Menachos 44
Summary
- Today’s שיעור on מנחות דף מד begins from דף מג עמוד ב at a תניא explaining why תכלת is chosen for ציצית, moves into רבי מאיר’s teachings about the severity of neglecting לבן versus תכלת and the obligation of מאה ברכות בכל יום, and then brings additional daily ברכות and the סימנים of the חלזון. The גמרא illustrates how מצות ציצית yields reward in עולם הזה and עולם הבא through a dramatic story, then turns to practical halachos about a borrowed טלית and parallel rules of מזוזה, and addresses whether one may wear only one of the תפילין, concluding with counts of multiple עשה violations for neglecting תפילין, ציצית, דוכן, and מזוזה. The שיעור then returns to מנחות topics on עמוד ב, defining which components of נסכים and מנחה are מעכב, clarifying the order of מנחה and נסכים through pesukim and a מחלוקת, and teaching that even one מתנת דם on the מזבח החיצון can effect כפרה.
- Today’s דף is מנחות דף מד with a double sponsorship by Zev Belsky in honor of his wife Elisa on her birthday and by Henry Orlinsky לזכר נשמת יחיאל מיכל בן חיים שניאור זלמן הלוי זכרונו לברכה, Milton Kramer, with the wish that the נשמה should continue to have an עליה. The שיעור is holding on דף מג עמוד ב at תניא, proceeds through the wrap-up of the ציצית section and related sugyos of תפילין, ציצית, and דוכן, and then returns to the main מנחות topics on עמוד ב concerning נסכים and the order of offerings.
- Rabbi Meir teaches that תכלת differs from other colors because תכלת resembles the ים, the ים resembles the רקיע, and the רקיע resembles the כסא הכבוד, supported by pesukim describing לבנת הספיר and דמות כסא. Rashi adds that in the ים נעשו נסים לישראל, and later explanations say this clarifies why the ים is included as a step meant to evoke יראת שמים through remembering the miracles at the sea. Rashi in סוטה explains that these are staged comparisons because each is only a shade-like resemblance, making the association from תכלת to כסא הכבוד indirect rather than immediate.
- Rabbi Meir states that the punishment for neglecting לבן is greater than for neglecting תכלת, and he illustrates this with a mashal of a king who orders one servant to bring a cheap seal of טיט and another to bring a costly seal of זהב, punishing more the one who failed the easier task. The teaching frames לבן as accessible and תכלת as rare and expensive, making neglect of the former less excusable than neglect of the latter.
- Rabbi Meir teaches that a person is obligated to recite מאה ברכות בכל יום, deriving it from “ועתה ישראל מה השם אלקיך שואל מעמך,” read as “מאה.” Tosafos brings Ravenu Tam that the pasuk contains one hundred letters and adds that “מה” in *atbash* equals מאה as a רמז. רבי חייא בריה דרב אביא on שבתא וביומא טבא works to complete the count with *isperamkei* and *migdanei* because שמונה עשרה is shorter on שבת and יום טוב, and the שיעור ties this behavior to the idea of adding foods and fruits to generate extra ברכות.
- Sefer HaManhig presents מאה ברכות בכל יום as a מסורת, traced through תורה, נביאים, and כתובים, with other traditions attributing it to תקנת דוד המלך or תקנת משה רבנו. The חיד״א in מחזיק ברכה argues it is not a requirement, using the fact that the גמרא highlights רבי חייא בריה דרב אביא’s practice on שבת as evidence of a personal חסידות rather than a universal חיוב. The שדי חמד challenges this by pointing to ראשונים who treat it as a חיוב derived from a pasuk and notes that the בה״ג counts it among the תרי״ג מצוות as cited by the Rambam in Sefer HaMitzvos, even if that does not conclusively establish a דאורייתא status. פסח דביר stresses that the language “חייב אדם” sounds mandatory and suggests that רבי חייא’s distinction lies in choosing to fulfill the obligation with greater הידור through delicacies rather than through minimal foods.
- Machzor Vitri says the reason for saying אין כאלקינו on שבת is to complete twelve missing ברכות, using a חשבון of four repetitions each of אין, מי, נודה and building “ברוך אתה אמן” as a completion corresponding to the difference between nineteen weekday ברכות and seven on שבת. Sefer HaManhig rejects this as lacking a firm basis and maintains that actual ברכות are still required to complete the count on שבת and יום טוב.
- Rabbi Meir teaches that a person must say three specific daily ברכות: שעשני ישראל, שלא עשני אשה, and שלא עשני בור. Rav Acha bar Yaakov challenges his son for saying שלא עשני בור and proposes substituting שלא עשני עבד, but the גמרא rejects equating עבד with אשה because עבד is זיל טפי. Rashi explains the similarity between אשה and עבד either through service-like obligations or through shared מצוה exemptions, while the גמרא still differentiates their status.
- The שיעור notes that practice follows the ירושלמי with שלא עשני גוי rather than שעשני ישראל and presents explanations from the ב״ח and ט״ז. The ב״ח links negative wording to the idea in עירובין that נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא משנברא, and he also argues that a positive שעשני ישראל would preclude additional distinct ברכות like gender and freedom because “ישראל” implies male and free, creating repetition. A practical ramification is cited that if one mistakenly says שעשני ישראל, the מגן אברהם writes one may not then say שלא עשני אשה and שלא עשני עבד due to redundancy. The ט״ז explains the negative formulation as acknowledging the העולם’s need for גויים, נשים, and עבדים while thanking Hashem that one is not in those categories.
