Menachos Daf 39 - Knots and Winds
Summary
- A shiur on מנחות דף ל״ט continues the דינים of ציצית by deriving requirements from the כשרות of torn strings, establishing that the קשר עליון is דאורייתא because otherwise the היתר כלאים בציצית would be unnecessary, and clarifying when a snapped string invalidates ציצית. It then defines how the winding string counts among the eight strings, sets parameters for how much of the ציצית may be wound versus left as ענף, and frames the ideal beauty of ציצית as שליש גדיל ושני שלישי ענף with חוליות of three כריכות and a total structure between שבע and שלש עשרה. The sugya concludes with disputes about whether one may have all גדיל with no פתיל, and with a major section on which materials for the בגד and the strings are valid, including whether non–צמר ופשתן garments are חייב מן התורה or only מדרבנן and how צמר ופשתן relate to other מינין.
- A shiur on מנחות דף ל״ט begins from דף ל״ח עמוד ב׳, three lines from the end at אמר רבא, and it is sponsored by Dr. David Lander in honor of his wife and children ולעילוי נשמת his mother גולדה בת שמחה עליה השלום and by אבישי נוימן לעילוי נשמת his father חיים נפתלי בן רבי יעקב שלמה whose eighth יארצייט was this week. A blessing is stated that הנשמה שתהא לה עליה, and thanks are given to both sponsors.
- A statement of רבא infers that if גרדומי תכלת are כשרים like גרדומי אזוב, then there must be knots that keep the structure from falling apart after tearing, which motivates the idea that there is a קשר on each חוליה. A rejection answers that the case may be where knots were tied on each חוליה without creating an obligation, and without those knots the גרדומין would be פסול because the windings would fall apart.
- A further statement of רבא concludes that קשר עליון דאורייתא, understood as הלכה למשה מסיני, and that without that final knot the ציצית is פסול even if the winding would temporarily hold. A proof argues that if the קשר עליון were only דרבנן, the Torah’s need to permit כלאים בציצית would be unnecessary because תוקף תקיפה אחת אינו חיבור, so attaching without a binding knot would not create שעטנז מדאורייתא, and the explicit היתר implies that the knot creates the halachic connection and is דאורייתא.
- The שיטה מקובצת בשם תוספות חיצוניות asks why the סמיכות is not needed anyway to teach that צמר ופשתים are stronger and פוטר בין במינו בין שלא במינו, and the שיטה מקובצת answers that the question is not why the Torah juxtaposes the verses but why a ברייתא must stress that כלאים is not an issue in ציצית, which only becomes necessary if a דאורייתא קשר makes the connection real.
- A teaching from רבה בר רב אדא אמר רב אדא אמר רב rules that אם נפסק החוט מעיקרו פסולה, and the קרן אורה explains that the case is where one strand snaps at its root while the other strands still hold the unit to the garment, yet it is still פסול.
- A ברייתא is brought that initially there is a שיעור, but afterward שיורו וגרדומו כל שהוא, and a challenge reads גרדומו as snapping at the attachment point. The answer explains it as חדא קתני: שיורי גרדומו כל שהוא, meaning there must be some remainder and it cannot be cut completely to the attachment.
- A presentation of רש״י understands the earlier reading as treating שיורו and גרדומו as separate, while תוספות challenges how גרדומו could mean entirely cut if the text says כל שהוא. A view in תוספות defines שיורו as some strings fully snapped while others remain intact, and גרדומו as all strings partially cut but not to the base, and then the answer limits validity to a case where none are cut fully to the base.
- The phrase שיורי גרדומו teaches that a remainder is required, and the needed remainder is enough כדי לעונבן, enough length to make a bow.
- A teaching is stated that חוט של כרך עולה מן המנין, and רב יוסף corrects the attribution to שמואל rather than רב, with support from רבי יאשיה דמן אושא. The חידושים המיוחסים להרשב״א explains that one might have thought that גדיל and פתיל represent distinct requirements so the גדיל could not come from the פתיל, and the שפת אמת adds that it counts even if the winding used up the entire string leaving nothing for the ענף.
- The בריסקר רב explains this as fitting the רמב״ם and ראב״ד view that תכלת has a distinct role as the wrapping string, unlike רש״י and תוספות where half the strings are תכלת and half are לבן, and therefore one might have thought that the wrapping string has a different function and might not count.
- A teaching appears that תכלת שכרך רובה כשרה, with competing attributions between שמואל and רב, and a version adds that even חוליה אחת כשרה. A חוליה is defined as three כריכות based on רבי’s measure כדי שיכרוך וישנה וישלש.
- A statement sets a range that הפוחת לא יפחות משבע והמוסיף לא יוסיף על שלוש עשרה, explained as corresponding to שבעה רקיעים and to שבעה רקיעים וששה אוירא שביניהם. The רמב״ם frames שבע as מצווה מן המובחר while maintaining that בדיעבד חוליה אחת is כשר.
