The Flood was all of twelve months,1R. Eliyahu from Vilna explains that according to Seder Olam a year about which no details are given is a simple, regular year of 354 days following the standard Jewish calendar. Meir Ayin notes that this statement is found in Eduyot 2:10. as it is written: "In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." (Genesis 7:11).2R. Eliyahu from Vilna interprets Seder Olam to mean that the year of the Flood is counted as full year. And its generation will have no part in the World to Come, and will not be judged,3This is a Mishna in Sanhedrin 10:3. Rashi (Sanhedrin 108b) explains that the water of the Flood was boiling hot and that the generation of the Flood was judged and punished in that boiling water. Meir Ayin notes that the statement about the generation of the Flood is found in Sanhedrin 108a. as it is written "My spirit shall not always strive with man" (Genesis 6:3). R. Yehoshua says: "In the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month" (Genesis 7:11), this is [the 17th of] Iyyar, which is the second [month] after Nissan in which the world was created,4R. Jacob Emdin notes that according to R. Yehoshua, Creation started on the first of Nissan, the day of the vernal equinox. and in it Kimah [the Pleiades] sets. And because they changed their deeds before the Omnipresent, He changed the order of Creation for them.5The Babylonian Talmud (Rosh Hashana 11b) reports a discussion of the dates given here between R. Yehoshua and R. Eliezer. According to R. Yehoshua, the world was created in Nissan and the Flood started in Iyyar, while according to R. Eliezer, the world was created in Tishri and the Flood started in Marcheshvan. The Talmud relates that the sages accept the opinion of R. Eliezer regarding the Flood but that of R. Yehoshua for the determination of seasons, as in our text. R. Eliyahu from Vilna explains that R. Yehoshua is of the opinion that the term Kimah in the Bible refers to the constellation Taurus, and that usually the sun is in that constellation in the month of Iyyar. Because of the sins of the generation of the Flood, the sun stayed in Aries, the constellation of the preceding month of Nissan, and in this way the usual order of the world was "perverted." R. Jacob Emdin explains that by the term Kimah, R. Yehoshua means the last three stars of the constellation Aries, that in his opinion represent cosmic cold. The punishment of the generation of the Flood was that God took away two stars from that constellation so that cosmic heat would prevail. Guggenheimer explains that the opinion that the sun already was shining on the first day of Creation is specific to the older Babylonian school of calendar computation and not followed in our current calendar. He explains the details of that older computation which places the beginning of the year and the beginning of Creation on Sunday, Nissan 1, 5 hours and 204 parts after mean midnight, according to the computation of R. Abraham bar Hiyya of Barcelona, the most important early source for Jewish calendar computation. According to that computation, the time from one appearance of the New Moon to the next is 29d 12h 793p, of which in the main computation the full 29 days are disregarded. This gives a difference of 1d 12h 793p between the molad of one month and the next. The Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashana 11b, simply notes that the "sages of the Nations" count everything like R. Yehoshua. Guggenheimer notes that by this term the Talmud refers to gentile astronomers who follow the Seleucid tradition of starting the year at the beginning of spring, which coincides approximately with the beginning of the reign of the Babylonian king Nabonassar, from whom we have systematic astronomical records. Meir Ayin notes that this statement is found in Rosh Hashana 11b and simply lists the verses quoted by R. Eliyahu from Vilna. R. Eliezer says: "In the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month," this is Marcheshvan, the second [month] after Tishri in which the world was created,6R. Jacob Emdin notes that this is the opinion of all Yerushalmi sources (Rosh Hashanah 56b, Taanit 64a, Genesis rabba 33(10)). Guggenheimer notes that since the passage about the date of the Flood is not part of the halakhic portion of Seder Olam, it is not quoted in the Jerusalem Talmud. and in it Kimah [Pleiades] rises,7The Pleiades are visible only in winter. R. Eliyahu from Vilna explains that the implication is that the beginning of summer started a full year of winter. R. Jacob Emdin explains that according to R. Eliezer, the term Kimah here refers to the last three stars of Aries. The punishment of the generation of the Flood was that God let the Pleiades rise during daytime so that it became impossible to determine the time of year from