Parshas Terumah 5786
- Torah Tavlin
- Feb 21
- 3 min read
מנחות דף לז: "גדול כבוד הבריות"
The Mishnah says that all 4 ציצית are מעכב each other. So, if one doesn’t have ציצית for all 4 corners, there is no point in putting ציצית on only one corner. This is the view of the ת"ק. ר' ישמעאל holds each corner is a separate מצוה and they are not מעכב each other. So, if one has ציצות for only one corner, he should put it on and he will be מקיים המצוה. The Gemara asks: מאי בינייהו? This question is perplexing. Didn’t we just state an obvious נפק"מ between them? [בשיעורי ר' דוד] ר' דוד says this is asked by the "עולם" and the גרי"ז explains: really the above is not a נפק"מ. Because even according to ר' ישמעאל although having ציצית on one corner might be a מצוה, he can’t wear the בגד anyway, because the other 3 corners don’t have ציצית and he is being מבטל a מצות עשה on the other 3 corners, when he wears it. So, according to both שיטות one would have to place ציצית on all 4 corners anyway! So, the Gemara asks, what is the practical difference in שיטות?
Our Gemara says one חילוק in this מחלוקת is the halacha of ר' הונא: if one walks from רשות היחיד to רשות הרבים on שבת with ציצית that are not מצוייצת כהלכתה he is חייב a חטאת because ציצית on a בגד כהלכתה are בטל to the בגד and it’s not considered carrying them. If they are not כהלכה and there is no מצוה, they are not בטל to the בגד and considered a משאוי. According to the ת"ק, one would be חייב a חטאת if he went out with a missing corner, since there is no מצוה being done, it is a משאוי. According to ר' ישמעאל he would not be חייב a חטאת. Our Gemara relates: רבינא was walking behind מר בר ר' אשי on שבת and noticed the ציצית on one corner of his בגד were ripped off, but refrained from telling him till they got home. מר בר ר' אשי said: “Had you told me immediately, I would have thrown off my בגד in the שוק.” We see from his answer that he holds like the ת"ק that all 4 are מעכב and it was considered הוצאה. Why would he rip off his בגד in the שוק? We have a rule גדול כבוד הבריאות שדוחה לא תעשה שבתורה? The Gemara answers: the לא תעשה it is דוחה is לא תסור, the חיוב to listen to the רבנן. But הוצאה בשבת is דאורייתא and כבוד הבריות is not דוחה that. So, כבוד הבריאות is דוחה דרבנן בקום ועשה but it is only דוחה דאורייתא בשב ואל תעשה..{עיין ברכות יט:}
The [יו"ד שעב] רמ"א says: If a כהן is not wearing clothing in a אהל המת but he doesn’t know there is a מת there, don’t tell him. Rather just tell him to come out so he can dress himself before exiting. If he has been informed there is a מת in the house, he may not remain in the house and get dressed, but must leave immediately. This is only if he’s in a אהל המת which is טומאה דאורייתא. If he’s in a בית הפרס, or any other טומאה דרבנן, he may remain inside until he’s dressed because גדול כבוד הבריות. The [נזיר ס' ה'] קהלת יעקב says: Even after the כהן is informed of a טומאה דאורייתא, why can’t he remain in the house and get dressed? After all, staying in the house a bit longer seems to be a שב ואל תעשה and we know כבוד הבריות דוחה דבר תורה בשב ואל תעשה? He says this is a ראיה to his יסוד: Any act originally done by a person, that he now has the capability to undo, but doesn’t, it is still considered his מעשה even though right now he isn’t doing anything. This is why כבוד הבריות doesn’t allow the כהן to tarry in the house to get dressed, since remaining in the house is considered a קום ועשה.