פסחים 4 — Soncino English Talmud

¹Rab was the son of R. Hiyya's brother and the son of his sister. When he went up thither he [R. Hiyya] asked him, ‘Is Aibu alive?’ ‘[Ask me whether] my mother is alive,’ he replied. ‘Is your mother alive?’ asked he. ‘Is then Aibu alive?’ he replied. [Thereupon] he [R. Hiyya] said to his servant, ‘Take off my shoes and carry my [bathing] things after me to the baths.’ From this three [laws] may be inferred: [i] A mourner is forbidden to wear shoes; [ii] on a delayed report [of death] it [sc. mourning] is observed for one day only; and [iii] part of the day is as the whole of it. A certain man used to say, ‘Judge my case’. Said they, This proves that he is descended from Dan, for it is written, Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. A certain man was wont to go about and say, ‘By the sea shore thorn-bushes are fir-trees.’ They investigated and found that he was descended from Zebulun, for it is written, Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea. And now that it is established that all agree that ‘or’ means evening, consider: according to both R. Judah and R. Meir, leaven is forbidden from six hours and onward only, then let us search in the sixth [hour]? And should you answer, The zealous are early [to perform] religious duties, then let us search from the morning? For it is written, and in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised, and it was taught: The whole day is valid for circumcision, but that the zealous are early [to perform] their religious duties, for it is said, And Abraham rose early in the morning! — Said R. Nahman b. Isaac: [It was fixed] at the hour when people are found at home, while the light of a lamp is good for searching. Abaye observed: Therefore a scholar must not commence his regular session in the evening of the thirteenth breaking into the fourteenth, lest his studies absorb him and he come to neglect his religious duty. R. Nahman b. Isaac was asked: If one rents a house to his neighbour from the fourteenth, upon whom [rests the duty] to make the search? [Does it rest] upon the landlord, because the leaven is his; or perhaps upon the tenant, because the forbidden matter exists in his domain? Come and hear: If one rents a house to his neighbour, the tenant must affix a mezuzah! - There, surely R. Mesharsheya said: The mezuzah is the inhabitant's obligation; but how is it here? — Said R. Nahman b. Isaac to them, We learned it: If one rents a house to his neighbour, if the fourteenth occurs before he delivers him the keys, the landlord must make the search; while if the fourteenth occurs after he delivers the keys, the tenant must make search. R. Nahman b. Isaac was asked: If one rents a house to his neighbour on the fourteenth, does it stand in the presumption of having been searched or not? What difference does it make? Let us ask him! — He is not present to be asked: hence what about troubling this one [the tenant]? — Said R. Nahman b. Isaac to them, We have a teaching: All are believed concerning the removal of leaven, even women, even slaves, even minors. Now why are they believed?^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ^ˢ^ᵗ

^ᵃnote:Aibu, his father, was R. Hiyya's paternal brother, while Rab's mother was R. Hiyya's sister on his mother's side.
^ᵇnote:To Palestine.
^ᶜnote:Thus he intimated that they were both dead (Rashi). Tosaf. explains it differently on the strength of a different reading.
^ᵈnote:I.e., which one receives after thirty days.
^ᵉnote:Instead of the usual seven.
^ᶠnote:The latter two follow from his order to take his bathing things to the baths. Thus he intended to observe mourning for a short while only and then proceed to the baths.
^ᵍnote:In every dispute he insisted on going to law.
^ʰnote:Gen. XLIX, 16. Perhaps it is here translated: Dan shall enter into judgment with his people.
^ⁱnote:Even the thorn-bushes there are as valuable as fir-trees elsewhere — an exaggerated way of expressing his love for the coast. Rashi offers another explanation: By the sea-shore would I build my palaces.
^ʲnote:Ibid. 13.
^ᵏnote:v. Mishnah infra 11b.
^ˡnote:The day was reckoned from sunrise to sunset, hence six hours was about noon.
^ᵐnote:Lev. XII, 3.
^ⁿnote:Gen. XXII, 3.
^ᵒnote:Hence the evening was appointed instead of the morning.
^ᵖnote:Lit., ‘draw him away’.
^ᵠnote:v. Glos. Presumably the same principle applies here!
^ʳnote:Must we put him to the trouble of making a search?
^ˢnote:Lit., ‘we have learned it’.
^ᵗnote:Their testimony that the owner duly made a search is accepted.

