Gemara Clarity

Menachos 38a

מנחות ל״ח ע״א

Menachot 38a

Learn Menachos 38a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Menachos 38a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

End of the story about מר בר רב אשי's torn ציצית and כבוד הבריות, the הדרן for פרק הקומץ, and the opening משנה of the next פרק: תכלת and לבן, and תפילין של יד and של ראש, do not hold each other back.

Overview

The amud opens with the end of a story about מר בר רב אשי, whose ציצית tore on שבת. In the first version, he says כבוד הבריות only pushes aside rabbinic laws (the לאו of לא תסור), so he would have thrown off the garment. In a second version (איכא דאמרי), he keeps the garment on because of כבוד הבריות. The גמרא explains that this is allowed because they were in a כרמלית, where carrying is forbidden only מדרבנן. Then פרק הקומץ ends with a הדרן. The new פרק opens with a משנה: תכלת and לבן do not hold each other back, and neither do תפילין של יד and של ראש. The גמרא asks whether this goes against רבי, who learns from ״וּרְאִיתֶם אֹתוֹ״ that both kinds of strings are needed together, while חכמים read it as each one alone. רב answers that the משנה can match רבי, because it is only about which string is put in first. A ברייתא backs this up: white goes before תכלת, and doing it the other way is valid but 'missing a מצוה.' The amud ends by asking what 'missing a מצוה' means.

Opening lines

בְּלָאו דְּ״לֹא תָסוּר״.

With regard to the prohibition of "You shall not stray."

וְאִיכָּא דְּאָמְרִי

And there are those who say

מֵהָתָם אֲמַר לֵיהּ,

he told him right from there,

וַאֲמַר לֵיהּ: מַאי דַּעְתָּיךְ לְמִישְׁדְּיֵיהּ?

and he said to him: What is your thinking, that I should throw it off?

The steps (14)

  1. ResolutionHuman dignity only overrides the rabbinic prohibition of 'do not stray'
  2. StatementSecond version: told right away, he refuses to remove the garment
  3. ChallengeChallenge: the rule was limited to rabbinic law
  4. ResolutionAnswer: the place was a כרמלית, which is only rabbinic
  5. ConclusionHadran — Closing פרק הקומץ
  6. Statementמשנה: the ציצית colors and the two תפילין don't hold each other back
  7. ChallengeIs the משנה against רבי?
  8. QuestionWhat is רבי's reason?
  9. Responseרבי reads "it" as both strings together
  10. Responseחכמים read "it" as each string on its own
  11. ChallengeBack to the question: is the משנה against רבי?
  12. ResolutionThe משנה can match רבי: it is about which comes first
  13. ProofA ברייתא shows there is a set order for the strings
  14. QuestionWhat does 'missed a מצוה' mean?