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Pesachim 66

1) DOING "HAZA'AH" ON SHABBOS IN ORDER TO EAT THE KORBAN PESACH

QUESTION: Rebbi Eliezer and Rebbi Akiva argue in the Mishnah concerning whether one may carry the Korban Pesach through Reshus ha'Rabim on Shabbos in order to bring it to the Azarah, and whether one may cut off a wart from the Korban Pesach in order to make it Kosher. Rebbi Akiva prohibits these actions, based on the principle that anything that could have been done for the Korban Pesach prior to Shabbos may not be done on Shabbos. These two acts could have been done prior to Shabbos.

In the Mishnah, Rebbi Akiva also prohibits doing Haza'ah for someone who is a Tamei Mes when the seventh day of his purification process falls on Shabbos Erev Pesach, and the person needs Haza'ah in order to eat the Korban Pesach that night. Why should the Haza'ah be prohibited? It certainly cannot be done before Shabbos, because it cannot be done before the seventh day of his purification process! Why, then, does Rebbi Akiva prohibit Haza'ah on Shabbos Erev Pesach?

ANSWERS:

(a) RASHI (DH Hava Li), as explained by the MAHARSHA, says that only something which is an essential part of the Korban Pesach is able to override Shabbos the same way the Korban Pesach itself overrides Shabbos. That is why Rebbi Akiva says that if the act could have been done before Shabbos it cannot override Shabbos, because the fact that it was possible to do it the day before shows that it is not an essential part of the Korban Pesach. Haza'ah, even though it cannot be done the day before, is not a part of the Korban Pesach itself; it is a stage in the purification process of the *person* who is Tamei, and it just happens to make him fit to eat the Korban Pesach. Therefore, Rebbi Akiva prohibits doing Haza'ah on Shabbos.

(b) The RASHASH cites the Yerushalmi (Pesachim 6:4) that proposes a similar reasoning. What happens if a Korban Pesach develops a removable blemish *on Erev Pesach* that occurs on Shabbos? Obviously, it could not have been removed before Erev Pesach, because it did not exist. Is it permitted to remove it on Shabbos Erev Pesach? The Yerushalmi says that it is *not* permitted; since a blemish that appears before Erev Pesach may not be cut off on Shabbos Erev Pesach, so too a blemish that appears on Shabbos Erev Pesach may not be cut off. It is not part of the Avodah of the Korban Pesach, since it could have just as well happened a week earlier.

Similarly, the Yerushalmi concludes, with regard to Haza'ah, even if it happens that the seventh day of a person's purification process falls on Erev Pesach which is also Shabbos, the Haza'ah may not be done, since it could just as well have occurred on the day before Erev Pesach (in which case it certainly would not have been permitted to do the Haza'ah on Shabbos, since it could have been done the day before). It is not permitted to do the Haza'ah on Shabbos Erev Pesach because it is not part of the Avodah of the Korban Pesach, since *normally* it may be done before Erev Pesach.

(c) The RAMBAM (Hilchos Korban Pesach 6:6) has an entirely different approach to the Mishnah. The Rambam writes that if the seventh day of a person's purification process comes out to be on Erev Pesach, even if it is *not* Shabbos, he cannot do Haza'ah in order to bring the Korban. Since he is Tamei during the day which the Korban is brought, he is invalidated from eating the Korban at night whether Haza'ah has been done to him or not.

What, then, does our Mishnah mean when it says that if Erev Pesach occurs on Shabbos, one cannot do Haza'ah? The Rambam explains that the Mishnah is talking about when the *thirteenth* of Nisan falls on Shabbos, and the next day is Erev Pesach. The Mishnah is teaching that even though he will not be able to eat the Korban the following night if he does not do Haza'ah on the thirteenth (since he cannot do Haza'ah on Erev Pesach as the Rambam explained), he is still prohibited from doing Haza'ah on the thirteenth since it does not override Shabbos.

Even though the Haza'ah is preventing him from bringing the Korban, the Rambam explains that the Chachamim did not permit doing Haza'ah on Shabbos (the thirteenth of Nisan) because it is not the day on which the Korban is being brought. If so, Haza'ah is exactly like the case of cutting off the wart, where we say that it is prohibited to do on Shabbos since he could have done it before Shabbos. Here, we say that it is prohibited to do the Haza'ah on Shabbos because he could have done it *after* Shabbos, on Erev Pesach. (Even though, in practice, doing the Haza'ah on Erev Pesach will not enable him to eat the Korban Pesach, when we are determining what one may do today, on Shabbos, we do not take into account what will happen tomorrow. One may only be Docheh Shabbos for Haza'ah if on Shabbos itself he will gain through it.)

66b

The Gemara says that the way people were able to bring their knives on Shabbos Erev Pesach to the Mikdash in order to slaughter their Korban Pesach was by placing it in the fur or between the horns of the animal. The Gemara asks that this should be forbidden because it involves using a sanctified animal for a non-sanctified purpose. The Gemara answers that the people did not sanctify their animals to be Korbanos until after they had arrived at the Azarah, immediately before the Shechitah, as was the practice of Hillel on Shabbos as well as weekdays. The Gemara asks how could they could be Makdish their Korbanos on Shabbos, since it is forbidden to be Makdish an item on Shabbos, and answers that the prohibition against being Makdish on Shabbos applies only to Korbanos which will not be sacrificed on Shabbos itself.

Why doesn't the Gemara not give a very simple answer to the question of being Makdish on Shabbos? The Gemara in Nedarim (29b) says that a person is able to be Makdish an item such that it will become Kadosh at a later time and not now. If so, the people should be able to declare on Erev Shabbos that they want their animals to become Kadosh on Shabbos as soon as they enter the Azarah! Why does the Gemara not give this answer? (SEFAS EMES)

ANSWERS:

(a) REBBI AKIVA EIGER (Teshuvos #159) discusses whether it is permitted to be Makdish something on Shabbos even in such a manner. Perhaps the prohibition of making something Kadosh on Shabbos includes causing it to become Kadosh on Shabbos, even though the act of being Makdish is done before Shabbos.

(b) The SEFAS EMES answers that if the animal will become Kadosh on Shabbos, perhaps that makes it forbidden already to use it for one's own purposes. Since he knows that it will soon become Kadosh it is considered to be Kadosh already with regard to the prohibition of using it for one's own purposes.

(c) Perhaps the Gemara is following the opinion that holds "Ein Bereirah," which means that a person cannot make something become Hekdesh when that status of Hekdesh will take effect at a later time which, at present, is undetermined, but will only be determined later. Saying that, "This animal will become Kadosh when I go into the Azarah," is making the animal Kadosh at an undetermined time which will only become known at the moment that he goes into the Azarah on Shabbos. (The RAN in Nedarim (45b) says that making something dependent on an event which will happen at an indefinite time is a question of Bereirah.) Therefore, they were not able to make it Kadosh immediately before the Shechitah unless they did it on Shabbos itself. (M. Kornfeld)