Resources for Taanis daf 8

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. Our גמרא notes that a snake is worse than all other predatory animals since the snake has no personal benefit from its attack as it bites and kills without eating the carcass. See the ספר בית שמואל אחרון בפּרשת ויחי who says that using our גמרא we can understand the famous גמרא in יומא that says any תלמיד חכם that isn’t נוקם ונוטר כנחש is not a ת"ח. He explains that any revenge that a ת"ח takes must be for כבוד שמים, and just as a snake has no personal benefit from its bite, so too a ת"ח must have no personal vendettas when he is being נוקם לשם שמים.

 

  1. The גמרא says that one is not allowed to daven for two separate things at once. This הלכה is brought in שו"ע או"ח סימן תקע"ו סעיף ט"ו. Interestingly, the כף החיים is מדייק from the לשון of the שו"ע that the requirement to only daven for one item is only in force when davening as a ציבור. However, when one is davening as an individual, one can daven for as many items as he wishes. See the פּרי מגדים א"א ס"ק י"א (brought by the משנה ברורה as well) who says that different people with various types of illnesses are still considered one תפילה. Regarding שמונה עשרה, where we make many requests at the same time, see the חיד"א in יוסף תהילות on תהילים who says anything part of the regular קביעות that חז"ל were מתקן for us to say daily is not subject to this restriction. As far as why חז"ל told us to only daven for one item at a time, see the בן יהוידע here who explains that if we make multiple requests, it will appear as if we believe we have many זכותים, causing the מלאכים to be מקטרג. If we only daven for one item, it looks like we are just asking for a favor (מתנת חנם) and there will be no קטרוג.

 

  1. The גמרא says that a תפילת ציבור will be answered even if it is said without כוונה. There is a fascinating צמח צדק relating to this topic in שער המילואים סי’ י”א או”ח סע’ קי”ג. He asks why is the הלכה that you are allowed to skip parts of פּסוקי דזמרה in order to say שמונה עשרה with the ציבור? After all, we have a principle of עוסק במצוה פּטור מן המצוה, and once a person began פּסוקי דזמרה they should have to complete it as he is now being עוסק in פּסוקי דזמרה. He answers that the whole point of פּסוקי דזמרה is to make our תפילה more רצויה to Hashem, and we we can accomplish the same goal by davening with the ציבור since the ציבור’s תפילה is always רצויה. Therefore, פּסוקי דזמרה is really considered the same type of מצוה as  תפילה בציבור and one can therefore skip one in order to do the other.

The רמב"ם in הלכות תשובה פּרק בּ הל' ו says that when a ציבור does תשובה  even outside of עשרת ימי תשובה and calls out to Hashem בלב שלם, they will always be answered. See the הגהות רע"א there who asks from our גמרא which says a ציבור doesn’t need to have a לב שלם to be answered. He brings the מהר"ח אלפאנדרי who answers that either our גמרא is talking about עשרת ימי תשובה or that even our גמרא requires at least one person in the ציבור to be calling out בלב שלם.

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Click here to download maarei m'komos by Rabbi Asher Millman (in PDF)

Click here to download Shaklya v'Tarya Summary by Rabbi Yaakov Blumenfeld (in PDF)