משנה: אָמַר לָהֶן הַמְמוּנֶּה צְאוּ וּרְאוּ אִם הִגִּיעַ זְמַן הַשְּׁחִיטָה. אִם הִגִּיעַ הָרוֹאֶה אוֹמֵר בּוֹרְקִי. מַתְיָה בֶּן שְׁמוּאֵל אוֹמֵר הֵאִיר פְּנֵי כָל הַמִּזְרָח עַד שֶׁבְּחֶבְרוֹן. וְהוּא אוֹמֵר הֵין׃ MISHNAH: The overseer said to them1Every day of the year, when the daily morning sacrifice was brought at dawn., “go and see whether the time of slaughter has arrived.” When it arrived, the lookout says “it is radiant.” Mathatias ben Samuel2He is mentioned in Mishnah Šeqalim5:1 as overseer of the lotteries. The sources are not unanimous about the meaning of these names, whether they came with the job or are a remembrance of outstanding personalities who once filled these positions. Some moderns presume that the list is of the last officials serving in the Second Temple. says, “was the entire East illuminated up to what is in Hebron3Even though Hebron is South of Jerusalem, as explained at the end of the Halakhah.?” And he4The lookout. answers “yes”.
הלכה: אָמַר לָהֶן הַמְמוּנֶּה כול׳. מָהוּ בּוֹרְקִי. בַּרֶקֶת. תַּמָּן אָֽמְרִין. בְּרוֹק בּוֹרְקָה. אַנְהר מַנְהָרָא. HALAKHAH: 5The Halakhah is copied in Roš Haššanah2:1 (א).“The overseer said to them,” etc. What means borqi? Bareqet6The word denotes one of the precious stones in the breast plate of the High Priest, usually identified as agate or emerald. The word means radiant, from בָּרָק “lightning”.. There7In Babylonia; in the formulation of the Babli 28b בָּרָק בַּרְקַאי., they are saying, בְּרוֹק בּוֹרְקָה, getting light, radiant.
וְעֵד אֶחָד נֶאֱמָן. שַׁנְייָא הִיא הָכָא שֶׁאֵין אַתְּ יְכוֹל לַעֲמוֹד עָלָיו. וְחָשׁ לוֹמַר. עַד דּוּ עֲלִיל וּנְפַק הִיא מַנָהָרָה. חֲכִימָא הִיא מִילְּתָא. אָמַר עֵד אֶחָד. נוֹלַד אִישׁ פְּלוֹנִי בַשַּׁבָּת. מַלִּין אוֹתוֹ עַל פִּיו. חֲשֵׁיכָה מוֹצָאֵי שַׁבָּת. מְטַלְטְלִין אוֹתוֹ עַל פִּיו. רִבִּי אִימִּי מְטַלְטֵל עַל פּוּם מְלַוִּיתָא. רִבִּי מַתַּנְיָה מְטַלְטֵל עַל פּוּם אִיבִירִיתָא דְזִהֲרָא. רִבִּי אִמִּי מְטַלְטֵל עַל פּוּם נַשְׁייָא דְאָֽמְרָן. שִׁמְשָׁא הֲווָת עַל סוּסִיתָה. May one witness be believed8The Babli holds in general that a single witness can be believed in matters of prohibitions; the biblical requirement of two witnesses is binding only in criminal cases and matters that may have implications in criminal law. From the present paragraph it seems that the Yerushalmi does not accept this in general but that in cases where one witness is sufficient there is no difference between male or female witnesses.? It is different here since one cannot control him; should we not worry and say, by the time somebody climbs up and goes out it will shine9While the time indicated must be approximately correct, since one asks only at the end of the night, and by the time somebody climbs up to check it clearly will be dawn, this does not prove that at the time of the assertion dawn was really visible. The text cannot be amended and the “not” deleted since it is confirmed by both sources.? The matter can be verified. If one witness says, this male was born on the Sabbath, one circumcises him on his word10Even though circumcising on the Sabbath a child not born on the Sabbath is a deadly sin.. Rebbi Immi was carrying on the result of elapsed time11Arabic ملوهَ “interval of time”. He computed the end of the Sabbath astronomically, for a smooth terrestrial globe; a severe restriction for Tiberias situated on a steep Eastern slope.. Rebbi Mattaniah was carrying on the saying of the moon shining12The translation of איביריתא is conjectural. The direction of the shining part of the moon indicates the position of the sun, from which its position below the horizon (of a smooth terrestrial globe) can be inferred without complicated computations.. Rebbi Immi was (carrying) [circumcising]13The text in parenthesis is from Yoma, the one in braces from Roš Haššanah. Since Hippos was on the Eastern shore of the Lake of Galilee, so that for people in Tiberias on the Western shore the sun shone over Hippos in the morning, the statement cannot refer to the Sabbath. The reading of Roš Haššanah has to be accepted. Since circumcision has to be performed during daytime, R. Immi is consistently restrictive; in this case he does not rely on astronomical computations of sunrise but on the much later observation of the sun appearing over the mountains to the East. on the saying of women, the sun was over Hippos.
וְלָמָּה עַד שֶׁהוּא בְּחֶבְרוֹן [וְהוּא] אוֹמֵר הֵין׃ בָּא לְהַזְכִּיר זְכוּת אָבוֹת. And why “up to who is in Hebron? And he answers yes”? He comes to commemorate the merit of the Patriarchs.