Siman - Pesachim Daf 10
- An achbar with chametz going into a searched home
The Gemara on Daf 9b and our Daf discuss the halachos for seven situations of chametz. The fifth case was, על ובדק ולא אשכח – If a mouse went into a searched home with chametz, and the owner searched his house and did not find it, the law can be derived from a machlokes between Rebbe Meir and the Rabbanon, as it is learned in a Mishnah in Niddah regarding a case where a pile of stones containing tumah from a corpse became confused with two other piles of stones that were tahor. If all three piles were searched and still no trace of tumah is found, Rebbe Meir said, כל דבר שבחזקת טומאה לעולם הוא בטומאתו – Anything that has a chazakah of being tamei is always assumed to be in its state of tumah, עד שיודע לך הטומאה היכן היא – until it becomes known to you where the tumah is. The Chochomim say, בודק עד שמגיע לסלע או לקרקע בתולה – He should search until he reaches a layer of rock or virgin ground, and if the tumah is not found, he may assume it is no longer there. Rashi explains that he may assume a raven or mouse came and removed them. In the case of chametz, even Rebbe Meir would agree that the house need not be searched again, since the requirement is only a d’Rabbanon. Rashi explains that we can assume the mouse ate the chametz.
- Chametz in difficult to get to places
Rava asks in a case of ככר בשמי קורה – A loaf of bread which is on top of the beams of the ceiling צריך סולם להורידה או אין צריך – does one need to get a ladder to take it down or not? Do we say that the Rabbanon do not require a person to get rid of chametz that is so high up, as no one will accidentally eat it, or maybe it might fall and then someone will eat it? Rava asks further, that if the Rabbanon were indeed concerned in the above case, what is the halachah if a loaf of bread is in a pit. Does one need to get a ladder to get it out? Do we say that the Rabbanon do not require that, being that it will not come up on its own, or maybe someone might go into the pit to use the bathroom and when he sees it, he will eat it? Rava’s last question is what is the halachah if the loaf of bread is in the mouth of a snake? Do we say that one is required to hire a charmer who can get the bread out of the snake’s mouth, or do we say that the Chochomim did not require one to spend money on doing the search for chametz? The Gemara leaves these questions as a Teiku.
- The times of bedikas chametz
The next Mishnah states, Rebbe Yehuda says בודקין אור י"ד ובי"ד שחרית ובשעת הביעור – We need to search for chametz on the night of the 14th of Nissan, the morning of the 14th of Nissan, and at the time that we burn the chametz, (which is during the 6th hour of the 14th). The Gemara initially understands that Rebbe Yehuda requires three different bedikos. The Chochomim say that if one did not search for chametz on the night of the 14th, then he must do it on the 14th, if he didn’t check on the 14th, he needs to do it during the moed, (which Rashi explains to mean during the time that we burn the chametz, meaning during the 6th hour) and if he did not do it during the moed, he needs to check after the moed up until dark. The Gemara concludes that the correct understanding of the Mishnah is that Rebbe Yehuda really agrees to the Chachamim that a person is only required to search for chametz one of these three times. They argue only regarding the searching after the chametz prohibition goes into effect. Rebbe Yehuda holds that he cannot do it any longer, גזירה דילמא אתי למיכל מיניה, as a decree against the possibility if he were to find chametz he might come to eat it, whereas the Chochomim hold that he may still do it after the time of burning the chametz. Rashi explains this is true only on the afternoon of the fourteenth when chametz is forbidden but not yet subject to a penalty of kares.
