Ask A Question on the daf

Previous daf

1) [line 1] OHEL
(a) The bones of a Mes are only Metamei through Ohel (i.e. a covered space that is at least one Tefach in length, width and height) under one of three conditions: 1. They constitute a quarter of a Kav (Rova Ha'kav); 2. They are the majority of the human body (whether they are the majority of the *build* (Rov Binyano) of the body or the majority of the *number* (Rov Minyano) of 248 bones; 3. The bone is a complete skull or a complete spinal column. In order to be Metamei through Maga (touching) and Masa (carrying), it is enough for the bone to be the size of a Se'orah (a grain of barley).
(b) When an object that can be Metamei b'Ohel is located in an Ohel, the Ohel makes everything in it Tamei and protects anything that is above it from becoming Tamei. That is, an Ohel is *Mevi* Tum'ah (spreads Tum'ah inside of it) and is *Chotzetz* from Tum'ah (intervenes between the Tum'ah and the space above the Ohel, preventing Tum'ah from spreading above it).
(c) However, not all objects that cover Tum'ah are Mevi and Chotzetz. There are objects that are Mevi and not Chotzetz and other objects that are Chotzetz and not Mevi and even others that are neither Mevi nor Chotzetz (Ohalos 8:5). An object that is flying through the air, such as a bird or a Talis that is carried or caught up by the wind, are not Ohalim and are not Mevi or Chotzetz, even if they are one Tefach wide.

2) [line 2] "V'ATEN TZONI, TZON MAR'ISI, ADAM ATEM..." - "And you my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men..." (Yechezkel 34:31)

3) [line 8] TISCHATA'U - shall be purified with the ashes of the Parah Adumah (see Background to Chagigah 23:1, 2)

4a) [line 9] "...V'LO NIFKAD MIMENU ISH." - "...and not a man of us was missing." (Bamidbar 31:49) - In the war against Midyan, the commanders of the army reported to Moshe Rabeinu that not one soldier died.
b) [line 10] LO NIFKAD MIMENU ISH L'AVEIRAH - not one soldier sinned with Benos Midyan

5) [line 12] MAGA / MASA
See above, entry #1a.

6) [line 15] YEHOSHUA BEN GAMLA
Yehoshua Ben Gamla worked together with Shimon Ben Shetach to introduce the first comprehensive system of public education in history. The Gemara (Bava Basra 21a) states that were it not for Yehoshua Ben Gamla, Torah would have been forgotten from among the Jewish people. (From our Gemara it seems that this Yehoshua Ben Gamla was a wicked person. The Rishonim discuss whether this Yehoshua Ben Gamla was the same person as the one mentioned in Bava Basra; see TOSFOS YESHANIM #1, TOSFOS Bava Basra 21a DH Zachur.)

7) [line 23] MINAHU IN, NISMANEH LO - the king appointed him; he was not chosen by the Kohanim and Sanhedrin to be the Kohen Gadol, i.e. he was not worthy of the position

8) [line 24] KATIR KACHAZINA HACHA - I see a conspiracy here
9) [line 25] TARKEVA D'DINAREI - a measure of a half-Se'ah (3 Kavim -- approximately 4.14 liters or 7.2 liters, depending upon the differing Halachic opinions) of gold coins

