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KESUBOS (IYUN)

Kesubos 5bโ€“6a โ€” Iyun

What Counts as a Knot, and Psik Reisha's Effect on Intent

Part of Kesubos (Iyun)

A Shabbos sugya defining what qualifies as a forbidden kesher (knot), and how psik reisha -- an inevitable side effect -- can turn an otherwise unintentional act into a full melacha, with Rashi raising his own question about the concept.

Audio Transcript
What is a ืงืฉืจ? Definition and tie vs. proximity

Me'olam it's not ืžืœืื›ืช ืงื•ืฉืจ to begin with, because what's the taytsh of a kesher? Kesher means to tie, right? If it's not to stay, then you didn't tie, you put strings together. There's a difference between putting strings close to each other or making a tie. So if it's ืงื™ื™ืžื, then it's a kesher, if not, not. But anyway, what I'm trying to bring out that you could say this sevara, even though the Maggid Mishneh says about ืชื™ืงื•ืŸ ื›ืœื™ื, clearly it says about ืชื™ืงื•ืŸ ื›ืœื™ื, you could use this logic with other melachot, but you have to have a reason for it. I want to say that according to Rashi, by the melachah of binyan in a body, the logic applies. Binyan in a house is pashteyt zich whether you're mechaven or not, it's a melachah. If you're not mechaven, it's a ืžืœืื›ื” ืื™ื ื• ืžืชื›ื•ื™ืŸ. But to make a binyan, a hole in the body, and call it binyan, that's a chiddush. Rashi needs a pasuk for it, ื•ื™ื‘ืŸ ืืช ื”ืฆืœืข. So I want to say if you intend to make the binyan, so it's a melachah. If you don't intend to make the binyan, to make the ืคืชื—, then it's not a melachah at all. ื•ืžืžื™ืœื if it's not a melachah, what will be if it's a pesik reisha according to the Maggid Mishneh's sevara? It won't be considered. But

How ืคืกื™ืง ืจื™ืฉื transforms a nonโ€‘malacha

according to what I said before, what we'll have to say is like this: that the pesik reisha makes it into a melachah, but it becomes a ืžืœืื›ื” ืฉืื™ื ื• ืžืชื›ื•ื™ืŸ. Now I want to say that this is the peshat in the Gemara here, when the Gemara says that there is a sevara to say ืœื“ืžื• ืฆืจื™ืš, not for the ืคืชื—, so he's not mechaven for the ืคืชื—, so the moment he's not mechaven for the petach, the petach is not a melachah. The petach is not a melachah at all, because a petach in the body to be a melachah, even according to Rashi of ืžืœืื›ืช ื‘ื ื™ืŸ, if you're not mechaven to it, there is no melachah. If there is no melachah, it has nothing to do with Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon. Even according to Rabbi Yehuda it should be mutar. So what does the Gemara say here? That if he's mechaven to the dam, not to the petach, that according to Rabbi Yehuda it would be chayav, why would it be chayav? So, you know what I say? You know why, because it's a pesik reisha. It's befeirush a pesik reisha here. And the pesik reisha here is the reason why according to Rabbi Yehuda chayav, and according to Rabbi Shimon it's still mutar. Ai, according to Rabbi Shimon a normal pesik reisha is chayav? But that's a pesik reisha when it's a melachah on its own, so pesik reisha elevates it from a ืžืœืื›ื” ืฉืื™ื ื• ืžืชื›ื•ื™ืŸ to a ืžืœืื›ื” ืฉืžืชื›ื•ื™ืŸ. But here, where it's not a ืžืœืื›ื” ื‘ืขืฆื, and it's a pesik reisha, the pesik reisha makes it into a melachah, and that's when we come back to the machloket of Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Shimon. So this is right after when Rashi says why it would be mutar according to Rabbi Shimon and asur according to Rabbi Yehuda, Rashi says, \"ื•ืžื™ื”ื• ืขืœ ื›ื•ืจื—ืš ืคืกื™ืง ืจื™ืฉื ืžืžื™ืœื ื”ื•ื”,\" and the ืคืชื— is going to happen ืขืœ ื›ื•ืจื—ืš. The question we asked before, why when it says that it's mutar according to Rabbi Shimon and asur according to Rabbi Yehuda, Rashi ื”ืืงื˜ ืืจื™ื™ืŸ that it has to happen the ืคืชื—? Why is it important to mention it has to happen? Because if it wouldn't have to happen, the whole Gemara wouldn't make sense. The Gemara, you couldn't say according to Rabbi Yehuda is chayav, because if it doesn't have to happen, it's not a ืžืœืื›ื” ืฉืื™ื ื• ืžืชื›ื•ื™ืŸ, so Rashi says it has to happen. Then when Rashi comes and asks, \"but it's a pesik reisha?\" Rashi's ืงืฉื™ื is not that it's a pesik reisha, because adraba, see, Rashi asks, \"since it's a pesik reisha, why would we say according to Rabbi Shimon that it's mutar? Pesik reisha makes asur.\" But Rashi couldn't ask that, because here the pesik reisha makes it from not ืžืœืื›ื” to ื™ื ืžืœืื›ื”, and remains a ืžืœืื›ื” ืฉืื™ื ื• ืžืชื›ื•ื™ืŸ, it's mutar according to Rabbi Shimon. So we

