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Mishnah 2a
Mishnah 2a-On the 14th of Nisan a man should check for chametz with the light of a candle. A place where you do not bring chametz you do not need to check. Why do we say that you must check the 2 rows in our wine cellar? Beit Shamie- the two face rows when you walk in. Beit Hillel- Top Top two rows FACTS: • On the 14th you must check for chametz can dle • You must use the light of a candle • You must check the wine cellar • A place were no chametz is brought, there is no need to check QUESTIONS: • What is Or? • What is chametz? • How should we search? • Is there an isur of chametz? • What time do we search? ASSUMPTION: h ouse • You cannot have chametz in your house • There is chametz in the wine cellar • Once you find the chametz there is a “step 2” • DEDUCTIONS: • It is a mitzvah to do bedikah chametz • Must check every were with chametz The Term Or ! ! ! ! Gemara 2a ! ! ! ! ! Gemara: What is “Or”? • Rav Huna: light • Rabbi Yehuda: Nighttime “Da Sakla Ditach” You might have thought that the one who says light means daytime and the one who says night is talking about night. • “Metvei”- An objection raised from a higher source • Brittah • Mishnah • pasuk Gemara now brings in a Pasuk from Breshit: “Yosef’s “Yosef’s brothers are getting ready to go back to Eretz Yisroel. It was the “Or” of the morning.” • This seems to be a proof that Or is morning!!
• “alma” therefore- Or is morning Yehuda • Question on Rabbi Yehuda • Success for Rav Huna Gemara says NO. It says “Haboker Or” NOT “Ha Or Boker.” therefore Or doesn't mean light anymore, rather it mean “It became light” “Or Boker”- Noun- daylight “Boker Or”- Verb- the morning became light. Shows that this is not a legitimate proof!
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Rashi
Rashi brings in a teaching of Rabbi Yehuda in the name of Raba: A person should always come and go and begin with goodness, light, because in Breshit it says Ki Tov near Or. What is so good about Or? • Protection from animals • protection from robbers This proves that the Gemara is rite and Or does mean becoming light because here Or means to become light. Gemara 3a Proof #1: We learn in a Brittah that in the “or” of yom kippur we daven 7 blessings in the Amidah, then we do viduy. In shacrit you do the same, and mosuf and Mincha. When arvit comes we says regular Mein Shmonah Esrie it yom kippur is over. Therefore we see from here that Or means light because when in says Or at the beginning we know it is referring to the night as we discuss in the Brittah all the other prayers except the nightly one on Yom Kippur. Kippur. Proof #2: They learn in the Beit Midrash of Shmuel that on the night of the 14th you check for chametz. From here we deduct that Or is night because they say we check on the NIGHT of the 14th, showing that Or means Night. • This seemingly presents a problem for Rav Huna! • But the Gemara says no, everyone agrees that Or is night. • How? that the person who says • Back on 2a it says YOU MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT that light means daytime, and now here its showing us what Rav Huna really meant when he said light. • In the place of Rav Huna they called night Or To use a euphemism, sensitive language. Night brings a • Why? To certain fear. It is associated with fear and evil therefore Rav Huna would call it Or. Yehuda’s place they called night night. • In Rabbi Yehuda’s Teaches us to be careful with our speech and the way we speak to people.
