Pesachim 120b — the Talmud in English

Rabbi Yosei says:

That which we said, that if some of them slept they may eat, applies specifically when they merely

dozed

and then

they may eat.

But if they

fell asleep

properly, even some of them,

they may not eat

after they awaken.

The meat of the

Pesach

offering that remained

after midnight

of the night of Pesach and became notar—

renders the hands impure

according to the law of all notar, for the Sages decreed that it render impure the hands that touched it, as will be explained below.

Piggul and notar render the hands impure

by rabbinic decree. And in the Gemara the reason why the Sages decreed this will be explained.

Gemara:

We learned in the Mishna:

Rabbi Yosei says: If they dozed, they may eat. If they fell asleep, they may not eat.

And we raise an objection concerning it:

What are the circumstances of

“dozing”?

And we answer:

Rav Ashi said: He is asleep but not asleep,

asleep yet not asleep;

awake but not awake,

awake yet not awake.

For example: one calls him, and he answers.

They call him and he answers. But

he does not know how to return a reasoning.

He does not know how to answer something requiring reasoning and examination. For example, they ask him where he placed this utensil.

And when they remind him,

when they mention it to him and say, “Did you place it in such-and-such a place?”

he remembers,

he remembers and says yes or no.

Abaye was sitting before Rabba

at the seder.

He saw

that

he was dozing,

for Rabba was dozing after he had begun eating from the afikoman.

He said to him,

Abaye said to Rabba:

“Are you sleeping sleepily, my master?”

You have fallen asleep, and it is forbidden for you to continue and eat from the afikoman, in accordance with the view of Rabbi Yosei, that even if some of them slept, they may not eat.

He said to him,

Rabba said:

“I am merely dozing sleepily”,

I am only dozing.

And we learned

that even according to Rabbi Yosei,

if they dozed, they may eat.

And only if

they fell asleep, they may not eat.

We learned in the Mishna:

The Pesach offering after midnight renders the

hands impure.

Apparently,

it is evident that

from midnight

onward

it becomes notar.

And we raise an objection concerning it:

Who

is the

tan[n]ay

of the Mishna who holds that already from midnight it becomes notar? But it is written: “You shall not leave any of it until morning,” which implies that only in the morning does it become notar?

And we answer:

Rav Yosef said: It is Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya.

For it was taught in a beraita: “And they shall eat the meat on this night”

(Exodus 12:8).

Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya says: It is stated here,

with regard to eating the Pesach offering,

“on this night.”

And it is stated there,

with regard to the Exodus from Egypt,

“And I shall pass through the land of Egypt on this night,

and I shall strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt.” And they derive it by a gzera shava from “this night.”

Just as there, until midnight,

for the plague of the firstborn occurred at midnight,

so here,

the eating of the Pesach offering,

until midnight.

And what is stated, “You shall not leave any of it until morning,” means that only in the morning is one obligated to burn it. But the time for eating it is only until midnight, and then it has already become notar.

Rabbi Akiva said to him: But is it not already stated,

“And you shall eat it

in haste,” until the time of haste,

when they hurried to leave, which was at the rising of the pillar of dawn, as it is written: “No one of you shall leave the entrance of his house until morning.” [

And Rabbi Eliezer ben Azarya held: The time of haste was at the time of the plague of the firstborn, at midnight, through which the Egyptians hurried to hasten to send them out of the land, Rashbam.]

If so, what does the Torah teach by stating

“And they shall eat the meat

at night”?

To teach you that

it might have been

the Pesach offering

eaten like

other

sacred offerings, during the day

of its slaughter, like a thanksgiving offering, whose time of eating is also one day, and which is eaten throughout the day of its slaughter and during the following night until morning?

The Torah teaches

“at night”: It is eaten at night, and it is not eaten during the day!

And we raise an objection concerning it:

And Rabbi Akiva, this

“this”

what does he do with it?

And we answer:

He requires it to exclude another night,

the night of the sixteenth,

for it comes

to teach that it is not eaten then.

It might have entered your mind to say: Since Pesach is a minor sacred offering, and peace offerings are minor sacred offerings.

Just as peace offerings are eaten for two days and one night

between them,

so too, with regard to Pesach, let us establish nights

that they should be

in place of days

of the peace offerings,

and it should be eaten for two nights and one day

between them, meaning until the morning of the sixteenth of Nisan.

The Merciful One wrote

“this”,

to teach you that it is eaten only on this night, and not on another night.

And we raise an objection:

And Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya,

from where does he know that it is not eaten for two nights?

And we answer:

He can say to you: From “You shall not leave any of it until morning”

this is derived.

For it implies the morning following the day of the slaughter of Pesach.

And we raise an objection:

And Rabbi Akiva,

why does he not learn from “You shall not leave any of it until morning”? And why is it necessary to write “this”?

And we answer:

He can say to you: If the Merciful One had not written

“this,” I would have said: What is “morning”? The second morning,

following the second night.

And we raise an objection:

And Rabbi Elazar,

ben Azarya, what will he answer to this?

And we answer:

He can say to you: Wherever

“morning” is written, it means the first morning.

Rava said: One who ate matza in the present time after midnight, according to Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya,

who holds that the time for eating Pesach extends only until midnight, the same law applies to matza:

he has not fulfilled his obligation.

And we raise an objection:

It is obvious

is it not?

! Since matza was likened

to

Pesach

in the verse, “with matzot and bitter herbs they shall eat it,” surely

it is like Pesach?

And we answer:

It might have been said: The verse has removed

the obligation of matza on the first night

through the derivation

of the analogy between matza and Pesach. For we learned in the beraita above [on the preceding page]: Just as the seventh day is optional, so too the six days are optional. And because of this, I might have thought to say that the first night too is only optional.

It teaches us

Rava

that when the verse returned it

to the obligation of matza on the first night in the present time, as explained in the beraita above, from the fact that it is written, “In the evening you shall eat matzot,”

it returned it for its original matter!

So that it should be entirely equal to Pesach, whose time of eating extends only until midnight.

We learned in the Mishna:

Piggul and notar render the hands impure.

Rav Huna and Rav Hisda

explain the reason why the Sages decreed that piggul and notar render the hands impure.

One said: Because of suspicion concerning the priesthood.

And one said: Because of the laziness of the priesthood.

The matter will be explained below.

And they further disagreed:

One said:

the measure of meat from piggul and notar that renders the hands impure is

an olive-bulk.

And one said:

an

egg-bulk.