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Yoma 29a

יומא כ״ט ע״א

Learn Yoma 29a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

Four 'harder than' sayings, 'אילת השחר' and אסתר as the last miracle, when the early תמיד was slaughtered, and offerings performed at night

Overview

This amud opens with four short sayings, each built as 'X is harder than Y' with a memory aid (סימן) from daily life: thoughts of sin, late-summer heat, a winter fever, and relearning forgotten Torah. Then רבי אבהו gives the verse source for רבי's view that dawn light spreads out, reading 'אילת השחר' in תהלים as comparing dawn to a deer's branching horns. Because that verse is linked to אסתר, רבי זירא explains why she is compared to a deer, and רבי אסי explains why she is compared to the dawn: her miracle was the last of all miracles. The גמרא challenges this with חנוכה and answers that פורים was the last miracle written into תנ״ך. For the view that אסתר was not given to be written, the verse is instead read as a lesson that the prayers of צדיקים keep being answered the more they pray. The גמרא then returns to the משנה and asks when the תמיד was slaughtered too early by moonlight. It answers that the mistake happened on a regular day, while the כהן גדול's immersion is the separate יום הכפורים procedure. Finally a ברייתא teaches that מליקה and קמיצה done at night are also disqualified. The גמרא begins to ask why the קומץ must be burned, and that question continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

הִרְהוּרֵי עֲבֵירָה קָשׁוּ מֵעֲבֵירָה,

Thoughts of sin are harder than sin itself,

וְסִימָנָיךְ: רֵיחָא דְבִישְׂרָא.

and your memory aid: the smell of meat.

שִׁילְהֵי דְקַיְיטָא קְשֵׁי מִקַּיְיטָא,

The end of summer is harder than summer,

וְסִימָנָיךְ: תַּנּוּרָא שְׁגִירָא.

and your memory aid: a heated oven.

The steps (15)

  1. StatementThinking about sin is harder than the sin itself
  2. StatementThe end of summer is hotter than the summer itself
  3. StatementA winter fever is stronger than a summer fever
  4. StatementRelearning forgotten Torah is harder than learning something new
  5. ProofThe verse behind רבי's view that dawn light spreads out
  6. StatementWhy אסתר is compared to a deer
  7. StatementWhy אסתר is compared to the dawn
  8. ChallengeBut חנוכה came after פורים
  9. ResolutionLast miracle that was written into תנ״ך
  10. ChallengeWhat about the view that אסתר was not given to be written?
  11. ResolutionThe deer image is about the prayers of צדיקים
  12. ChallengeWhen did the early slaughter of the תמיד happen?
  13. ResolutionThe משנה is describing two separate things
  14. StatementPinching a bird or taking a handful at night also ruins the offering
  15. ChallengeThe bird makes sense, but why burn the handful?