Resources for Chagigah 14
1. The גמרא praises the תלמידי חכמים who are מקמט עצמן על דברי תורה in this world, and says they will be rewarded by knowing סוד לעולם הבא. The ב"ח adds in the word שינה which means they limit their sleep so they can learn more Torah. There is a similar גמרא in בבא בתרא דף י that praises those who fight off sleep to stay and learn, and promises that Hashem will shine his שכינה on them in עולם הבא. Many of us are familiar with the רמב"ם in הלכות דעות פּרק ד הל' ד who says that one should get eight hours of sleep every night. The קיצור שלחן ערוך in סימן ע"א אות ב says six is enough. Either way, our גמרא seems like it’s praising sleeping less than the required amount. See the מהרש"א there in בבא בתרא who explains that the גמרא is acknowledging that sleeping less weakens the person, but Hashem gives them strength as it says קווי ה יחליפו כח. Therefore, the גמרא in בבא בתרא just means that a person who learns at night will get the שכינה of עולם הבא right now in עולם הזה so they can function! Similarly, see the מהרש"א earlier on דף י"ב (who sends you to ע"ז דף ג) who explains the גמרא of “כל העוסק בתורה בלילה הקב"ה מושך עליו חוט של חסד” that a person who learned at night and didn’t sleep enough will not look great in the morning and needs the חוט של חסד. Interestingly, see the ט"ז in אבן העזר סימן כ"ה who says that one will accomplish more in their learning if they get more sleep, even if they are awake for less hours. He quotes the פּסוק of “שוא לכם משכימי קום מאחרי שבת...כן יתן לידידו שינה” (it is a waste to get up early and go to sleep late…so will Hashem give to those who sleep). Of course, if one’s only time to learn is late at night or early in the morning, that would be different…
2. The גמרא says that רבי אלעזר בן ערך wanted to learn מעשה מרכבה and asked ר' יוחנן בן זכאי to teach it to him. ר' יוחנן בן זכאי said no, and then רבי אלעזר בן ערך said over the מעשה מרכבה to him! See the מהרש"א who asks the obvious question: if he shouldn’t have been taught, why did he teach it to him at an earlier time? See the שלחן ערוך in יו"ד סימן רמ"ב סעיף כ"ג who says that whenever you tell your Rebbe something, you should always say “Rebbe, didn’t you teach us the following” even if he really didn’t teach it to you as it is just a form of respect. The ביאור הגר"א quotes our גמרא as the source for that הלכה! We see the גר"א learned that רבי אלעזר בן ערך actually didn’t learn it from ר' יוחנן בן זכאי and was just being respectful. The מהרש"א suggests this possibility, but also suggests the following: the גמרא in שבת on דף קמ"ז says that רבי אלעזר בן ערך forgot his learning. Later the חכמים davened that he should get it back. ר' יוחנן בן זכאי was apparently not aware that he got back his learning and therefore didn’t want to teach him סתרי תורה anymore.
3. The גמרא asks whether one is allowed to neuter a dog. Both רש"י and תוספות say that the question was specifically about a dog since the פּרשה of סירוס is mentioned by קרבנות, and since even the מחיר of a dog isn’t allowed as a קרבן on the מזבח, perhaps the איסור סירוס doesn’t apply by a dog. See the טורי אבן who is מדייק from the שאילתות that the questions was about any בהמה טמאה and not just a dog. See the מלבי"ם in התורה והמצוה פּראשת אמור סימן קכ"א who says that our גמרא was actually discussing a seal (known as a כלב ים) which has characteristics of animals (since it goes up on land) and characteristics of fish. The מלבי"ם holds fish are מותר בסירוס since the איסור comes from the word בארצכם which only includes animals on the earth. Therefore, the גמרא was unsure which category the seal fell under. The טורי אבן asks on רש"י and תוספות that if they really think that a dog is worse than any another בהמה טמאה, how then do we really know that בארצכם is coming to include them? Perhaps it’s only coming to include a regular בהמה טמאה? He answers that the גמרא has another דרשה that says that you can’t do סירוס אחר סירוס. If an animal was neutered once, it is already a בעל מום and can’t be used on the מזבח. By the fact that there is still an איסור to be מסרס it again, we see that even something not fit for the מזבח cannot have סירוס. Therefore, בארצכם must be coming to include a dog.
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