the stars. Guggenheimer explains that in the Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 58b, the Pleiades represent cosmic frost, which battles Orion's cosmic heat. He notes that according to the Babylonian Talmud, the "windows of heaven" that were opened at the time of the Flood were opened by pulling two stars from the Pleiades, the beginning of a full year of winter. and that was the time for rain.8Rain in Israel falls only in winter. R. Jacob Emdin notes that according to all authorities, the 17th of Marcheshvan was the day on which the Pleiades disappeared from view. The Sages [accept the opinion of] R. Eliezer regarding the Flood and [the opinion of] R. Yehoshua for the determination of seasons. "And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights" (Genesis 7:12). Until when [did it rain]? Forty days and forty nights until the 27th of Kislev.9Meir Ayin notes that the statement "until the 27th of Kislev" is according to R. Eliezer. "And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days" (Genesis 7:24). Until when [did the waters prevail]? Until the first of Sivan,10The first of Sivan is 150 days after the 27th of Kislev. Meir Ayin simply lists the verse and adds that the waters prevailed from the 27th of Kislev until the 1st of Sivan, and that from the first of Sivan the waters started to recede. and the waters were standing still and silent, and the wicked were judged in them, each one according to his deeds.11Meir Ayin notes that according to the Yalqut, this period was from the 27th of Kislev until the first of Sivan. "And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated." "And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen." (Genesis 8:3,5) 12Meir Ayin adds that the tops of the mountains were seen on the 1st of Av, the tenth month counting from the beginning of the rainy season. The water was higher than the land by fifteen cubits, and it was gone in sixty days, a cubit every four days, a handbreath and a half every day.13It follows that on the 1st of Av, the water level was 15 cubits above ground. Meir Ayin notes that in some manuscripts the text has here "from the earth" but that the correct reading is "from the mountains." He explains that the waters were 15 cubits higher than the highest mountains. Meir Ayin also notes that the text has "from the land" instead of "from the mountains" but that the correct reading is "from the mountains." He adds that this is explicitly stated in the Yalqut. "And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat" (Genesis 8:4).14Meir Ayin simply lists the verse. This is Sivan. And when you start to count after the rain stopped falling, it turns out that it [the ark] rested after sixteen days. So how high was it [the ark's bottom] from the land? Four cubits!15The ark landed on the mountains of Ararat after 16 days, when the water level went down by 4 cubits. R. Jacob Emdin notes that this follows Rashi's commentary on Genesis 8:4. And how much was its draught? Eleven cubits.16The implication is that the total height of the mountains of Ararat was 15 cubits. R. Jacob Emdin notes that Rashi explains that the water level at the time the ark landed was still 11 cubits higher than the land. "And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made" (Genesis 8:6). After the time that the waters began to recede,17R. Eliyahu from Vilna notes that the forty days are counted not from the time the mountain tops became visible, but from the day the waters started to recede. Meir Ayin notes that this is explicitly stated in Rashi's commentary. in the tenth of Tammuz. "And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth" (Genesis 8:7). He waited seven days "and he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark" (Genesis 8:8-9). He waited another seven days "and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth" (Genesis 8:10-11).18Meir Ayin notes that the reason for mentioning that "the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot" is to explain how it was possible for her to find an olive branch after another seven days. He waited another seven days "And he sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more" (Genesis 8:12), she went and settled upon the mountain tops. "In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen" (Genesis 8:5), this is Av, when you start counting from [the time] that the rain began falling. From the first of Av until the first of Tishri, the waters were absorbed. "And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth" (Genesis 8:13).19Meir Ayin notes that the expression "the first day of the month" in this verse is taken to mean that the entire month was counted even if only one day of that month had passed. Part of a month is like the entire month [for calendar computations]. We learn [from here] that