Rosh Hashana 10

Today's daf discusses a question that has perplexed me since first grade.  I clearly remember questioning the concept of the number one.  It began with my close examination of the number line above the chalkboard.  There was a clear line separating 0 from 1.  But where did 'one' truly begin?  On that line? At some point after the line ended and within that first empty space of 'one'?  Or perhaps one began at the end of that empty space, somewhere within the vertical line delineating 1.

0    1     2     3  
|___|___|___|___ ....

My confusion became more pronounced when classmates were counting down days to their birthdays.  Mine was on June 17, and I counted several days.  But how did the other students know whether or not to count the day that we were in?  And when did the birthday start, at midnight?  At the time that each student was born?  How could any of us declare that we knew with certainty how many days there were until our birthdays?

Beginning with the concept of orla, today's daf questions how we are to count days from different New Years.  The halacha of orla prohibits the use of fruit from trees for at least the first three years of their lives.  We learn that the rabbis were curious about how to count those years.  Do we wait three years after the tree was planted in the ground?  Or three years from its establishment in the soil, which seems to be mostly understood to be 30 days?  Do we assume that there is a New Year for trees, where all trees celebrate their birthdays regardless of when they were planted or when they took root?  This would avoid any confusion about whether or not an individual tree is three years old and ready to spend its fourth year giving fruit to the priests (and then its fifth year giving fruit to its owner).

The rabbis engage in a debate about grafting, rooting, and other horticultural practices.

More interesting to me, as I have no green thumb at all, is their discussion regarding 'one day'.  Some rabbis believe that one day can be one year; others insist that one day or any other part of a year cannot be thought of as the same as one year.

It is telling that they often use the same verses to prove their contradictory points.  One regarding the date that the waters dried up beneath Noah's ark.  Genesis 8:13 can teach us that one day beyond six hundred years is the same as 601 years.  If we look at its phrasing differently, the same verse teaches that the intended amount of time is 600 years plus one day.

It is reassuring to find our Sages questioning the same concept that has stumped me for years.  The nature of one can be defined in practical terms, but the concept of one deserves much more complex philosophical discussion.