Reader Advisory: The House on the Rock is a very cool site in Wisconsin. Short history: A (in my estimation) brilliant architect found a huge pointy rock and built a house around it. He was also (in everyone's estimation) a bit of a kook. He collected dolls, non-horse merry-go-round critters, old road signs, etc. He also built large room size music boxes. Walking through the attraction feels like walking through the mind of someone a bit off/deranged, but harmless. This TftD feels like that. Feel free to move on.
Speaking of which, why am I quoting the Ran instead of Rashi? Because there is no Rashi in Nedarim. How do you know? Because above the pirush that is printed where Rashi would usually go is something labeled, "Rashi" -- the one and only time in all of Shas that it says "Rashi" above where Rashi should go. It is kind of like shuls that have a sign that says, "No talking during davening." Yeah... don't daven there.
So who do you have? You have ר''ן, רא''ש, רמב''ן, רשב''א, רשב''ם, ר''ת. That last one, ר''ת, is the famous Rabeinu Tam, a grandson of רש''י. I also know that is another grandson of רש''י. Other than that, I have very little sense of their historical relationship to one another. Why is that even important? Here's an example. The gemara starts by explaining that you don't have to always say explicitly what you mean to set aside with a neder. Instead, you can use a יד/handle. For example, instead of saying, "I vow to bring an animal to the Beis HaMikdash as an offering.", one can simply say, "I vow to bring an animal." (For those of you who have learned Nedarim and already know this concept, please forgive my sloppiness in defining a יד/handle. I just want to give an idea or the concept, but it's not my main point.) That is, I say enough to make my intent clear; so it is called a יד/handle. similar to a יד/handle of a pot that lets you take the whole pot by just holding part of it.
The gemara on 5b wants to know if a יד/handle works for getting married as well. Why would I think you could? Because just as vows often/usually have to do with קדשים/holy things, an halacha marriage is called קדושין. (Sorry, I am not going to translate that, there is no good English word for it.) Why would I think that it wouldn't work to use a יד/handle for marriage? The ר''ן says that a neder is effective with just speech, while קדושין requires some tangible action/transaction (כסף/ring, כתובה/contract, or yichud); so maybe that is why a simple יד/handle works for nedarim. The רא''ש says it is because the whole idea that a יד/handle works for nedarim is a חידוש/wild innovation (), so why would you think that would transfer?
Now, does one know what the other said? Are they saying it independently, or arguing? For that you need a playbook of when and where they lived. So I looked it up. All dates in CE, ordered by birth year:
I find this chart helpful, but sterile. I wanted to bring these giant sages to life in my mind. I want learning masechta Nedarim to feel like I am asking questions and having conversations with these great men of wisdom. So I decided to build a chart in the same order, but using more familiar names. For example, when the ר''ן quotes the רשב''א, is that like R' Fuerst, shilta, quoting R' Moshe or more like that dayan quoting a רש''י? I know first hand what it is like to have a conversation with R' Fuerst, so I try to draw on that experience when learning the ר''ן. I know that it feels like to learn the Mishna Brura, so I try to leverage that feeling when learning the רמב''ן. Here's my chart:
Does it help? That is a work in progress. I think it will be useful, though, so I decided to share. I'd be interested in hearing how others manage the panoply of sages we have and have had through the ages.
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