Gemara Clarity

Yoma 21a

יומא כ״א ע״א

Learn Yoma 21a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Yoma 21a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

The proofs about קריאת הגבר, then the ten miracles of the בית המקדש and how the גמרא arrives at exactly ten.

Overview

This amud first finishes the argument over what קריאת הגבר means. רב says it is the Temple crier's call, and רבי שילא says it is the rooster's crow. The end of a ברייתא about voices heard across the world supports רב. A ברייתא about the danger of traveling at night before the rooster crows supports רבי שילא. Next, רב יהודה quotes רב: on the רגלים the people stood packed together, yet they bowed with room to spare. The גמרא explains that this was one of the ten miracles of the מקדש and quotes the משנה that lists them. It then works through the count. Some items happened in ירושלים, other Temple miracles are added, similar miracles are grouped, and miracles hidden from the public are left out. The amud ends as the גמרא begins to prove, from ריש לקיש's teaching about the 'pure table,' that the warm לחם הפנים was a miracle the public could see. That proof continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

וְיֵשׁ אוֹמְרִים: אַף רִידְיָיא.

And some say: Ridya as well.

וּבְעוֹ רַבָּנַן רַחֲמֵי אַנְּשָׁמָה

And the Sages asked for mercy regarding the soul

בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁיּוֹצְאָה מִן הַגּוּף,

at the moment that it leaves the body,

וּבַטְּלוּהּ.

and they had it canceled.

The steps (19)

  1. ProofEnd of the ברייתא supporting רב: רידיא and the soul's voice
  2. ProofA ברייתא supporting רבי שילא: traveling before the rooster crows
  3. StatementHow many crows: twice or three times
  4. QuestionWhich rooster counts: a medium one
  5. Statementרב: on the Festivals they stood crowded but bowed with space
  6. QuestionWhat is רב saying?
  7. Responseרב is describing a miracle
  8. ProofThe משנה of the ten miracles in the Temple
  9. ChallengeThe list starts in the Temple but ends in Jerusalem
  10. ResolutionTwo more Temple miracles: rain and smoke
  11. ChallengeEven more Temple miracles: things swallowed into the ground
  12. ResolutionCount the three 'no disqualification' miracles as one
  13. ChallengeBy that logic, the swallowing miracles should also count as one
  14. ResolutionThe warm לחם הפנים completes the ten
  15. ChallengeMore miracles: the ארון and the כרובים took up no space
  16. ResolutionOnly miracles the public could see are counted
  17. ChallengeBut the לחם הפנים was also inside
  18. ResolutionThe לחם הפנים miracle was seen by the public
  19. Proofריש לקיש on the pure table