Resources for Megillah 27

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

1. The גמרא says that you can put חומשין on top of נביאים וכתובים but you can’t put נביאים וכתובים on top of חומשין. The גמרא sounds like there is no difference in קדושה between נביאים and כתובים. See the ר"ן here as well as the ריטב"א in ר"ה דף ל"ב ד"ה ור"י who both say that our גמרא is a proof that there is no difference in the קדושה of נביאים וכתובים. However, see the רבינו בחיי in פּרשת צו in פּרק ח' פּסוק ח who says that נביאים are more קדוש than כתובים, since נביאים were written with נבואה whereas כתובים were written with רוח הקודש which is a lower level of connection to Hashem (חומש is the highest since it was written with the נבואה level of משה רבינו). He says that this is the reason חז"ל  said that one cannot put כתובים on נביאים. He seems to have a different גירסא than we have. See also the ר"ן in ר"הon ר"ה דף ט' בדפּי הרי"ף in ד"ה מתחיל who says that the reason we say the פּסוקים of כתובים before נביאים in מלכיות on ר"ה is because מעלין בקודש ולא מורידין. That also sounds like נביאים are on a higher level than כתובים . See the ריטב"א (mentioned above) who disagrees and says that we only say the פּסוקים of כתובים first in order to show they don’t have less קדושה than נביאים.

As to the status of printed ספרים nowadays, see the ערוך השולחן in יו"ד סימן רפּ"ב ס"ק כ"ב who says that a printed חומש, while it has קדושה, it’s קדושה is not higher than נביאים וכתובים and you could put one on the other. Others disagree. See the אבני נזר in יו"ד סימן שע"ו who says that printed תורה שבכתב have more קדושה than גמרות since חז"ל certainly were מתקן by ספרי תנ"ך that כתיבתן מקדשתן--otherwise reading them would be considered קורא בעל פּה which you aren’t supposed to do with תנ"ך. Conversely, by תורה שבעל פּה, a printed ספר doesn’t have inherent קדושה in the paper but is just a תשמיש קדושה, similar to a shul which is holy only because you daven in it.

2. The משנה says that one cannot sell a ספר תורה to buy other ספרים such as a נ"ך or גמרא, but one can sell a ספר תורה in order ללמוד תורה ולישא אשה. See the פּמ"גin סימן קנ"ג, א"א ס"ק כ"ד who suggests the possibility that since one cannot learn without ספרים, it stands to reason that if you can sell a ספר תורה in order to learn תורה, one should be able to sell a ספר תורה to buy other ספרים. (That would לכאורה mean that our משנה that says you can’t, is talking about a case where you had other funds to buy ספרים.)
3. The גמרא says that ר"א בן שמוע said that he lived to an old age since he never duchened without making a ברכה. See the ריטב"אhere who asks why was this considered something special? Isn’t there a חיוב to make a ברכה before doing נשיאת כפּיים? He suggests that maybe ר"א בן שמוע was just saying that making this ברכה is a סגולה to live a long life. See the ביאור הגר"א סימן קכ"ח ס"ק ל who proves from our גמרא  that the ברכה must not be מעיקר הדין or ר"א בן שמוע would not have considered something special about ר"א בן שמוע. However, see the העמק שאלה in קכ"ה ס"ק י"א who quotes the בעל המאור as saying that מדינא דגמרא there is no ברכה on שופר since it has ברכות before it as it is blown as part of שמונה עשרה, similar to ק"ש where there is no ברכת המצוה since there is אהבה רבה before it. The העמק שאלה therefore suggests that there had been no ברכת המצוה instituted for ברכת כהנים since it is preceded by הטוב שמך, and ר"א בן שמוע instituted it himself since most of the year on is not allowed to be יוצא with the ש"ץ’s שמונה עשרה  if you know how to daven on your own so the ברכות that the ש"ץ is saying of הטוב שמך would not apply to him. See also the אגרות משה in או"ח חלק ג סימן י"ז who explains based on the מהרש"א on our גמרא that since the פּסוק says  ואני אברכם, the ברכה of the כהנים is just a type of הכשר מצוה since it isn’t the גמר המצוה until Hashem blesses the Jews. As such, since we don’t say a ברכה on a הכשר מצוה, no ברכה had been instituted until ר"א בן שמוע went ahead and instituted it.

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