when one day of the month enters, one counts a full month, and one day [of a new year] enters the year, one counts a full year, because part of the month is like the entire month, and part of the year is like the entire year.20R. Eliyahu from Vilna notes that the Babylonian Talmud (Rosh Hashana 10a-11a) contains a discussion of the statement presented here between R. Meir and R. Eliezer ben Shamua. According to R. Meir, a year is counted full if only one day of that year has passed; according to R. Eliezer, at least 30 days have to pass. Seder Olam's formulation here is ambiguous in order to avoid deciding between the two opinions. Meir Ayin notes that the computation here is based on the Babylonian tradition as reported by R. Abraham bar Hiyya of Barcelona, who places the new moon of Creation on the 4th day of Creation. "And the earth was dried". The waters that came from above were dispersed by the wind, and the waters that rose from below were absorbed in their places, but the earth was still damp, and of the consistency of paste. They waited, and did not sow until the rains came down because the water of the Flood was a sign of curse and there is in the curse no blessing. "And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month" (Genesis 8:14), this is Marcheshvan,21R. Jacob Emdin notes that the reason that the calendar year of the Flood is a solar year, and not a lunar year like the 12 months of punishment in Gehinnom, seems to be that according to Genesis Rabbah 41:11, "The luminaries did not function in their usual manner during the time of the Flood." Therefore, it was a purely solar event. "was the earth dried". That makes a total of twelve full months, and another eleven days. What is the nature of these [days]? It teaches us that the solar year is eleven days longer than the lunar year.22Meir Ayin simply notes that this is explained in Genesis Rabbah 53:17. R. Elazar said: Is it not from [the time of] the Creation of the world that the solar year is eleven days longer than the lunar year, since they were created full on the fifteenth [of Nissan]?23R. Eliyahu from Vilna explains that since the sun started to shine at the beginning of the night of the Fourth Day of Creation, there are exactly one and a quarter days difference between the equinox of one year and that of the next. Hence, if Creation started on a Sunday, the moon was full on the 15th of Nissan, and the 11th of Nissan was a Wednesday. The mean new moon of one month and that of the next are 29d 12h 793p apart, of which for the computation of the calendar the 29 full days are disregarded. So there is a difference of 1d 12h 793p = 1d 12h 44m 3 1/3s between the molad of one month and that of the next. Meir Ayin notes that according to the Babylonian calendar tradition, the time of the molad is computed from the new moon that happened in the night of the Fourth Day of Creation at 9 hours and 742 parts. In Jewish calendar computation, the mean hour is divided into 1080 parts. According to R. Eliyahu from Vilna, the sages of Seder Olam answer R. Elazar by noting that the same relative position of sun and moon can be achieved also in an intercalary cycle of two simple and one intercalary year which may just contain 1095 days. Guggenheimer explains that R. Eliezer identifies the light created on the first day of Creation with that of the sun, while according to our current calendar, the moon already was hanging in the sky as a full moon at the time of its creation. Hence, both moon and sun would reach the same position on Iyyar 1 of the year 2. R. Jacob Emdin notes that all of Creation was completed on the 15th of Nissan and that according to the biblical text, there was no deficiency in the luminaries at that time. Hence, the moon already was full on the first day of Creation and would therefore return to its full position after 29 1/2 days, corresponding to a difference of 11 days to the solar year. Subtract from here four [days], you arrive at eleven. They said to him: But after the first intercalation, the moon caught up with the sun.24The sages refer to the fact that after the first intercalation of a month, the moon again is in conjunction with the sun. Meir Ayin explains that from Creation on, it is impossible to compute from the molad, since after the first intercalary cycle of two simple and one intercalary year, the moon again is in conjunction with the sun. He said to them: It is always periodic, and returns. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: He who wants to determine the sign of the solar year that it is eleven days longer than the lunar year, should make a mark at the summer solstice, and in the year following, it [the sun] will not get there until after eleven days. And so you know that the days of the sun are eleven days longer than the days of the moon.