Pesachim 42a — the Talmud in English

Rav Hisda said: This

beraita that obligates lashes for this prohibition,

whose opinion is it? ![](pamud.bmp "

Precise page location")

It is Rabbi Yehuda's.

For it was taught:

It is written:

“A bull or a sheep that is deformed or mutilated, you shall make it a freewill offering”!

One may not consecrate a blemished animal for the altar; rather, he consecrates it only with sanctity of value for the repair of the Temple.

And we expound:

“It”

the blemished animal,

you may dedicate for the repair of the Temple.

But

you may not dedicate unblemished animals

fit for the altar

for the repair of the Temple,

but only for the altar.

From here they said: Whoever dedicates unblemished animals for the repair of the Temple transgresses a positive commandment!

For this is a prohibition inferred from a positive commandment, as it says: “You shall make it a freewill offering.”

I have only

that he transgresses

a positive commandment.

But

as for a prohibition, from where

that he transgresses it?

The verse therefore states

at the beginning of the passage:

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying.” It teaches

that the “saying”

concerning every

matter written in

the entire passage, that it shall be

forbidden

by a prohibition.

And the prohibition against dedicating unblemished animals for the repair of the Temple, which is stated in the passage, is therefore included in the warning of a prohibition—

the words of Rabbi Yehuda.

Rabbi said to bar Kappara: What

is the reason that

it is inferred

from “saying” that it is a prohibition?

He said to him,

bar Kappara: This

that is written

“saying”

is an acronym for

“it was not said in words”!

That is, there is here an additional prohibition that was not stated explicitly in the passage.

The scholars of the school of Rav said:

The acronym of

“saying”

is

“a prohibition is stated”!

The Lord said to Moses: Tell them that there is a prohibition in these matters.

And likewise with regard to the prohibition against eating the Paschal offering during the day of the fourteenth. Since at the beginning of the passage concerning the Paschal offering it is written, “And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, saying,” He warned with a prohibition concerning all the laws stated in the passage. Therefore, one who eats the Paschal offering during the day transgresses a prohibition and receives lashes.

We learned in our Mishna:

The water used by a baker.

It must be poured out, because it causes leavening!

One beraita teaches

a different beraita:

They may pour

these waters

in a sloping place!

For there the water is absorbed into the ground and is lost.

But

they may not pour

them

in a depression

a pit in the ground, which is an expression referring to the breaking of the ground! For the water collects and remains there, and is not absorbed into the ground, and comes to leavening. And it is forbidden to leave leaven in one's possession during Passover.

And it was taught

in

another

beraita:

They may pour

these waters even

in a depression!

And these two beraitot contradict one another.

And we resolve it:

It is not difficult. This

beraita that was taught, “They may not pour in a depression,” is speaking of water

that is abundant

much water. Since it is abundant,

it collects

it gathers in one place, and is not absorbed into the ground.

And

this

beraita that was taught, “They may pour in a depression,” is speaking of water

that is not abundant! For

since it is little,

it does not collect

in one place, but is absorbed into the ground.

Rav Yehuda said: A woman may not knead

the matzot for Passover

except with water that has stayed overnight

water over which a night has passed after it was drawn! For matzot may be kneaded only with cold water. Since hot water causes the dough to leaven, as is brought below. And the days of Nisan are still days of the rainy season, during which the springs are warm. And as it is stated below, during the rainy season the sun travels along the lower part of the firmament. Therefore, the entire world is cold, while the springs are warm.

Therefore, the water must be left overnight after it is drawn from the spring, for the duration of the night, in order to cool it.

Rav Mattana expounded

this halakha

in Paphunya.

The next day, everyone brought their pitchers

they all brought their pitchers,

and came to him,

to Rav Mattana.

And they said to him: Give us water

for the purpose of kneading our matzot! Since he had expounded before them in the Holy Tongue, those who heard him thought that his intention by “water that has stayed overnight” was that one may knead only with Rav Mattana's water.

He said to them:

I did not say so. Rather,

I said, “with water that has stayed in the house”

over which the night has passed

I said,

that one must knead the matzot with it.

Rava expounded: A woman may not knead

the matzot

in sunlight

in a place illuminated by the sun! For the heat of the sun warms the dough and hastens its leavening.

And

likewise

she may not

knead

with water warmed by the sun

water that was warmed by the sun! And all the more so she may not knead with hot water warmed by fire, for it causes leavening.

And

likewise

she may not knead with water drawn from the mulyar

the remnants of water at the bottom of a large copper boiler, permanently suspended over the fire! For even when there is no fire beneath it, the water at the bottom is hot or lukewarm. Therefore, one may not knead with it.

And she may not lift

the woman

her hand from the oven until she finishes all the bread!

That is, she may not set aside the dough, but must be occupied with it continuously until its baking is completed. For if the dough remains without being handled, it quickly becomes leavened.

And she must have

the woman

two vessels

of water at the time she kneads.

One that

she

cuts the dough with

the dough, into which she dips her hand and with which she smooths the flat cake.

And

another vessel

one

she needs in order

that

she

cool her hands in it!

For after she has handled the dough, her hands become warm. And she must cool them, so that their heat does not cause the dough to leaven. And she may not cool them in the same vessel in which she handled the dough, because the water in it became warm from the heat of her hands and the heat of the dough. Rather, she needs a separate vessel for this purpose.

