Question: tosfos zos hachaya i dont understand what tosfos answers. Why aren't the animals listed in the Beraisa which discusses the Halachos that Moshe had trouble with?
Dear Mendy,
To be honest, I also had trouble with this Tosfos. Tosfos writes that Moshe had difficulty in understanding three things (the new moon, the Menorah and the insects); and it is specifically those three things that the Beraisa groups together, in the way that Beraisos often do. Two things are omitted from the Beraisa: the Coin of Fire (the Machtzis Ha'shekel) and the kosher and non-kosher animals. According to Tosfos, this is because Moshe did not have difficulty in understanding them.
The MAHARSHA in Menachos explains that the three listed things are complex, i.e. they contain a lot of details that one cannot possibly know without being taught. The Menorah: to make it out of one piece, together with all its knobs, flowers and goblets. The new moon: at which point in the sky it was to appear, where in relationship to the sun and how large it looked, as the Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah explains. The insects: to be able to distinguish the eight kinds of Tamei insects from the numerous species of Tahor insects that exist in the world. Now we can easily understand why the coin does not fit into the Beraisa; there, it was not a question of how to FIND the coin, but rather WHY such a small coin should suffice to atone for the Soul.
What is difficult to understand is why the animals do not fit into the list. Moshe after all, could not possibly have known all the animals, as the Gemara will explicitly write later in Eilu Tereifos (There, the Gemara writes that Moshe must have had Ru'ach Ha'Kodesh to recognize the Shesu'ah). Perhaps that itself is the answer; precisely because Moshe had Ru'ach Ha'Kodesh, he had no difficulty in recognizing the animals, so it was not necessary to include them in the list. But then, we need to understand why Moshe should have been Zocheh to Ru'ach Ha'Kodesh re. the animals and not re. the insects.
Tosfos in Menachos 29a DH Sheloshah may have been bothered by your question. He answers that the animals were not included in the list because the Beraisa only includes those things by which the Torah writes "Zeh", and not those by which the Torah writes "Zos" and not "Zeh.
Hope to hear more from you, Kol Tuv
Eliezer Chrysler
Dear Mendy,
Your question is not an easy one to answer. It would appear to me that TOSFOS means the following. There are two kinds of difficulties a person can have. The first is due to lack of knowledge - you cannot describe an elephant if you've never seen one. The second is when the answer is abstract or mathematically complicated. Tosfos' means to say that the Beraisa is only listing the abstract issues with which Moshe had difficulty. It is hard to discern the different Sheratzim from each other even after having seen them, which is why the difficulty of the Sheratzim made the list. It is simple to distinguish between mammals after having seen them; Moshe's only difficulty was that he was not familiar with them.
I hope you find our answers helpful,
Mordecai