This issue is discussed in our Insights on the Daf in Question C. We have inserted the Insights below.

Best wishes,

Kollel Iyun Hadaf

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Beitzah 16

1) MUST ONE WHO GIVES A GIFT INFORM THE RECIPIENT?

QUESTIONS: Rebbi Chama b'Rebbi Chanina states that one who gives a gift to his friend is not required to inform him. Rebbi Chama derives this from the gift which Hash-m gave to Moshe Rabeinu. Moshe Rabeinu did not know that his face was radiating until the people told him. RASHI (DH Eino Tzarich) explains that, according to Rebbi Chama, one is not required to inform his friend about a gift even though he might be left wondering who gave him the gift.

The Gemara questions Rebbi Chama's opinion from the Beraisa. The Beraisa teaches that one is supposed to inform his friend when he gives him a gift. The Beraisa derives this from the fact that Hash-m informed Moshe that he was going to give the gift of Shabbos to the Jewish people. Raban Shimon ben Gamliel says that this teaches that when a person gives a gift of food to a child, he should inform the child's mother (by smearing part of the food on the child's face so that the mother will see and ask the child who gave him the food).

The Gemara answers that Rebbi Chama means that one does not have to inform the recipient of the gift when the recipient eventually will realize on his own that he received a gift. When the Beraisa states that one should inform the recipient, it refers to when the recipient will not find out about the gift on his own.

RASHI (DH Tzarich l'Hodi'o) explains that the Beraisa's reason for why a person must inform a child's parent about the present he gave the child is in order to increase love and friendship among Jews.

A number of questions may be asked on Rashi's explanation of the Gemara.

(a) Rashi's words seem contradictory. First, when he explains why Rebbi Chama says that one does not need to inform the recipient of the gift, Rashi says that one might have thought that he should inform the recipient so that the recipient will not sit and wonder from where the gift came. Rashi later, however, explains that the reason why one should inform the recipient of the gift is in order to increase love among Jews. Why does Rashi change the reason for why one should tell the recipient about the gift?

(b) How does the Gemara prove from the gift that Moshe Rabeinu received that one is not required to inform his friend about a gift even when the recipient will be left wondering about it? In the case of Hash-m's gift, Moshe Rabeinu did not know about it even after he received it (as the verse cited here demonstrates), and thus he certainly did not wonder about it. How can the Beraisa derive from the gift given to Moshe Rabeinu that when a recipient will wonder about where the gift came from, the giver still does not need to inform him? (KIKAYON D'YONAH)

(c) There is another reason why the Beraisa cannot prove from the gift given to Moshe Rabeinu that one is allowed to give a gift and leave the recipient wondering. In the case of Moshe Rabeinu, when he would eventually find out that he had been given a gift he would not be left wondering about its source. As soon as he discovered the radiance with which Hash-m graced him, he knew exactly where it came from -- from Hash-m, for only Hash-m is capable of giving such a gift. (CHIDUSHIM U'VI'URIM)

(d) Later, when Rashi discusses the Beraisa which derives from the gift of Shabbos that one is supposed to inform the mother when he gives her child a gift, why does Rashi explain that the purpose of informing the mother is in order to increase love and friendship among Jews? Perhaps the reason is so that the mother will not wonder who gave the gift to the child (in case the child did not finish eating it by the time he reached his mother), as Rashi explains earlier.

(e) How does Raban Shimon ben Gamliel derive the requirement that one must tell the child's mother that he gave the child a gift from the case in which Hash-m told the people that he will give them the gift of Shabbos? In the case of the gift of food that one gives to a child, one must inform the mother after he gives the gift to the child. In the case of Shabbos, Hash-m informed the people that he would give them a gift in the future.

ANSWERS:

(a) Rashi explains that when Rebbi Chama states that one is not required to tell his friend about a gift, his intent is to teach that it is acceptable to leave one's friend wondering from where the gift came. He does not explain that Rebbi Chama's intent is to teach that it is acceptable to give a gift without increasing friendship, because the Gemara later teaches that in the case of Moshe's gift from Hash-m (his shining face), the recipient eventually found out about the gift and discovered who gave it to him, even though the giver did not inform him. That case teaches that a gift will increase friendship even when the giver does not inform the recipient about it. Therefore, Rebbi Chama would not have taught that one may give a gift and not inform the recipient, because the case of the gift of Moshe Rabeinu already teaches that. What, then, is Rebbi Chama teaching? Rashi explains that one might have thought that the giver must inform the recipient so that the recipient will not be left wondering where the gift came from until he finds out who gave it to him.

(b) Even though Moshe Rabeinu did not know right away that his face radiated, he eventually found out, and at that point he may have wondered from where the gift came.

(c) Why, though, would Moshe Rabeinu wonder? Moshe Rabeinu certainly knew Who gave the gift to him. The answer is that Rashi does not say that the recipient will wonder who gave him the gift, but rather why he received it and under what circumstances it was given to him. Moshe Rabeinu would have been left wondering in the merit of what Mitzvah he received this reward. Rebbi Chama teaches that even though the recipient will be left wondering, the giver is not required to inform him of the gift. He may leave the recipient to figure out on his own from whom, and why, he received the gift.

(d) When Rashi presents the reason for why one must inform the mother when he gives a gift to her child, why does Rashi not say that the reason is in order that the mother not be left wondering from where the gift came?

If this would be the reason to inform the mother about the gift, Hash-m would not have told Moshe Rabeinu to inform the Jewish people about the gift of Shabbos. When the Jews were given the gift of Shabbos, they immediately knew that they had received it -- and from Whom and why -- and thus there was no necessity to tell them about it in advance. The same applies to the reward for observing Shabbos; they would find out about it as soon as they received the reward, and at that time they would have no questions about Who gave it to them or why. Therefore, from the case of the gift of Shabbos it cannot be proven that it is acceptable to give a gift and leave the recipient confused about it.

The reason why Hash-m wanted Moshe Rabeinu to inform the people about the gift of Shabbos was in order to increase the love between Hash-m and His people (see next paragraph). Accordingly, the requirement to tell a mother about a gift given to her child must be for the same reason.

(e) How, though, can the requirement to inform a mother that one already gave a gift to her child be derived from Hash-m's command to Moshe Rabeinu to inform the people that He will give them the gift of Shabbos? Rashi in Shabbos (10b) explains that since the purpose of informing the recipient is in order to increase love and friendship, informing the recipient consists of two different elements. First, at the time that the giver gives the gift to his friend he should inform him so that their friendship will be increased. Second, the giver should also notify his friend in advance that he plans to give him a gift, so that the recipient will prepare himself to receive the gift and will not be embarrassed or shocked when the gift is given to him. (M. Kornfeld)