Rashiโ€™s specific question about ืคืกื™ืง ืจื™ืฉื

have to say that Rashi means a different ืงืฉื™ื in pesik reisha. The ืงืฉื™ื is like this: we keep on saying the whole time that the ืคืชื— is is is not really a ืžืœืื›ื” ื‘ืขืฆื. ื‘ืขืฆื, we said because it's in the body, but if it's part of the ื‘ื™ืื”, the whole ื’ื“ืจ of ื‘ื™ืื” is that a ืคืชื— must happen, the ื‘ื™ืื” ืจืืฉื•ื ื”, the ืคืชื— must happen, then automatically it should be whether you're mechaven or not mechaven it should be a melachah, because that's something that you're intending to do the ื‘ื™ืื” ืจืืฉื•ื ื”, and ื‘ื™ืื” ืจืืฉื•ื ื” comes along with the idea of a ืคืชื— must happen, then automatically why would we say it's not a melachah? That's Rashi's kashya. Rashi says it's a ืคืกื™ืง ืจื™ืฉื, meaning it has to happen, and not because that Rabbi Shimon should hold chayav. Yeah, Rabbi Shimon should hold chayav, but for a different reason. Since it has to happen, it's a melachah anyway, and if it's a melachah anyway, then the ืคืกื™ืง ืจื™ืฉื will make it a ืžืœืื›ื” ืฉืžืชื›ื•ื™ืŸ. That's Rashi's kashya. All Rashi wants to tell us that the answer is you should know that it's not necessarily something that's part of the ื‘ื™ืื”. ื•ื”ื ืจืื™ื”, there are some people who do ื”ื˜ื™ื™ื”. Takeh when they do ื”ื˜ื™ื™ื”, there is no dam and there is no ืคืชื—, but still this just shows that making a ืคืชื— is not part of the ื‘ื™ืื”, that's all it shows. And the moment it's not part of the ื‘ื™ืื”, then automatically it's not a melachah. If it's not a melachah, then the ืคืกื™ืง ืจื™ืฉื makes it into a melachah, and Rabbi Yehudah is chayav, according to Rabbi Shimon it's mutar. So that's why, so the fact that when dam it has to, if you make ื”ื˜ื™ื™ื” it won't be dam and it won't be ืคืชื—, but it just shows you that the concept of the ืคืชื—. This is the way Rashi learns. Tosafot doesn't learn like this. Tosafot learns poshuter pshat that this melachah of making a ืคืชื— is a binyan, and it's a binyan whether you're mechaven or not. Even though it's a chiddush that there should be a binyan in a body, it's a it's a melachah anyway. And therefore according to Tosafos, it doesn't have to be a pesik reisha in order to be a melachah, it's a melachah anyway. The only reason why it's patur according to R' Shimon, because it's a ืžืœืื›ื” ืฉืื™ื ื” ืฆืจื™ื›ื” ืœื’ื•ืคื”. Comes Tosafos and asks a kashya, it's a melachah, but it's a pesik reisha! A regular kashya of a pesik reisha. So the only way Tosafos could answer is, it's not a pesik reisha! It's not a pesik reisha, because you can have ื“ื without a ืคืชื—. So Tosafos asks a simple kashya of a normal pesik reisha. Rashi, but Rashi learns that the pesik reisha here helps our situation. The fact that it's a pesik reisha makes us understand the Gemara, and how that's what Rashi asks, and the only thing is, he asks, well, why the pesik reisha should show that it's part of the ื‘ื™ืื”? So Rashi answers, it's not like that. Now, since what we have to do is, we're saying that the the ื‘ื™ืื” that the the ืคืชื— ื‘ืขืฆื is not a melachah, it's only the pesik reisha makes it into a melachah. What would be if it would be a mekalkel? If it would be a mekalkel, then it's hard to