Menachos 44
Summary
- Shalom opens מנחות דף מ"ד with sponsorship לעילוי נשמת מרס מרים בת יעקב משה and moves through sugyos of ציצית, תפילין, מזוזה, and עבודת הקרבנות. The text defines the חילזון used for תכלת and explains why its dye is costly, then Rav Natan teaches that even a “קלה” מצוה yields reward in this world while the reward of the next world remains beyond measure, illustrated through a story where ציצית prevents sin and leads to conversion and permitted marriage. The page then rules on obligations and non-impediments in תפילין and other מצוות, lists the number of עשה transgressed by neglecting key mitzvos, and attributes longevity to תפילין. It concludes by applying the theme of one component not preventing another to מנחות and נסכים and to blood applications on the outer מזבח, framing a dispute between רבי and the רבנן about the order of מנחה and נסכים when brought independently, and deriving that one blood application can achieve כפרה.
- The ברייתא defines the חילזון as having a body resembling the sea and a form resembling a fish, appearing only once in seventy years, and providing the “blood” used to dye תכלת. The rarity of its emergence makes its dye expensive. Rav Natan states that no mitzvah in the תורה lacks reward in this world, while the reward of the next world is unknowable in magnitude, and he points to מצות ציצית as the proof-case.
- A man who is careful about ציצית hears of a prostitute in coastal cities who takes four hundred זהובים and sends the payment to arrange a meeting. She prepares seven beds, six of silver and one of gold, with silver ladders between them and a gold ladder to the top, and she sits naked on the upper bed while he ascends to sit naked opposite her. His four ציציות strike his face, he drops to the floor, and she also descends to the floor and demands, by “גפא של רומי,” that he explain what blemish he saw in her. He swears he has never seen a woman as beautiful as she is, but says Hashem commanded ציצית and wrote “אני ה' אלהיכם” twice to teach “אני הוא שעתיד ליפרע ואני הוא שעתיד לשלם שכר,” and he says the ציצית appeared to him as four witnesses.
- She insists he reveal his name, city, teacher, and בית מדרש, and he writes and gives her the information. She divides her property into thirds for the government, for the poor, and for herself, keeping the bedding, and she comes to the בית מדרש of רבי חייא and asks to be made a גיורת. רבי חייא asks whether she seeks a student for marriage, and she produces the letter, after which he tells her, “לכי זכי במקחך,” and she later sets those same מצעות for the man בהיתר after having set them for him באיסור. The conclusion states, “וזה מתן שכרה בעולם הזה ולעולם הבא איני יודע כמה.”
- Rabbi Yehuda rules that a borrowed טלית is exempt from ציצית for thirty days and becomes obligated thereafter. A supporting ברייתא rules that one who lives in a פונדק in ארץ ישראל and one who rents a house in חוץ לארץ are exempt from מזוזה for thirty days because the dwelling is treated as temporary. The text states that one who rents a house in ארץ ישראל must make a מזוזה immediately משום ישוב ארץ ישראל because the מזוזה remains and helps continued Jewish residence.
- The משנה states that תפילה של יד does not prevent תפילה של ראש and vice versa. Rav Chisda initially limits this to a case where one has both, saying that if one lacks the other then it prevents, but he is challenged and retracts, arguing that lacking two mitzvos does not mean one should refrain from fulfilling the one he has. The initial view is explained as a גזירה שמא יפשע, fearing that wearing only one might lead to negligence in obtaining the second.
- Rav Sheshet states that one who does not put on תפילין violates eight עשה, one who lacks ציצית on his garment violates five עשה, a כהן who does not ascend to bless violates three עשה, and one without a מזוזה on his door violates two עשה based on “וכתבתם וכתבתם.” Reish Lakish states that one who puts on תפילין מאריך ימים and supports it from the verse “ה' עליהם… יחיו… ותחלימני והחייני,” reading “ה' עליהם” as Hashem being upon the wearer of תפילין.
- The משנה teaches that סלת and שמן do not prevent the wine, and the wine does not prevent them, in cases where a מנחה accompanies נסכים. The משנה also teaches that blood applications on the outer מזבח do not prevent each other.
- A ברייתא derives from “ומנחתם ונסכיהם” that the מנחה comes before the נסכים, while רבי derives from “זבח ונסכים” that the זבח comes before the נסכים and places the מנחה after the נסכים. רבי reads “ומנחתם ונסכיהם” as teaching that מנחה and נסכים may be brought at night and even the next day, while the רבנן read “זבח ונסכים” as teaching like זעירי that נסכים become sanctified only at the שחיטת הזבח.
- The sugya concludes that all agree when brought with the זבח that the מנחה precedes the נסכים because of “עולה ומנחה,” and the dispute is when brought בפני עצמן. The רבנן keep the same order as when brought with the זבח, while רבי gives priority to נסכים when alone because “אמרי שירה עליהו,” though he keeps מנחה before נסכים when accompanying a זבח because the process follows the sequence of “אכילה” and its completion.
- A ברייתא teaches that for offerings whose blood is applied to the outer מזבח, performing one application achieves כפרה even when more applications are normally required. The proof comes from “ודם זבחיך ישפך על מזבח ה' אלקיך,” where “ישפך” appears in the singular, implying that a single application suffices.
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