אִם יִרְצֶה הַשֵּׁם
Pesachim 47a chiour of R’ Avigdor Miller ztl, 10-18-25, then the kashyos that sit on that hour: the nine-ten-eleven calendar, Tosfos ד״ה נֶאֱכָל לְאֶחָד עָשָׂר, the shtei ha-lechem and the two lambs, and the eight lavin.
Terms of art
- הוֹאִיל ho’il (since): treat a use that has not happened, guests who have not come, a bird he has not shechted, as if it were already here.
- מְלֶאכֶת אֹכֶל נֶפֶשׁ melechet ochel nefesh (Festival work that is itself food for today).
- לוֹקֶה lokeh / מַלְקוּת malkus (flogging for a lav of the Torah).
- צוֹרְכֵי שַׁבָּת נַעֲשִׂין בְּיוֹם טוֹב tzorechei Shabbos na’asin be-Yom Tov (the needs of Shabbos may be done on Yom Tov, mid-oraita).
- עֵרוּב תַּבְשִׁילִין eruv tavshilin (a cooked piece set aside before Yom Tov so the Rabbanan will let him cook on Yom Tov for Shabbos).
- שְׁבוּת קְרוֹבָה shevus kerovah / שְׁבוּת רְחוֹקָה shevus rechokah (a near rabbinic restriction, Shabbos that starts when Yom Tov ends; a far one, Shabbos a week later).
- לֶחֶם הַפָּנִים lechem hapanim (the twelve loaves on the shulchan).
- שְׁתֵּי הַלֶּחֶם shtei ha-lechem (the two loaves of Shavuos).
- שְׁנֵי הַכְּבָשִׂים shnei ha-kevasim (the two lambs that come with those loaves).
- זְרִיקַת הַדָּם zerikat ha-dam (throwing the blood on the Mizbeach).
- לָכֶם וְלֹא לַגָּבוֹהַּ lachem ve-lo la-gavoha (the verse says “for you,” not for Heaven).
- לָכֶם וְלֹא לְגוֹיִם lachem ve-lo le-goyim (the verse says “for you,” not for non-Jews).
- כְּלִי שָׁרֵת kli shareis (a Temple vessel that makes what sits in it kodesh).
- פִּדְיוֹן pidyon (redeeming hekdesh so it becomes chulin).
- כִּסּוּי הַדָּם kisuy ha-dam (covering the blood of a bird or chayah after shechitah, an aseh).
- עֲשֵׂה דּוֹחֶה לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה aseh docheh lo ta’aseh (a positive mitzvah can set aside a lav).
- שְׁמוֹנָה לָאוִין shemonah lavin (eight separate lavin on one furrow).
I. Bake Yom Tov for a weekday
Kashya. He already ate today’s meals. He bakes on Yom Tov for tomorrow, a weekday. Is he lokeh?
Terutz. Rav Chisda: לוֹקֶה lokeh. Guests who have not come are not a reason. The work is not ochel nefesh.
Rabbah: the act is assur. He is not lokeh. הוֹאִיל וּמִקַּלְעִי לֵיהּ אוֹרְחִים חֲזֵי לֵיהּ ho’il u-mikla’ei leih orchim chazei leih. If unexpected visitors came, that bread would be food for today. The loaf is fit for Yom Tov even though he meant it for tomorrow.
Sevara. Rav Chisda looks at the house as it is. No guests. He is working for chol. Rabbah looks at a visit that can still happen.
II. Honey and the broom
Kashya. A Tanna: sweeping the floor on Shabbos, or pulling cakes of honey from the hive on Shabbos: chayav kares. The same on Yom Tov when he does not need that honey or that floor: malkus. If we say ho’il, why malkus? Guests may want honey.
Terutz. That Tanna does not say ho’il. He looks like Rav Chisda.