10) [line 25] YANAI MALKA
(a) Before Yochanan Kohen Gadol (Yochanan Hyrkanus), the grandson of Matisyahu, died, he commanded that his reign as ruler of the land of Yehudah be passed on to his wife. However, his son Yehudah Aristobulus, paid no attention to his father's testament. He imprisoned his mother and brothers, except for one brother named Antigonus and seized power for himself. He appointed Antigonus as head of the army. Aristobulus was the first Hasmonean ruler to call himself "king"; all of his predecessors had the title of "prince." He was hostile to the Sages, and pursued them with ruthlessness. He ruled over Yehudah for only one year and died childless in the year 3658 (103 BCE).
(b) He was succeeded by his widow, Queen Shelomis [Salome] Alexandra, a sister of Shimon Ben Shetach, the leading sage of the period, to whom she was loyal even when married to an archenemy of the sages. After her husband died, she freed his brothers from prison. The oldest brother, Alexander Yanai, performed Yibum with her, and later succeeded his dead brother to the throne.
(c) Under the influence of his wife, Yanai halted the suppression of the Perushim and the Sages for a time, so that he could pursue the war against the hostile Nochri enclave in the Land of Yisrael. He did this throughout most of the twenty-seven years of his reign, motivated by lust for battle and glory. As time went on, however, he used the foreign soldiers in his army to suppress his own people and hunt down the Perushim.
(d) One year during Sukos, when officiating as Kohen Gadol, he poured the Nisuch ha'Mayim (libation water) on his feet instead of the on the Mizbe'ach, in accordance with the teachings of the Tzedukim who deny the Halachah of Nisuch ha'Mayim. He intended to incite the people to riot. Those assembled could not contain themselves and they pelted him with their Esrogim. His soldiers then slew more than 6,000 people in the courtyard of the Beis ha'Mikdash. This marked his declaration of war against the Sages and their followers, a violent oppression that lasted for six years, in the course of which some 50,000 Jews lost their lives. At the end of his life he imprisoned 800 Perushim and tortured them in a horrible manner, according to the custom of the Romans, executing their families in their presence. He then executed the prisoners themselves. He witnessed the ghastly carnage himself.
(e) Before dying, he transferred power to Queen Shelomis and advised her to make peace with the Perushim. He told her, "Do not fear the Perushim, nor the non-Perushim, but only the hypocrites, who masquerade as Perushim. For their deeds are like those of Zimri and they demand a reward like that of Pinchas" (Sotah 22b). He had finally realized where his Tzeduki connections had brought him, and saw that his wife was right in trying to help the Perushim. His reign of 27 years lasted until either 3684 or 3685 (77 or 76 BCE).
(f) During the next 11 years, when Shelomis was queen, peace and tranquility reigned in the land. It was the only golden era during the time of the Second Temple.
(from The History of the Jewish People/The Second Temple Era, Artscroll Publishers, Brooklyn, New York, 1982, adapted by Rabbi Hersh Goldwurm from Dr. E. Ebner's translation of Yekusiel Friedner's Divrei Yemei ha'Bayis ha'Sheni)

11) [line 26] B'KAHANEI RAVREVEI - as the high priest

12) [line 29] YAVO ASEH V'YIDCHEH ES LO SA'ASEH
(a) When an Isur Lo Sa'aseh prohibits a certain action that prevents a person from performing a Mitzvas Aseh, the Torah states that the Aseh is able to "push aside" the Lo Sa'aseh. For example, when a person wants to wear a four-cornered linen garment, the Isur of Sha'atnez prohibits attaching woolen threads to it. However, the Mitzvah of Tzitzis requires adding threads of Techeles (that are made of wool) to this garment. The Torah commands that in this case the Mitzvas Aseh overrides the Lo Sa'aseh.
(b) The Tana'im argue as to the source of this Halachah. Some learn it from the fact that the Torah specifically wrote the Mitzvah of Tzitzis and the Isur of Sha'atnez as adjacent verses (Semuchin), an indication that the Mitzvah of Tzitzis overrides the Isur of Sha'atnez (Yevamos 4a). Others learn it from different sources (Yevamos 5a, Nazir 41a, 58a).
(c) Even though an Aseh normally overrides a Lo Sa'aseh, this is not the rule in every case. The Gemara explains that in certain instances, the Aseh does not have the power to override the Lo Sa'aseh. Some examples are:

1. A Lo Sa'aseh that is punishable by Kares is not pushed aside by an Aseh (Yevamos 3b).
2. An action that is prohibited by both a Lo Sa'aseh and an Aseh, is not pushed aside by a different Mitzvas Aseh (Chulin 141a).
3. Only in a case where the performance of the Aseh coincides with the transgression of the Lo Sa'aseh did the Torah command that the Aseh takes precedence. If performance of the Aseh is only accomplished after the transgression of the Lo Sa'aseh, the Lo Sa'aseh is not pushed aside (Shabbos 133a). (There are those who write that if a person *begins* to perform a Mitzvas Aseh while transgressing a Lo Sa'aseh, even though the Aseh is not yet completed by the time the Lo Sa'aseh is transgressed, it pushes aside the Lo Sa'aseh -- NIMUKEI YOSEF to Bava Metzi'a 33a).
4. If it is possible to perform the Aseh, in the case under discussion, *without* transgressing the Lo Sa'aseh (by performing the Aseh in a different way or at a different time), the Aseh does not push aside the Lo Sa'aseh (Yevamos 20b -- see TOSFOS YESHANIM to Shabbos 25a). (The Rishonim argue as to whether an Aseh pushes aside a Lo Sa'aseh when it is possible to perform the Aseh without transgressing the Lo Sa'aseh, through the use of a certain item that the person does not currently have the means to obtain (RASHBA Yevamos 4b).

