Menachos 42
Summary
- The learning follows *Menaḥot* 42a from about fifteen lines up on 41b and develops practical halachic parameters of *tsitsit* by weighing *Beit Shammai* and *Beit Hillel*, clarifying measurements of a *tefaḥ* in *etsba’ot*, and fixing the operative rulings as four strings, placement within three *etsba’ot* of the corner, and a minimum hanging length of four *etsba’ot*, while explaining that “*tsitsit* has no measure” means no maximum but does include a minimum. The sugya then defines the idea of *tsitsit* as an “*anaf*” that hangs and should be separated like an *Arama’i* forelock, treats invalid placement directly on the corner or on a hem through the dispute with Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov, and refines the “distance from the corner” requirement as a rule of placement at the time of making. It closes by contrasting ways of threading and securing the strings, and by resolving whether one makes a berakhah on making *tsitsit* through broader principles about berakhot on actions that are the completion of a mitzvah versus preparatory acts, alongside competing traditions about whether a non-Jew may produce valid *tsitsit*.
- A baraita records *Beit Shammai* saying *tsitsit* uses four strings and *Beit Hillel* saying three, and it records *Beit Shammai* requiring a hanging length of four *etsba’ot* below the knots and *Beit Hillel* requiring three. The Gemara explains that when *Beit Hillel* speaks in terms of *etsba’ot*, the unit depends on which finger is used, so a *tefaḥ* can be four thumbs, five middle fingers, or six pinkies. Rav Pappa states that the Torah *tefaḥ* is four thumbs, six pinkies, and five middle fingers.
- Rav Huna formulates the rule as “four within four and *meshulashet* four,” meaning four strings, placement within four *etsba’ot* of the corner, and a hanging length of four *etsba’ot*, aligning in key points with *Beit Shammai*. Rav Yehuda states “three within three and *meshulashet* three,” aligning with *Beit Hillel* on each point. Rav Pappa rules definitively that the halachah is “four within three, *meshulashet* four,” so the strings are four, the attachment is within three *etsba’ot* of the corner, and the hanging minimum is four *etsba’ot*, and the text notes that this effectively follows *Beit Shammai* on the disputed “four strings” and “four hanging” requirements.
- The Gemara challenges the fixed minimum by citing that “*tsitsit*” implies hanging yet also implies “*mashu*,” and by reporting an incident where the elders of *Beit Shammai* and *Beit Hillel* in the attic of Yoḥanan ben Beteira say *tsitsit* has no measure, with a similar statement about a *lulav*. The Gemara resolves that “has no measure” means no maximum but does have a minimum, and it proves the same structure for *lulav* from the mishnah that requires three *tefaḥim* so one can wave it. Rashi is cited to define “no measure” as the option to lengthen as much as one wants.
- The text highlights that Rav Pappa’s ruling yields practice like *Beit Shammai* in the count of strings and the minimum hanging length even though the general rule favors *Beit Hillel*. Tosafot in *Sukkah* 3a is cited in the name of Rav Amram that there are six places where halachah follows *Beit Shammai*, listing the *sukkah* minimum of “*rosho ve-rubo ve-shulḥano*,” *Menachot* 40a about a sheet with *tsitsit*, and the two disputes here about how many strings and how much hanging length, and it states that “in all these we act like *Beit Shammai*.” A story from *Bava Batra* 74a about Rabbah bar bar Ḥanah taking a corner from the garments of the *metei midbar* is invoked as aiming to determine whether practice was eight or six hanging strings and thus whether halachah follows *Beit Shammai* or *Beit Hillel*.
- A baraita defines *tsitsit* as *anaf*, supported by the verse “ויקחני בציצית ראשי” in *Yeḥezkel*, and the text explains it as referring there to a forelock. Abaye rules that one must separate the strands like the *tsutsita de-armaye*, described as tied at the top and looser below, matching how the strands should drape.
