Daf 11

·       משנה : One cannot be דורש in עריות in front of three, nor מעשה בראשית in front of two, nor מעשה מרכבה in front of even one unless he is one who understands things on his own.

·       One who looks at the following 4 things, it is better that he not have been created: What is above and below (according to רש"י this means what is above and below the רקיע of the חיות), behind and in front (according to רש"י this means beyond east and west). One who is not careful is the honor of Hashem is also better that they not have been born.

·       גמרא: The words איש איש by עריות, ברכת ה and ע"ז come to include נכרים which are חייב in them.

·       אין דורשין בערוית בפרהסיא means סתרי עריות (not מפורש בפּסוק). The reason is because two students wont be listening when the other student is saying things to the Rebbe. The reason we are only concerned by ערוית is because נפשו של אדם מחמדתן. Even though that’s true by גזל too, it’s only true שלא בפניו by עריות.

·       כי שאל נא לימים ראשונים tells us that only a יחיד can ask about מעשה בראשית. He can ask about the first six days but not about what was before that.

Daf 12

·       אדם הראשון was as tall as from heaven to earth which is the same distance as from one end of the earth to the other. After he sinned Hashem made him smaller.

·       Ten things were created on the first day: Heaven, Earth and all the things mentioned in the first few פּסוקים, including light.

·       There is a מחלוקת תנאים as to which light was created on the first day. רבי אלעזר says it was a special light which Hashem saw was unfit for רשעים and hid it for the צדיקים. However, the חכמים say that it was regular sunlight but the מאורות were only hung in the sky on day four.

·       Hashem created the world with ten things: חכמה, תבונה, דעת, כח, גערה, גבורה, צדק, משפּט,חסד, ורחמים.

·       The world was expanding like two rolls of wool till Hashem screamed at it. Same for seas. That’s where the name שקי comes from.

·       ב"ש says heaven was created first as a פּסוק says. Plus first you build the throne and then the footstool. ב"ה says Earth was created first as a פּסוק says, plus you make main floor before attic. חכמים says they were made at the same time.

·       את השמים and את הארץ tell you that Hashems name is not השמים והארץ.

·       The world stands on pillars which stand on water which stand on mountains which stand on wind which stands on storms which is supported by Hashem’s זרוע.

·       The חכמים say the world stands on 12 pillars, some say 7, ר"א בן שמוע says 1, and ר' יהודה says 2.

·       The seven heavens are:

o  וילון-nothing. J

o  רקיע—where sun, moon, and מזלות are

o  שחקים—where a mill makes מן  for צדיקים

o  זבול-Where ירושלים, בית המקדש, מזבח are located and מיכאל brings קרבנות

o  מעון—Where מלאכי השרת sing שירה at night and are silent by day so ישראל can say שירה.

o  מכון—Where snow, hail, bad dews, a room of storms and cave of smokes. All for punishments. However, דוד המלך brought these down to earth.

o  ערבות—where צדק, משפּט, חיים, שלום,נשמתן של צדיקים נשמות שלא נבראו עדיין and טל של תחיית המתים

·       Someone who learns Torah at night gets a חוט של חסד על ראשו. Another version is someone who learns in עולם הזה will get a חוט של חסד in עולם הבא.

Daf 13

·       ר' אחא בר יקכב says there is an eighth level of heaven which is above the heads of the חיות.

·       One is not allowed to be מתבונן more than that.

·       רבן יוחנן בן זכאי said that the response to נבוכדנצר who said he would rise to Hashem in heaven was that a person only lives eighty years and that from earth to Heaven is a five hundred year journey, then each level of Heaven as well as the thickness of each Heaven is five hundred years. Above that, each part of the חיות and each part of the כסא הכבוד is כנגד כולן. So he will never make it but rather will go down to שאול.

·       רבי חייא says that while מעשה מרכבה can’t even be taught to an individual who is not someone who understands much on his own, you can give over ראשי פּרקים. However, רבי זירא says even ראשי פּרקים requires an אב ב"ד and ולבו דואג בקרבו. Another version is either or.

·       רבי אמי says you can only give סתרי תורה to someone who has five things which the גמרא explains later.

·       רבי אמי says you cant teach Torah to a עכו"ם as it says משפּטים בל ידעום.

