Menachos 30
Summary
- The text follows the Menachos sugya about precise *ksav* and *tzuras ha’osiyos*, explaining Rav Ashi’s observation of expert *soferim* who shape the *ches* and *hey* in a particular way and using those forms to expound themes of *bitachon*, *teshuvah*, and the creation of *olam ha’zeh* and *olam ha’ba* with the letters *hey* and *yud*. It then moves into halachos of *Sefer Torah* correction and layout, including how many mistakes per *daf* justify repair versus *genizah*, rules of margins and spacing, and how to handle errors involving Hashem’s Name. It concludes with the special status of the last eight pesukim of the Torah, the debate whether Moshe wrote them and how, the idea that buying a *Sefer Torah* is less than writing one, and the claim that even correcting one letter is credited as if writing the whole Torah, before turning to the assertion that *halacha* follows רבי שמעון שזורי and searching for the original context of that rule.
- Amar Rav Ashi says he sees the expert *soferim* of the *Bei Rav* who *chatru leh le-gaggei de-ches* and *vesalu leh le-kar’ei de-hey*. Rashi explains *chatru* as making a straight line on top of the *ches*, and Tosafos בשם Rabbeinu Tam explains it as raising the middle of the roof like a bridge. The shaping of the *ches* symbolizes that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is *berumo shel olam*, and the hanging left leg of the *hey* preserves the *tzuras hey* so it does not become a *ches* and symbolizes hanging one’s *bitachon* in Hakadosh Baruch Hu.
- The Tashbetz infers that if the left leg of the *hey* is not fully hanging and touches the roof, it is not *pasul*, because Rav Ashi frames these shapes as extra precision of master *soferim*. The Rivash rejects this, ruling that if the left leg touches the roof the letter is absolutely *pasul* because it becomes a *ches*. The Rivash explains that Rav Ashi’s point is that *choter* on the *ches* is an added distinction that is not essential for *kashrus*, while the separation of the *hey*’s leg is essential, and he adds that the expert practice may be to distance the left leg more than the minimum though the minimum suffices as long as it does not touch.
- Rav Yehuda Nesi’ah asks Rav Ami why the pasuk says *“Be-Koh”* rather than *“Koh,”* and Rav Ami answers that one who hangs his trust on Hakadosh Baruch Hu lacks nothing in *olam ha’zeh* and *olam ha’ba*. Rabbi Yehuda bar Rabbi Ilai teaches that *“Be-Koh Hashem Tzur Olamim”* indicates two worlds created by Hakadosh Baruch Hu, one with *hey* and one with *yud*, and *“Behibaram”* is read as *“Be-hey baram”* to conclude that *olam ha’zeh* is with *hey* and *olam ha’ba* is with *yud*.
- The Gemara explains *olam ha’zeh* is created with *hey* because it resembles an *achsadra* where anyone who wants to leave can leave. The hanging leg signifies that one who does *teshuvah* is brought back in through the opening. Reish Lakish expounds *“Im la-letzim hu yalitz ve-la’anavim yiten chen”* as *ba le-taher mesay’in oto* and *ba le-tamei potchin lo*, distinguishing divine assistance for purification from mere allowance for defilement.
- The Gemara asks why the *hey* has a *tag*, with Tosafos bringing Rashi that it is at the end of the *hey* and Rabbeinu Tam that it is at the beginning in a different placement. Hakadosh Baruch Hu says that if a person returns, He ties for him a knot, and this is expressed by the *tag*.
- The Gemara explains *olam ha’ba* is created with *yud* because the *tzaddikim* there are few. The bent head of the *yud* reflects that the *tzaddikim* bow their heads because their deeds are not alike, and Rashi explains that one’s honor is greater than another’s so each is embarrassed before his fellow.
- Rav Yosef reports that Rav says two scribal rules that face *tiyuvta*, with Tosafos noting one is not a full *tiyuvta* but is answered *bedochak*. Rav rules that a *Sefer Torah* with two mistakes in each *daf* is corrected, but with three mistakes in each *daf* it is placed in *genizah*, and a beraisa contradicts this by allowing correction of three and requiring *genizah* only at four. The beraisa adds that if there is one complete *daf* it saves the whole *Sefer Torah*, and the text explains the concern of *menumar* as a blotchy appearance created by many corrections.
- The Kafos Temarim asks why an *esrog menumar* is disqualified with three spots while a *Sefer Torah* reaches *menumar* at four corrections, and he suggests an *esrog* is small while a *Sefer Torah* is large so it takes more to appear blotchy. A Gemara in Gittin 54b disqualifies a *Sefer Torah* whose *azkaros* were written *shelo lishmah* from being fixed by overwriting because it becomes *menumar*, and the Chasam Sofer asks why columns without Hashem’s Name should save it like *daf echad shalem*. The Chasam Sofer בשם למדן אחד answers that the leniency of saving with one complete *daf* is to avoid *genizah* of valid Names, but in Gittin all the Names are invalid so there is nothing to save.
- Rabbi Yitzchak bar Shmuel bar Marta says in Rav’s name that the saving rule applies when most of the *Sefer* is written properly, with Shitah Mekubetzes reading this as most of each *daf* and the Beis Yosef reading it as literal majority even with many errors, which the Kesef Mishneh attributes to the Rambam. Abaye asks Rav Yosef about a *daf* with three mistakes and is told that since it can be fixed it is fixed. The Gemara limits the blotchy concern to *chasiros* because additions require squeezing letters in and look *menumar*, while *yeseiros* can be scraped away cleanly.
