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Pesachim 69

1) COMPARING "HAZA'AH" ON SHABBOS TO OTHER ACTS OF "SHEVUS"

QUESTION: In the Mishnah (65b), Rebbi Eliezer maintains that it is permitted to perform an action which is prohibited because of Shevus on Shabbos in preparation for offering the Korban Pesach. Rebbi Akiva counters that if doing an action of Shevus for the sake of a Mitzvah is permitted, then Haza'ah should also be permitted.

The Gemara concludes that Rebbi Eliezer agrees with Rebbi Akiva that Haza'ah is not permitted on Shabbos even for the sake of a Mitzvah. The Gemara gives two reasons why it is prohibited: (1) a person who is Tamei has no Chiyuv to bring the Korban Pesach and therefore Haza'ah is not necessary, and it might even lead to a transgression of carrying the water in Reshus ha'Rabim, or (2) Haza'ah is unnecessary since the person does not have to eat the Korban Pesach, but only to offer it in the Mikdash, and the person can offer the Korban even while he is Tamei by sending it with a Shaliach.

If this is the reason for prohibiting Haza'ah, why does Rebbi Akiva prove from Haza'ah that it is forbidden to do other acts of Shevus for the sake of a Mitzvah, such as to carry the animal from outside of the Techum to the Azarah? The two are not comparable! Haza'ah is entirely unnecessary, while carrying the animal is certainly necessary, because without the animal one would not be able to bring the Korban!

ANSWER: TOSFOS (DH Katan) explains that the Gemara is suggesting only *Rebbi Eliezer's* reason for not comparing Haza'ah to carrying the animal. Rebbi Akiva, though, holds that Haza'ah is Asur because of other reasons (because it is not an essential part of bringing the Korban Pesach; see Rashi 66a and Insights 66:1), and for the same reasoning it is forbidden to carry the animal (because it is not an essential part of the Korban Pesach, since it could have been done the day before).

69b

QUESTION: The Gemara says that one who is Tamei (with Tum'as Mes on the seventh day of his purification process, or one who is Tamei with Tum'as Sheretz) has no Chiyuv to do Haza'ah in order to bring the Korban Pesach and eat it that night. Even though he could make himself Tahor, he is not obligated to do so. This is the reason why Rebbi Eliezer does not permit doing Haza'ah on Shabbos Erev Pesach. The Gemara explains the reasoning of Rebbi Eliezer as based on three steps:

First, the Gemara (end of 69a) says that "Ein Shochtin v'Zorkin Al Tamei Sheretz." One who is Tamei with Tum'as Sheretz (which is the same as the seventh day of Tum'ah for a person with Tum'as Mes) is not obligated to have someone bring the Korban Pesach on his behalf. Second, once we know that he does not bring a Korban Pesach (but he waits until Pesach Sheni), it follows that if the entire Tzibur was Tamei with Tum'as Sheretz, they *would* have to bring the Korban Pesach and they would not have to do Haza'ah on themselves (since "Tum'ah Hutrah b'Tzibur"). Third, since the Tzibur does not have to do Haza'ah, so, too, the individual person who is Tamei with Tum'as Sheretz does not have to do Haza'ah.

Why does the Gemara need these three steps in order to prove that Haza'ah is not necessary? The first step alone is sufficient to teach us this, for it states that someone who is Tamei with Tum'as Sheretz does not bring a Korban Pesach. From there we see already that Haza'ah is not done for one with Tum'as Sheretz, because, seemingly, Haza'ah will not help to make him fit. If so, it is obvious that he has no Chiyuv to do Haza'ah, because he still cannot bring the Korban Pesach!

