Gemara Clarity

Moed Katan 3b

מועד קטן ג׳ ע״ב

Learn Moed Katan 3b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Moed Katan 3b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The 'addition' in רב דימי's tradition, the plowing deadlines before שביעית, and how רבן גמליאל's court could cancel them

Overview

רב דימי brings a tradition that someone might think he gets מלקות for 'the addition,' but a teaching exempts him. He admits he does not know what the addition or the teaching is. רבי אלעזר says the addition is plowing in שמיטה, which is learned through a כלל ופרט וכלל, and the listed details show that only they carry lashes. רבי יוחנן says it is the days the חכמים added before ראש השנה of the seventh year. A משנה explains those days: deadlines for plowing an orchard and a grain field in the sixth year, which רבי שמעון fixes at עצרת and פסח. רבן גמליאל's court voted to cancel these periods, and the גמרא asks how a lesser court could cancel the enactment of בית שמאי and בית הלל. The answer is that they made a condition allowing cancellation. When the גמרא objects that the ban is a הלכה למשה מסיני, רבי יצחק explains that only thirty days came from Sinai and the longer periods were a conditional rabbinic addition. The גמרא then asks whether the ban really comes from פסוקים instead, quoting רבי עקיבא, and that discussion continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

כִּי אֲתָא רַב דִּימִי, אָמַר:

When Rav Dimi came, he said:

יָכוֹל יִלְקֶה עַל הַתּוֹסֶפֶת.

One might think he would be lashed for the addition.

וְנָסֵיב לַהּ תַּלְמוּדָא לִפְטוּרָא,

But a teaching takes it toward exemption,

וְלָא יָדַעְנָא מַאי תַּלְמוּדָא וּמַאי תּוֹסֶפֶת.

And I do not know what teaching and what addition.

The steps (16)

  1. Statementרב דימי brings a tradition about an 'addition' that does not get lashes
  2. Questionרב דימי admits he does not know which addition or teaching is meant
  3. Responseרבי אלעזר: the addition is plowing during שמיטה
  4. ProofWhy list details if every labor carried lashes?
  5. Responseרבי יוחנן: the addition is the days added before ראש השנה
  6. QuestionWhich days before ראש השנה are meant?
  7. ResponseThe deadline for plowing an orchard
  8. ResponseThe deadline for plowing a grain field
  9. Statementרבי שמעון demands fixed dates
  10. Statementרבן גמליאל's court cancels these periods
  11. ChallengeHow could a lesser court cancel a greater court's enactment?
  12. ResolutionThe original enactors allowed future cancellation
  13. ChallengeBut the plowing ban comes from Sinai
  14. ResolutionSinai gave thirty days; the rest was added with a condition
  15. ChallengeAre these bans really Sinai laws, or do they come from verses?
  16. Proofרבי עקיבא reads a verse as banning plowing on ערב שביעית