1)

FINISHING A SEFER TORAH

(a)

There were extra letters in the Sefer of Agra (R. Aba's father-in-law);

1.

R. Aba: Genizah is required only due to missing letters, but not if there are extra letters.

(b)

(The second teaching of Rav): One may finish a Sefer Torah even in the middle of a Daf.

(c)

Question (Beraisa): One may finish a Chumash (one of the five Chumashim written by itself) in the middle of a Daf. One may not finish a Sefer Torah this way;

1.

Rather, one makes the lines successively shorter, in order that they will finish at the bottom.

(d)

Answer #1: Also Rav permitted finishing only a Chumash in the middle.

(e)

Objection: Rav said 'Sefer Torah'!

(f)

Answer: He meant, a Chumash within a full Sefer Torah.

(g)

Question: R. Yehoshua bar Aba cited Rav to say that "l'Einei Kol Yisrael" (the last words of the Torah) may be in the middle of the Daf!

(h)

Answer: He meant, in the middle of a line.

(i)

Version #1 - Rashi - (Rabanan): One may finish a Sefer Torah (in the middle of a Daf), and even in the middle of a line;

(j)

(Rav Ashi): It is permitted only to finish in the middle of a line (but not in the middle of the Daf).

(k)

Version #2 - Shitah Mekubetzes - Rabanan): One may finish a Sefer Torah even in the middle of a line. (All the more so, it is permitted at the end of a line);

(l)

(Rav Ashi): One must finish it in the middle of a line. (end of Version #2)

(m)

The Halachah follows Rav Ashi.

2)

THE LAST EIGHT VERSES OF THE TORAH

(a)

(R. Yehoshua bar Aba): One person reads (all of) the last eight verses of the Torah (which follow Moshe's death). (Rashi; Rambam - an individual may read them with Brachos, even without a Minya.n)

(b)

Suggestion: This is unlike R. Shimon!

1.

(Beraisa - R. Yehudah or R. Nechemyah) Question: Moshe could not have written "va'Yamas Sham Moshe"!

2.

Answer: Yehoshua wrote this (and also the remaining seven verses).

3.

Objection (R. Shimon): Had Moshe omitted even one letter of the Torah, it would not say "Lako'ach Es Sefer ha'Torah ha'Zeh"!

4.

Answer #2 (R. Shimon): For the rest of the Torah, Hash-m dictated and Moshe repeated the verse and wrote it. For the last eight verses, Hash-m dictated and Moshe wrote it b'Dema (with his tears; Sefas Emes - he wrote the letters without spaces between words).

5.

Similarly, Yirmeyahu dictated his prophecy to Baruch (who wrote it; Rashi - similarly, Baruch did not repeat the verses due to remorse) - "mi'Piv Yikra Elai... va'Ani Kosev."

(c)

Rejection: No, R. Yehoshua's law can be even like R. Shimon. Even though Moshe wrote the eight verses, since they are different than the rest of the Torah, the law of reading them is also different.

(d)

(R. Yehoshua bar Aba): One who buys a Sefer Torah is like one who seized a Mitzvah from the market (Rashi - it is a bigger Mitzvah to write it himself; Rema - he does not fulfill the Mitzvah);

1.

If he wrote a Sefer Torah, it is considered as if he received it from Sinai.

(e)

(Rav Sheshes): If he corrected even one letter (of the Sefer he bought), it is considered as if he wrote it (Tosfos - because the seller was forbidden to keep it uncorrected).

3)

THE SPACING OF THE WRITING

(a)

(Beraisa): One can make between three and eight columns in a parchment, but not more nor less;

(b)

The number of columns should be according to the width of the parchment;

1.

He should not make too many columns, for then (they will be thin, and) it will look like a letter;

2.

He should not make too few columns, for then (they will be long,) and one who reads may come to skip to the wrong line.

3.

It should be wide enough to write 30 letters.

(c)

If the parchment was the proper width to write nine columns (according to the size of the previous writing), he should cut it as evenly as possible, i.e. to write four columns on one piece and five on the other, but not to write three and six.

(d)

This does not apply to the end of the Sefer. There, he may cut a parchment to write one verse, or for one Daf.

(e)

Objection: Surely, we do not allow a parchment the size of one verse!

(f)

Correction: Rather, he may write one verse in a Daf.

(g)

(In a Sefer Torah) the margins below, above and between columns should be, respectively, a Tefach; three Etzba'os, and two Etzba'os.

(h)

In a Chumash, the margins below, above and between columns should be three Etzba'os, two Etzba'os and a Godel (thumb's width. Also 'Etzba' is a Godel. Radal asked why the Beraisa did not use the same word each time. Mar'eh ha'Panim (Yerushalmi 12a) remarks that the Yerushalmi discusses 'Malei Godel', i.e. from the end of the thumb until the first joint, which is close to two finger-widths.)

(i)

(In a Sefer Torah or Chumash) the space between lines should be the height of a line. The width of a letter should separate between words. A hair's breadth should separate between letters of a word.

(j)

One should not make the writing smaller in order to have the proper margins below or above or between lines, or the proper (nine) spaces between Parshiyos (when the latter is an 'open' Parshah).

