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)

Pesachim 93: Modi’in, דרך רחוקה

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There is a dispute about how far away one must be in order to be exempt from bringing the Korban Pesach.

In our Mishnah, Rabbi Akiva interprets “a long distance” to be 15 mil away from the Beis HaMikdash. Rashi explains that this person finds himself at a distance which precludes his ability to arrive at the Beis HaMikdash during the hour when the Shechitah should be done, which is from midday until sundown.

Ulla said: The distance from the city of Modi’in to Jerusalem is fifteen mil.

This leads us into a discussion as to the claim by the Tiferes Yisroel that in our times where we have the means and ways of travelling in a much quicker fashion, when the time comes and we will be zocheh to bring the Korban Pesach, we will not be exempt even though we may be far way.

The town of Modi’in is used as an example of the distance from the Temple which leads us to examine its illustrious history.

Pesachim 92: Pesach Sheni

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Someone who did not bring the first Pesach due to an accident or oversight, if he then did not bring the second Pesach due to negligence, is liable for kareis. This level of liability for not offering Pesach Sheni as prescribed follows the opinion of Rebbe (93a).

This is also the ruling of Rambam (below) in Hilchos Korban Pesach (5:2). Nevertheless, Ra’avad asks why there should be a distinction between different reasons why the first Pesach was not brought. Why is kareis only applied for nonparticipation in the second Pesach when the first was not done due to אונס, but not when it was not done due to impurity or due to one’s being far away?

Pesachim 91: Horned Altar

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The Torah (Deut 16:5-6) teaches that one cannot bring the korban Pesah “in any one of your gates” – that is to say, in one of the communities outside of the Temple; rather it must be sacrificed in the place chosen by God. This passage is understood by the Sages to teach a number of halakhot connected with the sacrifice.

On its simplest level, that pasuk teaches that the korban Pesah must be brought in the Temple. Rabbi Shimon understands this to mean that someone who brings the sacrifice on a bamat yahid – a private altar – will be held liable for transgressing a negative commandment. This only holds true, however, when private altars are forbidden, when the Jews all “enter through the same gate,” i.e. when the Temple is standing. During a time when private altars are permitted, the korban Pesah can be brought as a private sacrifice.

This leads us into a historical review of BAMOT and an intriguing feminist reading of the Tosefta regarding women’s participation in the chaburah for the Korban Pesach.

Pesachim 90: מְמנַּהֶ זוֹנהָ

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Our Daf quotes the Mishnah in Temurah that says that the prohibition of an Esnan of a Zonah takes effect on any object of Hekdesh that is given to the Zonah as her wage.

Tis leads us go an review of the ambivalent attitude towards prostitution in Talmud/antiquity down to modern times.

Pesachim 89: Gluttony/Surfeit

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A dilemma was raised before the Sages: If there is among the members of a group one of them who has fine hands, a euphemism for one who always hastens to take a large quantity of food, what is the halakha concerning whether they can say to him: Take your allotted portion to eat and leave; and don’t take any more from the other’s members portions?

In our case, having “fine hands” means that he has the ability and reputation of taking more than his share.

This leads us to a review of gluttony and surfeit in antiquity down to modern neurobiology of food addiction.

Pesachim 88: Go and Slaughter

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In our daaf there was an incident involving the king, queen, and Rabban Gamliel. It happened that a dead lizard was found in the kitchen of the royal house. Since a lizard is one of the creeping animals whose carcasses impart ritual impurity upon contact, they wanted to pronounce the entire meal ritually impure.

What is this species of lizard and how is this hapax translated by Rashi and Chizkuni?

Is chameleon a possibility and if so what are the mythic and literary qualities of this subspecies of Iguania.