Arachin 12a

ערכין י״ב ע״א

Arakhin 12a

Learn Arachin 12a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

שירה over נסכים alone, and dating the first חורבן

Overview

The גמרא asks whether נסכים brought without a קרבן need the לויים' שירה. It tries to prove that they do from רבי יוסי's ברייתא: the לויים were singing when the first בית המקדש was destroyed, and the only thing they could have been singing over was נסכים. רבא (or רב אשי) rejects the proof, because the פסוק they sang was not that day's שיר. It was only a lament that came into their mouths. Standing on the דוכן proves nothing either, because ריש לקיש allows singing without a קרבן. They still did not sing over נסכים alone, out of worry that people would treat the required שירה as optional. The גמרא then turns to the ברייתא itself and asks how the first חורבן could have been in the year after שביעית, since a פסוק in יחזקאל places a יובל fourteen years later. רבינא answers that the fourteen years start after the year of the destruction. A back-and-forth over the 'twenty-fifth year of our exile' follows. It ends with the explanation that there were only two exiles, dated from two starting points, and the supporting timeline of נבוכדנצר's reign begins at the end of the amud.

Opening lines

The steps (18)

1. QuestionDo libations brought alone need song?
2. ProofBringing in רבי יוסי's teaching about the day of destruction
3. ProofThe song must have been over libations
4. RejectionIt was only a lament, not a real Temple song
5. ChallengeBut the Levites were standing on their platform
6. ResolutionLevites may sing even without an offering
7. ChallengeThen let them sing over libations too
8. ResolutionSinging over libations could lead to a mistake
9. StatementReturning to רבי יוסי's teaching itself
10. ChallengeA פסוק in יחזקאל puts a יובל fourteen years after the destruction
11. ChallengeThe counting does not reach a Jubilee in year fourteen
12. Resolutionרבינא counts the fourteen years from the year after the destruction
13. ChallengeThen the 'twenty-fifth year' would really be the twenty-sixth
14. ProofThe exile dates prove the count reaches twenty-six
15. Resolutionרבינא shows the challenger has the same problem
16. ChallengeThe year nineteen is still a problem for רבינא
17. ResolutionOnly two exiles, counted in two different ways
18. ProofA source about נבוכדנצר's first year