In the six hundredth year of Noach’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst open and the windows of the heavens were opened.
English: “In the second month” — It was taught: R’ Eliezer says: That day was the seventeenth of Marcheshvan. And what is “the second month”? Second to the [month of] judgment (Tishrei).
On the daf / in context: R’ Eliezer maintains that the world was created in Tishrei. The Flood therefore began in the second month after the month of judgment. (The alternative view of R’ Yehoshua places creation in Nisan and yields a different calendar reckoning.)
Type of Learning
Custom (calendar identification of “the second month” relative to the month of judgment).
What Is Learned
According to R’ Eliezer the Flood began on 17 Marcheshvan, the second month after Tishrei, the month of judgment.