May these words of Torah serve as a merit le’iluy nishmat Menachem Mendel Ben Harav Yoel David Balk, a”h.

This week we learned Shavuot 17 and 18. These are some highlights.

Shavuot 17: May I fly over the Temple Mount in an airplane?

We are all impure. We have a mitzvah to protect the sanctity of the holy realm. The Temple Mount is sacred with eternal sanctity. We are not allowed to walk onto the Temple Mount. What about flying over in an airplane? Shu”t Kinyan Torah B’halacha (Chelek Gimel Siman 58) was asked by tourists who would book airplane rides in Israel for aerial tours if they were allowed to fly over the Temple Mount to see what was there from the air.

In our daf, Rava wonders about a man who levitates into the air above the Temple courtyard and tarries in the airspace. Is he guilty of the sin of contaminating the Temple space or is he exempt? Rambam (Shegagot 11:4) explains that the doubt of Rava was about the airspace of the courtyard. Is the airspace of the courtyard holy with the sanctity of the courtyard, and then our flyer would have to bring a sacrifice for tarrying in the air, or does it not have the sanctity of the courtyard and then our man would not have to bring a sacrifice for the time he hung in the air of the courtyard. The Gemara does not resolve the question. It leaves it with a teiku. This is a doubt about a biblical prohibition. Safek d’Orayta lechumra, when in doubt about biblical prohibitions we must be strict. According to Rambam, in our case of the tourist, he must be careful not to fly over the Temple Mount. Perhaps all the air above the mountain is holy. If he flies in the airspace he may be violating the law against contaminating the sacred realm with impurity. Tosafot (s.v. Talah Atzmo) quotes texts of our Gemara that stated explicitly that Rava’s doubt was about the air of the courtyard. He was not sure if it had the sanctity of the courtyard. Tosafot finds such a text difficult. There are many sources that teach that the air of the Temple courtyard had the same holiness as the floor of the Temple courtyard. Tosafot therefore has another interpretation for Rava’s doubt. Rava was unsure about a man in a position in which he could not prostrate himself. Perhaps the sin of tarrying in the Temple while impure is only if a man tarried in the Temple long enough and in a spot in which he could bow down fully. A man hanging in the air cannot prostrate himself. Rava was proposing that the man who is impure and levitates into the Temple air might not be violating the sin of contaminating the Temple for he is not in a position in which he can bow down. If a man is in a plane he is able to prostrate himself. According to Tosafot’s explanation, a man certainly cannot fly in a plane over the Temple Mount in our days. All agree that the air is sacred. In a plane he can bow down. He will have tarried long enough and in a position in which he can prostrate himself and therefore certainly will be violating the prohibition against contaminating the sacred realm.

Kinyan Torah adds that there is a sin in flying the airplane into the holy space regardless of the status of the person in the plane. A plane is made of metal. If metal touches a dead body it becomes as impure as the dead body itself. A Jew may not throw impure objects into the Temple. The plane may have once touched a dead body and therefore it would be impure. Anyone who helped cause it to enter the Temple space would be winning by contaminating the sacred realm. Therefore, righteous Jews should not fly in any planes over the Temple Mount. (Mesivta)

Shavuot 18: He became an adult on Motzei Shabbos. Can he recite Havdalah for adults?

Our Gemara teaches about special deeds one can perform to merit good children. It teaches that a person careful to recite Havdalah each Motzei Shabbos on wine will merit to have sons who are wise and able to issue halachic rulings. The Gemara derives this from verses. Maggid Mishneh (Shabbos 29:1) suggests that this is a proof to the ruling of Rambam that Havdalah is a biblical obligation. Only a biblical obligation would be hinted to in biblical verses. Others disagree. Rabbeinu Tam (quoted in Tosafot Harosh Brachot 26b) and Orchot Chaim (Havdalah Siman 18) rule that Havdalah is a rabbinic obligation, not a biblical obligation.
Taz (Siman 296:7) writes that Rama (296:8) also is of the opinion that Havdalah on Motzei Shabbos is a rabbinic obligation. Shu”t Betzel Hachochma (Chelek Aleph Siman 72) suggests that this dispute will impact the question of a man who becomes bar mitzvah on a Saturday night.

What is the law with a young man who becomes an adult on Motzei Shabbos? Can he recite Havdalah for other adults? Shu”t Betzel Hachochma feels that it is dependent on the dispute of the Rishonim about Havdalah—if it is biblical or rabbinic. If Havdalah is a biblical obligation, then a bar mitzvah who became an adult on Motzei Shabbos would not have this biblical obligation. Havdalah is secondary to Shabbos. It is a declaration we make that we kept Shabbos. On Shabbos, our bar mitzvah was a child and only obligated rabbinically. He was not obligated biblically to watch the Shabbos. He therefore is certainly not obligated biblically, at the close of Shabbos, to declare that he kept the past 25 hours of Shabbos. If Havdalah for all adults is a rabbinic obligation (like Rabbeinu Tam and Rama), then our bar mitzvah boy can recite Havdalah for other adults. He is rabbinically obligated and they are rabbinically obligated. But, if Rambam is right, and Havdalah for most adults is a biblical obligation, our bar mitzvah cannot recite Havdalah for other adults. Other adults have a biblical obligation of Havdalah. Our bar mitzvah only has a rabbinic obligation. The rabbinically obligated cannot fulfill the obligations of those biblically obligated.

L’halacha, a man who becomes bar mitzvah on Saturday night should not recite Havdalah for adults. He is obligated rabbinically while they might be obligated biblically. If he did recite Havdalah for them, they should not repeat the blessing. If they are obligated merely rabbinically, his Havdalah did work for them. Therefore, if they have heard Havdalah from a man who just became bar mitzvah, the other adults should look for another adult who has not yet recited Havdalah and they should listen to his Havdalah to just be sure they fulfill their obligation of Havdalah. (Mesivta)

By Rabbi Zev Reichman

Rabbi Zev Reichman teaches Daf Yomi in his shul, East Hill Synagogue.