Menachos 29
Summary
- The text learns מנחות דף כט from אמר רב, credits the sponsorship לעילוי נשמת מרגיט בת יעקב משה, and moves from precise measurements and materials of the מנורה to how פסוקים are דרשened about purity, heavenly models, and the crowns on letters. It then turns to practical הלכות about the validity of מזוזה, תפילין, and ספר תורה letters, including when holes or separations invalidate a letter and how to evaluate ambiguous shapes. It closes with standards for correcting a ספר תורה with errors per column, distinguishing missing letters from extra letters and explaining why too many omissions make a scroll look מנומר.
- A statement of Rav sets the height of the מנורה at nine טפחים, and Rav Shimi bar Ḥiyya challenges this from the משנה about a stone with three steps used by a כהן to stand and tend the lamps. Rav answers that the nine טפחים refer only from the edge of the branches and upward, while the full מנורה remains eighteen טפחים high.
- The פסוק about “והפרח והנרות והמלקחים זהב הוא מכלות זהב” leads to the question of what מכלות זהב means, and Rav Ami explains that it “finished off” all of Shlomo’s *zahav sagur*. The text defines *zahav sagur* as such rare, superior gold that other shops close when it appears for sale, and it says that after Shlomo made the ten menoros he had no more of that special gold. A teaching in the name of Rav states that each of the ten menoros required a thousand ככרים of gold refined a thousand times until only one ככר remained.
- A challenge cites פסוקים describing Shlomo’s drinking vessels as gold, בית יער הלבנון as *zahav sagur*, and silver as insignificant in his days, and the answer limits the “ran out” claim specifically to *zahav sagur* and not ordinary gold. A further challenge from Rabbi Yosei bar Rabbi Yehuda describes refining the Mikdash menorah that was heavier than Moshe’s by one golden קורדיקייני דינר, requiring eighty firings to reach a ככר. The resolution says *keyvan d’kai kai*, that as purity nears completion the refining becomes harder and does not remove a uniform amount each time.
- Shmuel bar Naḥmani in the name of Rabbi Yonatan explains “על המנורה הטהורה” as meaning its design came from a *makom tahor*, from Shamayim. The text challenges this from “על השלחן הטהור,” suggests that “טהור” implies susceptibility to טומאה, and then anchors the שולחן’s case in Reish Lakish’s דרשה that although a wooden כלי העשוי לנחת is normally not מקבל טומאה, the שולחן was lifted for עולי רגלים and shown with לחם הפנים while saying “ראו חיבתכם לפני המקום.” Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi is cited that a נס occurred with לחם הפנים, “סילוקו כסידורו,” fulfilling “לשום לחם חם ביום הלקחו,” so the bread remained as warm and fresh at removal as at placement.
- A ברייתא of Rabbi Yosei bar Rabbi Yehuda states that an ארון של אש, שולחן של אש, and מנורה של אש descended from Shamayim and Moshe made earthly versions after seeing them, based on “וראה ועשה בתבניתם אשר אתה מראה בהר.” The text challenges this from “והקמות את המשכן כמשפטו אשר הראית בהר” and answers that the משכן uses כמשפטו as instruction-language, while “בתבניתם” implies an actual form shown from above. Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan says Gavriel, wearing a kind of apron, showed Moshe the מעשה מנורה, deriving visibility from “וזה מעשה המנורה.”
- The school of Rabbi Yishmael teaches that three matters were difficult for Moshe until הקדוש ברוך הוא showed them “באצבעו”: מנורה from “וזה מעשה המנורה,” ראש חודש from “החודש הזה לכם ראש חודשים,” and שרצים from “וזה לכם הטמא.” An alternate view adds הלכות שחיטה from “וזה אשר תעשה על המזבח.”
- The משנה’s rule that the two פרשיות in a מזוזה מעכבות זו את זו, and even one letter can invalidate, is first explained as including even the *kotz* of a yud. The text then frames the point as Rav Yehuda in the name of Rav’s rule that any letter not surrounded by blank parchment on all four sides is invalid.
