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Nedarim 37b

נדרים ל״ז ע״ב

Learn Nedarim 37b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Why children don't start new מקרא on שבת, why רב and רבי יוחנן explain the teacher's pay differently, and the reading traditions from סיני

Overview

The משנה allows someone who may not benefit from another person to still have that person teach his sons and daughters מקרא. Earlier on the daf, רב said a מקרא teacher is paid for watching the children (שכר שימור), and רבי יוחנן said he is paid for teaching the trope (שכר פיסוק טעמים). The amud opens by finishing a ברייתא showing that pay for שבת is allowed when it is part of a longer hire. That knocks down the earlier reason why children don't start new material on שבת. The גמרא gives two new reasons instead: so fathers are free to enjoy שבת, or because children are too full from שבת meals to learn well. Next, the גמרא explains each side of the dispute. רבי יוחנן rejects 'watching' because girls don't need watching. רב rejects 'trope' because the trope is part of the Torah itself, which he learns from a פסוק in נחמיה. The amud ends with רבי יצחק's teaching that four reading traditions are a הלכה למשה מסיני, and the גמרא begins listing examples of each. The list of words written but not read continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אִם אָבְדוּ — אֵינוֹ חַיָּיב בְּאַחְרָיוּתָן.

If they were lost, he is not responsible for them.

וְאִם הָיָה שְׂכִיר שַׁבָּת, שְׂכִיר חֹדֶשׁ,

But if he was hired for a week, hired for a month,

שְׂכִיר שָׁנָה, שְׂכִיר שָׁבוּעַ —

hired for a year, hired for seven years,

נוֹתֵן לוֹ שְׂכַר שַׁבָּת.

he gives him payment for שבת.

The steps (13)

  1. ChallengeThe worker hired for שבת: payment and responsibility
  2. ResolutionNew reason: so fathers are free for the מצוה of שבת
  3. ResolutionSecond reason: children are heavy from שבת eating
  4. QuestionWhy doesn't רבי יוחנן say the pay is for watching?
  5. ResponseGirls don't need watching
  6. QuestionWhy doesn't רב say the pay is for the trope?
  7. ResponseThe trope is part of the Torah itself
  8. Proofרב reads a פסוק in נחמיה as including the trope
  9. Statementרבי יצחק: reading traditions go back to סיני
  10. StatementExamples of the scribes' vowel readings
  11. StatementExamples of the scribes' ornamentation
  12. StatementWords that are read but not written
  13. StatementWords that are written but not read