²Is it not because it stands in the presumption of having been searched, [the Tanna] holding, All are haberim in respect to the searching of leaven. For it was taught: If a haber dies and leaves a store-house full of produce [crops], even if they are but one day old, they stand in the presumption of having been tithed. How so: perhaps it is different here because they [the woman, slave or minor] state it? — Has then the statement of these any substance? What then [will you assume]? It stands in the presumption of having been searched? Then it should state, ‘All houses stand on the fourteenth in the presumption of having been searched’? — What then [will you assume]? It is because of the statement of these [that the house is assumed to have been searched], but if these did not say [that it had been searched], it is not so? Then solve from this [teaching] that it does not stand in the presumption of having been searched! — No. In truth I may tell you [that generally] it does stand in the presumption of having been searched; but what we discuss here is a case where we know for certain that he [the owner] did not search, but these affirm. We searched it. You might say, Let not the Rabbis believe them. Therefore it informs us [that] since the search for leaven is [required only] by Rabbinical law, for by Scriptural law mere nullificationl suffices for it, the Rabbis gave them credence in [respect to] a Rabbinical [enactment]. The scholars asked: What if one rents a house to his neighbour in the presumption of its having been searched, and he [the tenant] finds that it has not been searched? Is it as an erroneous bargain or not? — Come and hear! For Abaye said: It is unnecessary [to say] of a town, where payment is not made [to others] for searching that a person is pleased to fulfil a precept personally; but even in a town where payment is made for searching [it is not an erroneous bargain], because [it is to be assumed that] one is pleased to fulfil a precept with his money. We learned elsewhere: R. Meir said: one may eat [leaven] the whole of the five [hours] and must burn [it] at the beginning of the sixth. R. Judah said: one may eat until four [hours], hold it in suspense the whole of the fifth, and must burn it at the beginning of the sixth. Thus incidentally all agree that leaven is [Scripturally] forbidden from six hours [i.e., noon] and onwards: whence do we know it? — Said Abaye, Two verses are written: Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses; and it is written, even [ak] the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: how is this [to be understood]? It must include the fourteenth [as the day] for removal. Yet say that it includes the night of the fifteenth [as the time] for removal; for one might argue, ‘days’ is written, [implying] only days but not nights: hence it [the verse] informs us that even nights [are included in the interdict]? — That is unnecessary,^ᵘ^ᵛ^ʷ^ˣ^ʸ^ᶻ^ᵃᵃ^ᵃᵇ^ᵃᶜ^ᵃᵈ^ᵃᵉ^ᵃᶠ^ᵃᵍ^ᵃʰ^ᵃⁱ^ᵃʲ^ᵃᵏ^ᵃˡ^ᵃᵐ^ᵃⁿ^ᵃᵒ^ᵃᵖ

^ᵘnote:Plur. of haber; lit., ‘associates’. It denotes members of an association (haburah) who undertake to be very scrupulous in their religious observance, particularly in regard to uncleanness and tithes.
^ᵛnote:I.e., all men are regarded as haberim in the matter under discussion, as it was universally observed.
^ʷnote:Only that day had they arrived at the stage when tithing etc. is obligatory. The stage is reached when the harvested produce is stacked up.
^ˣnote:Lit., ‘properly prepared’ — it may be assumed that the priestly and Levitical dues have been rendered. Similarly it is to be presumed that the landlord had searched the house before renting it.
^ʸnote:In the cited teaching.
^ᶻnote:Their testimony is invalid where testimony is required.
^ᵃᵃnote:I.e., the woman, slave or minor.
^ᵃᵇnote:I.e., in a case such as submitted to R. Nahman b. Isaac. (12) A declaration by the owner that all leaven in the house is null and has no value whatsoever in his eyes.
^ᵃᶜnote:I.e., the woman, slave or minor.
^ᵃᵈnote:On the strength of which the tenant can retract.
^ᵃᵉnote:There the tenant is certainly unable to retract, as it is assumed that he, like all the others, is glad of this opportunity to fulfil personally a religious obligation.
^ᵃᶠnote:And even had he known beforehand that the house was not searched he would not have refrained from renting it; hence he cannot retract now.
^ᵃᵍnote:I.e, until 11 a.m.
^ᵃʰnote:But may not wait until the end of the sixth, i.e., noon (by which time it is Scripturally forbidden to have leaven in the house), because one can err in the time.
^ᵃⁱnote:Until 10 a.m.
^ᵃʲnote:I.e., in that hour it may neither be eaten, nor need it be burned, but it can be given to animals.
^ᵃᵏnote:V. infra 11b.
^ᵃˡnote:Ex. XII, 19.
^ᵃᵐnote:Ibid. 15.
^ᵃⁿnote:If the leaven is only put away on the first day, as the latter verse implies, there are not seven full days without leaven, as is intimated by the former verse.
^ᵃᵒnote:I.e., ‘first’ must mean the first (immediately) preceding day before the seven; cf. infra 5a.
^ᵃᵖnote:Thus ‘yet at the first day’, etc., may mean that at the very beginning of the seven days, i.e., on the evening of the fifteenth, all leaven must be removed, but there is no prohibition for any part of the fourteenth.