There are four new year days: On the first of Nissan is the new year for [reckoning the reigns of Jewish] kings and for [establishing the order of] the holidays.  On the first of Elul is the new year for the tithe of animals. R’ Elazar and R’ Shimon say: [It is] on the first of Tishrei.  The first of Tishrei is the new year for [reckoning] the years, for the Sabbatical years, for the Jubilee years, for the planting [of trees], and for the vegetables.  On the first of Shevat is the new year for the tree; according to the words of Beis Shammai. Beis Hillel say: On the fifteenth thereof.

At four junctures [of the year] the world is judged: on Pesach for the grain; on Shavuos for the fruit of the tree; on Rosh Hashanah all who walk the earth pass before Him like young sheep, as it is said: Who fashions all their hearts together, Who understands all their deeds; and on the Festival they are judged for the water.

For six months, the messengers go forth: for Nissan, because of Pesach; for Av, because of the Fast; for Elul, because of Rosh Hashanah; for Tishrei, because of the [proper] determination of the holidays; for Kislev, because of Chanukah; for Adar, because of Purim. And when the Temple was in existence, they went forth also for Iyar, because of [the] minor Pesach.

For two months, the witnesses may desecrate the Sabbath: for Nissan, and for Tishrei, for on them the messengers go forth to Syria, and on them they fix the holy days. And when the Temple was in existence, they desecrated even for all of them because of the determination [of the time] of the sacrifice.

Whether it [the new moon] was clearly visi-ble, [or] whether it was not clearly visible, they could desecrate the Sabbath because of it.  R’ Yose says: If it was clearly visible, they could not desecrate the Sabbath because of it.

It happened that more than forty pairs [of witnesses] passed [on their way to beis din], and R’ Akiva detained them in Lod.  Rabban Gamliel sent him [the following message]: If you detain the public, you are placing a stumbling-block in their path for the future.

A father and his son who saw the new moon should go [to beis din]; not that they can be paired together [as witnesses], but [so that] if one of them is disqualified, the second may be paired with another.  R’ Shimon says: A father and his son, and all rela- tives are eligible for testimony about the new moon.  Said R’ Yose, “It happened that Toviah the physician saw the new moon in Jerusalem —- he, his son, and his freed slave; and the Kohanim accepted him and his son, and disqualified his slave. But when they came before the beis din, they accepted him and his slave, and disqualified his son.”

The following are ineligible [as witnesses]: a dice-player, usurers, pigeon flyers, dealers in seventh-year [produce], and slaves.  This is the rule: Any testimony for which a woman is ineligible, they too are ineligible for it.

If a person saw the new moon but cannot walk, they may bring him on a donkey, [and] even on a bed. [And] if an ambush awaits them, they may arm themselves with sticks; and if it was a distant journey, they may take food in their hands, since for a journey of a night and a day they may desecrate the Sabbath and go forth to render testimony about the new moon, as it is said: These are the appointed times of HASHEM ... which you shall declare in their fixed time.

If they do not know him, they send another [pair of witnesses] with him to testify about him.  Originally they accepted testimony about the new moon from anyone, [but] after the heretics did harm, they enacted that they should not accept [testimony] except from known people.

Originally they used to light torches; [but] after the Cutheans did harm, they enacted that messengers should go forth.

How did they light the torches?  They would bring long poles of cedar-wood, reeds, balsam-wood, and fiber-chips of flax. Someone would tie them together with rope, climb to the mountaintop, set fire to them and wave [the torch] back and forth, up and down, until he saw his colleague doing likewise on top of the second mountain; and so, too, on top of the third mountain.

And from where did they light the torches? From the Mount of Olives to Sarteva, from Sarteva to Grofina, from Grofina to Chavran, from Chavran to Beis Biltin. From Beis Biltin they did not move, but [the signaler] would wave [the torch] back and forth, up and down, until he saw the entire Diaspora before him like a mass of fire.

There was a large courtyard in Jerusalem which was called Beis Ya’azek, and there all the witnesses gathered, and the beis din interrogated them there, and made them large feasts in order that they be accustomed to come.  Originally they did not move from there all day; [then] Rabban Gamliel the Elder enacted that they should [be permitted to] walk two thousand cubits in every direction.  And not only these [witnesses], but also a midwife who comes to aid a delivery, and one who comes to rescue [people] from a fire, or from an [attacking] army, or from a [flooding] river, or from a fallen building —- they are considered like the people of the city and they have [the right to walk] two thousand cubits in every direction.