·       There is the story of ר"א seeming to miss the opportunity to learn מעשה מרכבה, and we also have רב יוסף learning מעשה בראשית from סבי פּומבדיתא but not teaching them in turn מעשה מרכבה since you aren’t supposed to teach it. Then they said they had anyway learned till ואתה בן אדם and he said then you already learned it.

·       There is a מחלוקת תנאים where מעשה מרכבה that you can be דורש goes to. Either to וארא בתרא or until חשמל. From there till ויאמר you can either only give ראשי פּרקים or another version is that up to that point you can give ראשי פּרקים but from that point on you just give it to a מבין מדעתו.

·       חנניה בן חזקיה saved ספר יחזקאל as he was מיישב the סתירות from it to the Torah.

·       Someone who darshens מעשה מרכבה but isnt ראוי can be killed ר"ל.

·       חשמל means חיות אש ממללות or עתים חשות עתים ממללות. They are quit when Hashem speaks and talk when he isnt speaking. They stick their heads above their level in שמים and quickly return it like a flickering fire between cracks.

·       The פּסוק says Hashem came from the North to conquer nations for נבוכדנצר so no one should say that Hashem gave over the Jewish people to a lowly nation.

·       סנדלפון is taller than his friend 500 years and has stands on earth and his head reaches the חיות and stands behind the מרכבה and ties crowns to his Master by using a שם to lift the crown to Hashem’s “Place”.

·       Everything יחזקאל saw was also seen by ישעיה but ישעיה didn’t mention it because he was like a person living in the capital city who has seen the King many times and wasn’t as shocked by the site as a villager who never sees the King.

·       Hashem’s throne has a picture of a lion, eagle, person and used to have a bull until יחזקאל davened and changed it to a child’s face so that it shouldn’t a קטיגור due to חטא העגל.

·       The מאלכים used to have six wings but after the חורבן בית המקדש they only have 4. It’s a מחלוקת which wings they lost. רב says the ones they said שירה with (the ones they fly with.) However, the רבנן say the ones they cover their feet with.

·       In the time of the בית המקדש Hashems legions were innumerable. After חורבן בית המקדש there are a million angels serving him and 100,000,000 before him. אבא יוסי בן דוסאי says there are a million angels per legion, but the number of legions is innumerable.

·       ר' ירמיה בר אבא says the מלאכים mentioned above were just for being משמש the river דינור. The נהר דינור is created by the sweat of the חיות and falls on the head of רשעים in גיהנום. ר' אחא בר יעקב says based on a פּסוק that it falls on the heads of the 974 generations that were supposed to have come before מתן תורה but were not created but rather spread throughout time and are known as the עזי הדור.

Daf 14

·       Others learn that פּסוק to be referring to צדיקים who don’t sleep in this world since they are learning and they are זוכה to the secrets of Torah in the next world.

·       Some say that מלאכים are created every day and say שירה and then are בטל and others says they are created from Hashem’s words.

·       One פּסוק says Hashem has one throne and one says two. Several possibilities are suggested: One is for Hashem and one is for דוד המלך but this is rejected. The second is one is for דין and one is for צדקה. The third possibility is one is for a throne and one is a footstool.

·       ישעיה said 18 קללות and wasn’t appeased till he said that the young won’t respect the old nor will the low respect the honorable. The 18 curses were that Hashem would remove:

o  משען -people who know מקרא

o  ומשענה-People who know משנה

o  כל משען לחם-People who know גמרא

o  וכל משען מים- People who know אגדה

o  גבור-someone with a lot of בקיאות

o  ואיש מלחמה- someone who knows how to fight in Torah

o  שופט-a judge who judges correctly

o  נביא

o  וקוסם-King

o  וזקן-someone ראוי לישיבה

o  שר חמשים-Soemone who can argue in חמשה חומשי תורה. However, רבי אבהו sys it means someone who is 50 and old enough to have a person repeating his shiur loudly.

o  ונשוא פנים- someone who in Heaven they ignore the worlds sins because of him.

o  ויועץ- Someone who knows how to make leap years and months

o  וחכם- Someone who makes his teacher wiser

o  חרשים- When he starts to speak everyone becomes silent.

o  ונבון לחש - someone who is מבין דבר מתוך דבר and fitting to Teach Torah to which was given quietly

o  ונתתי נערים שריהם ותעלולים ימשלו בם - People empty from mitzvos will be their leaders and will be ruled by foxes.

