Menachos 10
Summary
- Today’s *daf* is Menachot 10, learned as a *zechus refuah sheleimah* for יצחק בן שפרה מירל, חוה מרים בת מלכה פרידה, and שלמה בן חיה לאה, and as a *zechus* for שרה בת סילביה to find a זיווג הגון בקרוב. The *daf* centers on the halachah that *kemitzah* must be performed with the right hand, since קמץ בשמאל פסול, and it develops multiple Torah-based *mekoros* for that rule through a detailed analysis of the repeated *pesukim* in the *parashah* of the *metzora*’s oil and blood procedures. The *Gemara* tests competing derivations from repeated words like שמאלית and הימנית, introduces the principle כל פרשה שנאמרה ונשנתה לא נשנתה אלא בשביל דבר שנתחדש בה, and then broadens into a general framework for when “finger” (*etzba*) and “priesthood” (*kehuna*) imply עבודה בימין, including the dispute between Chachamim and רבי שמעון. The text closes with a long thematic *Ramban* at the end of Parashat Bo that grounds the many mitzvos זכר ליציאת מצרים in establishing core beliefs in *chidush ha’olam*, Divine knowledge and providence, and the truth of prophecy and Torah.
- Today’s learning begins nine lines from the bottom of דף ט עמוד ב at קמץ בשמאל וכו׳, within the first פרק of מסכת מנחות on the halachos of מנחות. The *daf* treats the requirement that the כהן perform *kemitzah* with the right hand and that doing it with the left hand invalidates the *avodah*. The *daf* frames its entire progression as bringing sources and *derashos* that establish this requirement from Torah language patterns, primarily from the פרשה of תורת המצורע.
- The מצורע’s purification requires bringing an אשם, a חטאת, and an עולה, along with a לוג שמן. The כהן first brings the אשם and applies its blood to the מצורע on three right-side locations: על תנוך אוזן המטהר הימנית, על בוהן ידו הימנית, and על בוהן רגלו הימנית. The כהן then pours oil into כף הכהן השמאלית, dips אצבעו הימנית into that oil, performs seven הזאות לפני השם, and places leftover oil onto the same three right-side locations, explicitly described as being done על דם האשם. The Torah repeats this procedure again for an impoverished מצורע under ואם דל הוא, where the אשם remains mandatory but the חטאת and עולה can be replaced by two birds, and the oil-and-blood procedure is restated.
- Rav Zeira derives the right-hand requirement for *kemitzah* from the Torah’s repeated emphasis on כף הכהן השמאלית in the מצורע oil procedure. He reads the verse ויקרב את המנחה וימלא כפו ממנו as leaving “כף” unspecified, and then uses the explicit “שמאלית” by מצורע to establish that only there is “כף” the left hand, while everywhere else “כף” defaults to the right. The *Gemara* challenges this by arguing the word שמאלית might be needed לגופיה, and then by proposing אין מיעוט אחר מיעוט אלא לרבות when the word is repeated. The *Gemara* continues stacking the repeated appearances of שמאלית—ultimately counting four total, תרי בעני ותרי בעשיר—and treats the later repetitions as *giluyim* that direct how to interpret earlier repetitions, until the result becomes כאן שמאלית וכל מקום שנאמר כף אינו אלא ימין.
- Rav Yirmiyah challenges Rav Zeira’s approach by pointing to other seemingly redundant phrases in the same *parashah* that would then also require *derashah*, including the repetition of על בוהן ידו הימנית ועל בוהן רגלו הימנית alongside the clause על דם האשם. Rav Zeira answers that the redundancy is used for specific placement rules: חד להכשיר צדדים וחד לפסול צידי צדדים. The repeated “על” expands validity to צדדים as included in “על,” while another repetition excludes צידי צדדים, identified with the palm-side surface rather than the top or adjacent sides.
- The text distinguishes between the wealthy-metora phrasing על דם האשם and the poor-metora phrasing על מקום דם האשם. The *Gemara* explains that if the Torah only said על דם האשם, one might think the oil must be applied only if the blood is physically present, so that נתקנח would invalidate. If the Torah only said על מקום, one might think that if the blood remains present it becomes a חציצה for the oil, so the oil must be on the place only after removal. The paired phrases teach that the application is valid both when the blood is present and when it is not, as long as it is on the correct location.
- Rava argues that Rav Zeira’s method, which relies on interpreting the duplicated *parashah* of the poor metzora as fully “in play” for *derashah*, becomes untenable given the many repeated uses of הימנית throughout the same repeated unit. Rava invokes the principle from דבי רבי ישמאל, כל פרשה שנאמרה ונשנתה לא נשנתה אלא בשביל דבר שנתחדש בה, and treats the repetition for the poor metzora as driven by the new law of עולה ויורד offerings rather than as extra wording for additional *derashos*. Rava then derives right-hand requirements via paired-limb *gezeiros shavos*: יד ליד לקמיצה, רגל רגל לחליצה, and אוזן אוזן לרציעה, using the extra stress on right-hand and right-side applications in the metzora *parashah* to link to these other Torah contexts.
