Menachos 10 - Cycle 14
Summary
- Today's *shiur* on מסכת מנחות דף י opens by deriving the *halacha* that *kemitza* done with the left hand is *pasul*, grounding it in repeated Torah wording about the *metzora* oil being placed on the left palm and concluding that “*kaf*” elsewhere implies the right hand. The narrative then expands into how repeated *mi’utim* function in *derash*, citing the ספר דברי ישראל from the מודזיצר רבה זצ"ל with multiple ethical readings of אין מיעוט אחר מיעוט אלא לרבות and אין ריבוי אחר ריבוי אלא למעט, and later returns to the sugya’s technical rules about right-vs-left for various *avodot*. The *Gemara* proceeds through repetitions in the *metzora* verses, the meaning of putting oil “על דם האשם” versus “על מקום דם האשם,” debates among *Rishonim* and *Acharonim* about *chatzitza*, and culminates in broader principles about when “*etzba*” and/or “*kehuna*” require the right hand, including disputes involving רבי שמעון and applications to *kemitza* and *minchat chotei*.
- Today's *Gemara* asks מנלן מילי that *kemitza* with the left hand is *pasul* and רבי זירא derives it from ויקרב את המנחה וימלא כפו ממנה, where “*kaf*” is taken as the operative term for the hand used for *kemitza*. The *Gemara* proves that “*kaf*” ordinarily means the right hand by contrasting it with the *metzora* oil service where the Torah explicitly says ויצק על כף הכהן השמאלית. The repeated “שמאלית” is treated as extra, and the *Gemara* concludes כאן שמאלית and שאר כל מקום שנאמר כף means על ימין, so the left hand is valid only in that *metzora* context and invalid elsewhere for *kemitza*.
- The *Gemara* challenges the inference by suggesting that two mentions of “שמאל” might be a double *mi’ut* that becomes a *ribui*, allowing even the right hand, but it answers that “שמאל” appears again by מצורע עני as well. The *Gemara* then frames the issue as whether the repetition should expand permissibility or restrict it, and it resolves that actually ארבע שמאל כתיב, תרי בעני ותרי בעשיר. The fourth occurrence is used to lock in the rule that only by *metzora* may the left palm be used, and elsewhere the left hand is not accepted.
- The *shiur* applies אין מיעוט אחר מיעוט אלא לרבות as *derash* from the ספר דברי ישראל in the section כללי אורייתא, defining a person who constantly is *mema’et* himself as the one who becomes truly great. The same source teaches אין ריבוי אחר ריבוי אלא למעט, describing one who is *marbeh* himself as ending up diminished. The source adds a *Midrash* framing: כל המרבה כבוד שמים וממעט כבוד עצמו כבודו מתרבה, and כל הממעט כבוד שמים ומרבה כבוד עצמו כבודו מתמעט, and it also interprets “*ribui*” as accumulating assets through מרבה נכסים מרבה דאגה and “*mi’ut*” as being satisfied and thus gaining more. The source’s final application treats learning without review as “*ribui*” that leads to forgetting, while learning less and reviewing more is “*mi’ut*” that yields lasting retention.
- Rav Yirmiyah asks Rabbi Zeira why the Torah repeats ובוהן ידו הימנית ובוהן רגלו הימנית in the oil procedure for both מצורע עשיר and מצורע עני, and the answer is that one repetition validates צדדים while the other invalidates שני צדי צדדים. The *Gemara* then explains the dual phrases על דם האשם and על מקום דם האשם by stating that one teaches oil can be placed even when the blood is gone as long as it is the place of the blood, while the other teaches that placing oil on existing blood is not a *chatzitza*. This produces a debate about whether side-placement is preferable or whether the Torah specifically wants oil on top of blood, and later *Acharonim* address why liquid blood might still raise *chatzitza* concerns if it dries during the many steps of *metzora* procedure.
- The משך חכמה reads the redundancy of ה' אהבתי מעון ביתך ומקום משכן כבודך as two declarations about the *Beit HaMikdash* and its מקום. The reading treats מעון ביתך as love for the בית המקדש when it stands with revealed כבוד שכינה, and מקום משכן כבודך as love even now, when it is not standing, because the place remains special like המקום דמא אשם when the blood is no longer present. The interpretation asserts that there remains a remnant of שכינה in that מקום and there will always be a remnant of שכינה in that place.
