Siman - Pesachim Daf 11
- Concern that one will eat chametz after the bedikah but not chadash before the Omer is brought
The Gemara explained on 10b that the reason that Rebbe Yehuda holds that one cannot do bedikah once it becomes forbidden to eat chametz, גזירה דילמא אתי למיכל מיניה – because of a decree against the possibility that if he were to find chametz he might come to eat it while handling it.
The Gemara asks that we have another Mishnah from Menachos that states that after the korban haOmer was brought the markets of Yerushalayim were already full of flour and roasted grain from the new produce. It is evident that the flour was harvested, ground and sifted before Pesach. Rebbe Meir said that the Chochomim did not approve that people had prepared the produce before the korban haOmer was brought because they might have eaten it and Rebbe Yehuda said they did approve of his. We see that according to Rebbe Yehuda we are not concerned that one will eat something forbidden while he is busy with it?
Abaye answered, חדש בדיל מיניה חמץ לא בדיל מיניה – A person is detached from chadash since he is not accustomed to eat from it all year and therefore not in the habit of picking some up and putting in his mouth without thinking. A person is not detached from chametz and therefore, we are concerned that a person will eat it without thinking after it became prohibited. Two other answers were given.
- The hours that chametz becomes forbidden
The next Mishnah states, Rebbe Meir says, אוכלים כל חמש ושורפין בתחילת שש - that one may eat chametz the entire 5th hour of the 14th of Nissan, and one must burn it at the beginning of the 6th hour. Rashi explains that even though mid’Oraysa, chametz is permissible to eat the entire 6th hour, deRabbanon it is forbidden because people might make a mistake and think that the 7th hour is the 6th hour and eat chametz. Rebbe Yehuda disagrees and says תולין כל חמש – We suspend chametz during the 5th hour. Rashi explains that this means that although one may feed chametz to his animals during the 5th hour, he may not eat chametz during this time. Rashi explains Rebbe Yehuda’s reasoning, that we are concerned that it will be the 7th hour and one will think that it is the 5th hour and eat chametz.
- Two witnesses testifying about different times
The Gemara brings a Mishnah from Sanhedrin in order to eventually introduce a difficulty with our Mishnah. The first part of the Mishnah states that if one witness testifies that someone killed a person on the 2nd of the month and a second witness testifies that he killed on the 3rd of the month, עדותן קיימת, their testimony is upheld. The reason is that we assume that they are testifying about the same event, just that the witness who says the second day of the month was aware that the month beforehand was 30 days, and the witness who testified about the 3rd day thought that the previous month was 29 days. However, if one testified that it happened on the 3rd of the month and the other testified that it happened on the 5th of the month, עדותן בטלה - their testimony is disqualified, as Rashi explains, it cannot be that a person was two days off in their count of the date.
