Pesachim 113: Kaldiyyim, Kalda'ei

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The Gemara often makes use of a statement of aggada to segue to a broader discussion of non-halakhic matters. The teachings of Rabbi Akiva to his son, which appeared on yesterday’s daf, lead the Gemara to quote from a collection of statements made by individual Sages to their children, many of them referring to issues of a mystical and, on occasion, personal, nature. The Gemara teaches that the source for the prohibition against requesting advice or information from the "Kaldiyim" is the verse, "You shall be completely faithful to Hashem your God" (Deut 18:13).

The Gemara in Shabbos (156b) describes a "Kalda'ei" as a Nochri astrologer who uses the constellations to predict future events. The Gemara in Shabbos describes this discipline as legitimate and trustworthy. Why, then, does the Gemara here say that one is prohibited to rely on the advice of Kaldiyim?

Who were the Chaldeans and how much did they influence chazal? And why did some consider their science legitimate?

Pesachim 112: ואפילו מן התמחוי

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The Gemara on our daf asks why the Mishna needs to teach us that someone should take money from charity to fulfill the mitzva of drinking four cups. Isn’t it obvious that if someone needs to fulfill a mitzva that he should accept money from charity?

The Gemara answers: The mishna is necessary only to teach that this halakha applies even according to the opinion of Rabbi Akiva, who said: Make your Shabbat like an ordinary weekday and do not be beholden to other beings. If one is unable to honor Shabbat without financial help from others, it is better for him to save money and eat his Shabbat meals as he would on a weekday rather than rely on other people. Here, in the case of the four cups, Rabbi Akiva concedes that it is appropriate for a poor person to request assistance from the community, due to the obligation to publicize the miracle.

Having presented Rabbi Akiva’s opinion, the Gemara quotes a series of statements that Rabbi Akiva taught his son Rabbi Yehoshua, the final one being the rule of avoiding charity even if it affects your Shabbat. This leads us to examine poverty and the ambivalent attitude in the Talmud

Pesachim 111: Kishuf

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As noted on yesterday’s daf, our Gemara is in the midst of a lengthy discussion about magic and destructive forces – ideas that were popular during the Talmudic age that were not actively discouraged by the Sages if they were “harmless” in the sense that they did not involve idol worship or forbidden activities.One intriguing mintage of opening the door during the seder and the association of Eliyahu with the seder is as follows:

One possible explanation of why Eliyahu Hanavi is associated with the seder could be the following: Rabbi Yuzpeh Shamash writes that on Pesach night we say Eliyahu and Moshiach will come because mazikin run away from a place where they recite Eliyahu’s name.

He says that because of this some make a picture of Eliyahu and Moshiach for the children so that the children seeing it will say “Eliyahu,” causing the mazikin to disappear…which brings us to the difference between Kishuf and Shedim (discussed yesterday)

Pesachim 110: יוסף שידא

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The Me’iri points out that during Talmudic times there were popular beliefs in destructive forces, amulets, etc. – ideas that today would be considered superstition.

One of these beliefs was the danger of zugot – that is to say, that doing things in pairs was hazardous. This concern leads to a question being raised about the Seder night. How can the Sages obligate participants to drink four cups of wine, when doing so would be involving oneself in zugot?

This leads us to the character of Joseph the demon who advises on the respective dangers of one set of wine cups zugot (two) vs two sets of zugot (four).

What is the attitude of our talmudic sages to demons and their advice?

Pesachim 109: ושמחת בחגך

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The Sages taught: A man is obligated to gladden his children and the members of his household on a Festival, as it is stated:

יד וְשָׂמַחְתָּ, בְּחַגֶּךָ: אַתָּה וּבִנְךָ וּבִתֶּךָ, וְעַבְדְּךָ וַאֲמָתֶךָ, וְהַלֵּוִי וְהַגֵּר וְהַיָּתוֹם וְהָאַלְמָנָה, אֲשֶׁר בִּשְׁעָרֶיךָ.

14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.

We explore the meaning of Simcha and the calculation of the amount of wine that fulfills the obligation.. which is problematic since the Talmud does not use decimal measures...

