היאך קיבל ר'יהושע את סמכותו של רבן גמליאל? על שני סיפורים למעשה אחד

One of the best known stories in the Mishnah relates the disagreement between Rabban Gamaliel II and R. Joshua over the sanctification of the new month (M Rosh ha-Shanah 2:8–9). This article discusses this episode by elucidating the original text of the Mishnah. The late I. N. Epstein pointed out that according to the Jerusalem Talmud, the words of 'R. Akiba' were not in the original Mishnah, but were added to the text from beraitot found in the Babylonian Talmud. Accordingly, this article raises several basic questions regarding the meaning and development of the story and offers a novel interpretation which solves these problems. A careful analysis of the texts shows that this famous episode was transmitted in two different versions. According to the version in the Mishnah, R. Joshua regretted the fact that he objected to Rabban Gamaliel's legal decision and offered the well-known homily which states that the court has the authority of sanctifying the new month. R. Joshua even tried to convince R. Dosa ben Hyrcanos to accept the authority of the Nasi, thus reducing the tension between Rabban Gamaliel and R. Joshua. According to the second version of the story, found in the beraitot of the Babylonian Talmud, R. Joshua relented only after Rabban Gamaliel's severe measures and accepted the authority of the Nasi only after R. Akiba convinced him to retract. The contrast between the language of the Mishnah and the expressions of the beraita clearly shows the different orientations of the two versions of the same important event.