Bedikas Chametz ! ! ! ! ! “On the 14th day on Nissan you check for chametz with a candle” Where is our Minalan? Our source question? • None in the Gemara! • Most Sugyot start with a source question. • Rashi tells us the source for B”M and B”R with a pasuk. • The source question can only be asked/ answered by a rishon because there is no compelling Gemara! • The debate among the Rishonim regarding bideka why we do Bedikah. • creating a minalan. • That is what this sugya is about, the reason behind bedikah. • Gemara 2a starts us off and compels us through all the other gemaras to find a source for Bedikah Gemara 2a ! ! ! ! ! “On the 14th day on Nissan you check for chametz with a candle” Rashi- We check so we do not violate the probation of Bal Yiraeh and Bal Yimatzeh • Bal Yiraeh- The prohibition of seeing chametz on Pesach • Bal Yimatzeh- the prohibition of owning Chametz on Pesach How can Rashi say that?! Do we think that we can find every single piece of chametz before Pesach?! Furthermore we do Bitul chametz, making the chametz not own so we do not violate B”R and B”M! So why is Bedikah to make sure we do not violate these laws if we can just do bitul? Gemara 4b ! ! ! ! ! According the the torah Bitul alone is sufficient, and they added the Dirabbanan of Bedikah. Tosfot: Question: Why do we need Bedikah if we see here that Bitul is sufficient? Answer: As an extra precaution so you don't come to eat the Chametz. • Q: Then why do we not need to do Bedikah for traif?! • A#1: Since you are allowed to eat chametz all year one may forget his prohibition of eating chametz and come to eat it. Pertaining to traif food we are never permitted to eat it therefore we are not concerned and do not preform the bedikah. • A #2: Because according to the Torah The stringency on Chametz is so severe that we have a prohibition of B”R and B”M!! for Kashrut we do not have these laws therefore we do not need bedikah. Tosfot: On a torah level Bitul is sufficient, and after you do bitul your chametz is ownerless. Rambam: The chametz is not ownerless rather is is just not chametz anymore. It is dust. What is the Nafka Minah? (practical difference?) • If we find chametz after pesach on a diorittah level can we eat it? • Rambam- No. Hashem lets us make it like dust, therefore we cant eat the dust. • Tosfot-yes. If it is ownerless and nobody has claimed it, you can eat it.
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Gemara 6b ! ! ! ! ! Gemara: Rabbi Yehuda Yehuda says in the name of Rav: “A person who does bedikah must also do bitul” • Presents an even bigger problem for Rashi! Many possibilities for what Rabbi Yehuda Yehuda meant in this statement • can be saying that Bedikah is like a safety net to Bitul, Because bitul alone is enough, but we use bedikah as a safety net. • They go together Gemara Continues: What is the reason for the law of “Habodek Tzarich Livatel?” If you will say that we say bitul after bedikah because of small crumbs that you may miss, it cant be because we know that we are not over on bal Yiraeh and Yimatzeh with crumbs. Rather Rava says we need Bitul to make sure that if you find a big piece of chametz and desire it for just a second your not over of B”M and B”R Rashi- It will look good in your eyes and you will not want to burn it , and even if you top and desire it for one second you are over on B”M and B”R! So when we only do bedikah we are faced with that worry, or finding something we missed , desiring it, and being over. Therefore we must do Bitul so we do not violate B”M and B”R. Tosfot: The Big 3 I. Knocks Rashi II. Gibes an answer III. III. Quest Questio ions ns hims himsel elff and a answ nswer ers s Tosfot: Quotes Rashi and says that Rabenu Yitzhak (the R’I) has a problem with this opinion. He says that we see in many instances in the Gemara that Bitul makes sure we are not over on B”M and B”r, and that Bitul is enough! Disagrees and wants to know the reason for Bedikah, because bitul takes care of B”M and B”R!! not bedikah, so why do bedikah? • Answer: R’I offers his approach: When we do Bitul it takes care of the concern of B”R and B”M so Bedikah must be referring to something else. He thinks that the reason we search and do Bedikah is so that we do not see a piece of chametz and eat. If we have searched our house to make sure it is void of chametz, we will not be risking coming to eat the chametz. In conclusion he says the reason for Bedikah is so we do not come to eat chametz. Tosfot now questions it’s own answer. • Why do we not do Bedikah for Trief? • Traif you can eat all year while chametz is only an 8 day prohibition, so we must be more careful. • Chametz is Chayuv Kart, so we must be more strict.
Why not Yom Kippur? • mindset of Prayer • Since you are totally not eating you wont accidentally eat, but on Pesach you can eat so you may accidentally have chametz. • your hunger reminds you not to eat chametz. Back to the R’I’s answer. Proof for the reason being so that we do not come to eat the Chametz: Gemara 10b ! ! ! ! ! *****Rabbah Asks: A little little bread on top of a shelf, do d o you need to get a ladder and to get the bread from the top of the beam? Potential Answers • Do not need to since it is not coming down by itself so you will not eat it • Maybe it may fall and you should because if it falls, you may come to eat it. How does Tosfot Tosfot use this as a proof for the R’I? • Here the concern is not violating B”M and B”R rather it is that a person may come to eat the bread. if we we were concerned in this case with with B”M and B”R then we would have an issue with having the bread on the beam, but since out concern is not coming to eat it it shows that that is a legitimate reason for Bedikah. Tosfot questions himself: Q: Why does a nazir not have to do Bedikah? A: Because a nazir is putting the restriction on himself, so what he is not allowed to have others are, so he may have it around. A: Chametz more stringent: B”M and B”R so we need bedikah because we are stricter and don't want to come to eat it. Tosfot R. Peretz- offers alternative reason • Quotes Rabaynu yichiel: the Rabbis made bedikah even though we have bitul because since we must do bitul to fulfill the commandment from the torah of not violating B”M and B”R, we have bedikah to remind us to do bitul, which is required. We are concerned that one may forget to do Bitul as there is no action, therefore bedikah was instituted. Action to remember Bitul. (other verbal declaration that is from the torah is shmah. Q on R. Peretz because it shows that we don't necessarily need an action. BUT we do have an action, we cover our eyes so that resolves the problem.)
