Masechet Pesachim is dedicated by Sivya Twersky in honor of her daughter Shoshana Baker. “She astounds me by her love of learning, the depth of her knowledge, and her dedication to Hadran.” And in honor of the forthcoming bar mitzvah of our grandson, Ethan Lurie, on Shabbat Parshat Tezavah. Lastly, the masechet is dedicated in memory of Sivya’s father Harav Pesach Zechariah Halevi ben Reuven v’Leah Z’late Z”L. “He was my inspiration for starting my first cycle of daf yomi eight years ago as the new cycle started when I was saying kaddish for him. I have no idea how many cycles of the daf he learned. I dove into uncharted waters and the learning brought me comfort in a year that I could not have predicted would be as difficult as it was. His yahrzeit occurs while we learn the masechet.”
The gemara brings other cases of doubtful situations – does one need to recheck for chametz or not. Each case is compared to a situation mentioned in a different tannaitic source with a tannaitic debate. If there is a pile of chametz and two houses and a mouse brings it into one of the houses but we don’t know which one. This is compared to the case of two paths – one pure and one impure and two people who each walked on one of the the paths. If a mouse took the chametz but it is unclear if he brought it into the house or not. It is compared to impurity in a field and we are unsure of someone walked into the field. If the mouse brought chametz and we check but can’t find it, this is like piles of rocks with impurity underneath one of them but we are unable to find it. If a mouse brings in chametz and we find chametz, can we assume it is the chametz that the mouse brought or do we need to continue to check the house. This is similar to a debate of a field with a dead body whose location is unclear – if a grave is found, can we assume it was the one that we know about. If a baby or a mouse bring in bread and we find crumbs, can we assume the crumbs are theirs – is there a reason to differentiate between the cases? If we see a mouse go in and a mouse leave with bread in its mouth – can we assume it is the same one. Rava asks several questions that branch out from here. Do we make you check for bread in the rafters? Or in a pit? Or if in the mouth of a snake, do you need to get a snake charmer? Rabbi Yehuda seems from the mishna to require 3 bedikot, However Rav Yosef understands his debate with the rabbis differently.
