- Why הזאה is not docheh Shabbos
After determining that both Rebbe Eliezer and Rebbe Akiva agree that it is prohibited to do הזאה on Shabbos for the purpose of purifying one to bring a pesach, the Gemara asks, והזאה מאי טעמא לא דחיה שבת – What is the reason that הזאה is not docheh Shabbos? טלטולי בעלמא הוא תדחי שבת משום פסח – It is an act of mere carrying. Let it be docheh Shabbos for the sake of bringing a pesach !? Rabbah said, גזירה שמא יטלנה ארבע אמות ברשות הרבים – It is a decree lest one inadvertently come to take the water and transport it dalet amos in reshus harabim. The Gemara asks that Rebbe Eliezer should let him transport it since he holds, מכשירי מצוה דוחין את השבת – preliminaries of a mitzvah are docheh Shabbos, and answers, הני מילי היכא דגברא גופיה חזי – This (Rebbe Eliezer's statement) is only in a situation where the person himself is fit to perform the mitzvah, ורמי חיובא עליה – and an obligation to do so therefore lies upon him. אבל הכא דגברא לא חזי – But here, in the case of הזאה, דגברא גופיה לא חזי לא רמי חיובא עליה – where the person himself, being tamei, is not presently fit for the mitzvah, the obligation to perform it does not lie upon him. Rashi explains that the הזאה cannot be viewed, therefore, as a machshir for a mitzvah.
- אכילת פסחים לא מעכבא
Abaye challenged the above explanation for why Rebbe Eliezer holds הזאה is not docheh Shabbos, because Rebbe Eliezer holds, ערל שלא מל ענוש כרת – an ערל that does not circumcise himself in time to bring a pesach, is punished with kares. Here the person is not fit to bring the pesach, yet we see that a chiyuv is on him to make himself fit? After Rabbah’s answer, is rejected, Rava answers that הזאה is primarily done to permit one to eat the pesach, and the rule is, אכילת פסחים לא מעכבא – consumption of the pesach is not essential for one to fulfill his chiyuv.
Rava Adda bar Abba challenged Rava, that if this is so, that one in his seventh day of being a tamei meis brings a pesach without הזאה, then it will result in a pesach that was shechted שלא לאוכליו – for those unable to eat it, which should make the korban pasul. Rava responded that שלא לאוכליו is referring to people who are sick and elderly, who are actually unfit to eat the korban, whereas in this case, מיחזא חזי תקוני דלא מתקן – He is perfectly fit but is simply unprepared.
- When is a chagigah brought with the pesach?
The next Mishnah states, אמתי מביא חגיגה עמו – When does one bring a chagigah with the pesach? בזמן שהוא בא בחול בטהרה ובמועט – When the pesach is brought on a weekday, in purity, referring to when the nation as a whole is tahor, and when the pesach is insufficient to fully satiate those registered on it. It is not offered when the pesach is brought on Shabbos, when the portions are large and sufficient, and when the pesach is brought in a state of tumah. It is also different than the pesach in so much that it can be brought from sheep, cattle or goats, whether male and female and may be eaten over two days and one night.