Resources for Taanis daf 18

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The גמרא mentions the story of פּפּוס and לולינוס who gave up their own lives to spare the lives of the rest of the Jewish people. The גמרא in בבא בתרא דף י says they have a special place in גן עדן in which no one else can stand. It would seem that they would be guilty of suicide which is usually considered רציחה. There is an important אגרות משה in יורה דעה חלק בּ סימן קע"ד who discusses at length the issue of whether someone could put themselves in grave danger to help save someone else’s life. He paskens that one is not allowed to do so. He explains that the scenario in our גמרא is different because they were saving an entire city of Jews, and one may give up his own life for הצלת כלל ישראל. This תשובה was written in opposition to a תשובה by the מנחת יצחק in חלק ה' סימן ז who learns from our גמרא of פּפּוס and לולינוס that one may give up his own life to save another’s life. See also the חזון איש in סנהדרין סימן כ"ה who discusses a scenario in which ח''ו a missile or arrow is headed towards 20 Jews. Can one divert the missile so that it would kill only one Jew? He says it depends: in the case of the missile, diverting it away is a direct act of הצלה with a negative consequence, like that of פּפּוס and לולינוס who gave themselves over to save others. This is different than a case where Jews were asked to randomly pick someone to be killed or else they would all be killed. In such a case, although there’s a positive consequence, the act of selecting someone is a direct act of cruelty towards that individual and is forbidden. He is also unsure if the case of פּפּוס and לולינוס is a proof since they did not actually kill themselves but only presented themselves to be killed which is not a direct act of suicide.

 

  1. The גמרא says רב אשי paskens the הלכה like ר' יוסי and one cannot fast the day before a holiday mentioned in מגילת תענית. Although we hold בטלה מגילת תענית, it is still in effect for חנוכה and פּורים. If so, the ראשונים are troubled with how we are allowed to fast the day before פּורים (תענית אסתר)? The ר"ן quotes a רמב"ן who answers (the same as one answer in תוספות) since תענית אסתר used to be the holiday of יום נקנור and was later abolished due to a tragedy that occurred the same day, we don’t forbid fasting as it is not a happy day. See the ר"ן who disagrees and says יום נקנור is בטל because all of מגילת תענית is בטלה and therefore one can fast. The בעל המאור says we can fast on תענית אסתר because פּורים is considered דברי קבלה, which in many ways is like a דאורייתא and therefore does not need חיזוק. Interestingly, the ר"ן here brings the ראב"ד who says that although מגילת תענית is בטלה, we לכתחילה don’t create fast days on any of the holidays listed in מגילת תענית. However, he says that תענית אסתר is different than other fasts because it’s not a day of אבלות, rather a זכרון לנס. See also the שאילתות בפּרשת ויקהל who says if תענית אסתר falls on Shabbos, we fast on Thursday because it is a “נס”. With other fasts we would not fast early due to the principle of אקדומי פּורענותא לא מקדמינן. It is clear therefore that תענית אסתר is a happy fast and not a sad one.

 

  1. The גמרא says one can fast before or after a יו"ט since it doesn’t need חיזוק. See the גמרא in סוכה דף מ"ה that mentions the concept of "אסרו חג", where one is supposed to eat and drink and not fast the day after a יו"ט. However, see the מגן אברהם סימן תכ"ט who explains this הלכה applies only on the day after שבועות, a special יו"ט called יום טבוח. On all other holidays, it is just a מנהג.

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