Talmud - Pesahim 4a פסחים ד׳ א׳

The Gemara relates: Rav was the son of Rabbi Ḥiyya’s half brother and the son of Rabbi Ḥiyya’s half sister, as Ayevu, Rav’s father, married his own stepsister, Imma. When Rav ascended there, to Eretz Yisrael, Rabbi Ḥiyya said to Rav: Is your father, Ayevu, alive? He said to him, replying with a question: Is your sister, Imma, alive? He said to him: Indeed, is Imma alive? He said to him: Is Ayevu alive? Upon hearing this, Rabbi Ḥiyya understood that both Ayevu and Imma had passed away, and Rav did not wish to say so explicitly.

Rabbi Ḥiyya said to his attendant: Remove my shoes and carry my garments after me to the bathhouse. The Gemara comments: Learn from Rabbi Ḥiyya’s instructions three halakhot. Learn from it that wearing shoes is prohibited for a mourner, which is why he instructed his servant to remove his shoes. And learn from it that for distant tidings mourning is practiced only one day. One who receives tidings of the death of a relative more than thirty days after he died, does not mourn for seven days. The halakhot of mourning apply for only a single day. And learn from it that with regard to the halakhot of mourning, the legal status of part of the day is like that of an entire day. The Gemara derives this halakha from the fact that Rabbi Ḥiyya removed his shoes and immediately thereafter went to the bathhouse, an act that is prohibited for a mourner. He was permitted to do so because the restrictions of the mourning period were no longer in effect after briefly going without shoes.

With regard to the precision required in language, the Gemara relates: A certain man would regularly say whenever involved in conflict: Adjudicate my case [dunu dini]. The Sages said: Learn from it that he descends from the tribe of Dan, as it is written: “Dan will judge [yadin] his people like one of the tribes of Israel” (Genesis 49:16). He expressed himself that way due to his lineage.

The Gemara relates a similar incident: A certain man would regularly walk and say: The bushes on the seashore are cypresses (ge’onim), i.e., items located by the sea are more beautiful than those found in other places. They examined his lineage and found that he descends from the tribe of Zebulun, as it is written: “Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore” (Genesis 49:13). That explains his love of all things close to the sea.

The Gemara returns to the issue of the search for leaven. And now that we maintain that everyone agrees the word or in the mishna is evening, consider the following: After all, both according to the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda and according to that of Rabbi Meir, who disagree with regard to the deadline decreed by the Sages to remove all leaven, it is prohibited to derive benefit from leavened bread by Torah law only from the sixth hour of the day and onward. And if so, let us search for leaven at six hours of the day, and eliminate the leaven at that point.

And lest you say that this halakha is in accordance with the principle that the vigilant are early in the performance of mitzvot, let us search in the morning. The principle: The vigilant are early in the performance of mitzvot, is derived, as it is written: “And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised” (Leviticus 12:3). And it was taught in a baraita: The entire day is suitable for performance of the mitzva of circumcision; however, the vigilant are early in the performance of mitzvot, and circumcise in the morning. As it is stated with regard to the binding of Isaac: “And Abraham arose early in the morning” (Genesis 22:3) after hearing God’s command. This indicates that Abraham arose early in his eagerness to perform God’s commandment.

The Gemara cites an answer to its initial question of why the search for leaven is not conducted in the morning. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: One searches for leaven in the evening as it is a time when people are found in their homes, and they have the opportunity to perform the search. And furthermore, the light of the lamp is favorable for conducting a search specifically at night. As the search is conducted with a lamp, it is preferable to search at night.

Abaye said: Therefore, in light of the above halakha, a Torah scholar should not begin his regularly scheduled period of Torah study in the evening at the conclusion of the thirteenth of Nisan that is the evening of the fourteenth, as perhaps he will become engrossed in the halakha he is studying and will come to be prevented from performing the mitzva of searching for leaven.

They raised a dilemma before Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak: With regard to one who lets a house to another on the fourteenth of Nisan, upon whom is it incumbent to search for leaven? Is it incumbent upon the lessor to search for leaven, as the leavened bread is his; or is it perhaps incumbent upon the lessee to search, as the source of the prohibition is in his domain since he will be living in the house during Passover? He answered: Come and hear an answer from a baraita: With regard to one who lets a house to another, the obligation is upon the lessee to affix a mezuza for it. Apparently, the person renting the house is obligated to perform the mitzvot connected to the house.

The Gemara rejects this proof: There, in the case of mezuza, didn’t Rav Mesharshiya say: Affixing a mezuza is the obligation of the resident? The fact is that the owner of an uninhabited house is not obligated to affix a mezuza to its doors. If so, the question remains, what is the halakha here? Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said to them that we already learned the resolution to this dilemma in a baraita: One who rents a house to another, if before he delivered the keys to the renter the fourteenth of Nisan began, the obligation is upon the lessor to search for leaven. And if it was after he delivered the keys to him that the fourteenth began, the obligation is upon the lessee to search for leaven.

They raised another dilemma before Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak: With regard to one who lets a house to another on the fourteenth of Nisan, is its presumptive status that it has been searched or is it not its presumptive status that it has been searched? The Gemara asks: What is the practical difference between these possibilities? Let him ask the owner of the house. The Gemara responds: The situation here is one where the owner is not here to ask him. The dilemma is whether or not to impose upon the renter to search for the leaven. What is the halakha?

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said to them that we already learned the resolution to this dilemma based on a related baraita: Everyone is believed to provide testimony about the elimination of leavened bread; even women, even slaves, and even minors. Although these people are typically not relied upon to deliver testimony, they are believed when they provide testimony that they have eliminated leaven. The Gemara asks: What is the reason that they are believed?

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Pesachim 4a explores Rabbi Ḥiyya learning of his relatives' deaths through indirect speech, and derives key mourning laws from his reaction.