SHABBOS - 022b – במה מדליקין – פרק שני – שבת, כב ע”ב

One may not weigh gold dinars against a maaser sheni [coin], even in order to redeem other maaser sheni on it.^[1]

מעשר שני - dinars on which maaser sheni was redeemed: one may not weigh ordinary (chullin) dinars against them to see that they are full weight.

Granted, if you say that Rav and Shmuel disagree about lighting from lamp to lamp, but with a wood chip Shmuel forbids,^[2] this is no refutation.

אי אמרת בשלמא כי פליגי רב ושמואל מנר לנר - lamp to lamp itself, not with a chip; in this Shmuel permits, since he is not concerned about diminishing [the mitzvah]; but with a chip, which is a disgrace, he agrees [it is forbidden]. Then this is no refutation of him, for those chullin dinars are not themselves a mitzvah, and although he wants them for a mitzvah, they are like the chip. But if you say Shmuel permits even with a chip, since it is for the needs of the mitzvah, this is a refutation of him, for [the beraisa] forbids weighing even though it is for the needs of a mitzvah.

But if you say that with a chip too he permits, this would be a refutation?

Rabbah said: It is a decree, lest he not find his weights exact, and he will leave them as chullin.^[3]

לא יכוין משקלותיו - lest he find them not good, or find them heavier, and spare them and not redeem the maaser on them; and so he will have disgraced the maaser for nothing.

ומפיק להו לחולין - that is, he will leave them in their unconsecrated state, as they are.

Rav Sheshes raised an objection: (Vayikra 24) “Outside the curtain of the testimony … he shall arrange it”^[4] — does He need its light?

Throughout the forty years that Bnei Yisrael traveled in the wilderness, did they not travel only by His light!

Rather, it is testimony to all who come into the world that the Shechinah rests upon Israel.

What is the testimony?

Rav said: This is the western lamp,^[5] into which he put oil like the measure of its fellows, and from it he would light, and with it he would finish.

נר מערבי - according to the view in Menachos that [the menorah] stood east–west, by the order of the branches the second lamp from the outer side, which is in the east, is called “western”. According to the view that they stood north–south, the middle one is called “western”, because its mouth faced west and all the other lamps faced the middle one, as it is written: toward the face of the menorah — that is, the middle one — shall [the seven lamps] give light, etc. Those on the north faced south and those on the south faced north.

כמדת חברותיה - half a log,^[6] the amount fixed for the long nights of the winter season of Teves. If it burns on into the day (and at night) on the short nights, let it burn; but less is not allowed, so that it not go out on a winter night, and the Torah said from evening until morning.

וממנה היה מדליק - the lamps in the afternoon.

ובה היה מסיים - the cleaning of the lamps,^[7] for it burned all day and he did not clean it until evening. This teaching is taught in Toras Kohanim,^[8] and it holds that [the menorah] stood east–west. And so it is taught just before it: “To kindle a lamp continually” — that the western lamp be continual, that from it he begin and with it he finish. Since it does not say “to kindle lamps”, learn from it that one lamp was fixed with which to begin each day, and that is the western lamp, the second from the east. And so we learned (Tamid 33a): He entered and found the eastern lamps burning; he cleans out the eastern one and leaves the western one burning, from which he lights the menorah in the afternoon. If he found that it had gone out — as after Shimon HaTzaddik died^[9] — he relights it from the altar of the olah. And it seems to me that the Rabbis fixed it at the second lamp because one does not pass over mitzvos: when he enters the Heichal he meets the first one first, but he cannot begin with it, for it is written he shall arrange it before Hashem — there must be one beyond it, otherwise it would not be called “before Hashem”. And so we say in Menachos (98b): of the western lamp it is written “before Hashem”, which implies that all the others are not “before Hashem”, etc. “And with it he would finish” the cleaning, for he cleaned the rest in the morning and this one in the afternoon, holding the old one in his hand or setting it in a vessel until he put in oil and wick, then lighting it and lighting the rest from it. And what we say in Seder Yoma (33b), the cleaning of five lamps precedes the cleaning of two lamps, which implies that he cleaned all of them in the morning, deriving it from pesukim — that is when the miracle did not hold and he found it gone out, for the pasuk does not rely on a miracle. And all the time that Israel were beloved, it burned all day, and that was its testimony.

But here, since the lamps are fixed, it is impossible without taking [a chip] and lighting [it] — a difficulty both for the one who says [Rav’s reason is] disrespect to the mitzvah and for the one who says it is diminishing the mitzvah!

