Pesachim 97b

פסחים צ״ז ע״ב

Learn Pesachim 97b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Pesachim 97b in Gemara Clarity

Topic

שמואל's rule linking חטאת and פסח, whether חצות or שחיטה decides when a lost פסח becomes a שלמים, and a new משנה on an animal unfit to be a פסח.

Overview

The גמרא is trying to fit שמואל's two-part rule into a known opinion. The rule says that where a חטאת dies, a פסח is brought as a שלמים, and where a חטאת grazes, a פסח grazes. Following רבי, it finds a grazing חטאת in רבי אושעיא's backup case, but in that same case a פסח becomes a שלמים, so the parallel breaks. It then says שמואל follows רבי שמעון, for whom these חטאות always die, and explains that שמואל really stated only one rule: whatever makes a חטאת die makes a פסח into a שלמים. שמואל's new point is to argue with רבי יוחנן: for שמואל, חצות, not the slaughter of the replacement, decides whether a lost פסח counts as pushed aside. A second version runs the discussion differently. It first tries to say שמואל holds like רבה (the slaughter decides), rejects that because of רבי יוחנן's dispute, and concludes that שמואל holds like רבי, with חצות as the deciding moment. The amud ends with a new משנה: an animal that could never be a valid פסח, such as a female or a two-year-old male, grazes until blemished, is sold, and its money buys a voluntary שלמים.

Opening lines

The steps (15)

1. ResolutionA case of a grazing sin-offering, from Rabbi Oshaya
2. ChallengeIn the same case, a Paschal lamb becomes a peace-offering
3. Resolutionשמואל holds like רבי שמעון: five sin-offerings die
4. Challengeרבי שמעון has no grazing category at all
5. Resolutionשמואל stated only one rule
6. QuestionWhat new point is שמואל teaching?
7. ResponseExcluding רבי יוחנן's view about the slaughter
8. ConclusionMidday, not slaughter, is the deciding moment
9. ChallengeSecond version: a lost פסח found before the slaughter seems to break שמואל's rule
10. Resolutionשמואל holds like רבה: the slaughter decides
11. Challengeרבי יוחנן's argument shows שמואל holds that חצות decides
12. ResolutionInstead, שמואל holds like רבי: a lost חטאת goes to die
13. ChallengeFor רבי every lost animal dies, yet a פסח lost and found before חצות just grazes
14. ResolutionBefore חצות a פסח does not count as lost, and חצות decides
15. Statementמשנה: a female or two-year-old male set aside as a פסח