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Ran- Rabaynu Nisim ! ! ! defending Rashi Says that yes, bitul alone IS sufficient BUT so is Bedikah!! Both alone sufficient How do we know k now that Bedikah is sufficient according to the Torah? Torah?
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Gemara 7b
What is the source that Bedikah is sufficient of a Torah Torah level? The Gemara addresses this; Gemara says: What is the source that we must use a candle for bedikah? Answer: It is a gezara shavah “from finding to finding from searching to searching” how do we know from finding to finding? In the torah we see that we should not FIND chametz in out house for 8 days on pesach. In Breshit it says then they find the cup in binyamin’s sac, they FOUND it, making the gezara shavah and teaching us that on a diorittah level, Bedikah is sufficient. Continuation of Ran • Bedikah clearly also has a biblical source therefore both are sufficient! • says that it is derabanan that someone who does bedika needs bitul, but it is good to say both to make sure that we are not over on B”M and B”R because we may desire a piece of bread if we find it so bitul will protect us. • ANother reason that we do both: Bitul is dependent of the thoughts of a man, and not all man’s thought process is the same, therefore we may not do bitul rite. The Rabbis then instituted the law of doing both so we can make sure that nobody is over B”M and B”R • Rashi Makes sense now. It is now okay to say that the reason that we do bedikah id so that we do not violate the biblical commandment of B”M and B”R, because it is sufficient. Meiri Tosfot, Says that even though Tosfot Tosfot is right, there is no need to • Quotes Rashi and Tosfot, push off Rashi, and say that he is wrong. Even though bitul alone is sufficient, the main thing to do it Bedika. • Torah is strict about chametz and not a nazir because a nazir’s isur is only pertaining to him while chametz is pertaining to everyone. • The more preferred thing to do it Bedikah, but it is a good idea to do bitul so you do not accidentally violate B”M and B”R if you see a piece of unknown bread. • Addressing Gemara 6B-When the Rabbis in the Geamar said that Bitul was necessary WITH bedikah was derabanan. We do bedikah so we don't violate B”M and B”R and Bitul is a precaution that is from the Rabbis. • Addressing Gemara 4b: He says that “Bitul is alone sufficient” is pertaining to chametz that a man does not know about. Bitul is sufficient for unknown chametz and bedikah is for all other chametz that we do know about. (Correct standpoint)
Bitul Chametz ! ! ! ! ! How can one fulfill Tashbitzu. Tashbitzu. (the mitzvah aseh of getting rid of Chametz) Rashi • Since it says “get rid of” instead of “destroying,” Bitul takes care of the mitzvah of Tashbitzu. Rambam
Tashbitzu through Bitul, because becau se if you • Sides with Rashi. Says that you can fulfill Tashbitzu make all of your chametz dust and put it in your heart that you do not own a piece of chametz, then it fulfills the mitzvah. Tosfot 4b:R’I • He says that Bitul does not fulfill the mitzvah! It takes care of the mitzvah Lo Taaseh of B”M and B”R, but NOT tashbitzu! • After bitul, your chametz is ownerless, not yours, so it is okay to have it around or to see other people’s. deducts from this that since you can see other’s chametz that if the chametz is ownerless you cant violate B”M and B”R. • Therefore you remove yourself from your chametz because you don't own it, but you have not fulfilled the mitzvah of getting rid of it. • QUESTION ON HIMSELF: In Nidarim it says that in order to do Hefker one must have 3 witnesses, so how can we say that we can do hefker in our hearts? • Answer: it is dirabana that you need three people witnessing. Rav Moshe Taragain • What is the relationship between the two opinions of bitul making chametz dust vs. ownerless? • Answer: Dust- changing the physical chametz Ownerless- Changing the relationship between man and chametz. Dough chair- Not chametz because it is not serving as chametz, rather another purpose. This shows that Rambam and Rashi are right because it shows that you can make chametz something else and not have to get rid of it, just like they say you can make chametz dust. Meiri • Since the point of Bitul is to create a personal distance from the chametz, it is done in your heart. • Creating a thought that is like an action. • Chametz is such a strong stringency that one must do it in his heart to separate himself.
