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Pesachim 12

12b

QUESTION: The Gemara says that the same way Rebbi Yehudah and Rebbi Meir argue about the margin of error given to witnesses testifying about the time of an event, they argue about the error that a person might make when destroying his Chametz. Rav Ashi explains that Rebbi Yehudah allows witnesses to err by three hours and Rebbi Meir allows witnesses to err by two hours. Similarly, with regard to Chametz, Rebbi Yehudah prohibits Chametz two hours before the Torah forbids it, because he maintains that we assume that a person might err concerning the time at which Chametz becomes forbidden and be off by two hours, and Rebbi Meir prohibits Chametz one hour before the Torah forbids it, because he maintains that a person might make a one-hour mistake and will think that Chametz is Asur one hour later than it actually becomes Asur.

The Gemara says that Rav Ashi, by saying this statement, wants to teach us that "what we said earlier was correct." RASHI (DH Mishum Shinuya de'Shaninan) gives two explanations for this statement. (1) Rav Ashi is explaining that although regarding the testimony of witnesses, Rebbi Yehudah and Rebbi Meir allow for a discrepancy of 3 hours or 2 hours, respectively, with regard to Chametz they maintain that a person errs by only 2 hours or 1 hour. The reason for this difference is because "Chametz la'Kol Masur" -- everyone is involved with destroying Chametz, and therefore we are less concerned for large errors in time. (2) Rav Ashi is explaining that although with regard to testimony, we never fear that a person will err and confuse the fifth hour with the seventh hour of the day (since in one the sun is in the East, while in the other it is in the West), with regard to Chametz we are afraid that one will err between the fifth and seventh hours according to Rebbi Yehudah, who says that even in the fifth hour Chametz is Asur. Why is it that concerning Chametz we fear that one will err between the fifth and seventh hours? Explains Rashi, either because "Chametz la'Kol Masur," or because we fear that one will become confused due to a cloudy day.

(1) How can we understand Rashi's first explanation? Rashi says that we allow for a *lesser* margin of error when it comes to Chametz because "Chametz la'Kol Masur." But that is reason to give a *greater* margin of error, as Rashi himself said earlier (DH Eidus Mesurah l'Zerizim)!
(MAHARSHAL)

(2) Why does Rashi not give the Gemara's reason for the difference between the testimony of witnesses and Bi'ur Chametz? The reason why we allow *less* hours of error for Chametz is because the Isur of Chametz begins at the seventh hour, and people do not confuse the seventh hour with the fifth hour, not do they confuse the seventh hour with the sixth hour!

(3) Even if Rashi is giving the reason of "Chametz la'Kol Masur" to explain something about why people tend to make greater errors with regard to Chametz, then he should have also explained the second reason why people might make greater errors with regard to Chametz -- a cloudy day might confuse them. Why does he mention this reason only in his second explanation and not in the first?

ANSWERS:

(a) The CHASAM SOFER (Perush ha'Sugyos) explains that Rashi did not have to explain why we give less hours of error for Chametz than for the testimony of witnesses, because it goes without saying one does not confuse the fifth hour with the seventh hour. Since the Isur of Chametz starts in the seventh hour, there is less reason to be concerned for large errors. Rashi, though, was bothered by another question: why did the Rabanan prohibit Chametz before the seventh hour at all? Even in the fifth and sixth hours, Chametz should not be Asur, because people do not err between the pre-noon hours and the post-noon hours. To answer this, Rashi adds "Chametz la'Kol Masur" to explain why we are worried for *any* error at all when it comes to Chametz (as TOSFOS, DH b'Shis Chamah asserts).

The MAHARSHAL and ROSH YOSEF give similar answers. (However, they themselves note that the answer is forced, and neither does it answer the third question.)

(b) Perhaps there is a slight error in the printed words of Rashi. When Rashi writes in his first explanation that the reason we give a lesser margin of error for Chametz is because "Chametz la'Kol Masur," it is supposed to say instead "Chamesh Chulei" ("five etc."), meaning "Chamesh Chamah b'Mizrach..." -- "the first five hours of the day, the sun is in the east, and in the seventh hour, the sun is in the west." This is exactly what Rashi should be saying here to explain why the margin of error for Chametz is smaller than that for testimony, as we explained above in the second question. If this is the correct reading of Rashi, then Rashi is indeed giving the proper explanation why there is *less* of a margin of error with regard to Chametz, and Rashi could not have mentioned the idea that a cloudy day might confuse people, which causes Bi'ur Chametz to have a *larger* margin of error and not a lesser one. (M. Kornfeld)