. Joel Shulman יואל צבי בן אהרן ראובן.
- The focus is on dates and חשבון of events, including identifying the initial 26 years of Roman partnership, listing ruling powers over Bayit Sheni, deriving how to recover unknown year counts by consulting a *sofer*, laying out the six-thousand-year framework and its epochs, and determining the year within a Shemitah cycle.
- Rabbi Yishmael b’Rabbi Yosi transmits from Rabbi Yosi that 180 years before the Churban, Rome’s rule spreads over Israel; 80 years before the Churban, a גזירה of tumah on *eretz ha’amim* and on *klei zechuchit* is enacted; and 40 years before the Churban, the Sanhedrin leaves Lishkat haGazit and sits בחנות on Har HaBayit.
- The claim that they left to avoid judging *dinei kenasot* is rejected, because *dinei kenasot* continued via authentic *semicha* preserved by Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava. Rabbi Yehuda ben Bava defies the Roman decrees—“כל הסומך יהרג וכל הנסמך יהרג ועיר שסומכין בה תחרב ותחום שסומכין בו יעקר”—by granting *semicha* between Usha and Shefar’am, and he is killed with “300” iron lances, leaving his body like a sieve. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak states that the departure was to cease judging *dinei nefashot* when murder proliferated, because capital cases require the Sanhedrin haGedolah in place, as taught by “ועשית על פי הדבר אשר יגידו לך מן המקום ההוא” which shows שהמקום גורם.
- A baraita (Rabbi Yosi b’Rabbi) states: Persian rule during the Mikdash lasted 34 years, Greek rule 180 years, Hasmonean rule 103 years, and Herodian rule 103 years. The total of 206 years from the Greek fall to the Churban matches Rome’s entry but conflicts with the 180-year Roman שיעבוד, so it is concluded that “עשרים ושש שנין קמו בהימנותא בהדי ישראל,” i.e., the first 26 years were Roman partnership rather than subjugation.
- Although Greek dominion began 386 years before the Churban, Greek regnal counting begins six years later, so documents dated by the Greek era effectively track from 380 before the Churban. Rav Pappa instructs that if a תנא lacks the last two digits of years since the Churban, he asks a *sofer* for the Greek-era last two digits and adds 20, with the mnemonic “זה לי עשרים שנה אנכי בביתך.” The inverse holds for a *sofer* who asks a תנא and subtracts 20, with the memory cue “ספרא בצירא תנא תוספאה.”
- Tanna d’Bei Eliyahu teaches that the world spans six thousand years: שני אלפים תהו (without Torah), שני אלפים תורה, and שני אלפים ימות המשיח, lamenting “ובעונותינו הרבים יצאו מהם מה שיצאו מהם.” The two thousand years of Torah do not start at Matan Torah (year 2448) but at ואת הנפש אשר עשו בחרן, when Avraham begins teaching Torah at age 52, exactly in year 2000 from creation, leaving 448 years between that point and Matan Torah.
- Rav Pappa states that to state how many years have passed in the third epoch, a תנא can ask a *sofer* for the Greek-era count and add 48, with the mnemonic “ארבעים ושמונה עיר” of the Levite cities. A *sofer* can ask a תנא and subtract 48, with the cue “ספרא בצירותא תנא תוספתא.”
- The phrasing למניין שאנו מונים כאן reflects two calculations from creation: counting from תוהו versus counting from the creation of Adam. Assuming Tishrei creation, Adam is created on Rosh Hashanah, implying the six days of creation begin in the prior year, yielding distinct count baselines within “בריאת העולם.”
- Rav Huna b’rei d’Rav Yehoshua instructs to add one year to the years-since-Churban tally because the Churban year is treated as Shemitah while “Year 1” of counting begins with the Tishrei after Tisha B’Av. The method simplifies by removing multiples of full centuries as 98-year Shemitah blocks, adding two years per century to the units before dividing by seven to find the cycle remainder, with the mnemonic “כי זה שנתים הרעב בקרב הארץ.”
- Rabbi Ḥanina states that after 400 years from the Churban, if someone offers a field worth 1000 dinar for one dinar, do not buy it, because redemption and kibbutz galuyot render diaspora assets a poor investment. A baraita sets the threshold at ארבעת אלפים ומאתים ושלשים ואחת years from creation, which is three years later than Rabbi Ḥanina’s figure.
- A shtar dated with “six extra years” is not necessarily מאוחר; Rav Naḥman rules that the *sofer* wrote בזמניה by counting the initial six years of Greek rule in Elam, which most do not include. Rabbi Yosi teaches “שש שנים מלכו בעילם ואחר כך פשטה מלכותם בכל העולם כולו,” validating this alternative reckoning.
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