Makkos 16a

מכות ט״ז ע״א

Makkot 16a

Learn Makkos 16a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Makkos 16a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

No מלקות for a broken oath (לאו שאין בו מעשה and התראת ספק), and a לאו paired with a fix-it עשה: the mother bird, the אונס, robbery and collateral

Overview

The amud opens in the middle of a case: a man swore to eat a loaf today, and the day ended without his eating it. רבי יוחנן and ריש לקיש agree he gets no מלקות. רבי יוחנן says the reason is that it is a לאו שאין בו מעשה. ריש לקיש says it is because the warning was a התראת ספק. Each one reads רבי יהודה's teaching about leftover קרבן פסח meat (נותר) to support his view. Each is then defended with a different tradition of רבי יהודה, and the גמרא explains why רבי יהודה seems to contradict himself. Next comes a משנה about taking the mother bird with her young, where a לאו is paired with a fix-it עשה. רבי יוחנן says there is only one other case like it, and רבי אלעזר finds it: an אונס who divorced the woman. The גמרא works out how an אונס could make remarriage impossible, ending with a vow made על דעת רבים. Finally it asks why robbery and collateral are not on the list, answers that payment replaces lashes, and רבי זירא objects with the collateral of a גר who died.

Opening lines

The steps (27)

1. Statementרבי יוחנן's reason: no action was done
2. Statementריש לקיש's reason: the warning was uncertain
3. ProofBoth opinions are based on רבי יהודה's teaching about leftover קרבן פסח meat
4. Proofרבי יוחנן's inference: an uncertain warning does count
5. Proofריש לקיש's inference: a prohibition without action does get lashes
6. ChallengeChallenge to ריש לקיש: נותר is also an uncertain warning
7. Resolutionריש לקיש relies on another tradition of רבי יהודה
8. ChallengeThe same problem for רבי יוחנן
9. Resolutionרבי יוחנן relies on his own tradition of רבי יהודה
10. Challengeרבי יהודה seems to contradict himself
11. ResolutionEach אמורא explains the contradiction in רבי יהודה's views
12. StatementThe משנה about taking the mother bird with her young
13. Statementרבי יוחנן: there is only one other case like this
14. Questionרבי אלעזר asks which case is the other one
15. ResponseThe other case: an אונס who divorced
16. ChallengeThis works for those who say the test is whether he fulfilled the מצוה
17. ChallengeHow can an אונס ever make the מצוה impossible?
18. ResolutionHe accepted betrothal for her from another man
19. RejectionThe betrothal case fails either way
20. ResolutionHe made a public vow against her
21. ChallengeBut some say a public vow can be undone
22. ResolutionHe vowed on the consent of the public
23. Proofאמימר's ruling backs up the distinction
24. ChallengeAren't there more cases, like robbery and collateral?
25. ChallengeRobbery and collateral fit both views too
26. ResolutionThose cases involve payment, so no lashes
27. ChallengeWhat about collateral of a convert who died?