Pesachim 108: שאף הן היו באותו הנס

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Generally speaking, women are not obligated in Mitzvot aseh she-hazman gerama – positive commandments that are dependent on time. Thus, women are not obligated to sit in a Sukka on Sukkot, nor are they obligated to wear tzizit or to lay tefillin, which are only done during the day. Based on this principle, we would anticipate that women would not be obligated in the mitzvot of Seder night.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi teaches that women are obligated in the four cups of wine at the Seder, she’af hen hayu be-oto ha-nes – that they were involved in the miracle of the Exodus. There is a difference of opinion regarding this teaching. According to the Rashi and the Rashbam the Jewish women in Egypt played a crucial role in the miracle, similar to the role played by Esther in the Purim story, where we also apply this rule and obligate women in the mitzvot of Purim.

Others argue that they had a greater level of suffering in Egypt, because of the decree that the first-born would be drowned, which affected the mothers more than it did the fathers. According to Tosafot, it is enough to say that women were part of the miracle in order to obligate them, even if their role was no greater than that of the men.

The beauty of the Bomberg edition of the folio leads us to the story of Jack Lunzer and the Valmadonna Trust library....

Pesachim 107: סמוך למנחה

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The Rambam appears to have understood our beraisa to be explaining when the earliest time is to daven mincha but provides two times. One, mincha gedolah, is the earliest possible time, whereas the other is the preferred time. In other words, the earliest time to daven mincha is at 6½ hours, although it is preferred for someone to wait until 9½ hours to daven mincha. This is because it is ideal to daven mincha later in the day and closer to sunset. This affects the laws of erev pesach

Pesachim 106: Netilat Yadayim Before Kiddush

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Pesachim 105: Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak’s Piety

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As we have learned before, if someone is eating a meal on Friday and the meal extends into Shabbat, we do not need to end the meal entirely; rather we can cover the bread and make Kiddush. Our Gemara discusses the case of someone who is eating the third Shabbat meal and it extends after Shabbat is over.

To clarify these halakhot, the Gemara tells a story about such cases and the behavior of the Sages when faced with these circumstances. Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak was asked what the difference is between Kiddush and Havdalah. Havdalah is supposed to be delayed and not recited immediately at the conclusion of Shabbos, even though that is its proper time.

Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak answered,

"I am not a Chacham, I am not a Chozeh, I am not a Yachid. I am a Gamar and a Sadar, and they say in the Beis Midrash the same thing that I say, that there is a difference between the onset of the day (Kiddush) and the conclusion of the day (Havdalah). When it comes to Kiddush, the sooner we recite it, the better, for we show how beloved it is to us. When it comes to Havdalah, the more we delay it, the better, in order not to make it appear like a burden upon us.”

We learn of his mother who consulted an astrologer before he was born....We are told in the Talmud that an astrologer once told her that her son would grow up to be a thief....see what happened then...

Pesachim 104: Sanctity and Separation

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The standard text of havdala includes not only a statement formally acknowledging that Shabbat or Yom Tov has ended, but also a series of distinctions - of things that stand in contrast to one another. This tradition stems from the statement of Rabbi Elazar quoting Rabbi Oshaya that at least three such distinctions are to be included in the havdala blessing, but no more than seven. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi comments that ideally the model of the havdala blessing should be distinctions made in the Torah itself.

Pesachim 103: Ner Akuva

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As we learned in the last daf, when Yom Tov begins on Saturday night, we combine the Havdalah that ends Shabbat with the Kiddush that begins Yom Tov over a single cup of wine. The discussion on our daf deals with the order of the various berakhot that will make up this combination of Kiddush and Havdalah.

Ironically, Judaism defines something as kadosh when it is separated and consecrated for a special purpose. The biblical call to be holy is a call to distinctiveness; whether separating from sexual immorality (Rashi, Vayikra 19:2) or eschewing those activities that might be technically permissible, but are corrosive (Ramban).

In order to make kiddush, we must make Havdalah. Yet it is kedushah that is our ultimate goal, and it is kiddush that must precede Havdalah.

Pesachim 102: Bundles

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The discussion on our daf relates to the cups of wine that must be drunk to close the meal and to welcome the Shabbat. According to the baraita we will need two separate cups of wine, a ruling explained by Rav Nahman bar Yitzhak as stemming from the principle ein osin mitzvot havilot havilot – that we do not perform mitzvot “in bundles.” The idea is that every mitzva deserves its own focus, and if we try to perform several mitzvot with the same cup of wine it will be impossible to focus on each mitzva separately. A similar idea is ein me’arvin simha be-simha – that we do not combine two joyous occasions (e.g. to have a wedding during Pesah or Sukkot), because each one deserves its own focus.

