BAVA BASRA 127 (4 Sivan) - Dedicated by Mr. David Kornfeld in memory of the members of his family, Hashem Yikom Damam, who perished at the hands of the Nazi murderers in the Holocaust. (The exact date of their passing is not known; their Yahrzeit is observed on 4 Sivan.) May our Torah learning and teaching be l'Iluy Nishmas Mr. Kornfeld's mother (Mirel bas Yakov Mordechai), brothers (Shraga Feivel, Aryeh Leib and Yisachar Dov, sons of Mordechai), grandfather (Reb Yakov Mordechai ben David - Shpira) and aunt (Charne bas Yakov Mordechai - wife of Reb Moshe Aryeh Cohen z'l).

[127a - 20 lines; 127b - 30 lines]

1)[line 1]אינו ממעט חלק בכורהEINO MEME'AT CHELEK BECHORAH- he does not diminish the amount which the firstborn receives as his double portion (that is, when we calculate the size of the extra portion of the Bechor, we do not take the Tumtum into account, but rather we view him as though he does not exist, and thus the Bechor receives a larger portion)

2)[line 3]אינו נימול לשמנהEINO NIMOL LI'SHEMONAH - he is not circumcised on the eighth day (if the eighth day falls on Shabbos (MILAH)

(a)A Jewish father has a Mitzvas Aseh to see that a Bris Milah is performed on his son, as the verse states, "וַיָּמָל אַבְרָהָם אֶת יִצְחָק בְּנוֹ..." "va'Yamal Avraham Es Yitzchak Beno..." (Bereishis 21:4). If he does not fulfill his obligation, Beis Din is required to have him circumcised (ibid. 17:10). If Beis Din is likewise lax or unable to fulfill this Mitzvah, when the boy grows up, he must have Milah performed upon himself (ibid. 17:14). The punishment for a man who is not circumcised and refuses to fulfill the Mitzvah of Milah is Kares (ibid., see RAMBAM and RA'AVAD Hilchos Milah 1:1-2).

(b)The Mitzvah of performing the Milah on the eighth day after the child's birth overrides Shabbos. Thus, even though the procedure of the Milah constitutes a Melachah, it is permitted (and obligatory) on Shabbos. This is derived (in Shabbos 132a) from the verse, "וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁמִינִי יִמּוֹל בְּשַׂר עָרְלָתוֹ" "uva'Yom ha'Shemini, Yimol Besar Orlaso" - "And on the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised" (Vayikra 12:3).

3)[line 6]אין אמו טמאה לידהEIN IMO TEME'AH LEIDAH - his mother does not become Tamei with Tum'as Leidah (YOLEDES / TUM'AS LEIDAH)

(a)In Vayikra 12:1-8 the Torah discusses the laws of Tum'ah and Taharah after childbirth. After a woman gives birth, she must wait for a certain amount of time before she can enter the Beis ha'Mikdash or eat Kodshim. That time period is divided into two stages:

1.During the initial stage, she has the status of a Nidah (even if she had not seen any blood). If she gave birth to a male, this lasts for seven days. If a female was born, this stage lasts for two weeks. At the end of this period, she may go to the Mikvah after nightfall.

2.During the second stage, any blood that she sees does not give her the status of a Nidah as it normally would. The blood that she sees during this period is called Dam Tohar. Nevertheless, during this period, she may not eat Terumah or Kodshim, or enter the Beis ha'Mikdash. This lasts for thirty-three days for a male, and sixty-six days for a female. Thus, the total waiting period for a male is forty days and for a female, eighty days. (The current practice is to consider a woman a Nidah even when she sees blood during the period of Dam Tohar - see Insights to Nidah 25a.)

(b)At the end of the above two stages, the woman may eat Kodshim and enter the Azarah of the Beis ha'Mikdash only after she brings a Korban Yoledes. Until then, she is a Mechuseres Kaparah (see Background to Nedarim 35:9). As such, in order to stand alongside her Korban while it is being offered, she may only enter as far as the archway of Sha'arei Nikanor (see Background to Sotah 7:8b). Her Korban includes a male sheep as an Olah and a Tor (turtledove) or a Ben Yonah (common dove) as a Chatas. If she could not afford a sheep, she brings 2 Torim or 2 Benei Yonah, one as an Olah and one as a Chatas.

(c)In our Gemara, Rav Sherevya ruled that the above Halachos do not apply to a woman who gave birth to a Tumtum (see Background to Bava Basra 126:31), even if the baby is later found to be conclusively male (or female).

4)[line 9]המפלתHA'MAPELES- a woman who miscarries

5)[line 9]ואנדרוגינוסANDROGINUS

An Androginus is a hermaphrodite, a person with both male and female reproductive organs. There is a Machlokes as to whether an Androginus is a male, a female or a new gender.

