Resources for Chagigah daf 11
1. The גמרא says that a person who בשוגג either takes something of הקדש for himself or gives it to his friend is מועל, whereas a גזבר who takes הקדש for himself is not מועל unless he actually gets הנאה from it. See the משנה למלך in הלכות מעילה פּרק ו הל' ד who points out that there is a critical מחלוקת ראשונים as to how to explain the difference between the case of the גזבר vs. regular peopleas follows: תוספות in קידושין דף נ"ה ע"א ד"ה אין מועל אחר מועל explains there is nothing special about a גזבר per se. Rather, it all depends on whether the person who took the item of הקדש intended to bring it from one רשות to another. A regular person who takes something from הקדש probably knew it wasn’t his property but didn’t realize it was הקדש’s property and intended to transfer the רשות from one person to the other. By contrast, a גזבר regularly has הקדש and his own property in the same room and probably thought the הקדש was his own. Therefore, even if he attaches the הקדש item to his own house, he never intends to take it from one רשות to another so he isn’t going to be מועל unless he directly gets הנאה from it himself or gives it to a friend. However, see תוספות in מעילה דף י"ט: ד"ה ונטל who says that the חילוק has nothing to do with the גזבר‘s intentions vs. a regular person’s intentions. Rather, the חילוק is that a the גזבר’s רשות is the רשות of הקדש. Therefore, even if the גזבר thought the הקדש item was his friend’s property and intended to transfer it to his own רשות, it would still not be מעילה since the רשות of the גזבר is the רשות of הקדש. The only exception to that would be if the גזבר got direct הנאה from the הקדש itself. Our תוספות here on the top of the page (ד"ה בגזבר )sounds like he went with this second מהלך since he says “even though the גזבר was שולח יד by taking the stone which should make it his, it doesn’t go into his personal רשות since his רשות is the רשות of הקדש.”
2. The גמרא says that the שיעור for a מקוה is 40 סאה as this is the amount of water a normal person needs to over his entire body. There is a fascinating טורי אבן here who says that the תורה here is only giving the minimum שיעור for a מקוה. However, very tall people who would not fit in such a small amount of water have a larger שיעור for the מקוה itself! See the הגהות אמרי ברוך on the טורי אבן who says that we know that if you have a מקוה which has 40 סאה and you add three לוגין of מים שאובים to it, it does not become פּסול since it already had the status of a kosher מקוה . However, according to the טורי אבן’s explanation, if you pour three לוגין of מים שאובים into a מקוה when a tall man is going to use it, it becomes פּסול for him! He brings a תשובת הרשב"א in חלק א' סימן תתי"ח who discusses this exact case and says that the tall man who can’t fit his body into the 40 סאה should just add מים שאובין to the מקוה since מים שאובין don’t disqualify a מקוה once it is כשר. Therefore, the אמרי ברוך concludes that the height of a person doesn’t affect the שיעור of the מקוה. Rather, the מקוה must be 40 סאה, and there is a separate דין that the person must be covered fully by מקוה water.
3. The משנה at the beginning of the second פּרק says that one cannot be דורש מעשה בראשית in front of two people. What does מעשה בראשית refer to? תוספות in ד"ה אין דורשין says it refers to the name of Hashem that comes out from the first two פּסוקים of בראשית. See the רמב"ם in his פּירוש משניות here who says that מעשה בראשית refers to the full and deep understanding of the natural world and how it works. See the דרשות הר"ן in the first דרשה who asks how the רמב"ם could suggest that it refers to the natural world? Science classes need to be taught privately? Rather the ר"ן says that our משנה is referring to understanding parts of nature that cannot be known without נבואה such as why Hashem made the natural world operate in the manner it does or what כוחות in שמים cause nature to behave the way it does.
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