They did not answer “it is קוֹצֵר kotzer even if he wants to eat it now.” Some Rishonim hold every melachah before לִישָׁה lishah (kneading) is mid-oraita forbidden on Yom Tov. Then even eating it today would be chayav, and ho’il would not help. Other Rishonim hold that mid-oraita you may pull an apple on Yom Tov for ochel nefesh. Then the malkus in the Baraisa is a problem for Rabbah.
Terutz that still fits Rabbah. The honey had hardened, or he pulled it so late that guests would have no time to eat it on Yom Tov. Then even Rabbah gives malkus. There is no ho’il left.
Sevara. Ho’il is only as wide as a guest who can still swallow the thing today.
III. Bake at the last minute
Kashya. He starts the loaf so late that Yom Tov will be over before anyone can eat it. Weekday after Yom Tov.
Terutz. Even Rabbah: lokeh. Ho’il needs time still left in the day.
The same clock when Yom Tov is Erev Shabbos. If he puts the bread in the oven a moment before Shabbos and it finishes on Shabbos, eruv tavshilin will not save him according to Rabbah. There was no ho’il.
Rav Chisda does not need those minutes. Mid-oraita tzorechei Shabbos na’asin be-Yom Tov. He may bake down to the start of Shabbos. The Rabbanan still want the eruv. They do not need leftover minutes for guests.
IV. Why eruv tavshilin works: a second machlokes
Kashya. Rabbah asked Rav Chisda: you do not say ho’il. How may we cook on Yom Tov for Shabbos? An eruv is derabbanan. It cannot lift a lav of the Torah.
Terutz of Rav Chisda. Mid-oraita the needs of Shabbos may be done on Yom Tov. The Rabbanan were afraid a man would cook on Yom Tov for a weekday. They asked for an eruv as a heker: you began Shabbos before Yom Tov started.
Rabbah’s map is the other way. Mid-oraita you may not cook on Yom Tov for Shabbos as Shabbos. You may cook because of ho’il: guests today. The Rabbanan still stop a man who is openly baking for Shabbos, unless he made an eruv. Then they let him rely on ho’il.
Nafka mina. Bake so late that guests cannot eat.
| Din | Tzad | Rayah | Chal | Pivot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yom Tov → weekday, early | Rav Chisda lokeh; Rabbah no malkus | unused honey / unused sweep | loaf still fit for orchim | do we say ho’il |
| Yom Tov → weekday, last minutes | both lokeh | no time left to swallow | ho’il is empty | clock, not guests |
| Yom Tov → Shabbos, early, with eruv | both mutar | eruv as heker or as a way to use ho’il | Shabbos food | two reasons under one heter |
| Yom Tov → Shabbos, last minutes | Rabbah lokeh; Rav Chisda still mutar mid-oraita | no orchim can eat | tzorech Shabbos itself | does Shabbos ride on Yom Tov without ho’il |
Sevara. Same loaf. Two questions. One: do we count a guest who is not here. Two: does the Torah count Shabbos as a need of Yom Tov.
V. Lechem hapanim: nine, ten, eleven
This is a calendar. The loaves sit on the shulchan for a week. You count from the day they are baked to the day the kohanim eat them. Inclusive. Both ends count.
They may not bake those loaves on Shabbos. This Tanna says they also may not bake them on Yom Tov. Every time a forbidden day sits on Friday, you bake one day earlier, and the loaf is one day older when it is eaten.
Friday: bake. This Shabbos: put them on the שֻׁלְחָן shulchan. All week they sit. Next Shabbos: take them off. Kohanim eat them. Put a new set on.
The mishnah: never eaten before day nine from the bake, never after day eleven.
Nine: ordinary week
No Yom Tov on Friday.
Friday bake. Shabbos on the table. Sun–Fri sitting. Next Shabbos eaten.
Friday to next Shabbos, counting both: nine days.
Ten: Yom Tov on Friday
Friday is Yom Tov. You may not bake on Yom Tov. Bake Thursday.
Thursday bake. Friday Yom Tov. Shabbos on the table. Next Shabbos eaten.
