Pesachim 94b

פסחים צ״ד ע״ב

Learn Pesachim 94b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The תיובתא against רבא about the רקיע, ברייתות about astronomy, and רבי אליעזר's threshold rule for דרך רחוקה in קרבן פסח

Overview

This amud opens at the end of a ברייתא that the גמרא quoted against רבא. In it, a בת קול answers נבוכדנצר's boast: a person lives only 70 or 80 years, while the heavens are thousands of years' walk away. The ברייתא says the רקיע is 500 years thick, which contradicts רבא, so the גמרא declares a תיובתא. Next comes a series of ברייתות about the sky. They ask whether the גלגל or the מזלות move, where the sun goes at night, why springs feel warm or cold, and the sun's four seasonal paths. In these, רבי argues with חכמי אומות העולם on one point, and on another he admits their view looks more correct. The גמרא then returns to the משנה and asks why רבי אליעזר does not tell a person at the threshold of the עזרה to step inside, when he gives כרת to an ערל who did not circumcise himself. אביי answers that the דרך רחוקה exemption is only for a fit, pure person. רבא answers that רבי אליעזר's view is reported in different ways: one report measures 'far' from ירושלים, another from the עזרה (our משנה), and the ברייתא about the ערל is a third report, which measures from מודיעים. The amud ends with רבי יוסי הגלילי's ברייתא, which uses a פסוק to show that anywhere from the threshold of the עזרה and outward counts as a 'journey'.

Opening lines

The steps (19)

1. ChallengeThe בת קול mocks נבוכדנצר's short lifespan
2. ChallengeThe huge distances to and between the heavens
3. Conclusionרבא's view is refuted
4. StatementDispute over whether the sky's sphere or the constellations move
5. Proofרבי's proof from the fixed positions of the constellations
6. Rejectionרב אחא בר יעקב shows the proof does not hold
7. StatementWhere the sun goes at night
8. Proofרבי sides with the non-Jewish sages because of the springs
9. Statementרבי נתן explains summer and winter temperatures
10. StatementThe sun's four seasonal paths
11. StatementBack to the משנה: רבי אליעזר's threshold rule
12. ChallengeWhy not tell him to walk in? Contradiction from the uncircumcised Jew
13. Resolutionאביי: The distant-journey exemption is for a pure person
14. Resolutionרבא: Two traditions of רבי אליעזר, the first measuring from Jerusalem
15. StatementThe second tradition: measured from the place where the offering is done
16. QuestionWhose view is the rule about counting the impure majority in the courtyard?
17. ResponseIt follows רבי יוסי בר רבי יהודה's tradition
18. StatementQuoting רבי יוסי's line in the משנה about the dot
19. Proofרבי יוסי הגלילי proves from a פסוק that a 'journey' starts at the עזרה's threshold