The Karaite Korner

Abib (Barley)

Ancient Abib Reports

The practice of determining the New Year according to the Abib is as old as the Torah. In ancient times, as today, there was a need to send out announcements that the Abib was found, especially to those in the Exile and several ancient Abib Reports have survived. The earliest surviving Abib Report dates to the last generation of the Second Temple period note and is quoted in the Talmud. As has been discussed elsewhere the Rabbanites accepted the Abib as the determining factor in fixing the New Year, although they supplemented this with other factors which they invented from their hearts. Because this ancient report is a Rabbanite Abib report it reflects this sect's mix of Abib and non-Biblical factors. The report reads:

"For it has been taught: It once happened that Rabban Gamaliel was sitting on a step on the Temple Mount, and the well known Scribe Yohanan was standing before him with three cut sheets [of parchment] lying before him. [Rabban Gamaliel said] ...take the third [sheet] and write to our brethren, the Exiles of Babylon and to those in Media, and to all the other exiled [sons] of Israel, saying: "May your peace be great forever! We beg to inform that the doves are still tender and the lambs are still too young and the Abib is not yet ripe. It seems advisable to me and to my colleagues to add thirty days to this year."" note

A second Abib Report is also preserved in the Talmud, this one dating to the first generation after the destruction of the Second Temple:

"R. Yannai said in the name of R. Simeon b. Gamaliel [quoting his letter to the Communities]: 'We beg to inform you that the doves are still tender and the lambs still young, and the Abib is not yet ripe. I have considered the matter and thought it advisable to add thirty days to the year.'" note

It is difficult to determine how authentic these reports are because of their provenance (i.e. the Talmud). However, the accounts were both preserved in Palestinian Aramaic, and not the usual Babylonian Aramaic, which suggests they may date back at least to the 2nd century CE, if not to the actual period of the events described. note

These Rabbanite Abib Reports list 3 determining factors in Rabbanite intercalation: 1) The maturity of the doves; 2) The maturity of the sheep; and 2) The ripeness of the barley (Abib). It is worth noting that a different Rabbanite Brayta from approximately the same period lists the three determining factors in intercalation as: 1) The vernal equinox; 2) The ripeness of the fruits; and 3) The ripeness of the barley (Abib). It should not be surprising that there were different Rabbanite approaches to intercalation since they disagree with each other on almost every topic. What is significant for our purposes is that both early Rabbanite approaches place the Abib as a central consideration in determining intercalation.

An Ancient Karaite Abib Report

The Rabbanite Abib reports were vague rulings which did not give details about the actual state of the Abib other than that it was "not yet ripe", nor did they give information about how many fields were inspected, where they were inspected, by whom, etc. An Abib Report, which did contain such information, was found in the Cairo Genizah. The Genizah Abib Report was sent by the Karaites of Israel to the Karaite community of Cairo in the year 1052 CE. Like many Genizah documents much of the text is illegible or lacking, although enough information can be made out to get a general picture of Karaite Abib observance in the 11th century. Unlike the Rabbanite reports, the Karaite Abib Report gives a detailed account of the barley crops and the names of the people who carried out the inspection. The ancient Karaite Abib Report reads as follows [numbers in curly brackets are line numbers of the original document]:

"{1}Those who signed their names on this document say... {2} and its documentation, from the men of Jerusalem and Gaza... {3} that we inspected on Friday, 1[st day of the Islamic month] Zul-Qida in the year 443 [of the Islamic Era] {4} a field in the area of Suk-Mazin in the District of Gaza, which belongs {5} to the Qadi Salama ibn Mahmud; the yield of its seeds is not good... {6} the farmer said that his seeds were 1 Qafiz... his yield being {7} 20 Qafiz, most of them... {8} many [of them]... and the rest, that is the minority {9} and we did not accept... [except]... handfuls from the minority... and because men came... {10} from the overall amount... their form and appearance... one of the farmers showed us...{11} and he said that they... {12} with us..[we inspected]... on this day also...[a field which belongs to] the Qadi Elsabga {13} ...Ibrahim ibn Elkufiani, the farmer said that his seeds [were ? Qafiz] {14} ...his yield being 40 Qafiz, in comparison {15} to the field mentioned above. And we saw on that day and on the preceding day, {16} that is, Thursday, in the District of Gaza, other fields that border the fields of Ibrahim {17} ibn Elkufiani and others, in their form and vegetation (?) [were ?] ... [I was asked] {18} to write and to sign in the aforementioned month that the state [of the barley] is as said in this {19} document. And Salah ben Sahl ben Zita wrote and signed on its date [the following lines contains a repetition of the same formula with the names of the other signatories]." note

The inspections reported in the above Abib Report took place on and around Friday March 6th, 1052 CE in the Julian Calendar [=2 Nissan 4812 in the Rabbanite calendar]. The Julian Calendar date of March 6th was 8 days before the Vernal Equinox which occurred on March 14, 1052. note It is interesting that the Karaite Abib inspection was carried out on the last day of the 12th month [March 5th] and the first day of the 13th month [March 6th], giving the barley the maximum amount of time to ripen.

