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Home page -> Targum Authors -> Doron-Spalter, Rabbi Pinchas -> Major Concepts of the Talmud: Volume 1
Major Concepts of the Talmud
Major Concepts of the Talmud: Volume 1
An Encyclopedic Resource Guide: Alef to GimmelRabbi Pinchas Doron-Spalter
Major Concepts of the Talmud: Volume 1
A groundbreaking volume, an invaluable encylopedia!
The depth and breadth of this comprehensive encyclopedia is a staggering feat and a glistening diamond in the crown of every Jewish library. With scholarly ease, the author, a seasoned Judaic-studies teacher and writer, succinctly explains the major concepts found in the Talmud with easy-to-understand terminology and clear examples. This book is the answer to every student who has ever said, "I wish there was an English resource to explain Talmudic concepts!" It more than fulfills the reader's expectations--and leaves us waiting for the volumes yet to come!
Book Excerpt from Major Concepts of the Talmud: Volume 1
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Major Concepts of the Talmud:
The Jewish Gemara/Talmud: This encyclopedic resource guide for the Talmud explains major Talmudic concepts and explores related issues & laws in a lucid, concise fashion. An invaluable Talmud work!
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Avos HaTumah - Primary Defilements
States of defilement that affect a person, clothes, or vessels and give them the status of “first degree of defilement” (rishon l’tumah). Besides a dead body, which is “the father of the primary defilements” (avi avos hatumah), that is, the highest level of defilement, the “primary defilements” are of the highest level. This highest level of defilement imparts lower levels of impurity called “offspring” (toldos). These include:
1)“First degree of defilement” (rishon) that is imparted by a “primary.”
2) “Second decree” (sheni).
3 and 4) “Third and fourth degrees” (shlishi
and revi’i). These can only be imparted to the portion of the crop
given to a kohen (terumah) and to sacrifices (kodashim) respectively. All
levels below the “primary” are called the “offspring of defilement” (v’lad
hatumah).1A person who contracts defilement is restricted from entering
various parts of the Temple compound and from eating various holy
foods.
A “father of defilement” (av hatumah) defiles a person and vessels
(clothes, utensils, etc.). A v’lad hatumah defiles only foods and liquids
and not a person or vessels.2 An earthenware vessel and foods cannot
become an av hatumah.3
1. Rambam, Tumas Meis 5:8.
2. Bava Kama 26; Yerushalmi, Shabbos 7:2.
3. Eruvin 104b; Rambam, Tumas Meis, 5:6, 10:9.
Avos Melachos - Primary “Types of Work” (i.e., creative actions) that Are Forbidden on Shabbos
The 39 basic types of “work” (i.e., acts) that are forbidden on Shabbos, which are the sources of “derivatives” (lit. “offspring” or toldos), which are acts similar to the primary types of work that are also forbidden on Shabbos. Eleven of the “types of work” are stages in the production of bread, thirteen are stages in clothes production, nine are connected with writing, two with construction, two with fire. One of them, “the finishing touch” (makkeh b’patish — lit. “beating with a hammer”) is connected with every type of craft. One more is transferring objects from one domain to another.
Some authorities hold that any “work” involved in the service in the Tabernacle is counted as a “primary” work.1 Others hold that only “work” involved in the construction of the Tabernacle can be a “primary type of work.”2
Acts that are similar to the “primary types of work” in action or purpose are called “offspring” or derivatives (toldos). Anyone who intentionally commits any of the primary or derivative types of work on Shabbos after being warned by witnesses, is liable to the death penalty of “stoning” (sekilah). Without witnesses or warning — he is liable to spiritual excision (kares). If someone did one of these types of work unintentionally (not knowing that it is forbidden, or that it was Shabbos), he is obligated to bring a sin-offering (chatos).3