Pesachim 101: אין קידוש אלא במקום סעודה

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Every Sabbath, on my way to Morning Prayer,

I pass the tennis courts on Bialik Street. The

Russians are already in the midst of matches.

Before I see them, I hear them, calling to one

another, grunting. Sometimes I stop to watch them.

They play bare-headed, wear white sweatbands on their wrists.

After Prayer, on the shul’s steps, my friend recites

Kiddush. Some Yemenites argue loudly; my friend

arbitrates. After a while, he looks at me and

nods, raises his hand. Time to leave. On our way home,

he wears his prayer shawl draped over his shoulders.

We talk of deep things, of God, prayer, and Torah.

As we pass the tennis courts, I turn my head to

see the men. Their games finished now, they are seated

at tables in the sun, their racquets on the ground

beside them. They are drinking and eating. I love

their laughter, their banter, their camaraderie—

their shul. Must be their kiddush, I say to myself.

Gershon Ben-Avraham

Pesachim 100: הגם לכבוש את המלכה

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It happened [once] that Rabban Shimon Ben Gamliel, Rebbi Yehudah and Rebbi Yossi were reclining [and eating] in Akko [on Friday afternoon], and the day was over (i.e., it became dark, and Shabbat began). Rabban Shimon Ben Gamliel said to Rebbi Yossi, “Let us stop [eating because of] Shabbat.” He said [back] to him, “Every day you prefer my words in front of Yehudah, [and] now you prefer the words of Yehudah in front of me. ‘Do you also want to kidnap the queen with me in the house?’ (Esther 7:8)” This angry retort leads us to understanding modern notions of argumentation in education…

Pesachim 99: Arvei Pesachim

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Pesachim 98: Silence

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Silence …..

Last night I became mad. Love saw me and said:

I am here. Don’t shout, don’t wail. Just be silent!

Don’t talk about the mundane, talk of nothing but beauty.

I am the servant of this magnificence. Just be silent!

I said: O Love, what I fear is something else.

Love said: There’s nothing else. Just be silent!

I will whisper great secrets in your ear. Just nod yes. And be silent.

I said: Love! Is this face angel or human

Love Said: Neither angel nor human. It is other. Just be silent.

I said: I will lose my mind if you don’t tell me.

Love said: Then lose your mind, and stay that way. Just be silent.

You who sit in this house filled with images and illusions,

Get up, walk out the door. Go, and be silent.

–Rumi

Pesachim 97: Korbanot

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The Torah gives clear parameters for the animal that is to be brought as the korban Pesah. It must be a male that is one year old (see Ex12:5). What if an animal is set aside as a korban Pesah and it does not meet those basic criteria? What is left unclear in the Mishna is what is to be done with the proceeds. The Mishna appears to offer two contradictory rulings.

Pesachim 96: Pesach Mitzrayim

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Pesachim 95: Second Passover

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In several places in parashat Bo, the Torah teaches us the laws of the korban Pesach. Some of these laws pertain to the korban which is brought and eaten every year on the fourteenth of Nissan known as Pesach dorot. Yet, much of what is mentioned in parashat Bo pertains to the first korban Pesach which was sacrificed in Egypt on the eve of the Jewish exodus from Egypt. This first korban Pesach is called Pesach Mitzrayim.

The Mishnah discusses the differences between Pesach Mitzrayim (the Pesach which the Jews celebrated when they left Egypt) and Pesach Doros (the festival of Pesach celebrated by all subsequent generations). The Mishnah says that one difference is that Pesach Mitzrayim was observed for one night, while Pesach Doros is celebrated for seven days and nights.

We compare and contrast the two…

Pesachim 94: Bein Hashmashos

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A large part of this daf is devoted to discussions between the Sages about time and distance, and their relationship with the length of day and night.

According to the description in the Gemara, the way the sun appears crossing the sky during the day is due to a physical pathway that exists across the sky. The Ge’onim further note, that since Jewish scholars have embraced the positions of the scientific world with regard to these types of questions, the discussion and descriptions that appear in our Gemara are not

to be understood as literal truth.

I cite my father in law's novel approach to reading talmud and the cosmology of the day to explain sunset.(His Yahrzeit is shushan purim next shabbes)