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Bava Basra 120a

בבא בתרא ק״כ ע״א

Bava Batra 120a

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Topic

יוכבד's renewed youth and wedding, and the בנות צלפחד: the order of their names, whom they could marry, and why the tribe rule lasted only one generation

Overview

The amud opens by finishing a side discussion about עמרם remarrying יוכבד. The גמרא asks how a 130-year-old woman can be called 'בַּת', and why the פסוק says 'וַיִּקַּח' (took) instead of 'took back.' רב יהודה בר זבידא answers that her youth returned and that עמרם made her a full wedding. The גמרא then returns to בנות צלפחד. Their names appear in one order by age and in another by wisdom, which supports רבי אמי's rule: honor wisdom when learning and age at a meal. רב אשי limits this rule to someone who clearly stands out. The school of רבי ישמעאל instead says all five sisters were equal. שמואל rules they could marry into any tribe, and he reads 'only within their father's tribe' as good advice. רבה challenges this from a ברייתא and answers that the tribe rule applied to everyone except בנות צלפחד. Finally, רבא learns from 'זה הדבר' that the tribe rule was only for that generation, and רב אשי explains why שחוטי חוץ is different.

Opening lines

אֶפְשָׁר בַּת מֵאָה וּשְׁלֹשִׁים שָׁנָה,

Is it possible? She was one hundred thirty years old,

וְקֹרֵא לָהּ: ״בַּת״?!

and the verse calls her 'daughter'?!

דְּאָמַר רַבִּי חָמָא בַּר חֲנִינָא:

As Rabbi Ḥama bar Ḥanina said:

זוֹ יוֹכֶבֶד;

This is Yocheved,

The steps (20)

  1. ChallengeHow can a 130-year-old woman be called 'daughter'?
  2. ProofProof that יוכבד was conceived on the way to מצרים
  3. ResolutionHer youth miraculously returned
  4. ChallengeWhy 'took' and not 'took back'?
  5. Resolutionעמרם made her a full wedding
  6. Statementבנות צלפחד listed by age in one place and by wisdom in another
  7. ProofThis supports רבי אמי: wisdom when learning, age at a meal
  8. Statementרב אשי: only when someone clearly stands out
  9. StatementThe school of רבי ישמעאל: The daughters were all equal
  10. Statementשמואל: The daughters could marry into any tribe
  11. ChallengeBut the verse says they must marry within their tribe
  12. ResolutionIt was only good advice
  13. Challengeרבה begins a challenge from a ברייתא about fathers and sons
  14. ChallengeMarrying within the tribe was a real מצוה for the fathers
  15. Challengeרבה points to the words of the ברייתא
  16. Resolutionרבה answers himself: the בנות צלפחד were an exception
  17. QuestionHow do we know the rule was only for the fathers?
  18. Responseרבא: 'This is the matter' means only this generation
  19. Challengeרבה זוטי: the same words appear about שחוטי חוץ
  20. ResolutionThere the תורה says 'throughout their generations'