- Rava explains that the repetition of “הימנית” in the *metzora* verses is used for *gezeira shava* to teach other Torah procedures that require the right side. The word יד connects to *kemitza* via וקמץ משם מלא קומצו, producing the rule that *kemitza* is done with the right hand. The word רגל connects to חליצה to teach that the shoe is removed from the right foot, and אוזן connects to the *eved ivri* passage ורצע אדניו את אזנו במרצע to teach the piercing is on the right ear.
- After deriving *kemitza* right-handedness through *gezeira shava*, the *Gemara* asks why the Torah still writes שמאלית in the *metzora* oil service. Rav Sheshet berei d’Rav Idi answers that it is לפסול ימין דמקום ממצורע, establishing that the right hand is invalid there and only the left is *kasher*. The *Gemara* explains that without this, a *kal va’chomer* might suggest that if right is accepted where left is generally not, then right should certainly be accepted where left is accepted, and שמאלית negates that.
- The *Gemara* explains that the repetition of details between מצורע עשיר and מצורע עני follows the principle of תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל: כל פרשה שנאמרה ונשנתה לא נשנתה אלא בשביל דבר שנתחדש בה. The repetition occurs because the section must present the new laws of the poor *metzora* offering, and once repeated it includes even items that are not themselves new to preserve a full *parsha* presentation.
- Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish states that wherever the Torah says אצבע וכהונה it means only the right hand and the left is *pasul*, and the *Gemara* initially frames it as requiring both terms together. Rava then adjusts the formulation to או אצבע או כהונה, making either term sufficient to demand the right hand. Abaye challenges this from הולכת איברים לכבש, where כהונה appears yet the משנה in תמיד describes a כהן carrying parts with the left hand, and the *Gemara* answers that the rule applies only to דבר המעכב כפרה while that form of הולכה is not essential.
- The *shiur* explains that certain forms of הולכת איברים are not considered essential because the עבודה could be done at the ramp or because passing pieces without stepping is not called הולכה in the decisive sense. חשוקי חמד applies this distinction to synagogue practices about purchasing the honor of moving the ספר תורה, treating movement that advances the object as significant. The discussion connects this to the honor of *kvatir* at a *brit*, the custom of מנהג החייקה of passing the baby from person to person as described by ערוך השולחן יורה דעה סימן רס"ה סעיף ל"ה, and the claim that participation is meaningful only when the act actually brings the subject closer to its יעד.
- The חפץ חיים suggests that if הולכת איברים can be done with the left because it can be circumvented, perhaps הולכת דם could also be done with the left when slaughter occurs near the מזבח. The משנה למלך rejects the comparison by distinguishing between an עבודה that can be completely eliminated and one that cannot, asserting that הולכת דם can never be fully eliminated even if minimized. The conclusion is that left-handedness cannot be justified for הולכת דם on that basis.
- The *Gemara* cites the משנה בזבחים that קיבל בשמאל פסול and רבי שמעון מכשיר, and it answers that the earlier right-hand rule based on כהונה alone is not רבי שמעון’s view. The sugya then clarifies that for רבי שמעון the word אצבע alone establishes right-handedness and does not require כהונה, while כהונה alone does not establish right-handedness and serves instead to require service in בגדי כהונה. On זריקה, the *Gemara* notes that although a particular משנה does not record רבי שמעון’s dissent, a ברייתא states that רבי שמעון also is מכשיר זרק בשמאל, aligning with his rule that without אצבע the left is not automatically disqualified.
- The *Gemara* asks why a *gezeira shava* is needed for *kemitza* if כהונה already implies right-handedness for the חכמים, and it answers that one source teaches the *kemitza* itself and another teaches קדש קומץ, placing the *kometz* into a *kli sharet*, must be done with the right. The sugya then explores רבי שמעון, including the position that some hold he does not require קדש קומץ or that even if he requires it it may be done with the left. The *Gemara* brings Rabbi Yehuda berei d’Rabbi Chiya’s rationale for רבי שמעון from קודש קדשים היא כחטאת וכאשם, stating that if one performs it “ביד” it is done בימין כחטאת, while if performed “בכלי” it can be done בשמאל כאשם, with the claim that זריקת הדם of a קרבן אשם could be done with the left hand.
- The *Gemara* concludes that the *gezeira shava* of יד יד is needed for קומץ דמנחת חוטא. It states that one might have thought, since מנחת חוטא lacks oil and is treated as “שלא כהוגן מחזר,” that its *kemitza* with the left should be *kasher* to reduce its honor. It therefore teaches קא משמע לן that even for מנחת חוטא, the *kemitza* must be done with the right hand.
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