Chagigah 8b — the Talmud in English

The verse juxtaposed rejoicing with the hagiga, in order to teach you:

those from which a hagiga is brought

one fulfills with them the obligation of rejoicing,

excluding these—

fowl and meal-offerings—

from which a hagiga is not brought,

for concerning the hagiga it is said: “the fat of My festival-offering,” whereas fowl and meal-offerings have no fat.

Rav Ashi said: It follows from “And you shall rejoice

in your festival”

it follows: excluding these,

the meat of fowl and the remnants of meal-offerings,

which do not have

in their consumption

rejoicing.

And we raise an objection:

and Rav Ashi, what does he do with this “in your festival”

?

And we explain:

that

verse, “in your festival”

is needed for the teaching of Rav Daniel bar Ketina! For Rav Daniel bar Ketina said that Rav said: From where is it derived that one does not marry women during the festival?

As it is stated: “And you shall rejoice in your festival”

in your festival,

and not with your wife!

That is, he should not set aside the rejoicing of the festival and engage in the rejoicing of his wife [Moed Katan 8b].

Mishna:

a.

One who has many people to eat [שהיו סמוכים עליו הרבה אנשים להאכילם בשר בחג]upon whom many people depended to feed them meat during the festival],

many people depend on him to provide them with meat during the Festival],

and

he had

few assets—

he

brings

offerings

of peace-offerings

(hagiga)

many

according to the number of the people eating,

and burnt-offerings

of appearance

few.

b. One who has

many assets and few people eating—

he

brings burnt-offerings

of appearance

many, [דכתיב: שלש פעמים בשנה יראה כל זכורך. איש כמתנת ידו - כברכת ה' אלהיך אשר נתן לך]as it is written: “Three times in the year every male of yours shall appear. Each man according to the gift of his hand, according to the blessing of the Lord your God that He has given you”],

as it is written: “Three times each year all your males shall appear.” “Each man according to the gift of his hand,” according to the blessing of the Lord your God that He has given you],

and peace-offerings

for the hagiga

few,

so that he should not bring the flesh of the sacred offerings, which would remain over, to disqualification [Meiri].

And if you would say

only

the amoraim disagree,

that is, the amoraim—Hezekiah and Rabbi Yohanan—only they disagreed whether one combines money with money, but

the beraitot do not disagree,

the beraitot disagree only concerning the law of combining one animal with another animal, but both concede that one combines money with money.

And therefore Rav Sheshet raised an objection to Rav Hisda, relying on the words of the beraitot: besides the fact that they combine money with money [which is something concerning which the tannaim did not disagree, but all the tannaim in the beraitot concede it], there is also a tanna in one of the beraitot who holds that one also combines one animal with another animal, and Rav Sheshet holds like him; therefore he argued to Rav Hisda: they said that one also combines one animal with another animal.

It is impossible to interpret it thus.

For

it is taught

in that beraita:

“The first eating is from unconsecrated produce!”

And it indicates that at the first meal that comes upon the table there will be only the meat of unconsecrated produce; that is, he should bring a separate animal from unconsecrated produce for the first eating, and he should not combine money with money, since the first eating would then also be mixed from both of them?!

And we explain: Indeed, as we said, the language of the second beraita also includes combining money with money, and

what is “the first eating”

which they said in the beraita:

the measure of the money for the first eating from unconsecrated produce.

Ulla said that Reish Lakish said:

A person who

set aside ten animals for his hagiga,

and

sacrificed five on the first festival day—

he again sacrifices five on the second festival day,

and he does not transgress thereby משום “you shall not add” to what the Torah said, “and you shall keep it as a festival,” which means one day and no more. For even the peace-offerings that he sacrifices on another day are the peace-offerings of the first day, and he sacrifices them now as compensation [Rashi].

Rabbi Yohanan said: Once he ceased

from sacrificing on the first day—

he may no longer sacrifice

them on another day.

Rabbi Abba said: And they do not disagree,

Reish Lakish and Rabbi Yohanan, for:

Here—

in the words of Rabbi Yohanan, who said that once he ceased he does not sacrifice—it is referring

to an unspecified case,

in which he did not explicitly set them aside in order to sacrifice them on the first day [Rashi].

Here—

in the words of Reish Lakish, who said that he again sacrifices—

to an explicitly specified case,

in which at the time of setting them aside for the first day he set them aside, and therefore his sacrifice on another day is considered compensation for that day [Rashi].

And we explain it:

This unspecified case—

which you say: he can no longer sacrifice—

what are its circumstances?

For what reason did he not sacrifice them on the first day?

If you say

that he did not sacrifice them on the first day because

there was not enough time in the day to sacrifice [לא הספיק הזמן להקריבם]the time was insufficient to sacrifice them]?

the time was insufficient to offer them]?

It is impossible to interpret it thus, for:

This fact that he did not sacrifice them because [ב"ח] [Bach]

[Baḥ]]

there was not enough time in the day

is such, and presumably he set them aside intending to sacrifice them on the first day; his law is therefore like that of one who explicitly intended to sacrifice them on the first day, who may also sacrifice them on the following day.

Rather,

lest you say that the case is one in which he did not sacrifice them on the first day because

he did not have people to eat [אין לו די אנשים שיאכלו ולא יותירו]he did not have enough people who would eat and not leave over]?

he did not have enough people who would eat them without leaving them over].

It is impossible to interpret it thus. For:

let us say [ב"ח] [Bach]

we should say that

this fact that he did not sacrifice them

all of them on the first day,

was because he did not have

then

people to eat them.

But initially he set them aside for the first day.

It is not necessary [to say this],

but necessarily, the case is one in which

there is enough time in the day

to sacrifice all the offerings that he set aside,

and

also

he has people to eat them,

to eat them, and nevertheless he did not sacrifice them.

And therefore we infer:

from the fact that on

day

the first he did not

sacrifice them [הואיל ולא הקריבום ביום הראשון]since he did not sacrifice them on the first day],

since he did not offer them on the first day],

conclude from it—

he left them over!

The end proves concerning the beginning that initially he set them aside intending to sacrifice them on two days. Therefore he cannot sacrifice them again on the second day.

And so too it is reasonable,

that Rabbi Yohanan concedes that in an unspecified case he may sacrifice them on two days.

For

this is

when Ravin came, he said that Rabbi Yohanan said: One who set aside ten animals for his hagiga

and

sacrificed five on the first festival day,

he

again sacrifices five on the second festival day.

And apparently, these

contradict

the words of Rabbi Yohanan

one another [שהרי רבי יוחנן סותר דברי עצמו, שאמר לעיל אינו מקריב ביום אחר]for Rabbi Yohanan contradicts his own words, since above he said that he does not sacrifice on another day]?!

for Rabbi Yoḥanan contradicts his own earlier statement, in which he said that he may not offer them on another day]?!

Rather, is it not to be inferred from this

that a distinction must be made in Rabbi Yohanan’s words:

here, in an unspecified case,

he again sacrifices;

here, in an explicitly specified case,

he does not again sacrifice.

And we conclude: Indeed,

infer from this.

It was also stated

as we said concerning the view of Rabbi Yohanan: if there is no proof that initially he intended to sacrifice them on two days, he may sacrifice them on two days.

For

Rav Shemen bar Abba said that Rabbi Yohanan said

to explain the beraita [mentioned on this page after the Mishna], as we learned: “That one you celebrate as a festival-offering, but you do not celebrate all seven [days]”: