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Menachos 40b

מנחות מ׳ ע״ב

Menachot 40b

Learn Menachos 40b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Menachos 40b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The decree against סדין בציצית, which garments need ציצית, and 'תעשה ולא מן העשוי'

Overview

The amud opens by searching for the reason the חכמים forbade ציצית with wool תכלת on a linen garment. A קל וחומר knocks down an earlier reason. רבא then explains the worry: a torn linen garment might be sewn with linen thread near the corner, and that thread later used as ציצית, which is invalid because of 'תעשה ולא מן העשוי'. רב זירא adds a second worry about a nighttime garment. רבא rules that a garment made of cloth and leather follows its main body, while רב אחאי follows the corner. רב הונא rules that ציצית tied onto a three-cornered garment before it became four-cornered are פסול. The גמרא tests this against the early חסידים and against רבי זירא's case of tying ציצית onto a garment that already has them. רבא and רב פפא argue over that second challenge. Finally שמואל rules that תכלת is not subject to כלאים even on an exempt garment, and the גמרא begins asking which garment counts as exempt. That discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

חָמֵץ בְּפֶסַח וְיוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים

Leavened bread on Passover and Yom Kippur

דְּכָרֵת – סָמְכִינַן אַדִּיסְקֵי,

which carry karet, we rely on letters;

הָכָא דַּעֲשֵׂה בְּעָלְמָא

here, which is merely a positive commandment,

לֹא כׇּל שֶׁכֵּן!

is it not all the more so!

The steps (16)

  1. RejectionIf we rely on letters for כרת matters, surely we can for ציצית
  2. Resolutionרבא's reason: a torn linen garment sewn with linen thread
  3. Proofציצית must be made for the מצוה, not taken from what is already there
  4. Statementרבי זירא removes the ציצית from his linen garment
  5. StatementA second reason: a nighttime garment
  6. StatementA garment of cloth and leather follows its main body
  7. Statementרב אחאי goes by the corner
  8. Statementציצית tied on before the fourth corner was added are invalid
  9. ChallengeThe early חסידים tied on תכלת while still weaving
  10. ResolutionRead it as three fingerbreadths left to weave
  11. ChallengeChallenge from tying ציצית onto a garment that already has them
  12. Resolutionרבא: a second set that breaks בל תוסיף is not a real act
  13. Challengeרב פפא: maybe he meant to cancel the first set
  14. Statementשמואל: תכלת is not subject to כלאים, even on an exempt garment
  15. QuestionWhich garment counts as exempt?
  16. ChallengeMaybe it is too small, but a ברייתא gives a small size limit