Shulchan Orech • Immediately after bedikah a man should do bitul and say all the chametz that i do not know of and have not burned is like dust • Siding with rashi and Rambam; the chametz is like dust Mishnah Brurah • We paskin like both. The chametz should be like dust and ownerless.
Habodek Tzarich Sheyevarech ! ! ! ! Introduction to Brachot- 3 Types 1. mitzvahmitzvah- Usually Usually before before preformin preforming g a mitzvah; mitzvah; to to focus nehenin. nehenin.
2. neheninnehenin- Giving thanks thanks that you you can preform preform a mitzvah. mitzvah. Asking Asking Hashem Hashem permission. permission. 3. shevach vi’hodaavi’hodaa- After we see something something amazing. amazing. Example: Example: Rainbow, Rainbow, lightning lightning
Gemara 7a-7b: Rabbi Yehuda says: “ a person who is preforming bedikah must say a bracha.” Rav papa-Bracha is AL biur Ravi pipi- Bracha is LIvaer everyone agrees that LIvaer means to burn, future tense. It is now debated in the Gemara whether AL biur is in future tense, or past. The Gemara brings in three mietveis: 1. Brit M Miilah 2. Shchitah 3. Lulav (Straight out of the Gemara, read it over) Havah aminah-initial thought Maskana- statement; thing that we learned from the statement Ran: • H’A- That this is a two part mitzvah, and since the second part is the main part, you would think to say the bracha on part #2 • Maskana- We say the Bracha on the first part because since Bior is the main mitzvah, from the time we start bedikah we must be focused on it therefore make a bracha on it at the beginning. (Similar to succah.) Rabenu Dovid • There is a debate whether we must say Brachot on mitzvahs that are derabanan. • (Side-note: Since there is a pasuk in the torah that says we must follow what the Rabbis say, we do say brachot on mitzvoth that are not from the torah.) • H’A- you might have thought that you do not need a bracha because bedikah is a mitzvah derabanan. You must say a bracha on Bedikah! Usually R’ Yehuda Yehuda holds that a • Maskana- You derabanan doesn't need a bracha but his chidush is that this is an exception, we need to say a bracha! Ritvah • The reasons that you say the bracha before you preform the mitzvah is To tell Hashem • so you are infused with holiness before preforming the mitzvah. To that he is the reason you are doing the mitzvah. • While doing most Mitzvoth we do an action with our physical body, and we need the bracha to have an action with our nefesh also because we must serve Hashem with out whole body and soul. Aruch Hashulchan- Author: Rabbi Yichiel Epstein
• Question: Why don't we say Brachot on Mitzvoth that are Ben Adam Li Chavero? • His answer: Every nation and culture also does these acts of kindness towards each other. thought they do do it for different intentions, the action is still the same. The rabbis say we do not say a bracha because we cant bless Hashem and says only us, the jews were commanded, if so was every other nation. Other reasons we do not make a Bracha on Ben Adam Li Chavero: • waste of time • other nations also do this • bracha is focused on relationship with Hashem and this is a relationship with other people. • We don't want to embarrass anyone • Story: A man went to a nursing home and was talking to an old man about the mitzvah of visiting the sick. The man turned to him and said “Im not a lulav.” • Shows us that we shouldn't mention and make a big deal that the reason we are doing a mitzvah is because Hashem commanded, because it will make the person feel bad. ! ! ! ! Tanaim, Amoraim, Rishonim, Achronim R-Rishone
A- Achrone
Rashi-R Tosfot-R Tosfot R’ Peretz- R Ran- Late R Meiri- Late R Rambam- R Shulchan arch-Early R Mishnah Brurah- Late Achrone Rabenu Dovid-R Ritvah-Late R Aruch Hashulchan- A Rabbi Yehuda- A Rav Pipi- A rav Papa- A
