Resources for Taanis daf 17

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

    1. The גמרא says a כהן who does not know from which משמר he originates should never be allowed to drink wine. This is because we hope the בית המקדש will immediately be rebuilt and if that falls out when it’s his duty to do the עבודה, he would be drunk and not able to serve. If he does indeed know from which משמר he originates and which week his משמר served, then he is allowed to drink wine all other weeks of the year. See the ריטב"א here who says you must also know that your family wasn’t from those משמרות who were not קבוע and would serve on alternate weeks, and you must also know that you weren’t from a family that was unassigned to any specific משמר and instead would just tag along with other משמרות. He then brings an alternative פּשט that says people from families who were not assigned to משמרות would not need to refrain from drinking wine as they are not חייב בעבודה. He does not explain who was unassigned or why.

     

    1. According to the חכמים, if you know your משמר and בית אב, you are prohibited to drink wine on the day your בית אב is supposed to serve in the בית המקדש. See the גבורות ארי who asks why the גמרא doesn’t have a more nuanced exception to this rule. For example, the גמרא in ר"ה דף י"א famously says that the גאולה will come in either תשרי or ניסן (depending on if you hold like ר"א or ר' יהושע). If so, all כהנים should be able to drink wine during the other ten months of the year!? He answers that the גמרא is only talking about a scenario where משיח comes בעיתה, in the correct time, however, if the Jews do תשובה, משיח can come at any time (אחישנה). Since we are hopeful for the latter scenario, these כהנים cannot drink wine the entire year. There is also a ירושלמי that says the בית המקדש will be built before משיח comes, in which case it may happen at any time. The גבורות ארי also asks whether we will need to be מחנך the מזבח before we use it as one can only be מחנך the מזבח with the תמיד של שחר. As such, they should be allowed to drink every day after the expiration time for that קרבן. See the שו"ת מהרש"ם חלק ו' סימן ל"ח who says since the בית המקדש השלישי will be built by Hashem and come down directly from שמים, it may not need חינוך. See also רבי עקיבא איגר in the גליון הרמב"ם on this topic who asks that כהנים should be able to drink on Friday nights since there is no עבודה of any kind on Friday nights (on regular nights there is הקטרת אימורין).

     

    1. The גמרא says רבי believes כהנים are allowed to drink wine today since תקנתו קלקלתו. רש"י explains this to mean we aren’t חושש for שמא יבנה בית המקדש היום. See the מהר"י קורקוס on the רמב"ם הלכות ביאת מקדש פּרק א' הל' ז who asks on רש"י how could he suggest we aren’t חושש for שמא יבנה בית המקדש היום??? In fact, the longer it takes, the more likely he will come soon! He therefore says the רמב"ם’s פּשט is the correct one. The רמב"ם explains that only כהנים who do not know from which משמר they originated are allowed to drink wine. However, if you indeed know from which משמר you originated, you may not drink that week.  תקנתו קלקלתו means since you don’t know from which משמר you originated, you in any case won’t be allowed to do the עבודה until you find out to which משמר you belong. The ראב"ד there disagrees with the רמב"ם since אליהו הנביא will just tell you where you belong. The מהר"י קורקוס explains the רמב"ם to mean that by the time אליהו הנביא (or whomever else might tell you) to which משמר you belong, you will likely no longer be drunk.

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