Sukkah, Daf Nun, Part 6

 

Introduction

This section continues the previous section. Here we see a different explanation for the underlying dispute between Rabbi and Rabbi Yose b. Judah.

 

ואיבעית אימא: דכולי עלמא דעיקר שירה בפה, ואין דנין אפשר משאי אפשר, והכא במילף מנורה בכללי ופרטי או ברבויי ומיעוטי קא מיפלגי. רבי דריש כללי ופרטי, רבי יוסי בר יהודה דריש ריבויי ומיעוטי.

 

And if you want you may say that all are in agreement that the essential feature of the [Temple] music is the vocal singing, and that we do not deduce the possible from the impossible, but in this case they differ on the question whether, in making the deduction concerning the candlestick, we apply the principle of "the general and the particular" or the rule of "inclusion and exclusion."

Rabbi applies the principle of "the general and the particular" while R. Yose b. Judah applies the principle of "exclusion and inclusion."

 

The Talmud now posits that all agree that the essential element of the Temple music is singing, thus denying any essentiality for the use of the flute on Shabbat. They also agree that we do not derive that which is possible to make of wood (the other vessels) from that which is impossible. This means that Moses’s flute is not a precedent for making other vessels out of wood. Rather, they argue about how which hermeneutical principle should be used to understand what material the menorah and other vessels may be made out of. This is unrelated to the issue of playing the flute on Shabbat. It is just a separate dispute about whether the Temple’s vessels can be made of wood.

 

רבי דריש כללי ופרטי: +שמות כה+ ועשית מנורת – כלל, זהב טהור – פרט, מקשה תעשה המנורה חזר וכלל. כלל ופרט וכלל אי אתה דן אלא כעין הפרט, מה הפרט מפורש – של מתכת, אף כל של מתכת.

 

Rabbi applies the principle of the "general and particular:" "And you shall make a candlestick" is a general statement, "of pure gold" is a particular, "of beaten work shall the candlestick be made" is again a general statement; [the instruction thus consists of] two general [statements] with a particular [statement between], in which case it includes only such things as are similar to the particular [statement], so that as the particular is specified to be of metal, so must all [vessels] be of metal.

 

Rabbi reads these verses using the principle called "general and particular" which has to do with the order of general instructions and particular details as they appear in the Torah. If there is a general rule followed by a particular instruction then followed by another general rule, the general rule includes only things that are like the particular detail. In this case, this leads to the conclusion that all vessels must be made of metal, like the menorah.

 

רבי יוסי בר יהודה דריש ריבויי ומיעוטי: ועשית מנורת – ריבה, זהב טהור – מיעט, מקשה תעשה המנורה – חזר וריבה. ריבה ומיעט וריבה ריבה הכל, מאי רבי – רבי כל מילי, מאי מיעט – מיעט של חרס.

 

R. Yose b. Judah applies the principle of inclusion and exclusion [thus:] "And you shall make a candlestick" is an inclusion, "of pure gold" is an exclusion, "of beaten work shall the candlestick be made" is again an inclusion. It includes, then excludes, then includes, in which case it includes everything.

What does it include? All materials, and what does it exclude? [Only] earthenware.

 

R. Yose b. Judah uses a different principle for interpreting the Torah, one that is similar but yields different results. As a result of this different principle he would hold that only earthenware cannot be used for the Temple vessels. But wood is not excluded.