Parshas Behar-Bechukosai 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
שבועות דף כב:
"אמר רבא שבועה שלא אכל, ואכל עפר, פטור"
Rava says: if one swears “I will not eat” & then he eats עפר, he is פטור. Rashi explains, since עפר is לאו בר אכילה it is not considered as if he has eaten. The ר"ן (& others) have the גירסא that רבא says a case where one swore “I will eat” & then ate עפר, he has fulfilled his שבועה of eating. The ר"ן asks: later on our daf the Mishnah says if one swears he will not eat & then eats a דבר שאינו ראוי לאכילה, he is פטור & has not been עובר his שבועה as that is not considered eating. Yet רבא says that if one swore to eat & eats עפר, which is a דבר שאינו ראוי, it is considered as if he ate & he has completed his שבועה? The ר"ן answers: When one swears “I will not eat, we can assume he was not referring to not eating עפר as that is not ראוי. So, if he does eat עפר he is not in violation of his שבועה. However, when one swears “I will eat”, we assume that his intentions where that whatever he does end up eating should fulfill his שבועה obligations. So we consider it as eating.
The [הל' שבועה פ"ה, ה"ה] רמב"ם paskens: If one swears I will eat & eats עפר it is considered an אכילה & he has fulfilled his שבועה. If one swears I will not eat & eats עפר he has not violated his שבועה, seemingly holding that eating עפר is not an אכילה. The כסף משנה brings the above ר"ן that made a distinction between אוכל & שלא אוכל & says this is also פשט in the רמב"ם. The לחם משנה explains the רמב"ם differently: When one eats something, even if it’s a דבר שאינו בר אכילה, the fact that he’s eating it is "אחשביה", i.e. he is being מחשב it as food. However, when one swears not to eat & then eats עפר, we don’t say אחשביה, because that would make him be עובר his שבועה & we have a חזקה that one would not be עובר his שבועה & "אחזוקי ברשיעי לא מחזקינן". This explains the רמב"ם. When one swears I will eat & eats עפר, we say אחשביה because one wants to be מקיים his שבועה. But when one swears I will not eat & eats עפר, we don’t want to say אחשביה & he’s being עובר his שבועה, as that would make him a רשע & there is no reason to assume that. So we say it’s not אחשביה & ממילא it’s not an אכילה in this situation & he wasn’t עובר.
The [רפא, ז'] מנחת חינוך brings the סברא of the לחם משנה & says: דברי פי חכם חן! This explains something he always wondered about: Why by all איסורין שבתורה do we say if one eats them שלא כדרך אכילתן he is פטור because the תורה was מקפיד on an אכילה & this is not considered a אכילה. Why don’t we say since he is eating it this way, he is being מחשיב it & it’s "אחשביה" & it should be considered an אכילה? The מנח"ח says that in his youth, he said over the סברא of the לחם משנה to גדולי ישראל & they praised it. Now, based on this סברא, he adds: normally if one eats מאכלות אסורות שלא כדרך he is פטור because we don’t say אחשביה. On יום כפור, the halacha is one is חייב even for אכילה שלא כדרך. So, if one ate איסור שלא כדרך on יו"כ he should be חייב for eating on יו"כ & for eating the דבר אסור. Even though normally he would be פטור on eating the איסור because we wouldn’t say אחשביה, as that would make him a רשע, here since he is eating on יו"כ he is already a רשע, so we would say אחשביה, thus making him עובר on the אכילה of the דבר אסור also!