Practically speaking, it makes no difference whether one committed an
av melachah or a toldah, except that if he unintentionally did many avos
within one period of forgetfulness, for example, he forgot that all these
“types of work” were forbidden on Shabbos without remembering in
the meantime, he is liable to bring a sin offering for each av. But if he
did an av and its toldah within one period of forgetfulness, he only has
to bring one sin offering.4
1. R. Hai Gaon in Otzar HaGeonim to Shabbos, sec.157.
2. Rashi, Shabbos 49b, 73a; Ran, Me’iri Shabbos 73a.
3. Mishnah Sanhedrin 53a; Krisos 2a.
4. Rambam, Shabbos 7:5, 7–8; Bava Kama 2a; Tiferes Yisrael, Kalkalas Shabbos, beginning.
Avos Nezikin - Principal Damages
The principal damages mentioned in the Torah,1 which one does to another with his person or by means of his property. The Mishnah2 cites four principal damages, all based on Exodus, chapter 21 and the beginning of chapter 22. These are:
1. An ox (see below).
2. A pit (bor) which makes one liable for damages as soon as it is dug.
3. Maveh — damage caused by the human body or by an animal’s tooth.
Both opinions are mentioned in the Talmud.
4. Fire.3 Fire requires another force, wind, in order to do damage.
Besides the above four damages, other types considered avos are: someone
who hands over (by being an informer) a Jew’s property or money
to a non-Jew (a moser); a priest who sacrifices another person’s offering
and invalidates it by having a forbidden thought (mefagel); an ox that
killed a person, when the court obligates the owner to pay “atonement”
(kofer); the thirty shekels paid by the owner of an ox that killed a male
or female slave (sheloshim shekel kesef). Other damages that are similar
in character to the “principal” damages but are not mentioned in the
Torah, are called “derivatives” (toldos).
The Talmud defines the various damages caused by an ox as follows:
1. Horn (keren). When the ox intends to damage by its horn. This excludes
unintentional damage caused by the horn.
2. Tooth (shen). This includes damage done by an animal in the process
of enjoying something: for example, eating someone’s vegetables.
3. Foot (regel). Damage by foot is damage of a sort that occurs frequently
while an animal is walking.
All the “principal damages” (except for the horn of an animal not known for a propensity
to goring — shor tam) and their “derivatives” pay for their
damages “in full” (nezek shalem). In the case of “pebbles” (tzeroros), when
an animal scatters pebbles while walking and they damage something, the
owner of the animal pays only half the damage (chatzi nezek).4
1. Rashi, Bava Kama 2a, 4b.
2. Bava Kama 5a and Tosafos.
3. Bava Kama 2a, 3b, 4a, b.
Avi Avos HaTumah - Lit. “The Father of the Fathers of Defilement.”
The highest level of defilement which is imparted by a dead body or
parts thereof. This defilement imparts “primary defilement” (av hatumah)
on other things. The stringencies of the avi avos hatumah over av
hatumah are as follows: The avi avos hatumah defiles for seven days, and
a person defiled by it becomes an av hatumah, whereas an av hatumah
only defiles a person until the evening and only imparts “first degree of
defilement” (rishon latumah).1
1. Ohalos 1:1; Rambam, Tumas Meis 5:9–10.
Aveilus - Mourning
It is a Torah requirement to mourn for seven relatives: a father, mother, brother (from the same father), unmarried sister (from the same father), son, daughter, and wife.1 The Sages added four relatives: A brother from the same mother, an unmarried sister from the same mother, a married sister from the same father or the same mother. A teacher who taught someone “Torah — wisdom” is also mourned for one day.2
One does not mourn for: miscarried fetuses, someone executed by a Jewish (halachic) court, someone who abandoned the yoke of the commandments3 by ceasing to keep them.
The first obligation of a mourner is to rend his clothes.4 So long as the deceased is unburied, the mourner is not obligated to observe the mourner’s practices.5
Some mourning practices are only prohibited on the first day of mourning: e.g., one is forbidden to don phylacteries (tefillin).6 During the day’s first meal he is not allowed to eat his own food.7 Some prohibitions apply during the first seven days of mourning (shivah): taking a haircut, laundering, bathing, anointing (applying creams and oils to the skin), marital intimacy, wearing leather shoes,8 working, and studying Torah. Mourning prohibitions are not in force on Shabbos and festivals, except for marital relations and washing.9
Other restrictions apply for thirty days (sheloshim): taking a hair-cut, ironing, marrying, attending celebrations, and business trips.10 A father or mother is mourned for twelve months during which the following restrictions apply: no celebrations, no new clothes, no sending of portions on Purim to friends (mishlo’ach manos), and no haircut for the first three months.11
Aveilus
1. Mo’ed Katan 20b.
2. Mo’ed Katan 25b; Rambam, Avel 9:12; Yoreh De’ah 374:10.
3. For example àôé÷åøñéí (nonbelievers); îùåîãéí (apostates); îåñøéí (informers); suicides
(Rambam, Avel 1:8–11; Yoreh De’ah 345:1).