·       The final 19^th curse was ירהבו נער בזקן ונקלה בנכבד- Someone empty of מצוות will be look down on someone full of מצוות, and someone who treats important things lightly will look down on someone who treats מצוות seriously.

·       רב קטינא said that even in the bad times ירושלים always had honest people as when people would ask someone to be the Rabbi he would say I don’t know enough Torah and wouldn’t pretend he just forgot it.

·       The fact that there were always honest people in ירושלים was about learning, but in terms of business they were not.

·       The גמרא tells several stories of תנאים who were דורש במעשה מרכבה and angels surrounded them and other miraculous things.

·       Four people went into the פּרדס: they were בן עזאי, בן זומא, אחר, רבי עקיבא.

o  בן עזאי died

o  בן זומא was נטרפה דעתו

o  אחר went off the path

o  רבי עקיבא was unharmed

·        בן זומא says you can’t neuter any animal, not just one used for קרבנות. He was also asked about a בתולה שעברה if she was permitted to a כהן גדול, meaning is it possible she is still a בתולה and the man did הטיה. He responded this is not common and therefore we assume she was עיברה באמבטי.

Daf 15

·       בן זומא also said the space between the upper waters and lower waters is three fingers. However, רבי יהושע said that בן זומא was still not well. The גמרא brings several opinions as to what the space is: a thread, the space between two boards on a bridge, the space between two cloaks spread out over each other, and the space between two cups on top of each other.

·       Then we have the story of אחר. אחר saw the מלאך מיטטרון sitting while writing the זכותים of the Jewish people. אחר had a tradition that there is no sitting up in Heaven, so he said maybe there are two רשויות. They whipped the מלאך sixty lashes of fire presumably because he didn’t get up when אחר saw him. But מיטטרון was allowed to erase אחר’s merits, so אחר decided to go off the דרך.

·       The גמרא then brings that אחר said Hashem built everything and its opposite which means צדיקים ורשעים, גן עדן וגיהנם, etc. If he is worthy, the צדיק gets his portion and the רשע’s portion, and the רשע get’s the inverse.

·       רבי מאיר also said from the פּסוק that compares Torah to gold and glass that Torah is hard to acquire like gold but easy to lose like glass. אחר said that it means that just like glass when it breaks can be melted down and fixed, so too ת"ח who goes off can come back. When רבי מאיר then asked אחר to come back he said it’s too late for me as he heard from behind the curtain שובו בנים שובבים חוץ מאחר.

·       A similar story occurred when they were walking on Shabbos and אחר told ר' מאיר to go back since he calculuated with his horse’s steps that they were about to pass תחום שבת. Then ר' מאיר said you אחר should also turn back (meaning to Hashem ) and אחר said again it’s too late for him. ר' מאיר then dragged him to 13 ישיבות and each child told him a פּסוק that indicated there was no hope. The last one sounded like he misquoted a פּסוק and said אחר’s name and either he killed him or would have killed him had he had a knife.

·       When אחר died he was not going to גיהינום because of his learning but not going to גן עדן veacsue of his sins and ר' מאיר said that whe he would die he would make sure אחר was punished so he could get into גן עדן and in fact when he died smoke came up from אחר’s tomb. ר' יוחנן said when he would die he would get out of גיהינום and when he died the smoke from אחר ‘s tomb stopped.

·       אחר’s daughter asked רבי for money and told him to look to his good and not his bad and a fire came down and licked רבי bench and רבי said if this is what is done for not good people how much more so for great people.

·       How could ר' מאיר have learned Torah from אחר? Didn’t ר' יוחנן teach that if the Rebbe isnt like a מלאך then don’t learn Torah from him? The גמרא brings two פּסוקים to say it is allowed, and the דין  of ר' יוחנן is by a קטן but not by a גדול. In מערבא they said that ר' מאיר ate the fruit and discarded the peel.

·       Torah scholars are like almonds—even if the shell gets dirty the stuff inside is good.

·       Hashem wasn’t saying over Torah in ר' מאיר’s name because he learned Torah from אחר until רבה בר שילה said it was ok since he ate the fruit and discrade the peel and then Hashem said over Torah from ר' מאיר.