Thursday to next Shabbos: ten days.
Same week on the table. You only added the extra day before Shabbos because Friday was blocked.
Eleven: Thursday and Friday are Rosh Hashanah
Both days before Shabbos are Yom Tov. Bake Wednesday.
Wednesday bake. Thursday Rosh Hashanah. Friday Rosh Hashanah. Shabbos on the table. Next Shabbos eaten.
Wednesday to next Shabbos: eleven days. That is the oldest the loaf ever gets.
לְפִי שֶׁאֵינוֹ דּוֹחֶה לֹא אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת וְלֹא אֶת הַיּוֹם טוֹב lefi she-eino docheh lo es ha-Shabbos ve-lo es ha-Yom Tov. Baking these loaves does not set aside Shabbos or Yom Tov.
Kashya of Rabbah on Rav Chisda. If mid-oraita tzorechei Shabbos na’asin be-Yom Tov, bake the lechem hapanim on Yom Tov. It is eaten on Shabbos. Why ten days and eleven days?
On Rabbah there is no kashya. Those loaves must sit seven days. You cannot eat them today. There is no ho’il of guests.
Terutz of Rav Chisda. שְׁבוּת קְרוֹבָה הִתִּירוּ, שְׁבוּת רְחוֹקָה לֹא הִתִּירוּ shevus kerovah hitiru, shevus rechokah lo hitiru. The Rabbanan let you set aside their restriction when Shabbos starts tonight. They did not let you bake on Yom Tov for the Shabbos a week away. Lechem hapanim is always eaten a week later. Far shevus. They did not open it, even in the Mikdash.
Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel in the name of R. Shimon ben ha-Sagan: baking does set aside Yom Tov. It does not set aside Yom Kippur. The first Tanna opens only a near shevus. Rabban Shimon opens even a far shevus. We follow the first Tanna.
VI. Two days of Rosh Hashanah in the Mikdash
Kashya. In Eretz Yisrael they saw the moon. Rosh Hashanah should be one day. Why does the mishnah need Thursday and Friday?
Terutz. Only one story. כְּגוֹן שֶׁבָּאוּ עֵדִים מִן הַמִּנְחָה וּלְמַעְלָה kegon she-ba’u edim min ha-minchah u-lema’alah. The witnesses who saw the new moon came on Thursday after minchah.
If they accept those witnesses and say Thursday was Rosh Hashanah all along, they already sang the weekday shir on the morning tamid. You do not turn that song into a Yom Tov song after the fact.
They do not make Thursday the real molad. They still keep Thursday kodesh, because the day started as a possible Rosh Hashanah. Friday is the real Rosh Hashanah.
Kashya. Why not drop Thursday and keep only Friday?
Terutz. Next year the witnesses may come before minchah. If this year’s first day was empty, people will treat that first day as chol next year too. Beitzah 5b is the takkana.
וּבָתְרָא עִיקָּר u-vatra ikar (the later day is the real day). Count יוֹם הַכִּפּוּרִים Yom ha-Kippurim from Friday. The tenth day is Sunday. The loaf baked Wednesday is eaten the next Shabbos, day eleven, and that Shabbos is not Yom Kippur.
If the witnesses come Thursday before minchah, Thursday is the real one-day Rosh Hashanah. Friday is חוֹל גָּמוּר chol gamur. They bake a new set on Friday. The Wednesday loaves are redeemed.
Kashya. Once bread sat in an oven, a kli shareis makes kodesh. Kodesh has no pidyon.
Terutz. Time is not a kli shareis. The oven does not make them kodesh. Kedushah waits for the shulchan.
| When the witnesses arrive Thursday | Friday | Bake day | Eaten | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| after minchah | also kodesh | Wednesday | next Shabbos | eleven |
| before minchah | chol gamur | Friday, a new set | next Shabbos | nine |
Eleven is not “Rosh Hashanah is two days.” Eleven is “the witnesses were late, so Thursday and Friday both stayed closed, so the bake moved to Wednesday.”