והא הכא כיון דקביעי נרות - in the menorah, and he could not detach the western lamp from the menorah to light the others with it. Necessarily, when it teaches “from it he would light”, it is impossible without taking a chip.

נרות - lamps — luces (the vernacular word for lamps) of gold, into which they put oil and wick.

ואדלוקי - the chip from the western lamp, and with that chip he lights the rest.

Rav Pappa explained it: with long wicks.

בפתילות ארוכות - all the wicks extended out of their lamps until they reached one another, and from it he lights the one next to it, and the rest one from another.

Still, for the one who says it is diminishing the mitzvah, it is difficult!

סוף סוף למ"ד כו' - for according to him, lamp to lamp is forbidden.

It is indeed difficult.

What is the conclusion on this?

Rav Huna the son of Rav Yehoshua said: Let us see: if the lighting makes the mitzvah, one may light from lamp to lamp; and if the placing makes the mitzvah, one may not light from lamp to lamp.^[10]

אי הדלקה עושה מצוה - if the mitzvah of Chanukah depends on the lighting, one may light [from lamp to lamp], as we find with the menorah.

ואי הנחה עושה מצוה - and the essence of its mitzvah depends on the placing.

אין מדליקין מנר לנר - for the lighting is not so much of a mitzvah.

For it was asked of them: does the lighting make the mitzvah, or does the placing make the mitzvah?

דאיבעיא להו גרסי' - this is the reading: that is, this matter was already asked, and from the resolution of that question this one is resolved for us.

Come and hear, for Rava said: If he was holding a Chanukah lamp and standing, he has done nothing.

היה תפוש נר חנוכה - in his hand, from when he lit it until it went out.

ועומד - not precisely [standing]; this is simply the Talmud’s way of speaking.

Learn from it: the placing makes the mitzvah.

There, one who sees says he is holding it for his own needs.

לצרכו - to use [its light], and there is no recognition of the miracle.^[11]

Come and hear, for Rava said: If he lit it inside and took it out, he has done nothing.^[12]

בפנים - in the house.

והוציאה לחוץ - as it said above, that one must place it at the entrance of his house, outside.

Granted, if you say the lighting makes the mitzvah, we require the lighting to be in its place, and that is why he has done nothing.

אי אמרת בשלמא הדלקה עושה מצוה משום הכי לא עשה ולא כלום - since this is its mitzvah, it must be done in the place of the obligation.

But if you say the placing makes the mitzvah, why has he done nothing?

There too, one who sees says he lit it for his own needs.

Come and hear, for Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said:^[13]

Tosfos

וכי לאורה הוא צריך והלא כל אותם מ' שנה כו' - It is puzzling: why mention forty years? The whole world always walks by the light of the Omnipresent! Some explain: did Aharon, when he entered within, need its light? Throughout the forty years the pillar of cloud gave them light in every place, as we say in the Beraisa of the Work of the Mishkan: he would look into a jug (and see into it) and know what was inside it, into a barrel and know what was inside it. And so it is implied in Toras Kohanim that it refers to the kohanim, for it reads there: Do they need a lamp? Throughout those forty years they did not need a lamp, as it is said: For the cloud of Hashem was over the Mishkan, etc. However, at the end of Kol HaKorbanos (Menachos 26b, and there) it implies that it refers to the Shechinah, for it is brought together with what Rabbi Eliezer said: Not for eating do I need [it], and not for light do I need [it]; and it says there too: “the curtain of the testimony” — it is testimony to all who come into the world that the Shechinah rests upon Israel; and if you say “for light I need it” — throughout those forty years […].

ובה היה מסיים - Rashi explained: “and with it he would finish” the cleaning, for he cleaned the rest in the morning and this one in the afternoon, holding the old one in his hand or setting it in a vessel until he put oil and wick into the western one, lit it, and lit the rest from it. The Riva^[14] finds this difficult: if it is possible to light from the old one, then he could light the rest from it too — so what is the challenge to Rav? Once he has taken the old wick out of the lamp, there is no longer any question of disrespect to the mitzvah or of diminishing the mitzvah. Rather, it must be impossible to do so: when he came to clean it he would clean out everything in the lamp, and the wick would go out by itself. Rather, while the old wick was still burning in the western lamp he would light the rest from it, then clean it, put in oil and a new wick, and light it from the others; and “with it he would finish” means the lighting.

והא הכא כיון דקביעי נרות כו' - This follows the view in the second chapter of Shtei Middos (Menachos 88b) that the lamp was made in sections, for it is implied there that it was attached, and it was made in sections so that he could clean it well. And there is a view there that it was not fixed, but he would remove it entirely at the time of cleaning and afterwards put it back.