- Igra the father-in-law of Rabbi Abba has *yeseiros* in his *sefarim* and Rabbi Abba says the concern was stated only for *chasiros* and not for *yeseiros*. Tosafos warns that some mistakenly write a doubtful word *malei* because *“yeseiros leis lan bah,”* and he says the Gemara refers to *yeseiros* that were scraped out, not deliberate extra letters which are *pasul*. Tosafos states that *einanu beki’in be-chasiros ve-yeseiros* but insists that one must follow *mesorah* rather than intentionally adding letters.
- Rav says one writing a *Sefer Torah* who comes to finish may finish even in the middle of a *daf*, and a beraisa objects that one should not finish in the middle but should shorten the lines until finishing at the end. The Gemara answers that Rav refers to *chumashin* of a *Sefer Torah*, meaning the ends of the first four *chumashim* may end mid-column while the end of Devarim must end at the end. A further statement that Rav says *“le’einei kol Yisrael”* is *be’emtsa ha’daf* is reinterpreted as *be’emtsa shita*, and Rav Ashi says it is *be’emtsa shita davka*, concluding *ve-hilchasa be’emtsa shita davka*.
- Rabbi Yehoshua bar Abba בשם Rav Gidel בשם Rav states that the last eight pesukim are read by a *yachid* in shul. Rashi explains this as one person reads them without interruption for another to take over, while Tosafos בשם Rabbeinu Meshulam explains that only one reader reads them without *shaliach tzibbur* reading along, and Rabbeinu Tam challenges that historically there was no fixed *ba’al korei*. The Mishnah Berurah based on the Rema and a Mordechai understands *yachid* as the *meyuchad sheba-kahal*, and the Chacham Tzvi questions giving honor to pesukim soon portrayed as written differently and answers that it shows they are still Torah. The Rambam in Hilchos Tefillah 13:6 says *yachid* means no *minyan* is needed for these pesukim, and the Raavad asks *“ha-tzibbur heichan halchu.”*
- A beraisa asks how Moshe can write *“Vayamos sham Moshe”*, and Rabbi Yehuda says Moshe writes until there and Yehoshua bin Nun writes from there, while Rabbi Shimon objects that a *Sefer Torah* cannot be missing even one letter and cites *“Lakoach es sefer haTorah ha’zeh.”* Rabbi Shimon says עד כאן Hakadosh Baruch Hu says and Moshe writes and says, and from there Hakadosh Baruch Hu says and Moshe writes *bedema*. Rashi explains *bedema* as tears and that Moshe does not repeat the words from grief, the Maharsha explains that it is not ink and thus not *ksav*, and the Vilna Gaon explains *bedema* as a mixed ordering of letters later arranged by Yehoshua.
- Rabbi Shimon bar Abba בשם Rav Gidel בשם Rav says one who buys a *Sefer Torah* from the market is like one who grabs a mitzvah from the market, and Rashi says he does a mitzvah but writing is a greater mitzvah. The Rema in Yoreh De’ah writes that buying does not fulfill the mitzvah of *kesivas Sefer Torah* at all, and the Beis HaLevi supports this from the Rambam and from Sanhedrin 21b that inheriting a *Sefer Torah* still obligates writing. Rav Soloveitchik distinguishes inheritance as passive from buying as an act, allowing a defense of Rashi that buying is a mitzvah though not the best. The Gemara says that one who writes a *Sefer Torah* is considered as if he received it from Sinai, and Rav Sheshes says that one who corrects even one letter is credited as if he wrote it.
- The beraisa states that a *yeriah* is made from three to eight *dapim* and not less or more. It warns against too many *dapim* because it looks like an *igeres* and against too few because the eyes cannot track, setting the line length as *le-mishpechoseichem* three times. If a parchment fits nine *dapim* it is split four and five rather than three and six, and at the end of the Torah one may add even for *pasuk echad be-daf echad*. It gives measures for *gilyon* and spacing in a *Sefer Torah* and in *chumashin*, including bottom and top margins, spacing between columns, between lines, between words as *kemelo os ketanah*, and between letters as *kemelo chut ha-se’arah*.
- The beraisa forbids shrinking the writing to accommodate margins, line spacing, or *parashah* spacing. For a five-letter word at the end of a line it rules to write three letters inside the column and two outside rather than two inside and three outside. For a two-letter word it forbids throwing it between columns and requires writing it at the start of the next line.
- Rabbi Yehuda allows erasing what was written, hanging the erased text, and writing Hashem’s Name in the scraped space. Rabbi Yosi allows even hanging the Name, Rabbi Yitzchak allows even erasing and rewriting, and Rabbi Shimon Shezuri allows hanging the entire Name but not part of it. Rabbi Shimon Elazar משום Rabbi Meir forbids writing the Name on a scraped or erased place and forbids hanging it, requiring removal and *genizah* of the whole *yeriah*. Rav Chananel בשם Rav rules *halacha tolin es ha-shem*, and Rabbah bar bar Chanah בשם Rabbi Yitzchak bar Shmuel rules *halacha mochek ve-kotev*, and the Gemara explains they do not simply say *halacha ke-ploni* because the attributions were reversed.
- Ravin bar Chinina says in the name of Ulla in the name of Rabbi Chanina that *halacha* follows Rabbi Shimon Shezuri and adds that whenever Rabbi Shimon Shezuri teaches, *halacha* follows him. The Gemara seeks the original place of this general rule and rejects multiple candidates because in each case an amora already states a limited *halacha ke-Rabbi Shimon Shezuri* and the general rule is not recorded there. The rejected candidates include the hanging of Hashem’s Name, the דין of *ben peku’ah* even at five years old plowing, the דין of writing a *get* for one who is *mesukan*, the דין of *terumas ma’aser* of *demai* returning to its place with reliance on an *am ha’aretz*, and the דין of *pul ha-mitzri* with partial rooting before and after Rosh Hashanah requiring mixing before tithing, and the text ends poised to begin the sixth possibility.
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