June 29, 2013
The
Mishnah on our
daf (page) teaches that one need not be concerned that a
hulda dragged
hametz into your house or from one place to another within the house.
Rashi explains the Mishnah to be discussing whether we need to be concerned about a
hulda bringing
hametz into a place that had already been checked. The
Rambam seems to understand the case otherwise. According to him, this Mishnah is the continuation of the first Mishnah in the tractate, which obligates
bedikah (searching) only in places where
hametz is normally brought. Here we are taught that we need not be concerned that perhaps an animal brought
hametz into such a place.
The
Gemara points out that the Mishnah's rule will only apply if we do not see the
hulda running into the house with
hametz. Were we to see the
hulda doing that, we would, in fact, insist that the house be checked a second time, and we cannot assume that the
hulda ate the
hametz that he carried in.
The Gemara asks whether the requirement to carefully store
hametz that is meant to be eaten on the morning of the 14
th of Nisan so that a further
bedikah will not need to be done does not indicate that we are concerned that a
hulda may move it around. In response to this question the Gemara quotes an interesting exchange between
Abaye and
Rava.
Abaye said: This is not difficult; this ruling is referring to the fourteenth of Nisan, whereas that ruling is referring to the thirteenth. The Gemara elaborates: On the thirteenth of Nisan, when bread is still found in every house, the marten does not conceal the leaven, and therefore there is no concern that perhaps the marten dragged the leaven elsewhere and concealed it. However, on the fourteenth of Nisan, when bread is not found in any of the houses, the marten hides the leaven.
Rava said in surprise: And is the marten a prophetess [v'khee hulda nevi'ah] that knows that now is the fourteenth of Nisan and no one will bake until the evening, and it leaves over bread and conceals it in its hole? Rather, Rava rejected Abaye's answer and said: With regard to the leaven that one leaves after the search, he should place it in a concealed location, lest a marten take it before us and it will require searching after it. Only if one actually sees the marten take the leaven, is he required to search after it.
In his response to Abaye, Rava is using a play on words. There is, in fact, a prophetess in
Tanakh by the name of Hulda ha-Nevi'ah – see II
Melakhim 22:14. More importantly, his argument seems to make so much sense that it is difficult to understand what Abaye was trying to say.
Rav Ya'akov Emden explains that according to Abaye the marten is sensitive to the fact that there is less food in the house on erev Pesah than there is under normal circumstances, and begins to hoard bread. This appears to be the explanation of the Jerusalem Talmud, as well.
This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim of Rabbi Steinsaltz, as published in the English version of the Koren Talmud Bavli with Commentary by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz, and edited and adapted by Rabbi Shalom Berger. To learn more about the Steinsaltz Daf Yomi initiative, click here.
To dedicate future editions of Steinsaltz Daf Yomi, perhaps in honor of a special occasion or