מאי הוי עלה - It is puzzling: what is he asking, and what does he mean by “let us see: if the lighting …”? Apparently the halachah follows Shmuel, since Rabbah acted like him; and if so, a chip too is permitted, for necessarily they disagree about a chip, and on the grounds of disrespect to the mitzvah, since the one who explained Rav’s reason as diminishing the mitzvah was refuted. One must say that he does not take Rabbah’s words as decisive, and he is asking whether the placing makes the mitzvah, so that Rav forbids lamp to lamp because of disrespect to the mitzvah as with a chip; or the lighting makes the mitzvah and it is permitted, as with the menorah, since we are not concerned about diminishing the mitzvah; and he concludes that the lighting makes the mitzvah and it is permitted. Alternatively, I found in the name of the Rivam^[15] that he is asking according to Shmuel, whose view is the halachah, whether he permits with a chip or not. He asks whether we hold as was said above, that according to the one who says “because of disrespect to the mitzvah” Rav permits lighting from lamp to lamp, and if so they disagree about a chip and Shmuel permits with a chip; or perhaps we do not hold so, and lamp to lamp too involves disrespect to the mitzvah and Rav forbids it, (meaning) that the placing makes the mitzvah and it is not like the menorah, and Shmuel permits only lamp to lamp, but with a chip even Shmuel agrees that it is forbidden. And he concludes: let us see — for it was asked and resolved that the lighting makes the mitzvah, so according to Rav one lights from lamp to lamp as with the menorah, and according to Shmuel even with a chip it is permitted.

דאיבעיא להו הדלקה עושה מצוה כו' - The practical difference is when a deaf-mute, an insane person or a minor^[16] lit it, or placed it.

Notes

1. 1. Maaser sheni, the second tithe, is set aside from produce and eaten in Yerushalayim. It may be redeemed onto coins, which then carry its sanctity. This beraisa, begun on 22a, forbids weighing ordinary gold dinars against such a coin, and the Gemara asks whether it refutes Shmuel.
2. 2. Rav forbids lighting one Chanukah lamp from another and Shmuel permits it (22a). Rav’s reason is explained either as disrespect to the mitzvah (bizui mitzvah), which arises when a wood chip (kinsa) carries the flame, or as diminishing the mitzvah (achushei mitzvah), taking from the lamp’s oil. The question is whether Shmuel permits even a chip.
3. 3. Chullin are ordinary, unconsecrated things. Rashi explains that if the dinars do not weigh right he may decide not to redeem on them and leave them as chullin, so that he handled the sacred coin for nothing.
4. 4. The paroches was the curtain separating the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Testimony stood, from the Heichal. The menorah stood in the Heichal, outside this curtain.
5. 5. The western lamp was the menorah lamp that burned miraculously. Rashi brings two views of which lamp it was, depending on how the menorah stood.
6. 6. A log is a liquid measure (about six eggs’ volume). Half a log of oil was put in each lamp, enough to burn through the longest winter nights.
7. 7. Hatavas haneros, the cleaning of the lamps: removing the old wick and oil and putting in fresh oil and a fresh wick, done each morning.
8. 8. Toras Kohanim (the Sifra) is the halachic midrash of the Tannaim on Sefer Vayikra.
9. 9. Shimon HaTzaddik was Kohen Gadol early in the Second Temple period. In his days the western lamp stayed lit all day; after his death it sometimes went out [Yoma 39a].
10. 10. That is: if the mitzvah is the act of lighting, it is like the menorah, which was lit from lamp to lamp; if the mitzvah is the lamp standing lit in its place, the lighting itself is less of a mitzvah.
11. 11. The purpose of the Chanukah lamp is to make the miracle known. A lamp held in the hand looks like one used for its light, so it shows nothing of the miracle.
12. 12. The Chanukah lamp is placed at the entrance of the house, outside (21b). Here it was lit indoors and only then taken out to its place.
13. 13. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi’s statement continues on the next amud [Shabbos 23a].
14. 14. The Riva is Rabbi Yitzchak ben Asher HaLevi of Speyer, one of the first Tosafists.
15. 15. The Rivam is Rabbi Yitzchak ben Meir, a grandson of Rashi and one of the first Tosafists.
16. 16. Cheresh, shoteh and katan (a deaf-mute, a person not mentally competent, and a minor) are not obligated in mitzvos. If the lighting makes the mitzvah, their lighting does not count; if the placing does, it depends on who placed it.