Resources for Chagigah daf 15

1.     The גמרא at the end of דף י"ד ע"ב and the beginning of our דף discusses the status a בתולה שעברה. Our גירסא is that the גמרא was asking whether she could marry (or stay married to)a כהן גדול, and the ספק is are we חושש להטייה? What is unclear is if we assume הטייה happened, does that mean the woman is permissible to the כהן גדול or not? See the ציץ אליעזר חלק ט סימן נ"א עמוד ר"מ who discusses our גמרא at length. He brings תוספות on י"ד: ד"ה בתולה who says that according to רש"י  if we believe that הטייה is common, then the woman is believed that הטייה occurred and she can marry the כהן גדול. However, the ב"ח changes the גירסא to say that if הטייה is not common, then she is believed that she was עיברה באמבטי and can stay married. According to the ב"ח’s גירסא, if הטייה was performed then she is no longer considered a בתולה and a כ"ג  cannot marry her. רש"י himself actually brings two explanations. In the first פּירוש he says the case is where she didn’t marry the כ"ג yet, and the second פּירוש says the case is that she did marry the כ"ג and בתולין were found but she was already pregnant. According to the second explanation where בתולין were already found, it is clear that if we are חושש להטיה she would not be permissible to her husband, which is like the ב"ח. However, according to the first explanation, it is possible that if הטייה occurred she would be permissible to her husband. See the משנה למלך in הלכות איסורי ביאה פּרק י "ז הל י"ג who understands our גמרא to be saying that if הטייה occurred she is permissible to her husband, but points out that the פּוסקים don’t bring this גמרא so perhaps we don’t pasken like it. See the ר"ח who had a totally different גירסא. According to him, the גמרא’s question was only if she has טומאת לידה and had nothing to do with whether the woman could marry a כהן גדול at all.

2.     The גמרא says that a person should not learn תורה from someone unless they appear to you to be a מלאך. What does it mean to be like a מלאך? See the חתם סופר here who suggests that a מלאך is a way of saying a pure שליח who has no self interest and is only there to teach תורה לשם שמים. See also the ספר המקנה who says that a מלאך is called an עומד which does not grow, which means that a Rebbe must give up his own growth in order to help his תלמידים grow to their full potential.

3.     The גמרא says that although a regular person cannot learn from a רשע, a גדול is allowed (like ר' מאיר who learned from אחר). However, see the רמב"ם in הלכות תלמוד תורה פּרק ד' הל' א who says that a person may not learn from a רשע but does not bring that there is an exception for a גדול. The שלחן ערוך in יו"ד סימן רמ"ו סעיף ח does not bring it either. The ש"ך there asks from our גמרא and says that the exception for a גדול was not brought because everyone today is considered like קטנים. See the לחם משנה on the רמב"ם who disagrees with the ש"ך but says the reason the היתר for a גדול is not brought is because we don’t pasken like ר' מאיר and it’s even אסור for a גדול.

4.     The גמרא says that Hashem would not say over תורה in the name of ר' מאיר because he learned from אחר until רבה בר שילא said he would eat the fruit and discard the peel. At that point Hashem would say over תורה in ר' מאיר’s name. Could רבה בר שילא have thought of something Hashem didn’t? That obviously makes no sense and cannot be. See the שיטה מקובצת in בבא קמא דף נ' ד"ה יכשל who says that Hashem “paskens” like the צדיקים of each generation. See also the דרשות הר"ן in דרשה י"א who also says that Hashem gave over the הכרעת ספיקי התורה to the חכמי הדור, whether they are כלפּי שמיא גליא right or wrong.

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