Hey ladies ... here is an opportunity to test your husbands and see if he really goes to the daf....
Also it is a good opportunity for the entire family to share thoughts on the daf ... so that the family feels united by discussing what the head of the house is studying.
You can copy and print this without my consent, since Torah belongs to all of us.....
See previous Daf Yoimie Snippets
"דף ל''ג "טמאת ידים
Page33 Mesectas Chullin
"Contamination (Tumah) of the Hands"
*This "snippet" is a bit longer than usual because of its complexity ...
When we talk about "tumah" "contamination" in the Talmud and Shulchan Aruch " "we speak about a "spiritual contamination."
From here on in, I will use the word that the Torah & Talmud use .. "tumah" ....instead of the English word "contamination" because the english translation doesn't do the meaning of "tumah" justice.
Before I explain this particular daf, I must introduce some concepts in "tumah," and so that's the reason this particular "snippet" will be a bit longer than my usual "snippets".
Introduction:
When a Jewish person touches a corpse with his hand, his entire body contracts "tumah"
There are many levels or degrees of "tumah." I will attempt to summarize them briefly..
The strictest level of tumah, is אבי אבות הטמאה ... which if translated literally, means "father of fathers" of tumah.
and that level of tumah can only be the corpse itself ....
The level below that, is far more common, and that is called
אב הטמאה, which means literally "father of tumah."
In order to contract this level of tumah a person would have to touch a human corpse or the carcass of one of the 8 species of creeping creatures listed in the Torah and these creatures are referred to as Sheratzim ...
Included in this tumah are kosher animals that died not by "ritually slaughter" but were killed for example by a bullet etc. and that animal is now a "נבילה"
Also included are the following humans :
Zav, Zavah, Niddah or Metzora ..
Now ......
Any object that comes in contact with an אב הטמאה,
becomes a ראשון לטמאה a tumah in the "first degree"
Under Biblical law ... people or vessels that came in contact with this mentioned tumah can no longer convey tumah to some other item.... it stops...
The exception:
Food items that came in contact with an אב הטמאה can acquire what is called : שני לטמאה ..."second degree" of tumah.
But in the case of "chullin" which is ordinary food, (not consecrated,) tumah can go no further than a שני לטמאה
so if a שני לטמאה touches "chullin" it conveys no degree of tumah.
However food items that are Terumah or Kodesh, due to greater degrees of stringency associated with them, can go beyond שני לטמאה
and can become שלישי לטמאה a third degree level and in the case of Kodesh food even a רביעי לטמאה a fourth level of tumah!
Back to our daf:
We discussed above that if one touches a corpse his entire body becomes tumah.....and he becomes a אב הטמאה
Now,
if this person who is now a אב הטמאה, touches another person, that person is as we mentioned above, becomes a
ראשון לטמאה ...
so, it would follow our logic that if this ראשון לטמאה, now touches another person, this "touched" person or object would not contract any tumah .....it would stop (except if he touched food.)
But the rabbis enacted a rule (תקנה) that the hands of this person who is a ראשון לטמאה becomes a שני לטמאה as well ...
his hands not his entire body..
So now he can still covey tumah to Teruma & Kodesh foods with his hands.
The rabbis enacted this rule so that people be careful what with their hands at all times and that is the novelty of this rule.
Therefore the Kohanim had to wash their hands before they ate terumah .. because of its greater sanctity.
The rabbis instituted that all of us should wash their hands before eating bread to be in the habit of being careful with our hands...... and now you know why we wash to bread ...
Press "read more" immediately below to continue to the rest of the dafim!
"דף ל''ד "טומאת משקים
Page34 Mesectas Chullin
"Contamination (Tumah) of Liquids"
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Normally,ordinary food and liquid items (not Terumah or Kodshim) become tumeh only if it came in contact with an item or a person that had the level of ראשון לטמאה or higher.
The rabbis, however, decreed that liquids can contract tumah from a שני לטמאה .... that liquid that became tumah becomes a ראשון לטמאה!
"דף ל''ה "זהירת מטומאה
Page 35 Mesectas Chullin
"Using Caution Not to become Tumah"
Unfortunately, we are all tumeh today , because in order to become "ritually clean" we need the water of the ashes of a Para Adumah.
Years ago when we had the Bais Ha'mikdash, people were very careful to avoid tumah, they had to be "ritually clean" all the time because you couldn't separate Terumah with tumah hands, you couldn't offer up sacrifices on the alter, sacrifices that sometimes required eating some of it which was called "kodshim"...in a state of tumah!
People were therefore careful not to even have ordinary food contact tumah.
Spiritual benefits of eating even ordinary (chullin) foods free from tumah, are great, as the Torah states in Sefer VaYikrah
והתקדשתם והייתם קדשים
there the Torah teaches us to eat even "chullin" that is free from tumah!
