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Yevamos, 75

1) THREE DIFFERENT VERSES TO TEACH THAT TERUMAH MAY BE EATEN AFTER "HE'EREV SHEMESH"

QUESTION: The Gemara records three sources in the Torah to show that someone who was Tamei may eat Terumah after he'Erev Shemesh (sundown), and does not have to wait until he brings his Korban the next day. The three sources are the following verses: "He shall not eat Kodshim *Ad Asher Yit'har*" (Vayikra 22:4), "*u'Va ha'Shemesh v'Taher*, and afterwards he may eat from the Kodshim" (Vayikra 22:7), "She may not touch any Kodesh... *Ad Melos Yemei Taharah*" (Vayikra 12:4) (see Chart #22).

The Gemara explains that all three verses are necessary. The first verse, "Ad Asher Yit'har" (Vayikra 22:4) in the Parshah of Zav u'Metzora, does not suffice because we might have thought that one could eat Terumah after he'Erev Shemesh only when the person is not required to bring a Korban at all. But when he is required to bring a Korban (such as a Zav who saw three flows, or a Metzora Muchlat), we might have thought that he has to wait until he brings his Korban before he may eat Terumah. Therefore, we need another verse -- "Ad Melos Yemei Taharah" (Vayikra 12:4) -- to show that he may eat Terumah at sundown and does not have to wait until he brings his Korban the next day.

There is a basic question on this Gemara. Why is the verse of "u'Va ha'Shemesh v'Taher" necessary (Vayikra 22:7)? The verse "Ad Melos" teaches us that even when one has to bring a Korban, he may eat Terumah before the Korban is brought, as long as the sun has set. The verse of "Ad Asher Yit'har," according to the first Tana who holds that it is referring to a Zav who saw two flows and who becomes Tahor for eating Terumah and Kodshim without bringing a Korban, is teaching that Tevilah is required.

What, then, is the verse "u'Va ha'Shemesh v'Taher" teaching us? Although the Gemara says that it is necessary to teach the time of day (sunset) at which a person becomes Tahor to eat Terumah, the Gemara is discussing why the verse would have been necessary had the Torah *not* written the verse "Ad Melos." But once the Torah says "Ad Melos *Yemei Taharah*," until the *end of the days* of her Dam Taharah, we know that one becomes Tahor at the end of the day!

TOSFOS (end of DH d'Iy) asks this question and offers two answers, but neither answer is viable according to Rashi (74b, DH Kan l'Terumah, and Berachos 2b, DH Dilma), as the MAHARSHA and MAHARAM explain.

ANSWER: We could answer that the reason why we need the verse of "u'Va ha'Shemesh v'Taher" is because the Gemara in Chulin (83a) says that when it comes to matters of Kodshim, "the day follows the night" ("ha'Yom Holech Achar ha'Laylah"), as we find that certain Korbanos may be eaten for only one day, comprised of one day and the night that follows. Thus, when the verse discussing a Yoledes says "Ad Melos Yemei Taharah," it is not clear whether "the end of the day" refers to the coming of the morning (because it is a matter of Kodesh, for which the new day starts at morning time), or "the end of the day" refers to the night. Is sunrise the end of the day or is sunset the end of the day? That is why it is necessary to have the verse "u'Va ha'Shemesh v'Taher," which implies that sundown is Metaher, and not sunrise. (M. Kornfeld)

QUESTION: The Gemara records three sources in the Torah to show that someone who was Tamei may eat Terumah after he'Erev Shemesh (sundown), and does not have to wait until he brings his Korban the next day. The three sources are the following verses: "He shall not eat Kodshim *Ad Asher Yit'har*" (Vayikra 22:4), "*u'Va ha'Shemesh v'Taher*, and afterwards he may eat from the Kodshim" (Vayikra 22:7), "She may not touch any Kodesh... *Ad Melos Yemei Taharah*" (Vayikra 12:4) (see Chart).

The Gemara explains that all three verses are necessary. The first verse, in the Parshah of Zav u'Metzora (Vayikra 22:4), does not suffice because we might have thought that one could eat Terumah after he'Erev Shemesh only when the person is not required to bring a Korban at all. But when he is required to bring a Korban (such as a Zav who saw three flows, or a Metzora Muchlat), we might have thought that he has to wait until he brings his Korban before he may eat Terumah.

The Gemara presents two ways of understanding the verse in the beginning of the Parshah of Zav u'Metzora. According to some Tana'im, it is discussing a Zav who saw two flows, and a Metzora who is a Metzora Musgar. According to these Tana'im, when the verse says that he must wait "Ad Asher Yit'har" -- "until he becomes Tahor," it means that at sundown, he'Erev Shemesh, he becomes permitted to eat Terumah and Kodshim, since he is not required to bring a Korban at all.

According to other Tana'im (d'Vei Rebbi Yishmael), the verse is referring to a Zav who saw three flows, and a Metzora who is a Metzora Muchlat. According to those Tana'im, when the verse concludes that he must wait "until he becomes Tahor," it means that he must wait until he brings his Korban the following day. Before he brings the Korban, he may not eat Kodshim.

Rashi explains that according to this Tana, the verse is referring only to Kodshim and cannot be referring to Terumah. This is because the verse later (v. 7) says, "u'Va ha'Shemesh v'Taher," clearly saying that at sundown, the person becomes Tahor, and that verse is referring to Terumah. If he becomes Tahor at sundown, then the verse that requires him to wait until he brings the Korban must be referring to Kodshim and not to Terumah.

