Resources for Taanis daf 30

Daf A Week

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

  1. The גמרא brings a מחלוקת between רבי מאיר and רבי יהודה regarding whether you can learn unfamiliar material on תשעה באב. Both agree, however, that even children are not allowed to learn in school because פיקודי ה' ישרים משמחי לב. See the רי"ף and רא"ש here who are גורס that רבי מאיר and רבי יהודה also argued about children learning. ר"מ says they can and ר"י says they can’t. There is an absolutely fascinating ערוך השולחן in סימן תקנ"ד ס"ק ג who explains the מחלוקת ר"מ ור"י as follows: even though both תנאים agree that learning Torah is משמח, there is an aspect of learning that is difficult even for great גדולים since the Torah’s depths are infinite. However, despite the difficulty for one’s גוף, the נשמה enjoys a great שמחה. He compares this to the רמב"ם in הלכות גירושין  who says that if someone doesn’t want to divorce his wife, בית דין can force him until he says he will give the divorce. This is not called a divorce against the husband’s will since deep down every Jew wants to do the Will of Hashem. The ערוך השולחן  adds that although the נשמה should also get enjoyment from difficult passages which are nonetheless תורה, the נשמה’s joy is dampened by learning about the צרות of כלל ישראל and therefore all agree, these may be learned on תשעה באב. The מחלוקת ר"מ ור"י is: ר"מ believes that since adults find difficulty in learning new things or in general for children to learn, this learning is not prohibited on תשעה באב. However, the ר"י disagrees and holds that the joy of the soul outweighs any צער the body feels.

 

  1. The משנה says one cannot have meat or wine at the סעודת המפסקת. The גמרא discusses the types of wine and meat that are prohibited. What is surprising when learning this משנה is that we refrain from meat and wine from ראש חודש or at least from שבוע שחל בו and yet there is no hint to this in our גמרא. The closest we get is the מחלוקת on the previous דף regarding when we must stop laundering and cutting hair, where one תנא holds the איסור begins on ראש חודש and the other holds שבוע שחל בו (and yet another תנא forbids the whole month of אב). See the טור in סימן תקנ"א who brings the רבינו שבט who quotes a גירסא in the ירושלמי that says “the מנהג of women who don’t drink wine and eat meat from ר"ח is a valid מנהג”. Based on that, רבינו שבט says many people don’t drink wine from ר"ח while others only refrain in שבוע שחל בו. See the בית יוסף there who explains the custom of the latter group as sourced in the above-quoted ירושלמי and there must be an actual איסור during שבוע שחל בו since we pasken like רשב"ג.

 

  1. See the ר"ן in ד"ה ג"מ לא שנו who quotes the רמב"ן in תורת האדם who says that the סעודה המפסקת means the last סעודה קבועה that a person will eat on ערב תשעה באב, even if one intends to eat a סעודת עראי afterwards. This, he says, is as opposed to those who are בטנן בטן רשעים who eat a huge meal with meat and wine and then have a small meal afterwards. See the שו"ת מהרש"ל סימן ל who says even people who eat lots of dairy on ערב תשעה באב afternoon are included in the בטן רשעים of the רמב"ן. However, the מנהג is to have a somewhat larger meal on ערב תשעה באב. See סימן תקנ"ב where the רמ"א explains this is so the fast won’t harm us. See the מגן אברהם ס"ק י"א who says we have a meal because at the time of the second בית המקדש, the day of תשעה באב was a holiday where a festive meal occurred, and we are looking forward to when תשעה באב will be a holiday once again.

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Click here to download Shaklya v’Tarya Summary by Rabbi Chaim Smulovitz (in PDF)

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