Yoma 37b

יומא ל״ז ע״ב

Learn Yoma 37b step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The golden gifts of מונבז המלך and הילני המלכה to the בית המקדש, and what we can learn from them

Overview

This amud continues the גמרא's discussion of the משנה about the gifts of מונבז המלך and his mother הילני to the בית המקדש. First, אביי explains that the gold handles מונבז made were knife handles. A ברייתא lists knife handles separately, so אביי explains that the 'handles of vessels' there were the handles of axes and hatchets. Next, the גמרא teaches that הילני's gold chandelier flashed at sunrise and signaled the time for קריאת שמע. A ברייתא says the אנשי משמר and אנשי מעמד did not read שמע at sunrise. אביי answers that the signal was for the rest of the people of ירושלים. Finally, the גמרא tries to prove from הילני's golden tablet that one may write a partial Torah scroll for a child. ריש לקיש in the name of רבי ינאי rejects the proof, because the tablet had only the first letters of each word. Two ברייתות are brought to challenge him: the first is answered by rereading one word, and the answer to the second begins here and continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (14)

1. Resolutionאביי: the gold handles were knife handles
2. ChallengeA ברייתא lists knife handles separately from vessel handles
3. Resolutionאביי: the vessel handles were axe and hatchet handles
4. StatementThe משנה about הילני המלכה's golden chandelier
5. StatementThe chandelier's sparks showed the time for קריאת שמע
6. ChallengeThe people in the מקדש did not say שמע at sunrise
7. Resolutionאביי: the signal was for the rest of ירושלים
8. StatementThe משנה: הילני also made a golden tablet
9. ProofProof that a partial scroll may be written for a child
10. Rejectionריש לקיש: the tablet had only first letters
11. ChallengeA ברייתא says the scribe copied what was on the tablet
12. ResolutionRead it as 'like what is written' on the tablet
13. ChallengeA second ברייתא quotes the full verses on the tablet
14. ResolutionThe answer begins: 'There...'