VII. Tosfos ד״ה נֶאֱכָל לְאֶחָד עָשָׂר יוֹם
Tosfos locks the eleven-day line so it cannot slide onto the wrong Thursday.
Eleven days only when the witnesses came after minchah on Thursday. Both days kodesh, so next year the first day will not be treated lightly (Beitzah 5b). The second day is the ikar. Yom Kippur counted from that day falls Sunday.
Witnesses before minchah: Friday is chol gamur. Bake again. Redeem the Wednesday set.
Why redeemable. דְּאֵין הַתַּנּוּר מְקַדְּשָׁם de-ein ha-tannur mekadesham. This Tanna holds baking does not set aside Shabbos or Yom Tov, as Tosfos already said on the previous amud. If the oven made them kodesh at the bake, a Friday loaf would be nifsal be-linah before it reached the shulchan on Shabbos. It is not. So kedushah waits for the table. Until then there is pidyon.
Sevara. The eleven-day clock and the redeem clock are the same Tanna. He took kedushah out of the oven. That is why Friday chol can still take the Wednesday bake off the hekdesh track.
If baking were docheh Yom Tov, the oven would be doing the work of the mitzvah-bread. Then you could not redeem the Wednesday set, and the “witnesses before minchah” case would close.
VIII. Shtei ha-lechem: Rav Mari, and the two lambs
Not the weekly lechem hapanim. These two loaves are baked for this Shavuos and eaten this Shavuos, by kohanim, after the two lambs.
Ordinary year: bake Erev Shavuos, eat on Shavuos: two days.
Shavuos on Sunday: cannot bake on Shabbos, bake Friday, eat Sunday: three days.
Baking does not set aside Shabbos or Yom Tov.
Kashya of Rav Mari on Rav Chisda. If Yom Tov may serve Shabbos, then Yom Tov may serve Yom Tov itself. Bake the two loaves on Shavuos. The kohanim eat them today. The “next week” answer from lechem hapanim is gone.
Rav Miller ztl: the lambs have to be shechted first.
The two loaves are a korban. The Torah pairs them with two lambs. Until those lambs are shechted and the blood is thrown, the bread is assur to eat. After zerikat ha-dam, the kohanim eat.
Look at the moment of baking, on Shavuos morning, before the lambs. You cannot put that loaf on a plate. Guests cannot eat it. Later in the day, after the shechitah, it becomes food. “Later today” is not “food now.” Ochel nefesh is work that is itself food for the Festival as you do it. This bake, as you do it, is work for the Mizbeach.
Terutz for Rav Chisda. The verse says לָכֶם lachem: bake for you. לָכֶם וְלֹא לַגָּבוֹהַּ lachem ve-lo la-gavoha. At the bake it is gavoha. The fact that kohanim will eat after the lambs does not change what the bake is.
That is why Rav Chisda can still forbid baking them on Shavuos, even though he lets you cook on Yom Tov for Shabbos. Shabbos-food is lachem. This bread, at the oven, is not.
On Rabbah there was less pressure. Rabbah lives on ho’il of guests today. Here nobody may eat the loaf until the lambs are done. No ho’il of eating now.
Why would anyone permit? Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel does.
On Rabbah’s map: Rabban Shimon uses ho’il of pidyon. He could redeem the loaves before they become kodesh, and then they would be ordinary bread he could eat before the korban. The first Tanna will not use that. Redeeming the tzibbur’s shtei ha-lechem is not how a day runs. Guests walking in is.