How, though, can the Gemara prove that the verse of "Ad Asher Yit'har" (Vayikra 22:4) is referring to Kodshim, from the verse of "u'Va ha'Shem v'Taher" (Vayikra 22:7)? The Parshah there (Vayikra 22:4), according to d'Vei Rebbi Yishmael, is clearly discussing two separate groups of Teme'im. First, it discusses a Zav who saw three flows and a Metzora Muchlat, who must both bring Korbanos. The verse says about them that they cannot eat Terumah "Ad Asher Yit'har," until they bring their Korbanos. Second, the verse addresses all Teme'im who do not need to bring a Korban (such as Tamei Mes, Ba'al Keri, etc.), and about them the verse says "u'Va ha'Shemesh v'Taher," permitting him to eat Terumah at sundown. Consequently, the verse that says that one is Tahor at sundown is referring to when he is *not Chayav* to bring a Korban at all. Perhaps when he is Chayav to bring a Korban (like a Zav who saw three flows), then just like he cannot eat Kodshim until he brings that Korban, so, too, he may not eat Terumah until he brings the Korban! (The Gemara itself suggested this reasoning earlier.)

ANSWERS:

(a) The answer might be as follows. The Gemara mentioned earlier that there is a third verse which is clearly discussing Terumah -- "She may not touch any Kodesh... *Ad Melos Yemei Taharah*" (Vayikra 12:4). That verse implies that at the end of the day ("Melos Yemei Taharah" -- "the end of the days of her Taharah") -- sundown -- a Yoledes becomes permitted to eat Terumah, even though she still needs to bring a Korban the next day. We see clearly that she does not have to wait until the Korban is brought in order to eat Terumah. Since this verse clearly allows a person to eat Terumah by sundown if he they have to bring a Korban, the verse in the Parshah of Zav u'Metzora ("Ad Asher Yit'har") which requires that he wait until he brings a Korban must be referring to Kodshim and not to Terumah.

The problem with this answer is that we find that RASHI does not say this. Rashi says that the source that one may eat Terumah after he'Erev Shemesh and does not need to wait until the Korban is brought is from "u'Va ha'Shem v'Taher" (Vayikra 22:7), and not from "Ad Melos Yemei Taharah" (Vayikra 12:4). Why does Rashi say that? That verse is not adequate because it is not referring to someone who has to bring a Korban!

(b) Therefore, in order to answer the question on Rashi, we must suggest a different approach to the Gemara, which can be inferred from the words of RASHI in Berachos (2b). The Gemara there asserts that the phrase "*u'Va ha'Shemesh* v'Taher" can mean one of two things -- either "sunset" or "the coming of the light of the sun" (which Rashi explains to mean sunrise). It is clear from the Gemara that if it means sunrise, it is not the sunrise itself that makes the person Tahor, but rather the rising of the sun enables him to bring a Korban (since Korbanos cannot be brought at night), and it is the Korban that will then make him Tahor (RASHI in Berachos 2b, DH Dilma).

The Gemara concludes that it means nightfall, because "v'Taher" (as opposed to the more common term, "va'Yetaher") implies that he does not have to do any act to become Tahor (such as bringing a Korban), but rather he becomes Tahor passively. Hence, the verse must be saying that it is the setting of the sun that makes him Tahor. Also, the word "v'Taher" implies the setting of the sun and its disappearance under the horizon.

TOSFOS there rejects Rashi's explanation based on our Gemara, which says that from the verse "Ad Melos Yemei Taharah" (Vayikra 12:4) we see that one does not have to wait until he brings the Korban, but that it is enough to wait until he'Erev Shemesh, and we do not need the verse of "v'Taher" to teach us this!

Rashi, though, is consistent with his own reasoning in our Sugya. Rashi seems to be learning that according to d'Vei Rebbi Yishmael, this Halachah (that he'Erev Shemesh suffices for eating Terumah) is not be derived from "Ad Melos Yemei Taharah" (Vayikra 12:4). This is because "Ad Melos" might mean that they must wait until the *morning*, and not until the evening (as we mentioned in the previous Insight). Waiting until the morning might mean that they must wait until the morning *when they bring a Korban*, according to d'Vei Rebbi Yishmael, as Rashi says in Berachos. (This is because d'Vei Rebbi Yishmael has a precedent, in which the word "Yit'har" is used to refer to bringing a Korban, and not just to waiting for a time to arrive.) Therefore, the only way to know that one becomes Tahor at sundown is from the verse, "u'Va ha'Shemesh v'Taher" (Vayikra 22:7). Even though that verse is discussing a person who does not have to bring a Korban, the Gemara in Berachos learns that the verse changed its wording from "va'Yetaher to "v'Taher" in order to teach that he does not have to wait until he brings a Korban to eat Terumah, even when he is required to bring one.

What, then, do we learn from "Ad Melos?" Why do we need that verse? The answer is that we might have thought that the Yoledes becomes Tahor after the *first* evening passes after giving birth. Therefore, the verse teaches that she must wait until the *last* evening after all of her days of Taharah have passed. (That is, we would not have known the Halachah that she is a "Tevulas Yom Aruch.")

This explains why Rashi in our Sugya says that according to d'Vei Rebbi Yishmael, the source that one who is Tamei -- who needs to bring a Korban -- becomes Tahor at sundown for eating Terumah is from the verse, "u'Va ha'Shemesh v'Taher" (Vayikra 22:7). (M. Kornfeld)

75b