Today’s learning sponsored by

Sponsor a day's learning (thousands of minutes!) for only $72 click here

 https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/ODUwOTU=

 Summary 

 We learned in the mishna (26.4): If its berries are more numerous than leaves, it’s possul. 

 Rav Chisda: The following was said by our great teacher [Rav], may he receive Divine assistance in his great work [spreading Torah in Bavel]: This is only if the berries are numerous in one area, but in several areas, it’s kosher.

 Rava: If the berries are scattered, then it’s a spotted hadas and it is surely possul. There was an error in the way the statement was reported, it must be as follows:

 Rav Chisda: The following was said by our great teacher [Rav], may he receive Divine assistance in his great work: This is only if the berries are already black, but if they’re still green, it’s kosher, it’s just like green leaves.

 Rav Papa: Red berries are like black berries. As taught by Rabbi Chanina: Black blood is essentially red blood only that it suffered a change.

 We learned in the mishna (26.4): If he reduces the amount of berries, it is kosher. 

 Question: When did he remove the berries?

Tentative Response: Before he tied the hadassim into the bundle, it is certainly kosher. The mishna must be teaching that it’s kosher if the berries were removed even after agad. We thus see that taaseh does not apply to the lulav (because it’s kosher), and that dichui mei’ikara* is not applied to mitzvos. 

 Response: We cannot bring proof to the principle of dichui because agad doesn’t matter, it is only a preparation for the mitzvah. The mitzvah only actually begins when Yom Tov comes in, by which time he had already removed the berries; that’s why it’s kosher.

__________

* Rashi: There are two components to the concept of dichui in korbanos which the gemara seeks to apply to all mitzvos: A. Dichui mei’ikara - Something that was never acceptable for the mitzvah [from the time it was ‘made’]; and is now seeking to be accepted. B. Nireh v’nidcheh - Something that was at first acceptable, then experienced dichui; and is now again seeking to be accepted. The gemara here seeks to prove that at least “Dichui A” does not apply to mitzvos.