Resources for Taanis daf 31
Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman
- The גמרא says that the 15th of אב was a great יו"ט for the Jewish people and explains several reasons why it was such a happy day. One of reasons mentioned is the הרוגי ביתר were buried that day. The גמרא adds that when the הרוגי ביתר were buried חז"ל were מתקן the ברכה of הטוב והמטיב as a thanks to Hashem for the bodies which did not decompose and that they were ניתן לקבורה. See the ריטב"א in בבא בתרא דף קכ"א who explains that חז"ל were מתקן this ברכה to be said for special wine based on the מדרש איכה that explains that the Roman Emperor Hadrian had a vineyard of 18 מיל by 18 מיל which he surrounded with the crucified corpses of הרוגי ביתר. Eventually a new Caesar took over and he allowed the bodies to be buried. It was at that time that the ברכה was instituted as a שבח והודאה to Hashem that the corpses did not decompose. Since the miracle happened in relation to a vineyard, חז"ל instituted the ברכה be said when drinking fine wine. Another possibility he mentions is that since חז"ל felt that this miracle was so important that they wanted it said after bentching and when drinking wine since at those times a person is in a happy mood.
- The גמרא gives another reason why ט"ו באב is such a great יו"ט - because it is the day that the people in the מדבר stopped dying and Hashem began again speaking to משה רש"י explains that every year the people would dig graves for themselves on ערב תשעה באב and would lay down in them anticipating their deaths. In the 40th year there were no deaths. However, they were still unsure if they had made an error in calculating the date of Tisha B’Av. Once they saw the full moon on the 15th of Av, they knew they had not made an error and the גזירה had finally ended. See the ריטב"א in בבא בתרא דף קכ"א who brings ר"ת who says that according to רש"י the math doesn’t add up. If you assume that everyone ages 20-60 were destined to die on תשעה באב, and based on another assumption that no one died before they turned sixty (as the ירושלמי explains), the result should be that those 20 year old’s at the time of the גזירה would have needed to die during the 40th year. If so, how could רש"י say no one died? Furthermore, if there was no one left to die, why did they enter the graves in the first place? Therefore, ר"ת says that the גזירה was not on people who were 20 years old at the time—it was only on people who were older than 20 years old. However, the twenty-year old’s didn’t know this and therefore dug their graves. He also says it is possible that this “leniency” for the 20-year old’s was a later development where Hashem had mercy and was מבטל the גזירה for the 20 year old’s (similar to Hashem only keeping the Jews in Egypt 210 years instead of 400). The reason Hashem did not speak to Moshe earlier and rather waited until the 15th was because it was still unknown that the twenty year old’s would be spared and everyone was still sad. As such, Hashem did not speak to משה as the שכינה isn’t שורה מתוך עצבות. See also תוספות there who quotes this רבינו תם but also quotes another opinion that people really did die during the 40th year. Nonetheless, that was the last year for them to die and the שבעה ended seven days after תשעה באב which is ט"ו באב.
3. A further reason the גמרא gives for the holiday of ט"ו באב was that it is the day they stopped cutting wood for the מערכה on the מזבח. See the רשב"ם in בבא בתרא דף קכ"א who explains that the שמחה was that they were זוכה to finish the מצוה. See the ביאור הגר"א in שולחן ערוך יורה דעה ס' רמ"ו ס"ק ע"ו who brings this as one of the few sources in ש"ס for the concept of making a סיום.
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