Parshas Bo 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- 4h
- 3 min read
מנחות דף יא. "א"ל אביי לרבא כיצד קומצין"
How does a כהן do קמיצה? Rava answers: "כדקמצי אינשי" - like the way people scoop things up. רש"י explains, the כהן uses all of his fingers when he scoops up the flour. אביי asks on רבא from a braisa that calls the finger next to the pinky the קמיצה, Rashi explains because it’s from that finger that the scoop starts from when doing a קמיצה. We see that the קמיצה wasn’t done with all the fingers. The Gemara clarifies that רבא means the כהן scoops it up using the 3 middle fingers, by closing them around his palm first and then pushing his hand into the קמח, he then levels off the bottom with his pinky finger and the top with his thumb, so there is nothing overflowing out of his closed hand. The entire קומץ must be within his fingers and not overflowing (מבורץ).
The Gemara also brings a מימרא that ר' פפא says ,"פשיטא לי" that a קמיצה is done, כדקמצי אינשי i.e.: with all the fingers.
The [מעשה הקרבנות פי"ג,יג'] רמב"ם paskens: "קומצין כדרך כל אדם", ie: with all the fingers, like ר' פפא. The כסף משנה quotes מהר"י קורקס who says: יש לתמוה - Why doesn’t the רמב"ם pasken to use the 3 fingers for קמיצה like the Gemara seems to conclude from the braisa that it brings as a ראיה to רבא? It seems the רמב"ם is paskening like ר' פפא? Furthermore, how can ר' פפא even argue against a clear ברייתא? The כסף משנה answers that from the fact ר' פפא makes a statement of "פשיטא לי", since he is a בתראה he must know that this ברייתא is a מתניתא משבשתא and not from ר' חייא & ר' אושעיא. This is why the רמב"ם paskens like him. מהר"י קורקס points out, that the רמב"ם in פירוש המשניות explains קמיצה like he does above and adds that we should delete the words, זו אחת מעבודות הקשות.*וצ"ב that the רמב"ם does not address the excess of the קמיצה and how the כהן should remove it. The גרי"ז in Chiddushim learns: when the Gemara says אלא להשוות, i.e.: that the כהן uses his pinky and thumb to smooth out the קמיצה, this must be done while his hand is still in the כלי by the קמח. Because once his hand is out, the קומץ is considered completed and it’s too late to correct it and take off the extra.
The Gemara [מגילה טז]. relates: When המן came to get מרדכי to put him on the king’s horse and lead him through the town, he found מרדכי teaching his תלמידים the halachos of קמיצה. Rashi brings, that day was ט"ז ניסן the day the מנחת העומר is normally brought, so מרדכי was learning with them עניני דיומא. When מרדכי saw המן approaching, he wrapped himself in his טלית and started davening. המן then asked the תלמידים, what are you learning? They answered: בזמן שבית המקדש קיים, one who donates a מנחה, brings a קומץ של סולת, that’s what we were learning. The מהרש"א asks: Why did the תלמידים switch and discuss a מנחת נדבה if they were being עוסק בעניני דיומא which was a מנחת העומר? He answers, they were showing המן that even from a קרבן דל שבדלים we are able to achieve כפרה and being עוסק in the ענין is compared to bringing it. So, we are achieving כפרה and will be saved from you.