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Chagigah 11a

חגיגה י״א ע״א

Learn Chagigah 11a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The 'hanging by a hair' law of מעילה, and laws that only have support in the תורה

Overview

The גמרא first finishes searching for the law of מעילה that the משנה calls 'like mountains hanging by a hair'. The stone-or-beam case makes sense once we see it is about a גזבר. The house case also makes sense according to רב, so neither of these is the 'hanging' law. The answer is רבא's case: the messenger is guilty even though he had no reason to suspect the money was הקדש. Next, a ברייתא and רב פפא explain that נגעים has many פסוקים and few הלכות, while אהלות has few פסוקים and many הלכות. Then the גמרא goes through the משנה's list of laws that 'have something to rely on': דינין, עבודות, טהרות and טומאות. Each time it asks, 'They are written in the תורה!' Each time it answers that the משנה means one detail that is only hinted at: רבי's money reading of נפש תחת נפש, הולכת הדם, the forty סאה of a מקוה, and the lentil-size of a שרץ. The same question is then asked about עריות, and its answer continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

בְּגִזְבָּר הַמְּסוּרוֹת לוֹ

With a treasurer to whom were entrusted

אַבְנֵי בִנְיָן עָסְקִינַן,

the building stones, we are dealing,

דְּכׇל הֵיכָא דְּמַנְּחָה —

for anywhere that it is resting,

בִּרְשׁוּתָא דִּידֵיהּ מַנְּחָה.

it is resting in his own domain.

The steps (30)

  1. RejectionThe stone case is about a Temple treasurer
  2. ResponseNew suggestion: the case of building the stone into a house
  3. Rejectionרב explains the house case, so it is not strange
  4. ConclusionBack to רבא: the messenger had no reason to check
  5. StatementQuoting the משנה and a ברייתא on נגעים and אהלות
  6. ChallengeBut נגעים Has Many פסוקים
  7. Resolutionרב פפא: נגעים and אהלות Are Opposites
  8. QuestionWhat Difference Does It Make?
  9. ResponseWhere to Look When You Are Unsure
  10. ChallengeMoney Laws Are Written Explicitly
  11. ResolutionIt Follows רבי
  12. Statementרבי: A Life for a Life Means Money
  13. QuestionMaybe It Means an Actual Life
  14. ProofThe Word Giving Links the Two Verses
  15. Challengeעבודות are written in the תורה
  16. ResolutionIt refers to carrying the blood
  17. ProofThe תורה calls collecting the blood by the word for carrying
  18. ConclusionCarrying follows the rules of collecting
  19. ChallengePurity laws are written in the תורה
  20. ResolutionIt refers to the size of a מקוה
  21. ProofThe verses hint at a body-sized amount of water
  22. Conclusionחכמים set the מקוה at forty סאה
  23. ChallengeThe laws of טומאה are written in the תורה
  24. ResolutionThe משנה means the lentil-size measure of a creeping animal
  25. ProofA ברייתא reads 'of them' and 'them' about the creeping animal
  26. ResolutionA part that is like the whole
  27. Conclusionחכמים set it at the size of a lentil
  28. Statementרבי יוסי son of רבי יהודה: a lizard's tail
  29. Challengeעריות are written in the תורה
  30. ResolutionThe answer about forbidden relations begins