In Medieval Karaite discussions of the Abib, it is emphasized that the barley must not only appear in a certain form but must also appear in a large enough quantity to fulfill such verses as Lev 23,10 "you will bring the sheaf of the beginning of your harvest" [i.e. the barley has to be Abib in large enough quantities so that it can be harvested on the "morrow after the Sabbath" during Hag HaMatzot]. It was generally agreed that the barley must be Abib in a majority of fields and in each field a majority of the stalks must be Abib. The above Karaite Abib Report clearly refers to this concept and discusses (lines 7-8) "most of them [=the stalks]... many [of them]... and the rest, that is the minority". In line 9 we then read: "and we did not accept... [except]... a small amount from the minority". It would seem that in the first field they inspected, only a few stalks were Abib, while the majority of the stalks were not ripe enough and therefore they did not accept this field as adequate evidence of Abib. We do not know whether the other fields were ripe enough to be Abib. The final conclusion of the Abib Report was contained at the end of line 17 which has not been preserved: "[the stalks] in their form and vegetation (?) [were Abib/ were not Abib?]". We can only guess whether the missing part said that the fields adjacent to the field of ibn Elkufiani were "Abib" or "not Abib". Thus, it is unclear from the fragments of the report whether the barley was Abib at the time of the inspections.

Note: The Talmud thinks the Braytot are referring to Rabban Gamaliel II and his son R. Simeon ben Gamaliel II. However, it is highly unlikely that R. Gamaliel II would be sitting on the steps of the Temple Mount writing a letter to the Jews of Babylon. This must have been R. Gamaliel I. Back

Note: Babli Sanhedrin 11b; adapted from translation of Jacob Shachter, Sanhedrin, Soncino Press, London 1935, p.48-49. The same Brayta also appears in Yerusahlmi Sanhedrin 1,2 (Neusner trans. p.32) and Tosefta Sanhedrin 2,6. Back

Note: Babli Sanhedrin 11a; adapted from translation of Jacob Shachter, Sanhedrin, Soncino Press, London 1935, p.48. The same Brayta also appears with variations in Yerusahlmi Sanhedrin 1,2 (Neusner trans. p.32) and Tosefta Sanhedrin 2,5. In the Talmud Yerushalmi the author of the letter is Rabban Gamaliel [I], not his son, and no mention is made of the Abib! The distinctions between the two letters, which formed the basis of the discussion in the Bavli, are also blurred in the Yerushalmi, which may indicate that the Bavli version is more authentic. Back

Note: On the surface the decision to "add thirty days to this year" is suspicious. According to the Mishnah [Rosh Hashannah 2,7 and passim], which allegedly describes the Rabbanite practices situation in roughly the same period, the length of a month was determined by New Moon witnesses, not by arbitrary decree. The Talmud itself realized this was strange and even quotes a Brayta (2nd century Tanaitic source) which says: "By how much is the year intercalated? Thirty days. Rabban Simeon ben Gamaliel says, a month." From this Brayta it seems that there was a disagreement among the 2nd century Rabbanites about whether thirty days were added to a leap year or whether it was a month. The difference is that a month can be either 29 or 30 days depending on the visibility of the moon while "30 days" is a fixed period of time. [R. Simeon ben Gamaliel, in this last Brayta may be R. Simeon ben Gamaliel II]. Back

Note: Adapted from Moshe Gil, Eretz Israel BeTekufah HaMuslamit HaRishonah: (634-1099), Part 2, Tel Aviv 1983, pp.543-545 (Hebrew) Back

Note: Vernal Equinox calculated with Lunar Phase 2.04 and Astronomy Lab 2. According to Lunar Phase the Vernal Equinox took place on March 14 15:51 and according to Astronomy Lab 2 it took place on March 14 15:40. Thus a date of March 6 in the 11th century of the Julian Calendar would (anachronistically) be equivalent to approximately March 13 in the 21st century [i.e. relative to the Vernal Equinox]. Back

Read more about the Abib including:

This year's Abib Reports can be viewed at: