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Chagigah 10b

חגיגה י׳ ע״ב

Learn Chagigah 10b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Which laws of שבת, חגיגה and מעילה are 'like mountains hanging by a hair', and why

Overview

The משנה listed areas of law that are 'like mountains hanging by a hair': many laws resting on very little text. The גמרא first explains that הלכות שבת belong on the list because the key rule of מלאכת מחשבת is not written in the שבת section. Next it asks about חגיגות, which seem to be written. רב פפא asks whether 'וחגותם' might only mean 'celebrate', and the גמרא tries to prove from 'חלב חגי' that חג means a קרבן. After a long back-and-forth that proof falls away, and the גמרא learns it instead from a גזירה שוה on the word 'מדבר'. The law still 'hangs by a hair' because that גזירה שוה uses a פסוק from עמוס, and Torah law is not normally learned from נביאים. Then the גמרא turns to מעילה. רמי בר חמא, רבא and רב אשי each offer a different surprising rule as the 'hair', and each answer is challenged in turn. The challenge to רב אשי, based on שמואל, continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

מְלֶאכֶת מַחְשֶׁבֶת אָסְרָה תּוֹרָה,

The Torah forbade only planned, purposeful labor,

וּמְלֶאכֶת מַחְשֶׁבֶת לָא כְּתִיבָא.

and 'planned labor' is not written there.

חֲגִיגוֹת.

'Festival offerings.'

מִיכְתָּב כְּתִיבָן!

But they are clearly written!

The steps (25)

  1. ResolutionWhy the laws of שבת hang by a hair
  2. ChallengeBut Festival offerings are written in the Torah
  3. ResolutionMaybe 'celebrate' does not mean 'bring an offering'
  4. Challengeאביי: then would 'וְיָחוֹגּוּ' also mean just a celebration?
  5. Proofמשה asked for sacrifices, so 'חג' means offerings
  6. ChallengeMaybe the animals were just for a feast
  7. Resolution'The fat of My festival' seems to prove חג means an offering
  8. ChallengeMaybe 'My festival' only means the time the fat is brought
  9. ResolutionFats may never stay overnight, so festival time cannot be the point
  10. ChallengeMaybe the festival verse adds a prohibition
  11. ResolutionThe prohibition is already written in another verse
  12. ChallengeMaybe the verse adds a second prohibition
  13. ProofA new source: the word 'wilderness' in two verses
  14. QuestionSo why is it 'hanging by a hair'?
  15. ResponseBecause the source is from נביאים, not the תורה
  16. ChallengeBut the laws of מעילה are written in the תורה
  17. Resolutionרמי בר חמא: it refers to the law of the שליח
  18. ConclusionWhy the שליח rule is surprising
  19. Challengeרבא: the agent rule is learned from תרומה, so it is not shaky
  20. Resolutionרבא's new case: the owner remembers but the agent forgets
  21. ConclusionWhy רבא's case is 'hanging by a hair'
  22. Challengeרב אשי: the agent is like anyone who spends הקדש money by mistake
  23. Resolutionרב אשי's new case: the הקדש stone handed to a friend
  24. ConclusionWhy the stone case is 'hanging by a hair'
  25. ChallengeWhat is so difficult about the stone case?