- A dispute in ראשונים is presented that רש״י and תוספות read the שבע and שלש עשרה as counts of חוליות, while תוספות also cites an understanding that the number refers to כריכות, yielding different practices, and a suggestion is noted that tying seven חוליות of seven כריכות satisfies both views.
- A preference for beauty is given as נויי תכלת being שליש גדיל ושני שלישי ענף, and the link to רקיע symbolism is tied to the idea that תכלת is דומה לים and דומה לרקיע and דומה לכסא הכבוד.
- A מנהג is attributed to רש״י that in the absence of תכלת people make five knots, connecting ציצית to the גימטריא 600 plus eight strings plus five knots equaling תרי״ג, along with an explanation that the Torah spelling issue is handled via ויהיה לכם לציצית and the repetition of ציצית in the פרשה.
- A critique in תוספות states that five knots do not appear in the גמרא, which speaks instead about חוליות, כריכות, and the need for a קשר on each חוליה plus a קשר עליון, which would imply more knots. A resolution proposes that the seven חוליות can be arranged in paired units with knots between groups, yielding five knots in a structure that assumes alternating לבן and תכלת when תכלת existed, while another approach treats the five-knot system as a later מנהג when תכלת is absent and the detailed structure is not treated as essential.
- A rule is stated that when tying with לבן and תכלת, one leaves two long strings as winders, one לבן and one תכלת. A baraita requires that when one begins, one begins with לבן because הכנף מין כנף, and when one ends, one ends with לבן because מעלין בקודש ולא מורידין.
- A reading in רש״י explains that לבן is more קודש because it is mentioned first in the פרשה, while other ראשונים such as the נמוקי יוסף interpret מעלין בקודש ולא מורידין as not degrading the לבן once it is given precedence, and the practice is described as universally starting and ending with לבן while differing on how to distribute the intermediate windings.
- A question is raised about how numbers between שבע and שלש עשרה retain symbolism if the endpoints correspond to the רקיעים and the spaces between them. A comparison is made to the שולחן ערוך’s two נרות שבת כנגד זכור ושמור and the רמ״א’s allowance to add candles, and to a רא״ש in ראש השנה allowing more than ten פסוקים of מלכויות זכרונות ושופרות despite their correspondence to עשרה הילולים. A further support is brought from the ability to add עליות despite fixed symbolic counts, framing an approach that adding does not negate the original meaning.
- A story describes a man wearing a גלימא דכולי תכלתא with תכלת and with the entire ציצית wound, leaving no ענף. רב praises the garment but says the תכלת is not nice because no ענף is left, while רבה בר בר חנה praises both and accepts a fully wound form.
- The מגן אברהם infers from יאי גלימא that there is an ענין to have a nice בגד for the מצוה, especially since a טלית is a garment designated for תפילה and ציצית.
- The dispute is explained as whether גדיל and פתיל are alternatives, with רבה בר בר חנה reading או גדיל או פתיל, while רב holds that פתיל is always required and that גדילים teaches the string count, reading גדיל as two and גדילים as four, and concluding עשה גדיל ופתי לה מתוכו.
- A broader framing is given through רב יוסף ענגיל that where verses appear to conflict without a third verse to decide, one approach treats them as options and another splits requirements, paralleling the sugya in ביצה about לכם and לה׳.
- A teaching from שמואל בשם לוי states that חוטי צמר פוטרין בשל פשתן, reasoning that since תכלת of wool works on linen, the לבן of wool works as well. A question asks whether linen strings can exempt a wool garment, offering either a limitation to the direction implied by תכלת or an equality derived from the סמיכות of לא תלבש שעטנז צמר ופשתים יחדו and גדילים תעשה לך.
- A proof from רחבא אמר רב יהודה states explicitly that חוטי צמר פוטרין בשל פשתן ובשל פשתן פוטרין בשל צמר, and it continues that חוטי צמר ופשתן פוטרין בכל מקום ואפילו בשיריים. A conflict is noted with רב נחמן who rules השיראין פטורים מן הציצית, and a challenge cites a ברייתא that השיראין והכלך והסריקין כולן חייבין בציצית, answered that their obligation is מדרבנן.
- A difficulty is raised from the continuation that וכולן צמר ופשתן פוטרין בהן, since permitting כלאים would be inappropriate for a merely דרבנן obligation, and it is answered that the correct reading is או צמר או פשתן rather than both together.
- A further inference from the baraita that במינן פוטרין ושלא במינן אין פוטרין is initially used to argue that only צמר ופשתן are דאורייתא-valid, and it is rejected by invoking רבא’s reconciliation that הכנף implies מין כנף while the identification of צמר ופשתן makes them universal, concluding that צמר ופשתן פוטרין בין במינן בין שלא במינן while other materials work only במינן and not שלא במינן.
- A final attribution explains that רב נחמן’s view follows תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל that when the Torah says בגדים סתם it means צמר ופשתן, derived from the specification in נגעים, and this is linked to the מחבר’s position, while the רמ״א is stated to hold that any garment such as cotton is חייב מן התורה, prompting some to prefer wool garments to satisfy all views.
- A plan is stated to continue on the next day with אמר אביי.
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