Q&A: Maharalnach on a Half-Measure
Maharalnach on a Half-Measure
Question
You asked in lesson 1 on Yoma the following difficulty on the Maharalnach:
He wrote that since leaven had a prior time when it was permitted, therefore a special verse is needed to teach us that even with leaven there is a law of a half-measure.
And you asked: if so, then on Yom Kippur too we should need a special verse, since before Yom Kippur it was of course permitted to eat, and so that eating too had a prior time when it was permitted. See there for what you answered.
I wanted to suggest a different answer: on Passover, eating is permitted, except that there is a specific rule regarding leaven that only it is forbidden to eat. Therefore I could have thought that since I eat normally, just not leaven, a half-measure would be permitted, so a special verse comes to forbid it. But on Yom Kippur, where there is no eating at all, that is similar to forbidden fat, which is always forbidden to eat, and therefore I do not need a special verse on Yom Kippur.
In other words, you compare the prohibition of leaven to the prohibition of eating on Yom Kippur because you place them on the time axis, as both having a prior time when they were permitted; and I suggest placing them on a more essential axis, the eating axis, and on that axis Yom Kippur and forbidden fat are similar to one another, because they are “complete” eating prohibitions.
What do you think
Answer
You are assuming that a half-measure is forbidden because of a safeguard. That is not the accepted view, since it is generally assumed that Torah-level prohibitions are not safeguards. Beyond that, your reason would be enough to permit a half-measure even apart from the fact that it is time-dependent. You can of course say that the combination of reasons is what causes the prohibition of a half-measure — that there is no time dependence and there is a concern — but that is always a less plausible possibility. And finally, the Maharalnach should have mentioned this and at least noted it, since the main discussion in the Babylonian Talmud about a half-measure is on Yom Kippur, which is time-dependent.
Discussion on Answer
If it is not because of a safeguard, then why does it matter that other things are not eaten? Is that a leniency or a stringency? Why?
Beyond that, as I wrote, you are combining here two reasons that have no connection to one another: a prior time when it was permitted, and the fact that other things are eaten. How do they interact? And in general, on principle, a combination is not a plausible basis for a law. The simple assumption is that every law has a basis in one principle.
“And in general, on principle, a combination is not a plausible basis for a law. The simple assumption is that every law has a basis in one principle.” So what are two laws then??
We discussed this. Here you are grounding the law in a necessary combination of two principles. There I explained to you that this is not two laws.
Indeed. There is a difference between two laws, where each one is independently sufficient, and one law composed of two things.
So in general, is one law composed of two things always (or almost obviously) less plausible than two classic laws? Is there perhaps some reason for that?
There is no comparison between them. One law is simpler than a composite of two. Two laws are something different, because it is one law twice over. But there is no point in engaging in such general claims. Here you are suggesting that this involves two parameters, only one of which is mentioned, and that is not plausible. Both because only one is mentioned, and because there is no logic in making it depend on two parameters, and also because the relevance of one of them is unclear (is it a stringency or a leniency, and what is its significance in the passage at all).
Absolutely not. A half-measure is a prohibition in its own right, not because of a safeguard.
Let me state my reasoning differently: if leaven, which had a prior time when it was permitted, but people eat everything except it (its “environment” is lenient), is nevertheless forbidden even in a half-measure, then Yom Kippur, which had a prior time when it was permitted but on which one eats nothing at all (the “environment” is stringent), all the more so should a half-measure be forbidden!
(and therefore on Yom Kippur we do not need a special verse)
And this answer works for the Babylonian Talmud too, without getting into the definition of the obligation to fast and the Jerusalem Talmud and so on and so on.