Siman - Pesachim Daf 4
- People speak according to the shevet they belong to
The Gemara discusses how certain people would talk according to the shevet that they had belonged to. There was one person, that any time he had business dealings with someone, he would tell them "דונו דיני" – “Judge my judgement” meaning, “Let’s go to court,” and he would only listen to what a judge would have to say. People said that this man certainly comes from the tribe of Dan, of whom it states דן ידין עמו כאחד שבטי ישראל – Dan will judge his nation like one of the shevatim of the Jewish people. There was another person who would always say "אכיף ימא אסיסני ביראתא" - “If I was able to build palaces, I would build them by the shore,” and he would always praise the shore. People searched into his genealogy and found that he descended from the shevat of Zevulun, of whom it says זבולון לחוף ימים ישכן – Zevulun will dwell by the seashore.
- Why the bedikah is the night of the 14th
The Gemara asks ונבדוק בשית – the search for chametz should be done at the beginning of the sixth hour of the 14th of Nissan, which is right before it becomes forbidden at the beginning of the seventh hour. Why does the search for chametz takes place the night of the 14th? The Gemara suggests that it is due to the rule of זריזין מקדימין למצוות – People who have alacrity do mitzvos as early as possible, but questions that answer, being that this rule only means that one should do a mitzvah as far back as that morning, but not the night before. The Gemara shows this from the fact that Avraham did the mitzvah of milah in the morning, but not the night before. Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak answers that the nighttime is when everyone is home, and it is a time that the candle works well for checking for chametz.
- If the landlord did not do a bedikah
The Gemara asks המשכיר בית לחבירו - if one rents out his house for Pesach, בחזקת בדוק ומצאו שאינו בדוק - and there is a חזקה that the landlord had already done bedikah, and the renter found out that he did not, is this called a מקח טעות? Abaye answered that it is not a מקח טעות and explained that it certainly is not a מקח טעות in a place where people do not hire workers to do בדיקה, but rather they search for chametz themselves, דניחא ליה לאיניש לקיומי מצוה בגופיה - for it is axiomatic that a person is pleased to fulfill a mitzvah with his body. Rashi explains that even if he had known that the house was not searched, he would nevertheless have rented it. And even if this case happened in an area where people pay workers to check their house for chametz, and therefore the renter will have to pay money, he would still not have backed out, דניחא ליה לאיניש לקיומי מצוה בממוניה - for a person is happy to fulfill a mitzvah with his possessions.
