Parshas Chukas-Balak 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- Jun 25
- 3 min read
חולין דף נד: "עמידה בפני ת"ח"
On the Daf, ר' חנא פתוראה the money changer relates: One time during work, I looked up from my table and saw ר' יוחנן standing before me. I wanted to stand up out of respect for him, but he didn’t let me. He said workers are not permitted to stand up for תלמידי חכמים during work hours. רש"י explains ר' חנא was not self-employed and his responsibilities included asking passersby if they needed any money changed. Standing up would be a distraction from his work and not fair to his employer. [ד"ה אין] תוס' says רש"י is compelled to learn that ר' חנא was not self- employed, because the לשון the Gemara uses is "אין רשאים" which implies there is an איסור to stand up and this could only be if he worked for others. תוס' adds, even if one were self-employed "לא מחייב לעמוד" because we are מקיש the חיוב of הידור (נשיאת פנים, נתינת ממון) to the חיוב of קימה. Just like by הידור there is no ביטול מלאכה involved, the דין of קימה is only when there is no ביטול מלאכה necessary. So even if one is working for himself, he is not מחוייב to stand up while working. תוס' brings ר' יעקב בר' שמעון who learns that "אין רשאין" actually means "אין חייבין" but there is no איסור and we could now learn that ר' חנא was working for himself and still ר' יוחנן didn’t allow him to stand, because there is no חיוב.
The שו"ע says: בעלי אומניות are not "מחוייב" to stand for a ת"ח while they’re working. If an employee wants to stand up for aת"ח , he may not. The [ת"ת ו', ב'] רמב"ם also uses the לשון: אין חייבין לעמוד and the כסף משנה comments that the רמב"ם is following תוס' who means "אין חייבין".
The Gemara asks from a Mishnah [ביכורים]: all בעלי אומנין would stand up for the מביאי ביכורים as they would pass through ירושלים and they would come out to greet them and wish them well. We see from here that בעלי אומנין were permitted to interrupt their workday. They are permitted to stand for the מביאי ביכורים but not for ת"ח. ר' יוסי comments, we see from here, "כמה חביבה מצוה בשעתו", because we don’t interrupt work for ת"ח, yet we do for the מביאי ביכורים. The Gemara rejects this because maybe we stand purely for the חיזוק aspect but not because we are witnessing a מצוה being performed, as רש"י explains, this was to give them חיזוק so they should be רגיל to continue bringing ביכורים.
The רע"ב [משניות פ"ג,ג'] says: standing for the מביאי ביכורים is because of חביבה מצוה בשעתו. He adds, this is the reason we stand for those carrying the מת at a levaya and for those bringing a תינוק לברית מילה. תוס' אנשי שם brings the ירושלמי: the reason we stand for מביאי ביכורים is since it’s only done once a year, there is not much of a חסרון כיס from the interrupted work. But he asks on the רע"ב; true the מביאי ביכורים are in middle of doing a מצוה, the נושאי המת are doing a כבוד המת by carrying the niftar and could be considered עוסק במצוה, but carrying a baby to his ברית מילה should not be considered a מצוה בשעתו that requires us to stand, because at best it’s only a הכנה למצוה? He then quotes the מרדכי who says, we stand at a ברית, not in honor of the "עוסקים" במצוה, but for the כבוד המצוה עצמה.