Siman - Chagigah Daf 16
- Six characteristics of demons and of human beings
It was taught in a Baraisa: ששה דברים נאמרו בשדים – There are six characteristics that were said regarding demons, three are like the malachei hashareis, and three are like human beings. They are like the malachei hasharies in that they have wings, they fly from one end of the world to the other, and they know what will happen in the future, which the Gemara clarifies to mean that, שומעין מאחורי הפרגוד כמלאכי השרת – they hear what is announced behind the partition like the malachei hashareis. They are like human beings in that they eat and drink, procreate and die. ששה דברים נאמרו בבני אדם – There are six characteristics said about human beings, three are like the malachei hashareis and three are like animals. Human beings are like the malachei hashareis in that they have דעת – understanding, they walk בקומה זקופה – upright, and they speak loshon hakodesh. They are like animals in that they eat and drink, procreate, ומוציאין רעי – and they expel waste.
- Who or what testifies against a person?
Rebbe Yehuda b’Rebbe Nachmani, the meturgeman of Reish Lakish, darshened: What is the meaning of the passuk, "אל תאמינו ברע אל תבטחו באלוף" – Do not believe a friend; do not trust an official. If the yetzer hora says to you, חטוא והקדוש ברוך הוא מוחל אל תאמן – “Sin, and HaKadosh, Boruch Hu, will forgive you, do not believe him, as רע refers to the yetzer hora, as it says in the passuk, "כי יצר לב האדם רע" – for the inclination of man’s heart is evil (ra). Perhaps one will ask, “Who will testify against me if I sin in the privacy of my own house? אבני ביתו וקורות ביתו של אדם הם מעידין בו – The stones and beams of one’s house will testify against him. The Chochomim say, נשמתו של אדם מעידה בו – A person’s neshamah will testify against him. Rebbe Zerika said: שני מלאכי השרת המלוין אותו – The two malachei hashareis who escort a person, as it says in the passuk, "כי מלאכיו יצוה לך לשמרך בכל דרכיך" – For He will command his angels concerning you, to observe you in all your ways. Others say, אברים של אדם מעידין בו – The limbs of a person testify against him.
- לעולם אל תהא שבות קלה בעיניך שהרי סמיכה אינה אלא משום שבות
The next Mishnah presents a machlokes that was debated for five generations of zugos, regarding whether semichah on a korban is done on Yom Tov or not. Rav Shemen bar Abba said in the name of Rebbe Yochanan: לעולם אל תהא שבות קלה בעיניך – Never let a Rabbinic prohibition concerning Shabbos or Yom Tov, be light in your eyes, שהרי סמיכה אינה אלא משום שבות ונחלקו גדולי הדור – for semichah is only prohibited as a shevus and yet the greats of the generation had a machlokes about it. When the Gemara says that it is obvious that semichah is only a shevus, as Rashi clarifies, for he is making use of the animal when he puts all his weight on it, and therefore there was no need for Rebbe Yochanan to clarify it, it answers that he needs to tell us that there are שבות מצוה – Rabbinic prohibitions concerning Shabbos that forbid activities that are a mitzvah to perform. When the Gemara points out that this too is obvious, it answers that Rebbe Yochanan needed to point this out so that one would not think that the machlokes was whether a chagigah requires semichah at all, for it certainly does. Rashi clarifies that the Gemara in Beitzah brought an opinion that held that a machlokes about semichah was regarding whether a chagigah requires semichah at all. Rebbe Yochanan is coming to teach that the Mishnah is not going like that opinion.
