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Chagigah 20a

חגיגה כ׳ ע״א

Learn Chagigah 20a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Purity levels and guarding: whether חולין kept at the purity of קודש count as קודש, and when a lapse of attention (היסח הדעת) makes a careful person's items impure

Overview

The גמרא first asks whether ordinary food kept at the purity level of קודש counts like קודש. A proof from the silence of the משנה is pushed aside, but the case of יוחנן בן גודגדא shows that it does. Next come rulings that a careful person's clothes become impure through a lapse of attention: a shawl handed back by a friend, and clothes switched by mistake, including a case where רבי עקיבא ruled switched bathhouse clothes impure. רבי אושעיא challenges this with a ברייתא about a barrel guarded as wine that turned out to be oil, which stays pure. To explain that ברייתא, רבי ירמיה says a person can guard an item from impurity but not from being disqualified, and a ברייתא about a basket and a shovel shows that such half-guarding exists. רבה בר אבוה adds stories where רבי ישמעאל praised the rule that intent to guard is what keeps an item pure. The גמרא explains that in the switched-clothes cases the owner truly stopped paying attention. It then asks why a shawl held by a friend should be impure, and רבי יוחנן answers that people do not guard what someone else is holding. The amud ends by questioning that assumption, and the proof comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

מִדְּלָא קָתָנֵי בְּהוּ מַעֲלָה.

From the fact that it does not teach a higher level for them.

וְדִלְמָא הַאי דְּלָא קָתָנֵי בְּהוּ מַעֲלָה,

But perhaps the reason it does not teach a higher level for them

דְּאִי דָּמוּ לִתְרוּמָה — הָא תָּנֵי תְּרוּמָה,

is that if they are like תרומה, it already taught תרומה,

וְאִי דָּמוּ לְחוּלִּין — הָא תָּנֵי לְחוּלִּין.

and if they are like ordinary food, it already taught ordinary food.

The steps (26)

  1. ProofProof from the missing level in the משנה
  2. RejectionMaybe they are like תרומה or like חולין
  3. ProofNew proof from the end of the משנה
  4. ConclusionHis care counted for קודש
  5. StatementA fallen shawl handed back by a friend is impure
  6. StatementSwitched שבת and weekday clothes become impure
  7. Proofרבי עקיבא declares switched bathhouse clothes impure
  8. Challengeרבי אושעיא: then grabbing the wrong bread would also make it impure
  9. ChallengeA ברייתא: a barrel guarded as wine that turns out to be oil stays pure
  10. RejectionBut the same ברייתא forbids eating the oil, so why?
  11. ResolutionHe guarded it from impurity but not from disqualification
  12. ChallengeCan someone guard only halfway?
  13. ProofThe basket and the shovel
  14. ChallengeShouldn't the shovel make the basket impure?
  15. ResolutionA vessel does not make another vessel impure
  16. ChallengeShouldn't the shovel make the food in the basket impure?
  17. Resolutionרבינא: The shovel was guarded halfway
  18. ChallengeThe original difficulty comes back
  19. ChallengeFirst story: the garment and the נדה
  20. ChallengeSecond story: the cloth and the snapped thread
  21. Challengeרבי ישמעאל repeats the rule of guarding
  22. ChallengeHow רבי אלעזר בר צדוק's view fits the two wives
  23. ChallengeThe שבת clothes case is also easy to explain
  24. ChallengeWhy can't he guard the garment in his friend's hand?
  25. ResolutionA person does not guard what is in someone else's hand
  26. ChallengeCan a person really not guard what another holds?