ANSWERS:

(a) RASHI explains that "Ein Shochtin v'Zorkiný" means that *before* he is Tovel, we may not be Shochet v'Zorek for him. However, he might have an obligation to be Tovel, and *after* he is Tovel, although he is still a Tevul Yom, we may be Shochet v'Zorek for him and he may eat the Korban at night. It is only *before* Tevilah that we cannot bring the Korban for him, since he may not be Tovel and therefore he may not be able to eat the Korban even after nightfall. Therefore, it must be proven that he has no Chiyuv to be Tovel in the first place, even though if he does so it will permit him to bring the Korban Pesach, and this is proved from the fact that the Tzibur never has to perform Haza'ah.
(MAHARSHA)

(b) The RAMBAM (Hilchos Korban Pesach 6:6) has a different approach. He explains that when the Gemara says "Ein Shochtin v'Zorkin," applies even *after* the person was Tovel. Any person who, on the fourteenth of Nisan, was Tamei or was a Tevul Yom (whose was Tovel today and becomes Tahor at sunset) *cannot* bring the Korban. Why, then, do we need a proof from the Tzibur that a Yachid need not make himself Tahor? It is obvious that the person who is Tamei has no obligation to become Tahor, since that will not make him fit to bring the Korban!

The Rambam explains that the Mishnah is not talking about Erev Pesach, but rather the *thirteenth* of Nisan. On that day he still has time to do Haza'ah and be Tovel, which will make him fully Tahor come Erev Pesach. Therefore, the Gemara finds it necessary to prove that since the Tzibur never has a Chiyuv to do Haza'ah in order to bring the Korban Pesach, therefore the individual person has no Chiyuv to do Haza'ah either -- even on the thirteenth.

QUESTION: The Gemara asserts that there does not exist anything that an individual (a Yachid) does which a Tzibur does not do. The Gemara asks that a Yachid brings a Korban Pesach Sheni (that is, he brings the Korban Pesach on the fourteenth of Iyar if he was not fit to bring it on the fourteenth of Nisan), whereas a Tzibur does not bring a Korban Pesach Sheni.

The Gemara rejects this and says that this is not considered something that a Yachid does which the Tzibur does not do, because the Tzibur brought the Korban Pesach already on the fourteenth of Nisan. If the Tzibur was Tamei, they still bring the Korban Pesach on the fourteenth of Nisan.

RASHI explains that there are times when the Tzibur does not bring a Korban at all -- neither a Pesach Rishon nor a Pesach Sheni, such as when most of the people are Zavim and the remaining few are Tamei Mes. Since the Tum'ah of a Zav is not Hutrah b'Tzibur, they do not bring the Korban Pesach Rishon, and they do not bring the Korban Pesach Sheni because there is no Pesach Sheni for a Tzibur.

There are a number of problems with Rashi's explanation:

(1) First of all, if the Tzibur does not bring a Pesach Sheni even when they did not bring a Pesach Rishon, then the Gemara's question returns -- we have found something which exists for a Yachid but which does not exist for a Tzibur, that being the Korban Pesach Sheni!

(2) Second, why does Rashi mention this at all? The Gemara seems to be saying the opposite, that the Tzibur brings a Pesach Rishon. Why does Rashi interject a case where the Tzibur does *not* bring either a Korban Pesach Rishon or Sheni?

(3) Third, why does Rashi mention that the minority of the Tzibur were Tamei with Tum'as Mes? His example of a Tzibur which cannot bring the Korban Pesach on either day is just the same even if most of the Tzibur were Zavim and the remainder were *Tahor*!

ANSWER: The simple way of understanding the Gemara is that Pesach Sheni is not considered something that the Tzibur does not do, because the only reason the Tzibur does not bring a Pesach Sheni is because they already brought a Korban Pesach on the fourteenth of Nisan. Although that is the simple way of understanding the Gemara, the Gemara is actually saying something else.

The Gemara is explaining why the *Yachid* brings a Pesach Sheni. Only in a case where the Tzibur brought a Pesach on the 14th of Nisan, the Yachid may bring a Pesach Sheni, because in such a case he will not be doing more than the Tzibur. The Tzibur brought a Pesach Rishon, so he a Yachid may bring a Pesach Sheni. (That is, the Gemara is not explaining why the Tzibur does not bring a Pesach Sheni. It is explaining why the Yachid may bring a Pesach Sheni.)

To demonstrate this point, Rashi says that if the Tzibur would not be bringing a Korban Pesach Rishon, and thus they would not be bringing a Korban Pesach at all, then a Yachid does not bring a Pesach Sheni either, because he cannot be better off than the Tzibur, as the Gemara states.