They raised a question before them:

If

she transgressed and kneaded

the matzot with hot water,

what

is the law of the matzot after the fact?

Mar Zutra said: They are permitted

to eat them!

And

Rav Ashi said: They are forbidden

to eat them!

Mar Zutra said: From where do I say

that the matzot are permitted after the fact? From this

that it was taught: One may not soak

barley in water,

the barley on Passover. And if one soaked it—

if

it split,

the barley, then it is

forbidden.

For it certainly came to leavening. And if

it did not split,

then it is

permitted

after the fact!

It follows that even though initially we are concerned lest they leaven because of the soaking, if after the fact it is evident in them that they did not leaven, they are not forbidden.

And likewise concerning kneading with hot water. Although the dough is liable to leaven through this, nevertheless, if after the fact it is evident in it that it did not leaven, such as when it has none of the signs of leavening established by the Sages, like locust horns or cracking, it is not forbidden.

And Rav Ashi said:

The case of soaking is not proof. For are

all of them

the prohibitions of the Sages on Passover

woven into one fabric

woven in one weave—and this is a metaphor?!

Where it was stated

that their prohibition applies only initially,

it was stated. And where it was not stated

so,

it was not stated!

Specifically, in the case of soaking they did not impose a penalty after the fact. But concerning the prohibition of kneading with hot water, the Sages imposed a penalty and forbade the dough even after the fact, since he transgressed a prohibition of the Sages. For it is nearly certain that it will leaven through this, and one who transgresses this is nearly intentional.

We shall return to you, chapter “All Hour.”

There are three types of chametz:

A. Complete chametz, for whose eating on Pesach one is liable for karet, and likewise one transgresses by keeping it in the house through “there shall not be seen and there shall not be found.”

B. Incomplete chametz, which is not fit for human consumption.

C. A mixture of chametz; that is, chametz that is not present as such, but is mixed into another substance.

All the types of chametz explained below in our Mishna are not complete chametz. Rather, some of them are incomplete chametz, and some of them are a mixture of chametz.

And the tannai teaches us two innovations, one in the first clause and the second in the latter clause:

A. That one also transgresses through them on Pesach, whether through eating or through seeing, as will be explained.

B. That the warning against eating them is through a prohibition without karet, unlike eating complete chametz as such, for whose eating one is liable for karet.

And the Rishonim disputed whether the first clause in our Mishna deals with the prohibition against eating these types of chametz, or with the prohibition against keeping them.

According to

Rashi,

the Mishna comes in the first clause to teach that besides the prohibition against eating them, one also transgresses through them the prohibition “there shall not be seen.”

Whereas according to

Rabbeinu Tam,

the Mishna teaches that they must be removed from the table so that one should not come to eat them, but one does not transgress “there shall not be seen” by keeping them.

Our explanation is based on Rashi’s method.

Mishna:

And these

are the things through which one

transgresses

by reason of them

on Pesach

through the prohibition “there shall not be seen”:

Babylonian kutach

(a dairy food into which flour is mixed),

Median beer, Edomite vinegar, Egyptian zitum, dyers’ zoman, cooks’ starch, and scribes’ kolan.

And the Gemara will explain of what all these types are made.

The Gemara, the Talmudic discussion of the Mishna, will explain what each of these types consists of.

Rabbi Eliezer

says: Even

with regard to

the cosmetics

of

women

one transgresses “there shall not be seen.” And, as will be explained in the Gemara, what the women’s cosmetics mentioned here are.

This is the general rule: Anything that is of a grain species —

behold, this one transgresses

through it

on Pesach

through “there shall not be seen,” even though it is only incomplete chametz, or is not present as such but is in a mixture.

As stated, this is Rashi’s approach in his commentary on the Mishna.

But

Rabbeinu Tam

explains that they are prohibited only through eating. And “these pass” means, from the table, for with incomplete chametz and with a mixture of chametz there is no prohibition of “there shall not be seen.”

All these types of chametz, whether they are incomplete chametz or a mixture of chametz,

are under a warning

not to eat them.

But

there is not in them

through their eating

the matter of

the punishment of

karet.

For the punishment of karet was stated only concerning chametz as such, and not concerning a mixture of chametz or incomplete chametz.

Gemara:

The Sages taught: Three things are said concerning Babylonian kutach:

A.

It dulls

[closes]

the heart,

it destroys a person’s wisdom.

B.

And it blinds the eyes.

C.

And it weakens the body.

And the Gemara explains the words of the beraita:

It dulls the heart —

because of the whey of the milk

that is in it.

And it blinds the eyes —

because of the salt

[Sodomite salt] that is in it. For if one touches it and then touches the eye again, it becomes blind.

And it weakens the body —

because of the mold of the loaf

[the spoilage of the bread] that is in it. For the flour found in the kutach becomes moldy after some time, and eating moldy bread is harmful to the body.

The Sages taught: Three things increase the excrement

in a person’s body,

and bend the stature,

weaken the strength of the body,

and take

one

part out of five hundred of a person’s light of the eyes.

And these are they: coarse bread

[made from flour that was not sifted from the bran],

new beer, and raw vegetables.

Such as leeks, onions, and endives. And when one eats a great deal of them regularly, they harm the body.

The Sages taught: Three things decrease the excrement

that is in the body,

straighten the stature, and illuminate the eyes.

And these are they: fine bread, fatty meat, and aged wine.