say that the pesik reisha should make it into a melachah. Why is it a melachah? A melachah because even though you're not mechaven, and this is a type of melachah that in order to be to make him to be a melachah you have to be mechaven. But a pesik reisha is like you're mechaven. So it elevates it to a melachah. But if you if you are a mekalkel, if the whole idea this is a kilkul, if this is a kilkul, then the pesik reisha will not elevate to a melachah, even though it's a pesik reisha, but it's a pesik reisha of a kilkul. And that's why the Gemara only asks the kashya here, according to Rashi. You asked the other kashya was why when the Gemara asks maybe it's a kilkul, why did the Gemara only ask it after the Gemara said it's ืœื“ื ื”ื•ื ืฆืจื™ืš, and the petach is memeila, and according to Rav Yehuda you're chayav. Maybe it's a mekalkel. Why didn't the Gemara say lechatchilah, if you're mechaven to the petach, it says it's asur, ai maybe it's a mekalkel? So I'm saying like the Ritva said, like the Rashba said, not like, if you're mechaven, it's mechaven to the petach, since this is not a real kilkul, so then takeh the Gemara can't ask the she'eilah it should be mutar because it's a mekalkel. But later on the Gemara asks the she'eilah like this: Since now we're saying it goes according to Rav Yehuda, be'emet he wants the ื“ื, and he's not mechaven to the ืคืชื—. Because if you're mechaven to the ืคืชื—, you have two things. Normally it's a melachah, number one, and it's a ืžืœืื›ื” ื‘ื›ื•ื•ื ื”, so you're chayav. And if it's a melachah and a ืžืœืื›ื” ื‘ื›ื•ื•ื ื”, this type of a mekalkel will not make it mutar, because it's not a real mekalkel. But later on when the Gemara said ืœื“ื ื”ื•ื ืฆืจื™ืš, ื•ืœืคืชื— is me'meila, so the ืคืชื— be'etzem, since you're not mechaven to the ืคืชื—, it's not a melachah. The only thing that will make it into a melachah is pesik reisha. But even if with pesik reisha, but if it's a mekalkel, not 100% mekalkel, but even a little bit of mekalkel is enough not to allow that this non-not-melachah should turn into a melachah. And that's what the Gemara asks. Still you're going to say ืœื“ื ื”ื•ื ืฆืจื™ืš and the ืคืชื— comes also ื‘ื“ืจืš ืžืžื™ืœื, and ื”ื•ืœื›ืช ื›ืจื‘ ื™ื”ื•ื“ื”, and the only reason you'd be chayav according to Rav Yehuda is why? Because of the pesik reisha that turns it into a melachah, but be'etzem it's not a melachah, you were not mechaven, so it's not a melachah, the pesik reisha turns it. So here the Gemara had it, maybe it's a mekalkel, and if it's a mekalkel, we doubt that the pesik reisha will turn it into a melachah, and mimeila it should be mutar. Ay it's a ืฉื•ื•ืื›ืข ืžืงืœืงืœ, but ืžืžื™ืœื ืœื’ื‘ื™ being a ืžืœืื›ื”, ื•ืžืงืœืงืœ to be mutar, this type of a ืžืงืœืงืœ wouldn't do it. But if it's a type of thing which is not a real ืžืœืื›ื”, and the psik reisha makes it, here a little bit of ืžืงืœืงืœ will do it. And that's why davka here the Gemara asked this kashya. According to this, many ื“ื™ื•ืงื™ื in Rashi, many ืขื ื™ื ื™ื in the whole sugya gets farentfert and musbar and the whole sugya goes smooth. This is just the tip of being. Yeah. [Non-speech audio]

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