Monday, March 06, 2006

Rif Pesachim 16a {Pesachim 49a continues; Sanhedrin 52b; Pesachim 49a-b; Chagiga 22a}



HIDE/SHOW IMAGE
16a

{Pesachim 49a continues}
fell on Shabbat, and Zonin, the deputy of Rabban Gamliel, came and said, "the time has arrived to remove the chametz," and I went after father and we removed the chametz.
And we establish like Rabbi Eleazar bar Tzadok, for he holds like Rabbi Eleazar Ish Bartota, whom the halacha is in accordance with.

Yerushalmi: Rabbi Levi said: One who eats matzah on erev Pesach is like one who has sexual relations with his betrothed {arusa} in his father-in-law's house. And one who has sexual relations with his betrothed in his father-in-law's house incurs lashes.

Mishna:
If one is on his way to slaughter his Pesach sacrifice, to circumcise his son, or to eat at a feast of betrothal in his father-in-law's house, and he recalls that he has chametz in his house, if he is able to return and remove {the chametz}, and then to return to his mitzvah, he should return, and if not, he should nullify it in his heart.
{If he is on his way} to save {people} from heathens, from the river, from a fire, or from a collapse, he should nullify in his heart.
{If} for a voluntary purpose, he should return immediately.

Gemara:
They learnt {in a brayta}: Rabbi Shimon ben Eleazar says: Any meal {?feast?} which is not in connection with a mitzvah, a Torah scholar is not permitted to benefit from it.
Such as what?
Rabbi Yochanan said: Such as the daughter of a Kohen to a {non-Kohen} Israelite and the daughter of a Torah scholar to an ignoramus.
For Rabbi Yochanan said: The daughter of a Kohen to an Israelite, the match will not be auspicious.
What does this mean?
Rav Chisda said: she will either become a widow, a divorcee, or will not have children.
In a brayta it was taught: either he will bury her, she will bury him, or she will reduce him to poverty.
Is this indeed so? But Rabbi Yochanan said: One who wishes to become wealthy should attach himself to the descendants of Aharon, for it is all the more that Torah and Kehuna will enrich him.
This is no contradiction. Here {where he becomes wealthy} is by a Torah scholar, and here is by an ignoramus.

The Sages learnt {in a brayta}: Any Torah scholar who increases his meals in every place in the end destroys his house, makes his wife a widow, renders his children orphans, his learning is forgotten from out of his hand, disputes increase upon him, his words are not accepted, he profanes the name of Heaven, the name of his father, and the name of his teacher, and he causes a bad name for his son and his son's son, until the end of all generations.

And we learn in perek nigmar hadin daled mitot {Sanhedrin 52b}:How does a Torah scholar appear to an ignoramus. Initially, he appears to be a gold ladle {for drawing wine from the mixing bowl into a cup}. He {=the scholar} speaks with him and then he appears to be a silver ladle. He benefits from him and then he appears as an earthenware ladle -- once it breaks, it has no repair.

{Pesachim 49a resumes}
The Sages learnt {in a brayta}: One should always sell all that he has in order to marry the daughter of a Torah scholar and marry off his daughter to a Torah scholar, for if he dies [or is exiled] his sons will be Torah scholars. {Note: this reason seems to apply more to the first suggestion, and indeed, in the matching part, only we only have marrying the daughter of. Perhaps this was duplicated from the next brayta.} And he should not marry the daughter of an ignoramus, for if he dies or is exiled, his sons will be ignoramuses.

The Sages learnt {in a brayta}: One should always sell all that he has in order to marry the daughter of a Torah scholar and marry off his daughter to a Torah scholar, which is analogous to {grafting} the grapes of the vine with the grapes of the vine, a seemly and acceptable thing-- and he should not marry the daughter of an ignoramus or marry off his daughter to an ignoramus, which is analagous to {grafting} the grapes of the vine with the berries of a thornbush, which is a repulsive and unacceptable thing.

{Pesachim 49b}
The Sages learnt {in a brayta}: Six things were said of the ignoramus. We do not commit testimony to him {that is, have him be a witness so that he will testify on it in the future}; and we do not accept testimony from him; and we do not reveal a secret to him; and we do not appoint them as guardians for orphans; and we do not appoint them stewards over charity funds; and we do not accompany him on the road. And some say: we do not proclaim his lost article {if we find it}.
And the first Tanna, why did he not say that we do not proclaim his lost article? He holds that there are times that he will have a virtuous descendant, and he will eat of it, thus fulfilling the verse {Iyyov 27:17}

יז יָכִין, וְצַדִּיק יִלְבָּשׁ; וְכֶסֶף, נָקִי יַחֲלֹק.
{that the evildoer will prepare and the righteous will wear.}

And the halacha is like the first Tanna.

And if it troubles you that which we say {in Chagiga 22a}: "In accordance with whom do we accept testimony from an ignoramus? Like whom? Like Rabbi Yossi," {know that} the ignoramus there is not like the ignoramus here. For over there, {the reason he is called an ignoramus is that} he lacks {knowledge of} Scriptures and Mishna, but he does have derech eretz {proper conduct} and mitzvot, such that he is not suspect regarding oaths and theft, nor any of the ways of becoming unfit. But the ignoramus here is suspect regarding all these that we said. Since he is suspect regarding [oaths and regarding] theft, we do not appoint him a guardian {for orphans}. And he is suspect also regarding bloodshed, and therefore we do not accompany him on the road. And furthermore, he is suspect regarding sexual impropriety, as {when} Rabbi Eliezer said that it permitted to stab him {=the "ignoramus"} on Yom Kippur, is such that

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