Pesachim 40 - December 31, 16 Tevet

Study Guide Pesachim 40

Today’s daf is sponsored by Mona Fishbane in memory of her beloved mother-in-law, Bernice Fishbane (Nana), z"l, "Whose 14th yahrzeit we recently observed. Nana was a lifelong learner who continues to inspire me." And by Hanna and Michael Piotrkowski to Ann Schiff. "Ann introduced us to Hadran's daf yomi so she deserves the merit of our learning. Acknowledging with gratitude."

How can one prevent barley grains from leavening? Wheat? Do fruit juices cause leavening? Can one rinse off barley to make it easier to remove the chaff or will that hasten leavening? What about wheat? The gemara brings several opinions. Rava forbade but then changed his mind and even went so far as to say that it is a mitzvah to rinse the wheat kernels. He explains that is why one needs to watch the grains from an early stage as once they are rinsed, they have come in contact with water and are prone to leavening. The gemara mentions a case where there were wheat kernels that got wet before Pesach and Rava permitted selling them to gentiles. Rava bar Livai questioned this from a case of shaatnez and on account of the difficulty, Rava changed his mind.  How can one prevent leavening in certain cases? The Mishna adds other cases where one need to be concerned about food leavening. And also mentions the prohibition to not cook the meat from the Pesach sacrifice.