Leftovers TB Pesakhim 83

There is a halakhic principal that the observance of a positive commandment supersedes a negative commandment,עשה דוחה לא תעשה . The Mishnah on today’s daf TB Pesakhim 83 seemingly contradicts this principle. Any part of the korban Pesakh that is left over, notar-נותר, must be destroyed by fire based on the verse “You shall not leave any of it until morning; any of it is left over until morning you shall burn it in the fire.” (Exodus 12:10) 

“The bones of the Paschal lamb that contain edible marrow but cannot be eaten because it is prohibited to break the bones of the Paschal lamb; and the sinews; and the leftover meat should all be burned on the sixteenth of Nisan, immediately after the first day of the Festival. If the sixteenth occurs on Shabbat, they should be burned on the seventeenth, because the mitzva to burn them does not override Shabbat or the Festival. Therefore, they are burned on the first weekday.” (Sefaria.org translation) 

The Gemara asks the simple question “It was taught in the mishna that if the sixteenth of Nisan occurs on Shabbat, the burning of the leftover does not override Shabbat, and they are burned on the seventeenth. The Gemara asks: And why isn’t the leftover of the Paschal lamb burned on the Festival day itself? The positive mitzva to burn the leftover should come and override the prohibition that prohibits the performance of labor on Festivals.” (Sefaria.org translation) Four amoraim supply for different answers, but the common denominator between them is a careful reading of different verses in the Torah.

"(1) Ḥizkiya said, and similarly, one of the Sages in the school of Ḥizkiya taught: The verse states: “And you shall not leave any of it until morning; and that which remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire” (Exodus 12:10). As there is no need for the verse to state “until morning,” and repeating that phrase adds nothing to the verse, what is the meaning when the verse states “until morning”? It is to give it a second morning for its burning. In other words, it comes to teach that the mitzva to burn the leftover does not apply on the first morning, i.e., the morning of the Festival when they become prohibited to eat, but on the second morning, the sixteenth of Nisan. However, when the sixteenth falls on Shabbat, the burning is delayed until the seventeenth.

"(2) Abaye said: The reason is because the verse states: “The burnt-offering of each Shabbat on its Shabbat in addition to the continual burnt-offering and its libation” (Numbers 28:10). This indicates that the burnt-offering of Shabbat may be offered on the altar on Shabbat or burned if it is disqualified, but not the burnt-offering of a weekday on Shabbat, and not the burnt-offering of a weekday on a Festival. It is derived from here that one may not burn anything on Shabbat that is not an obligation of that day.

“(3) Rava said a different reason: The verse states concerning Festivals: “And on the first day there shall be a sacred convocation; no kind of labor shall be done on them, save that which every man must eat, only that may be done for you” (Exodus 12:16). From this verse one can infer the following: That, i.e., the food itself, you may prepare, but you may not perform acts that facilitate its preparation, which must be done beforehand. The word only is also exclusive; it indicates that only food preparation is permitted, but not a circumcision that is not at its ideal time. If, for some reason, circumcision was not performed on the eighth day after birth, its performance at a later date does not override a Festival, because the obligation to perform the circumcision is not particular to that specific day. This needed to be emphasized. Otherwise, it would have come to be derived through an a fortiori inference that circumcision does override Shabbat and Festivals, based on the fact that it overrides the laws of leprosy. Therefore, the Torah emphasized that circumcision performed later than the eighth day does not override Festivals.

"(4) Rav Ashi said a different reason that the leftover Paschal lamb is not burned on the Festival: The obligation of solemn rest stated with regard to Festivals is a positive mitzva. Therefore, the halakhot of Festivals include both a positive mitzva to rest from performing prohibited labor and a prohibition to avoid such labor, and a positive mitzva such as burning leftover sacrificial meat does not override both a prohibition and a positive mitzva." (Sefaria.org translation)

I’m glad that the laws of notar do not apply to food from the Passover Seder, because I love leftovers.