- The אבודרהם בשם רמ״ה rules that a גר does not say שלא עשני גוי because the ברכה relates to תחלת יצירתו and the גר’s origin was as a גוי. The דרכי משה in סימן מ״ו allows saying שעשני גר, citing “הנפש אשר עשו בחרן” as support for *asiyah* language in conversion. The ב״ח disputes this because conversion is a personal choice, while the ט״ז responds that גר שנתגייר כתינוק שנולד, making it appropriate to treat the גר as a new creation able to say such a ברכה.
- A ברייתא gives סימנים of the חלזון: its body resembles the ים, its shape resembles a fish, it עולה אחת לשבעים שנה, and its blood is used to dye תכלת, making it expensive due to rarity. The שיעור describes a contemporary dispute where both sides claim support from “וברייתו דומה לדג,” with opponents arguing it must be a fish and proponents explaining how an unusual shell shape can resemble a fish. The רדזינער רבי in צפוני טמוני חול says Chazal provided these סימנים anticipating גלות-related loss of תכלת so it could later be found, and he cites the Rambam’s quoting of the סימנים in הלכות ציצית פרק ב׳ הלכה ב׳ as evidence that they have halachic relevance. He argues that meeting these סימנים can obviate dye-tests meant only for cases where blue wool might be *kela ilan* rather than authentic תכלת.
- Rabbi Natan teaches that even a מצוה קלה yields reward in עולם הזה and עולם הבא, and he points to מצות ציצית as an example whose full שכר is beyond measure. A story describes a man careful in ציצית who goes to a prostitute charging ארבע מאות זוזים, approaches her elaborate setup of שבע מטות, and is stopped when his four ציציות strike his face, leading both to sit on the ground. He explains that ציצית is commanded by Hashem and includes “אני ה׳ אלהיכם” twice, meaning Hashem both punishes and rewards, and his four ציציות appear to him as four witnesses. She demands his name, city, rebbe, and beis midrash, takes his written details, gives away her wealth with a third to מלכות to enable her conversion, a third to the poor, and a third for herself, and keeps the beds as the means of his עולם הזה reward. She comes to the בית מדרשו של רבי חייא seeking to become a גיורת, he questions whether she seeks a תלמיד for marriage in light of the rule of not accepting converts לשם אישות, she produces the man’s כתב, and רבי חייא accepts her and directs her to take her “מקח,” after which what she prepared in איסור she now prepares in היתר, framed as his עולם הזה reward while the עולם הבא reward remains unknowable.
- Rav Yehuda rules that a borrowed טלית is פטור מן הציצית for thirty days and becomes חייב thereafter. A parallel ברייתא teaches that living in an inn in ארץ ישראל or renting a house in חוץ לארץ is פטור מן המזוזה for thirty days and becomes חייב afterward, while renting in ארץ ישראל requires מזוזה immediately משום ישוב ארץ ישראל. Rashi explains this as creating a deterrent to leaving because once a מזוזה is affixed one may not remove it and the cost and burden of replacement discourages moving.
- The גמרא states that תפילין של יד does not מעכב של ראש, and Rav Chisda initially limits this to a case where one has both, but he retracts and affirms that lacking one does not justify abandoning the other. The initial concern is framed as a גזירה שמא יעבור, fearing that permitting partial practice would reduce effort to obtain the missing תפילין, but the conclusion favors doing whatever mitzvah one can rather than none.
- Rav Shesh states that failure to wear תפילין violates eight עשה obligations, failure to have ציצית on one’s garment violates five, a כהן who does not go up לדוכן violates three, and lack of מזוזה violates two through “וכתבתם” twice. Reish Lakish adds that one who wears תפילין merits אריכות ימים, deriving it from “ה׳ עליהם יחיו,” understood as חיים connected to having Hashem “upon them” through תפילין.
- The משנה teaches that הסולת והשמן do not מעכב the wine and the wine does not מעכב them, and that the מתנות of the מזבח החיצון do not מעכב each other. A ברייתא derives from “ומנחתם ונסכיהם” that מנחה precedes נסכים, while Rabbi derives from “זבח ונסכים” that זבח precedes נסכים and frames the textual order differently. The גמרא assigns “ומנחתם ונסכיהם” to the rule that the נסכים may be brought בלילה or even למחר provided they were not sanctified in a כלי in a way that creates פסול לינה, and it assigns “זבח ונסכים” to רבי זעירי’s teaching that נסכים become sanctified only at שחיטת הזבח. The resolution states that when offerings come with a זבח, all agree on זבח then מנחה then נסכים based on “עולה ומנחה,” and the מחלוקת concerns items brought בפני עצמן, where Rabbi prioritizes נסכים because שירה is said over them.
- A ברייתא teaches that all blood applications given on the מזבח החיצון can achieve כפרה even with a single מתנה. The proof-text “ודם זבחיך ישפך” is read as implying a single שפיכה suffices for כפרה even though the full סדר involves four applications לכתחילה.
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