1. When one person performs a Mitzvas Aseh by doing a certain action in which two people transgress the Lo Sa'aseh.
2. When the action is prohibited by two Mitzvos Lo Sa'aseh, and not only one (TOSFOS Yevamos 3b DH Lo Sa'aseh).
3. When the action is prohibited in another instance by a Lo Sa'aseh and an Aseh, even though in the case at hand there is only a Lo Sa'aseh that prevents it (TOSFOS Kidushin 34a DH Ma'akeh).

14) [line 5] "V'ACHLU V'LO YISBA'U, HIZNU V'LO YIFROTZU..." - "For they shall eat, and not have enough; they shall commit harlotry, and shall not increase; because they have ceased to take heed to HaSh-m." (Hoshea 4:10)

15) [line 6] PIRTZAH - increase (as in a population increase), expansion, as in the verse "u'Faratzta Yamah va'Kedmah..." - "and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east..." (Bereishis 28:14) (MAHARAV RENSBURG)

16) [line 8] PUK! AYEIN BAH - Go out and study this [teaching]!

17) [line 11] K'REBBI ME'IR D'CHAYISH L'MI'UTA
Rebbi Meir is of the opinion that we do not follow the majority if there is a Safek (a doubt), but rather we consider the matter to be still in doubt. (According to one opinion in TOSFOS, Rebbi Meir only considers it a Safek mid'Rabanan, for according to the Torah we *can* rely on a Rov - Tosfos Chulin 12a DH Pesach, 86b DH Semoch. Tosfos to Bechoros 19b DH b'Ruba implies that Rebbi Meir's law is mid'Oraisa, but it pertains only to a Ruba d'Leisa Kaman - see Background to Bechoros 19:11b.)

18) [line 22] ZONAH KI'SHEMAH - a Zonah as the name implies, i.e. a woman who has *gone astray* - from her husband to other men

19) [line 23] ZONAH ZO MUFKERES - a Zonah is a woman who has abandoned herself to anyone and everyone

20) [line 24] L'HASHKOSAH - to cause her to drink [Mei Sotah] (SOTAH) See Background to Yevamos 58:6.

21) [line 31] L'CHI GADLAH - when she grows up
22) [line 32] MECHALEI LEV - confuser of hearts

23) [line 36] PITUY KETANAH ONES HU
(a) If a woman who is a minor has extra-marital relations, even if she does so of her own free will ("Pituy" - seduction), she is considered to have been raped. Her mental capacity is not considered developed enough to incriminate her for adultery; her actions are not considered to be based on her free will.
(b) The Halachic ramification of this is as follows. If a woman who is betrothed or married to one man willingly has relations with another man, she becomes a Sotah and is prohibited to her husband. If she is a minor, though, it is considered as if the other man raped her and she is still permitted to her husband (as long as he is not a Kohen).

24) [last line] EIN DANIN EFSHAR MISHE'IY EFSHAR
(a) There is a general argument among the Tana'im (Menachos 62a and elsewhere) as to whether the Halachah in one particular situation may be derived by comparison to another situation in which the Halachah is dictated solely by practical impossibility ("Iy Efshar").
(b) Beis Hilel learns that the Mitzvah of Piryah v'Rivyah is accomplished by having one son and one daughter, similar to the creation of the world, where only Adam and Chavah were created. Beis Shamai argues, claiming that Ein Danin Efshar mishe'Iy Efshar. It was impossible to create the world without Chavah, since there were no other females for Adam to marry. However, having two sons fulfills the Mitzvah of Piryah v'Rivyah since there are many women for them to marry.

Next daf