(k)

If there was room for two letters at the end of the line, and he needed to write a five-letter word, he may not write two letters within the column and the other three outside (Rashi - past the Sirtut, i.e. a line scratched to help the scribe write in a straight line);

30b----------------------------------------30b

1.

He may write three letters within the column and the other two outside.

2.

Version #1 (Shitah Mekubetzes): If the remaining two letters spell a word, he must write the entire word on the next line.

(l)

Version #2 (Rashi): If a two-letter word had to be written (and the line was finished), he may not write it between the Dapim. Rather, he writes it on the next line.

4)

INSERTING HASH-M'S NAME

(a)

(Continuation of Beraisa - R. Yehudah): If Hash-m's name was omitted, he should be Gorer (scrape off the (dried) ink of) the word written in its place, write Hash-m's name over it, and be Toleh the erased word (write it in between this line and the line above);

(b)

R. Yosi says, one may even (R. Tam - only) be Toleh Hash-m's name (R. Tam - but he may not write it over an erasure);

(c)

R. Yitzchak says, one may even be Mochek (rub off the ink, while it is still wet, of) the word written in its place, write Hash-m's name over it, and Toleh the erased word. (Tosfos - R. Yitzchak addresses R. Yehudah. He does not allow Teliyah of Hash-m's name. Rashba - in some texts, R. Yitzchak precedes R. Yosi);

(d)

R. Shimon Shezuri says, we may be Toleh Hash-m's entire name, but not part of it.

(e)

R. Shimon ben Elazar says in the name of R. Meir, we may not write Hash-m's name over any erasure nor be Toleh it;

1.

The entire parchment must be put in Genizah.

(f)

(Rav Chananel): The Halachah is, we may be Toleh Hash-m's name.

(g)

(Rabah bar bar Chanah): The Halachah is, we write it over a Machak.

(h)

Question: Why didn't each of them just say 'the Halachah follows this Tana'?

(i)

Answer: That would not suffice, for some versions of the Beraisa switch the opinions of the Tana'im.

5)

THE HALACHAH ALWAYS FOLLOWS R. SHIMON SHEZURI

(a)

(Ravin bar Chinena): The Halachah follows R. Shimon Shezuri. In fact, the Halachah follows him in all places.

(b)

Question: Concerning which teaching did Ravin say this?

1.

Suggestion: He said it concerning Teliyah of Hash-m's name.

2.

Rejection: If so, his opinion should have been taught with those of Rav Chananel and Rabah bar bar Chanah!

(c)

Answer #1: He said it concerning a Ben Paku'a (a fetus found inside a slaughtered animal);

1.

(Mishnah - R. Shimon Shezuri): Even if a Ben Paku'a is five years old and plowing in the field, one may eat it, due to the Shechitah of its mother. (Even mid'Rabanan, we do not require another Shechitah.)

(d)

Rejection: Ze'iri taught (concerning that Mishnah) that the Halachah follows R. Shimon Shezuri. It was not recorded that Ze'iri and Ravin said that the Halachah follows R. Shimon Shezuri.

(e)

Answer #2: He said it concerning the following Mishnah;

1.

(Mishnah): At first, Chachamim said that if a man being taken to his execution commanded to write a Get to his wife, those who hear him should write and give it. (Surely, this was his intent, in order to exempt his wife from Yibum. Amidst his panic, he neglected to say 'and give it'.)

2.

Chachamim later said that the same applies to a man embarking on a boat or with a caravan;

3.

R. Shimon Shezuri says, this applies even to a deathly sick person.

(f)

Answer #3: Perhaps he said it concerning Demai (produce bought from an Am ha'Aretz, i.e. one who is not trustworthy about Ma'aser;, it is Safek tithed);

1.

(Mishnah): If a Chaver separated Terumas Ma'aser on Demai, and it became mixed with the Demai, one may ask the seller (whether or not it was already tithed. If the seller says that it was, we believe him. The Chaver's separation did not take effect, so one may eat the mixture like Chulin);

2.

He is believed even on a weekday. (Normally, we believe an Am ha'Aretz (to permit eating it without any separation) only on Shabbos, for the sake of Oneg Shabbos, since one may not tithe on Shabbos. Alternatively, an Am ha'Aretz is afraid to lie about this on Shabbos.)

(g)

Rejection (of answers 2 and 3): R. Yochanan taught that the Halachah follows R. Shimon Shezuri regarding a Get and Demai. It was not recorded that Ravin agreed about either of these.

(h)

Answer #4: He said it concerning beans;

1.

(Beraisa - R. Yosi ben Kiper citing R. Shimon Shezuri): If Mitzri beans were planted for the sake of their seeds, and some took root before Rosh Hashanah, and some after, one cannot separate Ma'aser from beans of one year to exempt beans of the other. (They are considered like legumes. Ma'aser is taken according to the year in which they took root.)

2.

Question: (If one does not know when each plant took root) how may he tithe them?

3.

Answer: He mixes them all together and separates (the usual 10% of the total amount. We assume that they mix uniformly, so that) the right amount of Ma'aser from each year is taken, i.e. 10% of Yashan (last year's beans) is taken from Yashan, and similarly regarding Chodosh.

(i)

Rejection: R. Shmuel bar Nachmani cited R. Yochanan to say that the Halachah follows R. Shimon Shezuri (regarding beans). It was not recorded that Ravin agreed with this!

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