Resources for Taanis daf 20

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The גמרא says there are three people for whom the sun’s daylight hours were modified: משה, יהושע, ונקדימון בן גוריון. There is little discussion here about whether the נס described by our גמרא is meant to be taken literally (which would mean the cosmos changed for a day on behalf of נקדימון) or whether it simply appeared that the sun had set but it had never actually set. On the other hand, regarding יהושע a debate is found amongst the ראשונים as to whether that story is meant to be taken literally or not. The simple reading of our גמרא is that all the stories are meant to be understood literally. This is also clear in the פּרקי דרבי אליעזר פּרק נ"ב. Many of the ראשונים such as the רד"ק there in יהושע also understand that the sun literally stood still or returned. However, see the רלב"ג on the פּסוק there in יהושע who says if the story in יהושע was literal, it would have been a miracle as great as קריעת ים סוף and more words should have been dedicated to it in תנ"ך. He therefore says it is not literal and rather it means it felt as if the sun stopped since the battle went so quickly and they accomplished so much. See the אברבנאל on his פּירוש על מורה נבוכים who understands the רמב"ם as disagreeing and holding that although the sun itself did not move, the נס was the light of the sun stayed out longer even though the sun itself continued its normal course. Presumably, these ראשונים would have the same שיטה in our גמרא. (In fact, see the עין יעקב here who brings a very similar פּשט to the אברבנאל in our גמרא).

 

  1. It seems clear from the story of נקדימון בן גוריון that the last time to pay a debt due on a specific day is at שקיעה and not צאת הכוכבים. See the מנחת פּתים in חו"מ סימן ר"ז who proves from our גמרא that if you hire a Yid and he finishes his work during the day, you must pay him by שקיעה in order to fulfill ביומו תתן שכרו.

 

  1. The ספר שדה צופים brings a ספר מרפּסים אגרא who posed the following question: If someone missed זמן קריאת שמע, we would assume that he could not then get on a plane flying west, lein קריאת שמע before their זמן and expect to be יוצא the מצוה that he already missed. Therefore, he asks why it helped that the sun returned for נקדימון after it had set. If the sun had already set, the fact that it came back out later should not help with the חיוב that already passed. He answers with the מהרש"א who understands the sun did not return after it set, rather it was just delayed in setting. He also says there is a difference between flying on a plane to a different location as opposed to where time itself was turned back.

 

  1. The גמרא says רב הונא held you can’t give מאכלי אדם to an animal as it is a בזיון to the food. See the שו"ת בית יצחק יו"ד ח"א סימן ע"ט who says this הלכה is not consistent with שמואל who holds עושה אדם כל צורכו בפּת (a person can use bread for any need). He says we would pasken like שמואל in this הלכה which is why almost all פּוסקים don’t bring this מימרא ofרב הונא  as הלכה למעשה. The exception to this is the מגן אברהם in סימן קע"א ס"ק א who paskens it is אסור (the משנה ברורה is מיקל). There is also the well-known discussion about throwing bread to fish for תשליך and birds for שבת שירה. The תהילה ליונה here points out that while virtually all אחרונים made sure to point out you are not allowed to feed animals, birds, or fish on Shabbos or יו"ט, no one was bothered about feeding human food to animals during the week. Even the מגן אברהם only mentions not throwing bread to birds only on Shabbos. See the ערוך השלחן there who says the מגן אברהם must be talking about a case where the crumbs were not edible to humans.

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

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