Yoma 2b

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Learn Yoma 2b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

How the seven-day separation (פרישה) is learned from the מילואים: why the פרה אדומה is linked by the word צוה, and why 'לכפר' points to יום הכיפורים and not to קרבנות, the רגלים, or שמיני עצרת.

Overview

Earlier on the daf, the גמרא learned that the כהן who burns the פרה אדומה must be separated for seven days. It learned this through a גזירה שוה between the word צוה in the פרה section and the word צוה in the מילואים. Here the גמרא first defends that link. A צוה said before the action is not paired with the צוה of יום הכיפורים, which is said after the action. The exact form צוה beats the form צותו from the verse about קרבנות, because a merely similar word is used only when no identical word exists. Next the גמרא examines the word 'לכפר' in the מילואים, which teaches that the כהן גדול is separated before יום הכיפורים. It asks why the word should not mean ordinary קרבנות, the רגלים, one single רגל, or שמיני עצרת. Each time it finds a feature that only יום הכיפורים shares with the מילואים: a fixed time, once a year, seven days of separation before a one-day service, and no holiness right before it. When a קל וחומר challenges that last feature, רב משרשיא answers from the word 'הזה'. רב אשי answers instead that a secondary day like שמיני עצרת cannot be stricter than סוכות. His point that שמיני עצרת counts as a separate holiday only for certain laws continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (21)

1. ChallengeWhy not link 'commanded' to יום הכיפורים instead?
2. ResolutionMatch 'commanded' before the act with 'commanded' before the act
3. ChallengeWhy not link 'commanded' to the offerings instead?
4. ResolutionExact word beats a similar word
5. ChallengeDoes a small wording difference really matter?
6. ResolutionUse a similar word only when there is no identical one
7. ChallengeMaybe 'to make atonement' means all atonement offerings
8. ResolutionWe cannot know which priest will offer
9. RejectionSeparate the whole family on duty
10. ResolutionFixed-time events are learned from fixed-time events
11. ChallengeMaybe it means the festivals
12. ResolutionOnce-a-year is learned from once-a-year
13. ChallengeMaybe it means one single festival
14. ChallengeWe would not know which festival to pick
15. ResolutionA seven-day holiday cannot be learned from a one-day service
16. ChallengeWhat about שמיני עצרת, which is only one day?
17. Resolutionשמיני עצרת is preceded by holiness, unlike the מילואים
18. ChallengeHoliness before it should make it need separation even more
19. Resolutionרב משרשיא: the word 'הזה' limits it to a case exactly like this
20. Resolutionרב אשי: a secondary day cannot be stricter than the main holiday
21. ResolutionEven if שמיני עצרת is a separate holiday, the point still holds