As I have
previously written, the halakha
follows Rabbi Yehuda. We may eat hametz
during the entire fourth hour of the day, place it in abeyance for the
entire fifth hour, and burn
it at the beginning of the sixth
hour. I want to share two important topics found on today’s daf TB Pesakhim 13. The first is an
ethical teaching and the second is a practical halakha concerning Passover this year.
By noting that Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, the final editor
of the Mishnah, concurs with Rabbi Yehuda’s position, a story is told to prove
this point. The conclusion and for me the most important part of the story
comes to emphasize the importance of being above and beyond suspicion when it
comes to money.
“The Gemara
notes: And even Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi holds in accordance with this
statement of Rav Naḥman, and rules that the halakha is in
accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda. As Ravin bar Rav Adda said:
There was an incident that occurred involving a certain person who
deposited a saddlebag [disakkayya] filled with leavened bread with Yoḥanan
Ḥakuka’a, and mice bore a hole in the bag, and leavened bread was
spilling out of the sack. And he came before Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi on
Passover eve to ask what he should do. In the first hour of the day
Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi said to him: Wait, as the owner of the bag might yet
return to take it from you and eat the leaven. In the second hour he
said to him: Wait. In the third hour he said to him: Wait. In
the fourth hour he said to him: Wait. In the fifth hour,
concluding that the person was not coming, he said to him: Go and sell it in
the market.
“What,
did Rabbi Yehuda
HaNasi not mean that Yoḥanan Ḥakuka’a should sell this leaven to
gentiles, in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda, who says
that it is prohibited for a Jew to eat leaven during the fifth hour? Rav
Yosef said: No, it could be that he meant to sell it to a Jew, in
accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Meir that one may eat leaven
during the fifth hour. Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi was simply advising him to sell the
leaven quickly before the sixth hour begins, at which point it would be
prohibited for Jews to eat it. Abaye said to him: If it is permitted for
a Jew to eat leaven, let him take it for himself and pay the owner
back later. Why trouble him to sell it to someone else?
“The Gemara
responds: Eating it himself is not an option due to the potential of suspicion.
As it was taught in a baraita with regard to a similar situation: Collectors
of charity who have no poor people to whom they can distribute the
money, change the money with other people and do not change it
themselves, i.e., with their own coins.
“Likewise, collectors
of food for the charity plate, who would collect food in large
vessels for the poor to eat, who do not have poor people to whom to
distribute the food, sell the food to others and do not sell it
to themselves, as it is stated: “And you shall be clear before God and before
Israel” (Numbers 32:22).
It is not sufficient that a person is without sin in the eyes of God. He must
also appear upright in the eyes of other people so that they will not suspect
him of wrongdoing.”(Sefaria.org translation)
Our tradition teaches us that people in positions of power need to
be above suspicion and must appear upright in the eyes of God and the people
they serve. Unfortunately, the current administration and First Family are being
investigated by the Washington DC Atty. Gen.’s office for using inappropriate
funds to enrich themselves. “‘District
law requires nonprofits to use their funds for their stated public purpose, not
to benefit private individuals or companies,’" (Atty. Gen.) Racine said.”
(https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ivanka-trump-deposed-dc-attorney-general-inauguration-investigation/story?id=74514996)
“The probe, which has
been led by the D.C. attorney general, has been looking into the spending of
the Trump inaugural committee and specific spending at the Trump International
Hotel in Washington, D.C. The probe has looked at whether President Donald
Trump has violated the emoluments clause, which prohibits the
president from profiting from foreign governments… In their filing, the D.C. Attorney General's Office said
thus far the investigation showed a significant difference in charges given to
a group hosting a prayer breakfast for a rate of $5,000, and the inauguration
committee, which later in the day paid $175,000 for the same venue.
"The PIC [Presidential Inaugural Committee] thus paid 35
times more for rental of event space on Inauguration Day at the Trump Hotel
than a comparable nonprofit organization paid for renting a substantial portion
of the same event space earlier that day," the filing explained.” (https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ivanka-trump-deposed-dc-attorney-general-inauguration-investigation/story?id=74514996)
I’m hoping that the incoming administration will conduct itself
above and beyond suspicion in all matters.
Now onto practical halakha.
This year the 14th day of Nisan falls on Shabbat, March 27.
Obviously one may not burn the hametz
on Shabbat. What is a person to do? Today’s daf
outlines the correct procedure for this year.
“With regard to the
fourteenth of Nisan that occurs on Shabbat, one does not remove
leaven on Passover eve in the usual manner. Rather, one removes everything
leavened before Shabbat, and one burns ritually impure teruma: Teruma
in abeyance, whose purity is uncertain, and even any pure teruma
that he does not require for his Shabbat meals. And one leaves from the pure
leaven food for two meals, the meal at night and the one in the morning,
in order to eat and finish until four hours of Shabbat morning.
This is the statement of Rabbi Elazar ben Yehuda of Bartota, who said it
in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua…They said: They did not move from there until
the Sages voted and they established the halakha in accordance with
the opinion of Rabbi Elazar ben Yehuda of Bartota, who said it in the
name of Rabbi Yehoshua.” (Sefaria.org translation)
Even
though this Gemara is talking about teruma,
the same halakha applies to our hametz. Consequently, the correct procedure
for this year is to search for the hametz
on Thursday night, March 26. On Friday morning you burn the hametz, but you set aside enough hametz for two meals, Friday night and
Saturday lunch. You should not use matza to make the motzi upon because you want to save this experience for the Seder
Saturday night. Some people use very small challah
rolls and eat them far away from the table set with the Passover dishes. They
make sure they don’t leave any crumbs behind. If there are any crumbs, they
destroy them in any way that is possible like flushing them down the toilet at
the beginning of the sixth hour. (Shulkhan Arukh, Orekh Hayyim, 444:1.)
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