.ב The Whole Picture

מַעֲשֶׂה וּבָאוּ בָנָיו מִבֵּית הַמִּשְׁתֶּה, אָמְרוּ לוֹ: לֹא קָרִינוּ אֶת שְׁמַע, אָמַר לָהֶם: אִם לֹא עָלָה עַמּוּד הַשַּׁחַר חַיָּיבִין אַתֶּם לִקְרוֹת.

The response of רבן גמליאל is somewhat intriguing. Could he not see for himself whether or not it was still night? He could have simply answered that they are still required to say קריאת שמע. But it seems that he is teaching us a great lesson when conveying הלכה to others. It is not sufficient to simply deliver the פסק. One must provide reasoning so that the askers understand and perhaps can discern for themselves the next time such a question arises. This is certainly something we can apply even if as regular individuals. A good example might be when it comes to ברכות on food, as we will explore later in this מסכתא. I know whenever my kids ask me what the proper ברכה is on a cereal or another food, I try to not only tell them what it is but why because the halachic detail is very intricate. 

.ב Sleepy Time

עַד סוֹף הָאַשְׁמוּרָה הָרִאשׁוֹנָה. דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר...רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל אוֹמֵר עַד שֶׁיַּעֲלֶה עַמּוּד הַשַּׁחַר

רש"י ד"ה עד סוף האשמורה הראשונה: שליש הלילה כדמפרש בגמרא (דף ג.) ומשם ואילך עבר זמן דלא מקרי תו זמן שכיבה ולא קרינן ביה בשכבך

It seems clear that the point of contention between these two opinions is how to understand the word ובשכבך. According to רבי אליעזר it refers to the time which is normal for individuals to actively lie down to sleep. Surely, רבן גמליאל (and the חכמים who, in essence, are in agreement) does not hold that it is normal for people to do so all night. Rather, they have a different understanding of the word ובשכבך. That is, any time which is normal for one to passively be lying down and sleeping.

It is interesting to note that we do not find a parallel מחלוקת when dealing with זמן קריאת שמע של שחרית. There is no opinion that the מצוה applies throughout the day since it is the time for people to be awake. One must say, therefore, that the word ובקומך does not lend itself to the same variance in interpretation. Rather, it must refer to the time when people actively arise.

Cycle #2

After the סיום הש"ס תשע"ב, I was inspired to "give it a go" with דף יומי. I had a good run but ran into trouble once I hit נזיקין. I was further inspired to start this blog to record my thoughts and הערות. For this cycle, I will, of course, be recycling the posts from last cycle and I plan to "give it a go" once more, בע"ה, and hopefully add some new material.

Here is the explanation for the name, as posted 7½ years ago:

Let me explain the name. I wanted to come up with something original. The first ideas that popped into my mind - On the Daf, Daf Thoughts, etc - just didn't fit the bill. The name is inspired by a speech I heard at the Toronto Siyum HaShas by R' Yair Adler where he pointed out that a daf of gemara is sometimes referred to as an עלה, a leaf. This was as he was introducing the guest speaker at the event, Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff (his pun, not mine. I promise.) So, there you have it - "The Daily Leaf."

:ט”ו Snake Attack

ואמר ריש לקיש מאי דכתיב אם ישוך הנחש בלא לחש ואין יתרון לבעל הלשון לעתיד לבא מתקבצות כל החיות ובאות אצל נחש ואומרות ארי דורס ואוכל זאב טורף ואוכל אתה מה הנאה יש לך אומר להם וכי מה יתרון לבעל הלשון

I have always found this allegorical discourse troublesome. From the little I know about snakes, they don’t actually attack for no reason whatsoever. They attack as a defense mechanism when they feel threatened.

But it occurred to me - perhaps that actually works into the analogy perfectly. As is often discussed regarding לשון הרע, the urge to speak לשון הרע comes from a feeling of inferiority and that one needs to share this juicy piece of information in order to get a leg up. Although a snake attacks when they feel they are under attack, that doesn’t mean it is actually the case. Very similarly, the tongue speaks לשון הרע when it is deluded to believe it would be otherwise disadvantaged.

.ט”ו Defining the Dibah

אמר רבה אמר ר"ל אמר קרא וימותו האנשים מוציאי דבת הארץ רעה על דבת הארץ שהוציאו

See this shtikle discussing exactly at which point the report of the מרגלים went sour.

:י A Perspective on סוכות

כל יומא דחג חלוקין בקרבנותיהן דפסח אין חלוקין בקרבנותיהן

See this old סוכות shtikle referncing this גמרא.

:ח Delayed Bris

מתני' אין קטן נימול פחות מח' ולא יתר על שנים עשר

A ברית may not be performed at night. Why is this significant? It occurred to me that if that were not the case, there might actually be a remedy for a child born בין השמשות on Friday. Suppose he was born exactly 15 minutes after שקיעה. What if we were to perform the ברית exactly 15 minutes after שקיעה on the next Friday. That would work with the following logic: If 15 minutes after is still day, then he was born יום ששי and is נמול ביום ששי. If 15 minutes after is in fact already night, well then he was born on שבת and נימול בשבת. But that would work in reality since we can’t do the ברית at night.

I suppose once I am venturing into fantasy worlds with alternate halachic realities, we might has well create one in which we know exactly when night begins and then the whole issue would be a non-starter.