·       ר' יהודה was upset that דואג ואחיתופל were such big ת"ח and yet had no חלק לעולם הבא so what would become of them? שמואל said טינא היתה בליבם.

·       אחר sang Greek songs and had many heretical books.

Daf 16

·       ר"ע knew where the שכינה was to not look there as it can be seen from the מלאכים around him, plus it is a קול דממה דקה.

·       שדים have wings, fly across the entire Earth, and know the future like מלאכי השרת. However, they eat, procreate, and die like humans.

·       Humans have דעת , walk upright, and talk לשון הקודש like מלאכי השרת. However, they eat, procreate, and excrete like animals.

·       Why can’t you look at what was (מה לפנים)? The גמרא answers since it was like a city built on a trash heap its not nice to look at.

·       Whoever is not careful with the honor of Hashem it is better he wasn’t in this world: this refers to someone who stares at a rainbow (it is similar to דמות כבוד ה) or to someone who sins in secret. The גמרא that’s says one should sin where no one knows them is referring to if the person cannot control themselves.

·       These three things hurt eyesight: staring at a rainbow, נשיא, and כהנים when they duchen in the בית המקדש and say the שם המפורש.

·       A person should not think that they can sin and Hashem will forgive. If a person sins, the walls will testify against him, and some say his נשמה will testify against him, and some say the angels that accompany him at death will testify against him, and some say his limbs will testify against him.

·       משנה There is a מחלוקת תנאים over several generations as to whether one should do סמיכה on יו"ט. It is a מחלוקת as to which תנאים were נשיאים and which were אב ב"דs.

·       רבי יהודה בן טבאי and שמעון בן שטח were part of that מחלוקת. I רבי יהודה בן טבאי said that he killed an עד זומם to show that an עד זומם is killed before the person he was trying to kill is killed להוציא מלבן של צדוקים. However, שמעון בן שטח responded that he had killed an innocent man since you can only kill an עד זומם if both became הוזם. Then רבי יהודה בן טבאי said he would never pasken without שמעון בן שטח. The גמרא thought that was a proof that רבי יהודה בן טבאי was not an אב ב"ד because if he was he wouldn’t have paskened in front of the נשיא. The גמרא is דוחה that it means he wouldn’t even be מצטרף without שמעון בן שטח.

·       The משנה says מנחמleft. Where did he go? Some say off the לתרבות רעה and some say to work for the government with 80 students.

·       ר' יוחנן said that even a שבות מצוה should not be light in our eyes as so many תנאים argues over סמיכה. He was teaching us with this that the מחלוקת was not if you need סמיכה on a קרבן חובה but rather if you could do it on יו"ט.

·       סמיכה requires all your might. Otherwise it would be allowed on יו"ט.

·       The גמרא brings a question from a ברייתא: It says that men do סמיכה but women do not. The second opinion says that women can do it if they want. Then it brings a story that women once wanted to do סמיכה and they let them to make them happy. The גמרא asks that if סמיכה was really with all ones might then how could they let women do סמיכה when it is עבודה בקדשים? The גמרא answers that they didn’t really let them do but rather they put their hands over it כדי לעשות נחת רוח לנשים.

·       רב פּפּא wanted to prove from here that צדדין are אסור since if not why couldn’t you just do סמיכה on the head? רב פּאשי said one cannot prove whether צדדין are אסור from this since the head where one does סמיכה is equal to the back and is not considered צדדין

Daf 17

·       משנה: The משנה brings that ב"ש says you don’t bring עולות at all on יו"ט and you bring שלמים but don’t do סמיכה on them. ב"ה says you bring both and do סמיכה on both. ב"ש says that if שבועות falls on Friday then the day of the שחיטה of the קרבנות is Sunday and ב"ה says its on יו"ט itself. However, ב"ה agreed that if שבועות fell on Shabbos that the יום טבוח was on Sunday. If that happens, you are allowed to have eulogies and fast and the כהן גדול did not wear his יו"ט clothes so as not to make it look like שבועות always fall on Sunday like the צדוקים said.

·       The קרבנות of שבועות have תשלומין all seven days. This is learned from the three holidays being הוקש together, and just like there is תשלומין for Pesach all seven days, same for שבועות. For סוכות, we learn that it requires לינה.