- After Rava’s restructuring, the extra שמאלית within the wealthy-metora unit still requires interpretation. Rav Sheshet brei d’Rav Idi explains it as לפסול ימין דכהן במצורע, establishing that the oil procedure is specifically with the left hand and invalid with the right, despite a possible argument that once שמאל is allowed, ימין should also be allowed. The additional repeated elements in the poor-metora section remain explained through the דבי רבי ישמאל principle as repetition necessitated by the new feature of the poor person’s altered korban set.
- Rabba bar bar Chanah בשם רבי שמעון בן לקיש states that any place the Torah uses both אצבע and כהונה, the עבודה is performed with the right hand. The initial understanding treats this as requiring both terms, anchored to verses like ולקח הכהן מדם החטאת באצבעו and modeled from the metzora phrase וטבל הכהן את אצבעו הימנית. A challenge arises from *kemitzah*, which is invalid in the left hand even though it does not explicitly use אצבע, leading Rava to reinterpret Reish Lakish as meaning או אצבע או כהונה, limited to דבר המעכב כפרה.
- Abaye challenges the “או” interpretation from הולכת איברים לכבש, where the Torah uses כהונה (והקריב הכהן את הכל המזבחה interpreted as הולכת איברים לכבש), yet the משנה describes carrying the right leg in the left hand. Rava answers that his rule is restricted to matters that are מעכב כפרה, while הולכת איברים is not. Abaye then challenges from קבלה, which is מעכב כפרה and uses כהונה (והקריבו בני אהרן הכהנים את הדם interpreted as קבלת הדם), where חכמים say קיבל בשמאל פסול but רבי שמעון מכשיר, forcing the *Gemara* to distinguish the frameworks of Chachamim and רבי שמעון.
- The *Gemara* clarifies that רבי שמעון does not treat כהונה alone as enforcing the right hand, while he does treat אצבע as enforcing the right hand, as stated in the ברייתא: כל מקום שנאמרה יד אינו אלא ימין, אצבע אינו אלא ימין. The *Gemara* formulates this as אצבע לא בעי כהונה, כהונה בעי אצבע, and it explains that when the Torah uses כהונה in contexts where right-hand enforcement is not derived from it, it can serve to require service in בגדי כהונה, phrased as בכהונו לעכב שירות בבגדי כהונה. The *Gemara* further addresses זריקה, noting that although the משנה does not record רבי שמעון’s dissent there, a ברייתא states he is מכשיר both קיבל בשמאל and זרק בשמאל.
- The *Gemara* challenges Rava’s earlier derivation יד ליד לקמיצה by arguing that *kemitzah* might already be derived מכהונה under Reish Lakish’s framework, and it answers that two separate requirements exist: חד לקמיץ וחד לקידוש קומץ, distinguishing between the act of *kemitzah* and placing the *kometz* into a כלי שרת. For רבי שמעון, who is presented as not requiring קידוש קומץ or allowing it with the left hand, the *Gemara* asks why a second derivation is needed. The *Gemara* then grounds רבי שמעון’s right-hand requirement for *kemitzah* in רבי יהודה בריה דרבי חייא’s reading of קדש קדשים היא כחטאת וכאשם, teaching בא לעבדה ביד עבדה בימין כחטאת and בא לעבדה בכלי עבדה בשמאל כאשם, and it reserves Rava’s “yad-yad” need for the special case of קומץ מנחת חוטא.
- The *Gemara* states that the “yad-yad” derivation is needed specifically for קומץ מנחת חוטא. It explains that because Rav Shimon says the מנחת חוטא lacks oil so that שלא יהא קרבנו מהודר, one could have thought that doing *kemitzah* with the left hand would also be acceptable as a further “non-mehudar” element. The *Gemara* concludes קא משמע לן that even the מנחת חוטא requires *kemitzah* in the right hand.
- The text quotes at length the Ramban at the end of Parashat Bo that frames many mitzvos as perpetual testimony to the miracles of יציאת מצרים because Hashem does not perform open miracles in every generation for each skeptic. The Ramban describes three categories of denial that arose after עבודה זרה began in the days of אנוש: denial of Hashem’s existence and creation, denial of His knowledge of particulars, and denial of His providential involvement and reward and punishment. The Ramban states that miraculous deviations from nature, especially those foretold by a prophet, demonstrate Hashem’s existence, creation of the world, power, providence, and the truth of prophecy and Torah. The Ramban explains that this motivates the Torah’s severity about חמץ and פסח, and its embedding of memory through תפילין, מזוזה, daily speech morning and night, and annual mitzvos like סוכה, so that these truths remain alive and remove any פתחון פה לכופר. The text further brings the Ramban’s treatment of why Shabbos is linked to both creation and יציאת מצרים, summarized as והנה השבת זכר ליציאת מצרים ויציאת מצרים זכר לשבת, and it emphasizes that the Torah introduces Hashem in the Aseres HaDibros as אשר הוצאתיך מארץ מצרים because יציאת מצרים serves as the experiential proof of חידוש העולם and the foundations of faith.
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