"דף ל''ו "הדם והמים שבעזרה
Page 36 Mesectas Chullin
"Blood & Water of the Courtyard"
On this daf, we learn a novel halacha and that is that blood or water that was in the courtyard of the Bais Hamikdash were not susceptible to contracting tumah.
The Talmud in Tractate Avoda Zara relates that Yoisi ben Yoezer the man of Tzereida, gave testimony that the rabbis ruled leniently on 3 halachois and one of them is the halacha just mentioned that "blood and water" that were in the slaughterhouse in the courtyard were not susceptible to contracting tumah."
Because of his testimony they called Yoisi ben Yoezer , "Yoisi the lenient one." The rabbis felt that his rulings were too lenient.
It is also related that Rebbe Yehuda Ha"Nasie refused to allow the consumption of bread from goyim, because the rabbis had previously permitted oil of goyim and he didn't want to be nicknamed "The Lenient Court."
Those rabbis felt that if they were going to permit items that were considered up until then, prohibited .. then people who weren't so learned in halacha would come to be lenient in other halachois where there was absolutely no room to be lenient ...
therefore the rabbis were reluctant to be lenient .... !
"דף ל''ז "בהמה מסוכנת
Page 37 Mesectas Chullin
"An Animal in Danger"
On this daf, the Talmud questions if it is permitted to eat a "dangerous" animal?
What is the meaning of a "dangerous animal"בהמה מסוכנת" ?
Are we talking about an aggressive animal that is in the habit of kicking or charging at people that try to get close to them?
Well, no..... the Talmud describing the laws of a בהמה מסוכנת, a dangerous animal, is not discussing an animal that is dangerous to others but the Talmud is discussing an animal that is dangerous to itself.. for example an animal that is chronically ill and is about to expire.
One would think that it is prohibited to slaughter this animal and eat from it ...just like it is prohibited to eat from an animal that is a טרפה, meaning an animal with a life threatening blemish....
However, the rabbis permitted people to slaughter and then eat even from a בהמה מסוכנת, under certain circumstances.
I believe that in todays slaughterhouses, the rabbis do not permit a בהמה מסוכנת to be slaughtered.
"דף ל'ח "איסור מכוח המחשבה
Page 38 Mesectas Chullin
"Prohibited because of the Wrong Intent"
Can there be a situation where an animal would be prohibited from being consumed only because someone had the wrong intent when the animal was slaughtered?
On this daf, there is a dispute among the rabbis if it is permitted to slaughter an animal for a goy who worships idols.
The Tanna Kama is of the opinion that there is nothing wrong with this slaughter.
But Rebbe Eliezer disagrees and holds that this slaughter is invalid.
Why?
Rebbe Eliezer explains, that it is only natural for an Idol Worshipper to have the animal slaughtered for the benefit of his idol, therefore this intent invalidates the slaughter .....
Rebbe Yosie, argues ...
He argues and states that it's true that sacrifices offered on the alter can be invalid if the intent wasn't for the right reasons .....
but that slaughter is only invalid if the Shoichet, the one doing the slaughter himself has the wrong intent but the intent of the owner of the animal is not relevant at all....
so logic would dictate, if we permit the slaughter of a sacrifice that will be offered on the alter in the Bais Hamikdash even if the owner had the wrong intent ..... how much more valid should the slaughter of an ordinary animal be, even if the owner's intent was wrong, even if the owner the goy's intention was that it be slaughtered for his idol ...
and because of this reasoning, Rebbe Yosie permitted it!
"דף ל'ט "סרוב לקבל מתנה
Page 39 Mesectas Chullin
"Refusing to Accept a Gift"
Since in general, people are not opposed in principle to accept gifts, the halacha is, that one can grant a gift to someone without the recipient's knowledge.
For example:
Reuvein wants to give Shimon 100 Shekel, but Shimon is nowhere to be found .....
Reuvein insisting on giving these funds to Shimon can go to Levi and ask him to accept the 100 Shekalim on behalf of Shimon.
In the instant, that Levi accepts those Shekalim, Shimon automatically has ownership.
TheTalmud relates an interesting scenario.
Reuvein had decided to to give Levi a gift of "Goyishe Slaves."
Reuvein now wants Shimon to accept the gift on behalf of Levi...
Levi when he gets wind of this gift remains quiet and doesn't respond.
When the slaves actually arrive at Levi's house he refuses to let them enter and he says he doesn't want them ..
To whom do those slaves belong to?
This question is left unanswered...why?
Because we don't know when he actually refused the gift ...
It could be that when he initially heard about the gift he kept quiet because he really wanted them and therefore the halachaca is that he has acquired them, but then when they arrived, he changed his mind ....but now since he has acquired them it is too late to change his mind ..
and in that case he is stuck with them ....
and in that case he is stuck with them ....
or
on the other hand, we can argue, that perhaps he never really wanted the gift, but he kept quiet until they were actually delivered when he protested that he doesn't want them , therefore he never acquired them ....and Reuvein gets them back ..
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