·       The גמרא brings a ברייתא that says count days make ר"ח (in regards to the קרבן מוסף) and count days and make שבועות for it’s קרבנות) .So we think this means there is only one day for ר"ח the same is true for שבועות. We are דוחה that there is a מצוה to count days and weeks for שבועות and it is even called שבועות!

·       Another limud that there is תשלומין for שבועות is that it says וקראתם next to ובקוצרכם. You can’t actually harvest except on חול המועד so it must be that it has תשלומין.

·       We need the limud from both ובקוצרכם and the הקיש to know how many days you have תשלומין and to know that the הקיש doesn’t mean that there is an איסור מלאכה during the week of שבועות.

Daf 18

·       ר"ל learned it from חג הקציר but ר' יוחנן said it just means the time of harvest like by הג האסיף where one cannot bring in from the field the whole week since it is חול המועד.

·       They both hold חול המועד is אסור in מלאכה. Some learn it from חג המצות תשמור שבעת ימימ. Some learn it from a ק"ו from ראשון ושביעי which don’t have kedusha before and after where חול המועד does. And even though ר"ח has מוסף and the rest of the week that isn’t Shabbos is not אסור, they aren’t called מקראי קודש.

·       Another ברייתא brings the limud from other פּסוקים Yet another ברייתא says ששת ימים תאכל מצות וביום השביעי עצרת which tells you that they are all עצור from some מלאכה but not all and מסרן הכתוב לחכמים to decide what is אסור and what is מותר.

·       רבי טרפון who stopped a הספּד on יום טבוח must have been a יום טבוח where שבועות fell on a day other than Shabbos.

Daf 19

·       משנה: One must wash נטילת ידים for חולין מעשר, ותרומה. For קודש one must be טובל his hands. For אפר חטאת one must be טובל his whole body. If you are טובל for a lower level you are only טהור for the lower level and not the higher level. Also, the clothes of a lower level will be considered טמא טומאת מדרס for anyone on a higher level.

·       The גמרא asks that there is a ברייתא that says that one does not need to wash for חולין ומעשר שני which is against our משנה which says you need to wash for both. The גמרא attempts to answer that there is another ברייתא which says that while ר' מאיר did not require נטילת ידים for חולין ומעשר שני but the רבנן did require it for מעשר which would at least help for the מעשר question. The חולין  question we wanted to answer that our משנה means eating and the ברייתא meant touching. The problem is that we know that even the רבנן agreed that for touching מעשר שני and even eating חולין you don’t need washing. So we answer that the משנה was talking about bread and the ברייתא was talking about fruit as רב נחמן said anyone who washes their hands for fruit is a בעל גאוה. Of course for real תרומה you need to wash before even touching it.

·       If you washed your hand or were מטביל  your hands unintentionally for something, if it was for חולין it’s good enough but if it’s for מעשר שני and up it need כוונה.

·       We attempt to prove this from the משנה of גל שנתלש where both man and כלים are טהור and we assume there wads no כוונה. We are דוחה that perhaps he was waiting for the wave to to come, and the חידוש is that we don’t make a גזרה by the wave that it might be confused with a חרדלית של מי גשמים or with כיפּין. The issue with חרדלית is either the slant or זוחלין.

·       We then say we learn that you don’t need כוונה from a משנה that says that if you stick your hands in water to get fruit then your hands are טהור (but your fruit is not בכי יותן unless you also wanted your hands to get wet on purpose in which case you are happy about the fruit getting wet).

·       ר"א says once you were טובל and came out of the mikvah you can still decide which level of טהרה you wish to be at (מעשר, תרומה, etc). We ask a question from a ברייתא that sounds like you can only change levels if you still have one foot in the water but we are דוחה that if you have one foot in the water you can change your mind as to which level you want to be at but once you come out you cant change your mind. However, if you never picked anything, you can decide even after you fully came out of the mikvah.

·       ר' פּדת says that the opinion that says it matters if one foot is in the mikvah goes like ר' יהודה who says that if there is a mikvah with exactly the 40 סאה you need and one person goes in the mikvah and still has a foot in then the second guy can still use the mikvah as we view the water on the first guy as connected to the mikvah through גוד אחית. (The רבנן say it doesn’t work even if his foot is still in the mikvah.)

