Gemara Clarity

Menachos 93b

מנחות צ״ג ע״ב

Menachot 93b

Learn Menachos 93b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Menachos 93b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Why each opinion learns the blind person's exclusion from a different source, and the details of סמיכה: who leans, where, with what, and how it compares to תנופה

Overview

This amud finishes the discussion of why one opinion learns from עולת ראיה and the other from the זקני העדה that a blind person does not do סמיכה. Then the גמרא goes through the משנה's rules of סמיכה one by one. Three times the תורה says ״יָדוֹ״, and these exclude a slave, an agent and a wife from leaning for the owner. סמיכה is a שיירי מצוה: skipping it counts against the owner, but the קרבן still atones, and the same is true of תנופה. Hands go on the head, not on the neck, back, breast or sides, and nothing may come between the hands and the animal. ריש לקיש learns that two hands are needed, and the גמרא tells the story of רבי אלעזר repeating that teaching without credit. That story ends with the rule narrowed to סמיכה on an animal. After explaining that the שחיטה is done right where the סמיכה happened, a new משנה begins comparing the strict points of סמיכה and תנופה, which continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

דָּנִין יָחִיד מִיָּחִיד,

We derive an individual from an individual,

וְאֵין דָּנִין יָחִיד מִצִּיבּוּר.

but we do not derive an individual from the community.

וּלְמַאן דְּיָלֵיף מִזִּקְנֵי עֵדָה,

And according to the one who derives it from the elders of the congregation,

מַאי טַעְמָא לָא יָלֵיף

what is the reason he does not derive it

The steps (31)

  1. ResponseLearn an individual's offering from an individual's offering
  2. QuestionWhy doesn't the other opinion learn from עולת ראיה?
  3. ResponseLearn from a case where סמיכה is written explicitly
  4. ProofSource that עולת חובה learns סמיכה from עולת נדבה
  5. StatementQuoting the משנה: slave, agent and woman
  6. Proof״יָדוֹ״ three times excludes slave, agent and wife
  7. QuestionWhy do we need all three exclusions?
  8. ResponseEach exclusion is needed: slave, agent and wife
  9. StatementThe משנה: סמיכה is a non-essential part of the מצוה
  10. ProofA ברייתא explains how סמיכה relates to atonement
  11. ProofThe same rule is taught about תנופה
  12. StatementHands must be placed on the head, not the neck, back or breast
  13. QuestionWhy are three exclusions needed?
  14. ResponseThe back needs its own exclusion
  15. ResponseThe breast needs its own exclusion
  16. QuestionWhat about the sides of the head?
  17. ResponseThe sides of the head do not count
  18. QuestionDoes a cloth on the hands block the leaning?
  19. ResponseNothing may come between him and the offering
  20. QuestionWhere do we learn that two hands are needed?
  21. Responseריש לקיש: "his hand" means two unless the פסוק says one
  22. Statementרבי אלעזר repeats the teaching without credit
  23. ChallengeWhy would the תורה ever write "his hands"?
  24. ChallengeTwenty-four examples of "his hands," and רבי אלעזר is silent
  25. Resolutionריש לקיש supplies the answer רבי אלעזר could have given
  26. ChallengeBut a פסוק about leaning also says his hands
  27. ResolutionThe rule was only about leaning on an animal
  28. QuestionWhat does the משנה mean about the place and the timing of slaughter?
  29. ResponseIt is one rule with its reason
  30. StatementNew mishna: each of leaning and waving is stricter in some way
  31. StatementHow waving is stricter: it applies to both individual and communal offerings