תּלמוד אויף יחזקאל 20:25

¹⁹⁰Midrash Cant. rabba 1(43), Pesiqta dRav Cahana Šimˋu (ed. Buber p. 118a). Rebbi Abba, Rebbi Ḥiyya in the name of Rebbi Joḥanan¹⁹¹Cant. 1:6.: My mother’s sons bore ill-will against me, (etc.) [they made me a guard of the vineyards; my vineyard I did not guard.]¹⁹²Addition from G. What caused me to guard the vineyards? Because my vineyard I did not guard. What caused me to keep two days in Syria¹⁹³Those parts of the kingdom of David and Salomon which were not part of the Second Commonwealth; its status was intermediary between that of the Land and the diaspora but holidays were kept there for two days as in the diaspora; cf. Peah 7:6 Note 119.? Because I did not keep one day in the Land. I was thinking that I would be rewarded for both, but I am rewarded only for one. What caused me to separate two ḥallot in Syria¹⁹⁴Biblical law prescribes ḥallah only for produce of the Land (Num. 15:18–19). Rabbinic practice extends the obligation to the rest of the world but, since the soil outside the Land is intrinsically impure, any ḥallah outside the Land is impure and must be burned. In Syria, some dough has to be given to the Cohen to be consumed in imitation of the obligation in the Land; cf. Ḥallah 4:7.? Because I did not separate one ḥallah in the Land. I was thinking that I would be rewarded for both, but I am rewarded only for one. Rebbi Joḥanan read for them, but I Gave them prescriptions which are not Good[and laws by which they cannot live]¹⁹⁵Ez. 20:25. He considers the second day of a holiday in the diaspora as a kind of punishment.. Rebbi Abbahu went to Alexandria and made them carry lulavim on the Sabbath¹⁹⁶In a year in which the first day of Sukkot was a Sabbath he told the Jews of Alexandria to keep only one day of the holiday since he knew the (as yet unpublished) rules of calendar computation. Since the obligation to take the “four kinds” essentially is restricted to the first day (Lev. 23:40) he permitted the ceremony on a Sabbath against the rule that in the diaspora the “four kinds” may not be taken on the Sabbath. (Cf. Sukkah 3:13).. Rebbi Immi heard it and said, who (feeds them) [brings them]¹⁹⁷The text of G [in brackets] is preferable over that of L (in parentheses). Rebbi Abbahu every year¹⁹⁸In the absence of a published calendar, the exact computation of the date of the holiday depends on the presence of a competent scholar, which is rare outside the Land.? Rebbi Yose sent and wrote to them: even though we wrote you the order of holidays, do not change the usage of your departed ancestors¹⁹⁹The action of R. Abbahu is officially disapproved of with the publication of the calendar rules. While today anybody who knows how to add and subtract can compute the Jewish calendar and there is no longer any ambiguity in fixing the holidays, the calendar rules were published by the Academy of R. Yose (the talmudic sources do not mention any participation of the Patriarch) with the explicit stipulation that they may be used only if the second day of holidays be observed outside the Land (Babli Besah 4b). {Quoted by R. Ḥananel ad40b, Roqeaḥ §198, Maˋase Roqeaḥ §93, Or zaruaˋ §140 (vol. 2 p. 211a in the edition Jerusalem 2010).}.

If he did not stop, what then? R. Meyasha, the grandson of R. Joshua b. Levi, said : Of him the Scriptures state, "Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and ordinances whereby they should not live" (Ezek. xx. 25).

Sheftiah further said in the name of R. Yohanan: If one reads [Scripture] without a melody or recites the Mishnah without a tune, of him the verse says, “For I gave them also statutes that were not good.” (Ezekiel 20:25).