- A baraita rules that if one placed *tsitsit* literally on the corner or on a hem it is valid, while Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov invalidates both. The statement of Rav Gidel in the name of Rav that *tsitsit* must be *motefet al ha-keren* is aligned with Rabbi Eliezer ben Yaakov, and it is derived from “על כנפי בגדיהם” as requiring the *tsitsit* to be on and touching the corner area.
- Rav Yaakov in the name of Rabbi Yoḥanan requires distancing “*meloh kesher godel*,” described as from the top of the thumb to its knuckle and approximated as three *etsba’ot*. The Gemara explains the need for both Rav Pappa’s “within three” and Rabbi Yoḥanan’s “distance of *meloh kesher godel*” so one does not assume “closer is better” or “farther is better,” and it establishes a precise placement band. A case where Rav Sama sees Ravina’s *tsitsit* too close is answered by Ravina that the requirement was stated *besha’at asiyah*, so later tearing that shifts the corner relationship does not invalidate, and Rav Ashi consoles Rav Sama with “חד מינייהו כתרי מינן,” attributing Ravina’s sharpness to being from *Eretz Yisrael*.
- The *Ḥavot Ya’ir* is cited in סימן צ״ד for a rule that in disputes between Ravina and Rav Ashi the halachah follows Ravina due to “אוירא דארץ ישראל מחכים,” and the Ramban in *Milḥamot* is cited for a similar pattern favoring Rav Zeira over Rav. A Ritva in *Yoma* 57 is cited bringing a responsum of the Rambam that different periods differed, with times when learning was easier in Bavel due to persecutions in *Eretz Yisrael* and vice versa, and the Rambam is said to identify Rav Ashi’s era as one where Bavel prospered. The statement “מימות משה, לא מצינו תורה וגדולה במקום אחד” is applied to Moshe Rabbeinu, Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, and Rav Ashi, and the *Torat Ḥayim* in *Sanhedrin* is cited as linking them to תורה שבכתב, the Mishnah, and the Babylonian Talmud.
- Rav Aḥa bar Yaakov is described as placing four strings, folding them, inserting the doubled set so eight pass through, and fastening by running the ends through the loop, to realize “*gedil gedilim*” in the place of *patil*. Rav Yirmiyah mi-Difti is described as inserting eight unspun strings, resulting in sixteen hanging, and not fastening them as Rav Aḥa bar Yaakov did. Mar the son of Ravina is described as acting “like our view,” matching the contemporary method of inserting four through and having eight hang.
- Rav Naḥman encounters Rav Adda bar Ahavah making *tsitsit* and reciting the berakhah “לעשות ציצית,” and Rav Naḥman objects on the basis that Rav says *tsitsit* does not require a berakhah. After Rav Huna’s death, Rav Ḥisda raises an apparent contradiction from Rav Yehuda in the name of Rav deriving from “דבר אל בני ישראל ועשו להם ציצית” that a non-Jew may not make valid *tsitsit*, and Rav Yosef explains Rav Ḥisda’s assumption that if a mitzvah is valid when done by a non-Jew then a Jew does not recite a berakhah, while if it is invalid when done by a non-Jew then a Jew does recite a berakhah. The Gemara tests the rule with *milah*, *sukkah*, and *tefillin*, answers that Rav invalidates non-Jewish *milah* by “ואתה את בריתי תשמור” while Rabbi Yoḥanan derives it from “המול ימול,” supports the rule from the absence of a berakhah on making a *sukkah* even though a non-Jew may build one, and rejects the rule from *tefillin* where non-Jews and others may not write them by “וקשרתם וכתבתם” yet no berakhah is made on making *tefillin*. The Gemara reframes the principle as depending on whether the act is the completion of the mitzvah, so *milah* as *gmar mitzvah* requires a berakhah while *tefillin* making does not because wearing is the completion, and it places *tsitsit* under a dispute whether it is *ḥovat tallit* or *ḥovat gavra*. Rav Mordekhai tells Rav Ashi that their version teaches the opposite tradition: Rav Yehuda in the name of Rav derives that *tsitsit* made by a non-Jew is valid from “ועשו להם,” reading it as “*ya’asu lahem aḥerim*,” meaning it should be made for them by others.
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