·       Some say the מחלוקת ר' יהודה ורבנן is only by מעלות דרבנן but by real טומאה everyone agrees it doesn’t work. Others say that the מחלוקת ר' יהודה ורבנן is only by דאורייתא טומאה but by מעלות דרבנן everyone agrees it works. The second option cannot work with ר' פּדת since he said that they argue by מעלות דרבנן by being מחזיק yourself.

·       The גמרא asks if we would allow someone to be טובל a needle in his hair. In other words, do we also say גוד אסיק. We bring a ברייתא where there were three pools of water—the top and bottom had twenty סאה and the middle had 40. ר' יהודה says that only the bottom tewo may be used but not the top so you see we hold we don’t say גוד אסיק.

·       The משנה differentiates between מעשר and חולין at the beginning, yet then when it says the part about clothes being a מדרס to others says בגדי פּרושין מדרס לאשכלי תרומה and skips מעשר which is like ר' מאיר who said you could eat מעשר without washing. So either the משנה begins like ר' יהודה and ends like ר' מאיר or The גירסא in the משנה is incorrect and actually has five מעלות and includes מעשר.

Daf 20

·       רב מרי wanted to prove from our משנה that חולין שנעשו על טהרת הקודש are considered like קודש since the משנה doesn’t make mention of any in between מעלות. The גמרא is דוחה that it may be that it is considered like תרומה or חולין. In fact, it is a מחלוקת תנאים if it is like תרומה or חולין. If like תרומה it’s presumably because we don’t consider it quite like קודש just because someone wants to use it for practice and if like חולין it’s because בטלה דעתו of someone who considers their חולין to be like קודש.

·       We then prove it from the סיפא which says that that יוחנן בן גודגדא ate חולין שנעשו על טהרת הקודש and his clothes were מדרס לאוכלי חטאת which sounds like not for קודש so you see that חולין שנעשו על טהרת הקודש are כקודש.

·       If someone’s hat falls and someone else picks up their hat for them it is considered a היסח הדעת and the hat is טמא since אין אדם שומר מה שביד חברו.

·       If someone confused their weekday clothes with their Shabbos clothes it is considered a היסח הדעת and the Shabbos clothes are טמא since by Shabbos clothes you do a better שמירה.

·       Two women חבירות mixed up their clothes and it was considered טמא because each one thinks the other is not a חבר and has a היסח הדעת.

·       Originally, the גמרא thinks all of the case above are becasue you need שמירה on the specific item that you think you are dealing with.

·       The גמרא asks that we have a ברייתא that says that if you watch a jug thinking its wine and it ends up being oil it is טהור מלטמא but אסורה מלאכול. From the fact that it is טהור מלטמא we had thought is a proof that you don’t need to have kavan about which item you are watching. However, since the סיפא says you cant eat it we are forced to conclude that you only watched it מדבר המטמאה ולא מדבר הפּוסלה. However, the proof stands as your שמירה מדבר המטמאה worked even though you thought it was wine and it was oil.

·       We see that one can do the half שמירה מדבר המטמאה ולא מדבר הפּוסלה from the following ברייתא which says if you have a sack with a shovel and don’t have intention to watch the shovel, the sacks isטהור  but the shovel is not. The shovel is not מטמא the sack itself because a כלי is not מטמא other כלים (assuming it isn’t an אב הטומאה).  It also isn’t מטמא the dates in the sack because the person watched it מדבר המטמאה ולא מדבר הפּוסלה. (Once you say that you can say the same thing for why it isn’t the sack itself as well.)

·       We are still left with a question that if you watch something thinking it’s one item and it is in fact another that the שמירה does work so why should the women who mixed up their clothes and the Shabbos clothes that got mixed up and the hat that fell have an issue? Furthermore we see from other ברייתות that you just need to have in mind to watch something but it doesn’t say you need to know exactly which item you are thinking about.

·       The גמרא answers as mentioned above that each woman thinks the other is not a חבר, and Shabbos clothes have a different level of שמירה, and you can’t watch something that is someone else’s hands.

·       The גמרא asks that we have a case where if you give your workers something טהור and they go far away but they know you can still come it is טהור (If they think you wont come it is טמא). How is it that the workers are watching it for you if you are far away when we just said you can’t watch something in someone else’s hands. The גמרא answers that you were מטהר your workers so we don’t care if they touch it. Nonetheless, if you can’t come they won’t stop other people from touching it.

 Click here for concepts chazara for Chagigah chapter 2