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Pesachim 70

1) THE KORBAN CHAGIGAH OF THE FOURTEENTH OF NISAN, AND EATING THE KORBAN PESACH "AL HA'SOVA"

OPINIONS: The Mishnah says that one brings a Korban Chagigah along with the Korban Pesach on the fourteenth of Nisan. This Korban is known as the "Chagigah of the Fourteenth." What is the source for bringing this Korban?

(a) The Gemara implies that this Korban is brought in order to be eaten before the Korban Pesach, so that the Korban Pesach will be eaten "Al ha'Sova," while one is satiated.

But what is the source for eating the Korban Pesach "Al ha'Sova?" RASHI says that eating the Korban Pesach while one is satiated makes the act of eating into one which is more significant and meaningful. Eating while satiated enables a person to better experience and appreciate the taste, and thus it is a Hidur Mitzvah to make the Korban Pesach taste better. (The MECHILTA, Parshas Bo, ch. 6, learns from the verse "Al Matzos u'Merorim Yochluhu" that "the Korban Pesach is eaten "Al ha'Sova" but not the Matzos and Maror." This may be describing the Hidur Mitzvah that Rashi is referring to.)

The reason this applies only to the Korban Pesach and not to any other Korbanos which one eats might be because it is the only Korban that is brought solely for the purpose of being eaten. The other Korbanos, even though they are eaten, are brought primarily for Kaparah.

(b) TOSFOS (DH Lav) cites the Yerushalmi (Pesachim 6:4) that seems to conclude that the requirement to eat the Korban Pesach "Al ha'Sova" is only d'Rabanan. The reason Tosfos gives is because of a Gezeirah to prevent people from breaking the bones of the Korban Pesach (which is forbidden by the Torah). If a person would eat the Korban Pesach right away, he might break the bones of the Korban while eating it due to his haste. Therefore, the Chagigah is brought so that a person will eat it first and be satiated by the time he eats the Korban Pesach. (The Mechilta, then, may be only an Asmachta.)

(c) However, another opinion mentioned in the Gemara, that of Ben Teima, understands that the Chiyuv to bring the Chagigah of the Fourteenth is mid'Oraisa. It is learned from a verse that compares the Korban Pesach to the Chagigah. TOSFOS (DH Lav) adds that even the Rabanan who argue with Ben Teima (who do not compare the Chagigah to the Korban Pesach, and maintain that it is eaten for two days, unlike the Pesach), also derive from a verse (71b) the Chiyuv to bring the Chagigah. If so, they both must hold that the Chagigah is an obligation, and not just optional, and that it is brought even on Shabbos, and even when the Tzibur Tamei.

The Halachah, however, follows the opinion of a third opinion -- the Tana of our Mishnah, who says that the Chagigah is not brought on Shabbos. His reasoning for bringing the Chagigah of the Fourteenth is apparently as explained above in (a) and (b).

(d) The RAMBAM (Hilchos Korban Pesach 10:12), however, cites a verse for the source of the Korban Chagigah of the Fourteenth, implying that it is d'Oraisa. On the other hand, he says that it is an optional Korban, and it is not brought on Shabbos! (TOSFOS 59b, DH b'Arba'ah, also concludes that the Chagigah of the Fourteenth is not Docheh Shabbos even if it is d'Oraisa.)

The Rambam seems to understand that even according to our Mishnah, the Chagigah of the Fourteenth is d'Oraisa. Why, then, does the Gemara say that the reason it is brought is in order to eat the Pesach "Al ha'Sova?" According to the Rambam, perhaps the Gemara is suggesting why a person would *want* to bring it if it is not required of him, and it answers that he benefits from it by being able to eat the Korban Pesach "Al ha'Sova." But even without that reason, the Torah gives the option to bring it -- perhaps in order that the Mikdash should be filled with Korbanos on Erev Pesach.

QUESTION: Ben Teima says that the Korban Chagigah is just like the Korban Pesach, as he adduces from a verse. Therefore, he says, the Chagigah of the Fourteenth is eaten only "for one day and one night," and not for two days and a night like a normal Korban Shelamim.

What does Ben Teima mean? We know that the Korban Pesach is eaten only at night, not during the day and night. One who eats it during the day transgresses a Mitzvas Aseh (41b)!

ANSWERS:

(a) TOSFOS (89a, DH d'Ilu) seems to understand that "day and night" means until the *end* of the day and night. That is, it is not giving the time period during which the Korbanos may be eaten, but it is expressing only the *end* of the time period for eating the Korbanos. The time period lasts until the end of the day and night. The Korbanos may only be eaten at night, though, and not during the day. (This is also the understanding of TOSFOS HA'ROSH in Berachos 9a and RAMBAN on the Torah, vayikra 7:15.)

(b) RAV YECHEZKEL ABRAMSKY (in CHAZON YECHEZKEL, Maseches Pesachim) suggests that perhaps it is appropriate to say that the Korban Pesach may be eaten during the day and night, when dealing with its status as a *Korban*. The Halachos of the *Korban* dictate that it may be eaten during the day and night, like all other Korbanos. The specific laws of *Pesach* element of the Korban, though, require that it be eaten only at night. (That is,there are Halachos of the Korban, and there are the Halachos of the Pesach.)

However, the Chagigah of the Fourteenth which is compared to the Pesach will also have the Halachos of the *Pesach* element of the Korban Pesach, and it may be eaten only at night, just as all of the other Halachos of the Pesach (such as roasting it and perhaps even not breaking its bones) apply to the Chagigah, even though they are Halachos in the Pesach element of the Korban Pesach (as the Ramban and Rishonim cited above said).

70b