On Rav Chisda’s map (no ho’il): the fight is only the word lachem. First Tanna: not for Heaven. Rabban Shimon holds like Abba Shaul: לָכֶם וְלֹא לְגוֹיִם lachem ve-lo le-goyim. Heaven stays in. Baking for the Mizbeach is mutar.
| Who | Bake shtei ha-lechem on Shavuos? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Rav Chisda + first Tanna | no | lachem: not for Heaven; at the oven it is a korban, lambs not yet shechted |
| Rabbah + first Tanna | no | no ho’il of eating now; pidyon is not a ho’il we use |
| Rabban Shimon, read with Rabbah | yes | ho’il of pidyon |
| Rabban Shimon, read with Rav Chisda | yes | lachem only takes off a non-Jew; gavoha is like lachem |
Sevara. The lambs are what lock the bread. Until they are shechted, the loaf is not Festival food. Rav Chisda therefore cannot treat it like cooking for Shabbos. Rabbah cannot treat it like a loaf waiting for guests.
IX. Eight lavin on one furrow
Rav Chisda sent to Rabbah by the hand of Rav Acha bar Rav Huna: מִי אָמְרִינַן הוֹאִיל mi amrinan ho’il?
One furrow. Eight lavin sit on the same motion: ox and donkey together, those animals hekdesh, kilayim ba-kerem, shemitah, Yom Tov, a kohen in a cemetery, a nazir in a cemetery.
Kashya on Rabbah. If we say ho’il, take Yom Tov off the list. Guests may come. He may shecht a bird for them. He will need loose dirt for kisuy ha-dam. This furrow is that dirt.
Yom Tov itself is not set aside
Kashya. Kisuy is an aseh. Let that aseh set aside the lav of work on Yom Tov.
Terutz. Yom Tov is not only a lav. It is an aseh and a lav: rest, and do not work. One aseh does not set aside two. So kisuy does not make the plow mutar on Yom Tov. The Yom Tov lav stays.
That is the wall against dechiyah of the plowing itself. Correct so far.
That wall does not become the other lavin
Kilayim ba-kerem is only a lav. It has no aseh of its own.
Kashya. Leave Yom Tov on the list. Drop kilayim. An aseh against a lone lav is the ordinary rule: aseh docheh lo ta’aseh.
Yom Tov’s two sides do not change what kilayim is. Kilayim is still only a lav.
What actually moves across
Terutz. In practice he will not plow today for kisuy. Yom Tov already stopped the act. An aseh you are not allowed to perform today is not an aseh that sets anything aside.
So kisuy does not set aside Yom Tov. Therefore this dirt will not be used for kisuy today. Therefore kisuy also does not set aside kilayim.
What moves from Yom Tov to the other lav is not a new status written onto kilayim. It is that the aseh of kisuy is never done. It cannot set aside a lav that sits on the same furrow.
| Target | What it is | Can kisuy set it aside? | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yom Tov | aseh and lav | no | one aseh does not set aside two |
| Kilayim | lav only | no, once Yom Tov stopped the act | an aseh you may not do today does not set a lav aside |
| the rest | each its own lav | kisuy was never their heter | ho’il of the dirt was only a claim about kisuy |
Clods
The Gemara also tries another way. Maybe there is no kisuy here at all. He plowed צַרּוֹרוֹת tzerorot: hard clods. Kisuy needs fine earth. Then ho’il never starts.
Grind the stones into dirt? That grind is itself a melachah on Yom Tov.
Grind with a שִׁנּוּי shinui? Mid-oraita the dirt would be there. Rav Miller ztl left that for the next hour.
Sevara. Ho’il is not “this dirt could cover blood some other time.” Ho’il is “this furrow, today, is already kisuy.” Yom Tov says you may not make that kisuy today. Once the aseh is not being done, it does not take kilayim off the list.
Open kashya
If a shinui produces kisuy dirt mid-oraita, does ho’il return only against kilayim, the lone lav, or does “you still may not plow on Yom Tov” keep every lav on the list?
And after the two lambs of Shavuos are shechted and the blood is thrown, the shtei ha-lechem are food on the table today. If someone baked them then, late on Shavuos, is that ochel nefesh even according to the first Tanna, or does lachem ve-lo la-gavoha still follow the loaf because it was baked as a korban?