4. Mo’ed Katan 15a.
5. Rambam, Avel 1:2.
6. Mo’ed Katan 15a; Rambam, Avel 4:9.
7. Mo’ed Katan 27b; Tur, Yoreh De’ah 378.
8. Rambam, Avel 5:1.
9. They are done in private — Rambam, Avel 10:1; Yoreh De’ah 400:1.
10. Rambam, Avel 6:2.
11. Mo’ed Katan 21b, 22b; Yoreh De’ah 385:1, 389:3, 390:4; Responsa Maharil, no. 31.
Ever Min Hachai - A Limb from a Living Animal
The prohibition against eating a limb that was separated from a living animal or bird. This prohibition is a negative mitzvah and someone who transgresses it is flogged. However, one may gain benefit from such a limb.1
1. The type of animals. Ever min hachai applies to kosher animals,beasts and birds, and not to non-kosher ones. One may cut a limb from fish and locusts while they are alive and eat it without violating this prohibition. However, one will transgress another prohibition — “Bal teshkatzu,” “Do not act abominably.”2
2. The eating. To be liable for flogging, one must eat a minimum of an olive’s volume (kezayis) of ever min hachai. Less than a kezayis is forbidden, but does not incur flogging. The novelty of ever min hachai is that the tendons (gidim) and bones are included to make up a kezayis, unlike other forbidden foods where the tendons and bones are not included. However, if, after tearing the limb off the animal, he separated the flesh from the tendons and bones, the tendons and bones do not combine to a kezayis, as the limb is no longer in its original state as it was created.
Also, if he divided the limb into two parts, then ate one part and later the second — they do not combine, because regular eating is in one sitting. Even if one ate the limb in an unusual way (by eating it raw, liquefied, or unbearably hot), he is still liable.3
3. When does the prohibition take effect? A limb that was cut from an animal that was in its death throes (mefarkeses) after a non-kosher slaughtering or in the course of a natural death is considered ever min hachai. But if it was in its death throes after a kosher slaughtering, the limb may be eaten.4
If one reached into the innards of an animal and cut a piece from the spleen, kidneys and suchlike, and left the pieces inside and later slaughtered it, the pieces are forbidden as ever min hachai.5
4. A dangling limb. A limb that is still slightly attached to the animal in such a way that it cannot be healed, and which becomes fully detached only after slaughtering, is not an ever min hachai and kosher slaughtering permits the limb by Torah law, but the Sages forbade eating it, as people may come to eat also a real ever min hachai if this were permitted.
However, if the animal died (without kosher slaughtering), the limb is viewed as having fallen off while it was alive and one is liable for it. If the limb could heal, it is as if connected, and may be eaten after slaughtering.6
Testicles of a male animal that were torn off but are still in the scrotum are not ever min hachai, but the custom is not to eat them.7
5. The prohibition for non-Jews. Ever min hachai is included in the seven Noahide Laws (sheva mitzvos B’nei No’ach) and non-Jews are liable for it in regard to both kosher and non-kosher animals. But they are not liable for it in regard to creeping creatures (sheratzim).
Non-Jews are liable
for ever min hachai of an animal in its death throes (mefarkeses). A Jew
may not hand ever min hachai to a non-Jew, because this is a violation of
“Before the blind do not put a stumbling block” (lifnei iver). A non-Jew is
liable for ever min hachai in the smallest amount.8
1. Chullin 102b; Taharos 1:1; Rambam, Sefer HaMitzvos, Lo Sa’aseh 182; S’mag–Lavin,
no.136; Sefer HaChinuch 552; Rambam, Ma’achalos Asuros 5:3; Pesachim 22b.
2. Chullin 101b; Tosefta Terumos, ch. 9; Tosafos Shabbos 90b.
3. Chullin 102a,103b, Rashi; Rambam, Ma’achalos Asuros 5:3; Tur Yoreh De’ah 62; R.
Akiva Eiger, D’rush V’Chidush, Pesachim 24b.
4. Chullin 121b.
5. Chullin 68a; Rambam, Ma’achalos Asuros 5:9
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