Rabban Gamliel and Rabbi Joshua Over the Day of Atonement

"And Moses went up, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu." There was an incident in which two came and said, "We saw it [the new moon] in the morning of its renewal, but in the evening we did not see it," and Rabban Gamliel accepted them. Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas said: they gave false testimony. How can one testify that a woman has given birth when the next day her belly is between her teeth [she is still visibly pregnant]? Rabbi Joshua said to him: I see your words. Rabban Gamliel sent to him: I decree upon you that you come to me with your staff and your money on the Day of Atonement that falls according to your reckoning. Rabbi Akiva went and found Rabbi Joshua distressed. He said to him: I have grounds to teach that everything Rabban Gamliel has done is done, as it is said, "These are the appointed times of the LORD" (Leviticus 23:4), whether in their proper time or not in their proper time, I have no appointed times but these. The teacher [tanna] said to him: it says "them" three times, "them" even when inadvertent, "them" even when deliberate, "them" even when mistaken. And in this language he said to him: Akiva, you have comforted me, you have comforted me. He came to Rabbi Dosa ben Harkinas. He said to him: if we come to judge the court of Rabban Gamliel, we must judge every single court that has stood from the days of Moses until now, as it is said, "And Moses went up, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel." Why were the names of the elders not specified? So that a person should not say, "So-and-so is like Moses and Aaron, so-and-so is like Eldad and Medad, so-and-so is like Nadab and Abihu," as it is said, "And Samuel said" (and so on) "And the LORD sent Jerubbaal" (and so on), to teach you that even the lightest of the light ones, once he has been appointed leader over the community, is like the mightiest of the mighty. And it is written, "And you shall come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days" (Deuteronomy 17:9), and would it enter your mind that a person goes to a judge who was not in his days? And it says, "Do not say, How was it that the former days were better" (and so on). He took his staff and his money and went to Rabban Gamliel at Yavneh on the Day of Atonement that fell according to his reckoning. When Rabban Gamliel saw him, he rose from his seat and kissed him on his head. He said to him: Peace be upon you, my teacher and my disciple, my teacher, in that you have taught me Torah in public, and my disciple, in that I decree upon you and you fulfill it. And in this language he said to him: Happy is the generation in which the great heed the small, and from this the small draw an inference from minor to major upon themselves.