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Makkos 15a

מכות ט״ו ע״א

Makkot 15a

Learn Makkos 15a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Makkos 15a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

מלקות for a לאו שקדמו עשה, and why an אונס who divorces is not lashed

Overview

Right before this, רבי יוחנן was quoted as ruling that one gets מלקות for a לאו that has an עשה before it (לאו שקדמו עשה). When asked, he denies saying it. רבה swears that he did, and shows the rule in a פסוק and a משנה. The גמרא explains that רבי יוחנן was bothered by a ברייתא: an אונס who divorced the girl, if he is a ישראל, takes her back and gets no lashes. עולא tries to show that the אונס's עשה really means 'if he divorced her, he must remarry her,' using קל וחומר and 'אם אינו ענין' with the case of מוציא שם רע. Each attempt is refuted. In the end רבא, and רבי יוחנן as reported by רבין, learn it from 'כל ימיו': all his days he must take her back. רב פפא then asks why a לאו with an extra עשה should still get lashes, and רבא explains that only an עשה that comes to fix the לאו removes lashes. The amud ends by asking how רבא's answer fits the view of 'קיימו ולא קיימו,' and the answer comes on the next amud.

Opening lines

אָמְרוּ לוֹ: אָמַרְתָּ?

They said to him: Did you say [this]?

אֲמַר לְהוּ: לָא.

He said to them: No.

אָמַר רַבָּה: הָאֱלֹהִים!

Rabba said: By God!

אַמְרַהּ, וּכְתִיבָא וּתְנֵינָא:

He said it, and it is written, and we learned it:

The steps (21)

  1. Questionרבי יוחנן is asked if he said it and denies it
  2. Proofרבה swears he said it and brings a פסוק and a משנה
  3. QuestionWhy did רבי יוחנן back away?
  4. ResponseThe case of the rapist who divorced bothered him
  5. ChallengeWhy isn't the Yisrael rapist flogged?
  6. Resolutionעולא: the words 'she shall be his wife' are extra
  7. ResolutionThe extra words teach: if he divorced, he must remarry
  8. ChallengeYou cannot learn אונס from מוציא שם רע
  9. ResolutionReverse it: learn מוציא שם רע from אונס
  10. ChallengeYou cannot learn מוציא שם רע from אונס either
  11. ResolutionMoving the extra words from the defamer to the rapist
  12. ChallengeMaybe the extra words stay with the defamer himself
  13. ResolutionAgreed, and the rapist would be learned from the defamer
  14. ChallengeEvery way of learning the rapist from the defamer can be refuted
  15. Resolutionרבא: 'All his days' means take her back
  16. Conclusionרבי יוחנן taught the same thing
  17. Challengeרב פפא: This prohibition is not like muzzling
  18. Resolutionרבא: An extra מצוה does not make it weaker
  19. ChallengeThen why no lashes for a לאו הניתק לעשה?
  20. Resolutionרבא: That עשה comes to detach the לאו
  21. ChallengeDoes 'כל ימיו' work under 'קיימו ולא קיימו'?