6)[line 9]תשב לזכר ולנקיבהTESHEV L'ZACHAR UL'NEKEIVAH- she must sit [observing the days of Tum'ah and the days of Taharah for both] a male and a female (that is, she must observe 14 days of Tum'ah as if she gave birth to a female, and afterwards she must observe only 26 days of Taharah (until 40 days after her birth) as if she gave birth to a male)

7)[line 10]אי הכי, תשב לזכר ולנקבה ולנדה מיבעי ליה? קשיאIY HACHI TESHEV L'ZACHAR UL'NEKEIVAH UL'NIDAH MIBA'I LEI! KASHYA- [the Gemara refutes the answer and says that] if this is true (that the Mishnah in Nidah means that the woman should conduct herself stringently out of doubt whether or not the birth of a Tumtum is considered a birth), then it should also require her to conduct herself like a Nidah out of doubt that perhaps a Tumtum is excluded altogether from the Yemei Taharah of a Yoledes. [Rather, it must be that the Mishnah in Nidah holds that the birth of a Tumtum definitely makes the mother Temei'ah, and the only doubt is whether the Tumtum is considered a male or a female, and thus] this is a difficulty [on the view of Rav Shizbi.]

8)[line 13]שתי נשים שילדו שני זכרים במחבאSHTEI NASHIM SHE'YALDU SHNEI ZECHARIM B'MACHVO- two women who gave birth to two male children in a hidden area (they were both married to the same man, and it is not known which woman gave birth first and, thus, which child is the Bechor)

9)[line 14]הרשאהHARSHA'AH- a document granting power of attorney, which entitles the bearer to act on behalf of the issuer

10)[line 15]ברםBERAM- in truth

11)[line 15]הוכרו ולבסוף נתערבוHUKRU ULEVA'SOF NIS'ARVU- they were [originally] recognized, and then later they became mixed up

12)[line 16]הדר אוקי רבא אמורא עליהHADAR UKI RAVA AMORA ALEI- Rava immediately appointed a Meturgeman to teach in his name. A Meturgeman is (a) the person who repeats in a loud voice the words of the Rav, who lectures in a low voice (RASHI to Berachos 56a); (b) the person who translates into Aramaic the words of the Rav, who delivers the Shi'ur in a low voice in Hebrew (RASHI to Yoma 20b)

13)[line 19]בני אקרא דאגמאBENEI AKRA D'AGMA- the people of Akra d'Agma, the name of a town in Bavel

127b----------------------------------------127b

14)[line 7]זה בן גרושה וזה בן חלוצהZEH BEN GERUSHAH V'ZEH BEN CHALUTZAH - "this [son] is the son of a divorcee," or "this [son] is the son of a Chalutzah" (CHALAL)

(a)The Torah (Vayikra 21:14) commands a Kohen Gadol not to marry a widow (Almanah), divorcee (Gerushah), prostitute ("Zonah" - see Background to Kidushin 77:17), or Chalalah. An ordinary Kohen (Hedyot) is permitted to marry a widow, but not any of the other women listed above. The child from one of the above-mentioned unions is invalidated from the Kehunah, and is called a "Chalal." The Rabanan also prohibited all Kohanim from marrying a Chalutzah (see Background to Kidushin 45:6), and the children of a Kohen from a Chalutzah are deemed Chalalim mid'Rabanan.

(b)A Chalal may not serve in the Beis ha'Mikdash, and according to some sources he is Chayav Misah b'Yedei Shamayim if he does (MINCHAS CHINUCH 275:5). A Chalal does not eat Terumah or the Kodshim reserved for Kohanim (Terumos 8:1), and is not restricted with regard to the women that he is allowed to marry. Chalalim are not prohibited from coming into contact with corpses. Chalalim are likewise not considered Kohanim with regard to the other privileges and restrictions pertaining to Kohanim.

15)[line 13]בנכסים שנפלו לו לאחר מכאןNECHASIM SHE'NAFLU LO L'ACHAR MI'KAN- property that fell to him (i.e. that he acquired) afterwards (i.e. after he claimed that one of his sons is his Bechor)

16)[line 16]גוססGOSES- a sick person who is on the verge of death, moribund

17)[line 22]דמשמש לי כעבדא קאמרDI'MESHAMESH LI K'AVDA KA'AMAR- he meant to say that "he (my son) serves me like a slave"

18)[line 23]וחילופיה אבית המכסV'CHILUFEI A'BEIS HA'MECHES- the opposite applies with regard to the customs post

19)[line 28]עבדא מצר מאהAVDA MEITZAR ME'AH- a slave whose value (lit. limit or measure) is a 100 [Zuz]

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