- Ashi bar Nadbakh in the name of Rav Yehuda rules that if a hole pierces the interior of a ה it is כשר, but if it damages its leg it is פסול, and further tradition in the name of Rav Yehuda sets the standard that if enough remains “כשיעור אות קטנה” it is כשר and otherwise פסול. A case of Agra, the father-in-law of Rav Abba, with a damaged ה in *ha’am* in his תפילין is decided by Rav Abba with the same “אות קטנה” measure. A case of Rami bar Tamari with a split ו in *vayachrog* is decided by Rabbi Zeira by bringing a child “דלא חכים ולא טיפש,” validating it if the child reads *vayachrog* and invalidating it if he reads *yeharog*.
- Rav Yehuda in the name of Rav says that when Moshe ascended to the heavens he found הקדוש ברוך הוא tying crowns to letters, and was told that Akiva ben Yosef would eventually expound “תילי תילים של הלכות” from every point. Moshe is shown Rabbi Akiva’s classroom and sits at the end of eight rows without understanding until Rabbi Akiva cites “הלכה למשה מסיני,” which settles Moshe’s mind. Moshe then asks why the Torah is given through him rather than Rabbi Akiva and is answered “שתוק, כך עלה במחשבה לפני,” and when Moshe asks to see Rabbi Akiva’s reward he sees his flesh being weighed in a meat market and is again told “שתוק, כך עלה במחשבה לפני.”
- Rava states that seven letters require three *ziyunin*, “שעטנז גץ,” including regular and final נ and צ. Rav Ashi reports seeing meticulous scribes from the בית מדרש of Rav who add a feature to the roof of the ח and who ensure the left leg of the ה is detached, and the text assigns symbolic meaning that “חי הוא ברומו של עולם.”
- Rabbi Yehuda Nesia asks Rabbi Ami about “בטחו בה' עדי עד כי ביה ה' צור עולמים,” first receiving the answer that trust in הקדוש ברוך הוא provides refuge in this world and the next. The question then focuses on why the פסוק says ביה rather than יה, and the answer follows Rabbi Yehuda bar Rabbi Elai that two worlds were created, one with ה and one with י, and “אל תקרי בהבראם אלא בה' בראם” establishes that this world is created with ה and the next world with י. The world’s creation with ה is explained by its likeness to an *akhsadra* with an open side so “כל הרוצה לצאת יצא,” and the hanging leg of the ה creates a higher opening so that one who returns in תשובה is brought back in from above; returning through the same bottom opening is rejected as “לא מסתייעא מילתא,” aligned with Reish Lakish’s teaching that “בא לטהר מסייעין אותו” while “בא לטמא פותחין לו.” The תג on the ה is explained as Hashem’s statement that if one returns He ties him a crown, and the י is linked to the small number of צדיקים in עולם הבא and to bowed humility because each צדיק’s deeds differ from the others.
- Rav Yosef reports two rulings of Rav about ספרים that are challenged by ברייתות, beginning with Rav’s claim that a ספר תורה with two errors per column may be corrected while three require burial, against a ברייתא that allows three and requires burial only at four. A teaching adds that if a scroll has one complete column it can save the whole scroll for correction, and Rav Yitzḥak bar Shmuel bar Marta in the name of Rav limits this to cases where most of the scroll is written properly. Rav Yosef rules that even if the “saving” column has three errors it still helps because it is within the range of תיקון.
- The text limits the strict error-count concern to חסירות, while יתירות are not a problem because extra letters can be erased. Rav Kahana explains that too many חסירות make the writing look מנומר because missing letters are inserted above the line, producing a spotted appearance. Agra, the father-in-law of Rav Abba, brings a scroll with יתירות to Rav Abba and is told that the restriction was said only for חסירות and that יתירות pose no issue, and the learning stops with intent to continue with the second statement of Rav.
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