Megillah, Daf Kaf Vav, Part 5
Introduction
Today’s section discusses what religious items must be put away in a geniza when they are worn out, and which can be thrown away.
תנו רבנן: תשמישי מצוה – נזרקין, תשמישי קדושה – נגנזין. ואלו הן תשמישי מצוה: סוכה, לולב, שופר, ציצית. ואלו הן תשמישי קדושה: דלוסקמי ספרים, תפילין ומזוזות, ותיק של ספר תורה, ונרתיק של תפילין ורצועותיהן.
Our rabbis taught: Accessories used in a mitzvah [when worn out] may be thrown away; accessories of holiness are must be placed in a geniza.
The following are accessories used in a mitzvah: A sukkah, a lulav, a shofar, tzitzit.
The following are accessories of holiness: large sacks for scrolls of Scripture, tefillin and mezuzot, a mantle for a Sefer Torah, and a tefillin bag and tefillin straps.
This baraita outlines what religious items may be thrown away and what must be stored away. The sukkah, lulav, shofar and tzitzit are items used to perform a mitzvah, but when the mitzvah is completed they are not inherently holy. They may be thrown away. However, anything used around a scroll of Scripture is holy and must be put in the geniza. As we shall see, holiness here is equated with the Torah scroll.
אמר רבא: מריש הוה אמינא האי כורסיא תשמיש דתשמיש הוא, ושרי. כיון דחזינא דמותבי עלויה ספר תורה, אמינא: תשמיש קדושה הוא, ואסור.
Rava said: At first I used to think that the stand [on which the Sefer Torah is placed] is an accessory to an accessory and that it is permitted [to throw it away when worn out]. When, however, I saw that the Sefer Torah is placed actually on it, I said that it is an accessory of holiness and is forbidden.
Rava thought that the stand on which a Sefer Torah is placed is not an "accessory of holiness" because a cloth is placed on it before the Torah is put down. This would mean that it could be thrown away when worn out, and that it has no inherent holiness. But then when he saw that they sometimes place the Torah directly on the stand, he decided it was an accessory of holiness and could not be thrown away.
ואמר רבא: מריש הוה אמינא האי פריסא תשמיש דתשמיש הוא, כיון דחזינא דעייפי ליה ומנחי סיפרא עלויה אמינא: תשמיש קדושה הוא, ואסור.
Rava further said: At first I used to think that the curtain is an accessory of an accessory. When, however, I saw that it is folded over and a scroll is placed on it, I said that it is itself an accessory of holiness, and forbidden.
This is similar to the above statement by Rava.
ואמר רבא: האי תיבותא דאירפט, מיעבדה תיבה זוטרתי – שרי, כורסייא – אסיר.
Rava further said: When an ark is falling apart, to make it into a smaller ark is permitted, but to make it into a stand is forbidden.
If a large Torah ark is falling apart one can use its parts to make a smaller ark because that is not a reduction in holiness. However, one cannot make a stand on which to place the Torah because that is a lessening in holiness.
ואמר רבא: האי פריסא דבלה, למיעבדיה פריסא לספרי – שרי, לחומשין – אסיר.
Rava further said: When a curtain is worn out, to make it into a mantle for a [whole] scroll is permitted, but for a single humash is forbidden.
The curtain in front of the ark is like a Torah mantle for the whole Torah. Therefore, if it wears out it can be used as a mantle for a full Torah scroll. But to make it a mantle for a single humash, one fifth of the Torah, is prohibited. It is interesting to note that in the Talmudic times they had Torah scrolls that were only in parts. This probably was slightly less expensive.
ואמר רבא: הני זבילי דחומשי, וקמטרי דספרי – תשמיש קדושה נינהו, ונגנזין. – פשיטא! – מהו דתימא: הני לאו לכבוד עבידן, לנטורי בעלמא עבידי, קא משמע לן.
Rava further said: These bags for humashim and boxes for scrolls are accessories of holiness and must be stored away in the geniza [when worn out].
Is not this obvious? What might you have said? These were used not out of respect [for the scrolls] but merely for protection. Therefore he tells us.
We might have thought that bags used to store humashim (actual scrolls, not books) and boxes for scrolls are not made out of respect for the scrolls. Rather, they are just there for protection, and therefore they are not "accessories of holiness" like Torah covers. Rava teaches us that this is not true even boxes and bags made to hold Torah scrolls are considered accessories of holiness.
ההוא בי כנישתא דיהודאי רומאי דהוה פתיח לההוא אידרונא, דהוה מחית ביה מת, והוו בעו כהני למיעל לצלויי התם. אתו אמרו ליה לרבא, אמר להו: דלו תיבותא, אותבוה, דהוה ליה כלי עץ העשוי לנחת, וכלי עץ העשוי לנחת – אינו מקבל טומאה, וחוצץ בפני הטומאה. אמרו ליה רבנן לרבא: והא זמנין דמטלטלי ליה כי מנח ספר תורה עלויה, והוה ליה מיטלטלא מלא וריקם! – אי הכי לא אפשר.
There was a synagogue of the Roman Jews which opened out into a room where a dead body had been put. The kohanim wanted to go in there to pray. They came and told Rava. He said: Take the ark and put it down there, since it is a wooden vessel which is meant to be stationary, and every wooden vessel which is meant to be stationary is not susceptible to defilement and forms a partition to prevent the passage of defilement. The rabbis said to Rava: But sometimes it is moved while a Torah scroll is on it, and thus it becomes a vessel which is moved both when full and when empty? If that is so [he said], then it is not possible.
Some kohahim want to pray in a synagogue, but there was a room off the synagogue in which a dead body is found. The problem is that the defilement of the dead body leaves the room and goes through the synagogue. Rava suggests that they place the Torah stand in the opening for the Torah stand is made of wood and is meant to be stationary. It will block the defilement from entering the synagogue. The other rabbis tell Rava that sometimes the stand is moved even when a Torah scroll is on it, and therefore it is not meant to be stationary. Thus it will not block the defilement. The kohanim are out of luck and will have to wait till the dead body has been removed.
אמר מר זוטרא: מטפחות ספרים שבלו עושין אותן תכריכין למת מצוה, וזו היא גניזתן.
Mar Zutra said: The covers of scrolls which have worn out may be used for making shrouds for a met mitzvah; and this constitutes their "storing away."
Someone can take the worn out covering of a Torah and use it as a shroud for a "met mitzvah" a body found without anyone to bury it. In addition burying it with the body constitutes its being placed in the geniza. The "met mitzvah" is being equated here with the Torah scroll, both the body and the Torah are powerful sources of holiness.
ואמר רבא: ספר תורה שבלה גונזין אותו אצל תלמיד חכם, ואפילו שונה הלכות. אמר רב אחא בר יעקב: ובכלי חרס, שנאמר +ירמיהו ל"ב+ ונתתם בכלי חרש למען יעמדו ימים רבים,
Rava also said: A Torah scroll which is worn out should be buried by the side of a disciple of the sages, even if he is only one who repeats halakhot.
R. Aha b. Jacob said: It should be put in an earthenware vessel, as it says, "And put them in an earthen vessel that they may stand for many days" (Jeremiah 32:14).
Rava says that when they bury a Torah scroll it should be buried next to a Torah scholar, even if he is a lesser scholar who can only repeat halakhot. This is clearly symbolic the scroll is the written Torah and the human is the oral Torah.
R. Aha b. Yaakov says that the Torah scroll should be protected by being put into an earthenware vessel. This is what Jeremiah instructed to be done with the documents that he had written.