Chagiga 7: Is Appearance a Mitzvah Without Measure? Which Offerings When?

The rabbis want to understand what is involved in in the mitzvah of appearance at the Temple.  Perhaps the mitzvah of appearance should be included in the mitzvot listed at the start of Masechet Peah.  Some mitzvot, Peah teaches, are without measure.  These include a number of agriculturally based mitzvot, some mitzvot of human action, and mitzvot of pilgrimage.  Thus appearance at the Temple would be a logical addition.  

The rabbis want to clarify how many times a person should/can appear at the Temple, how the first day of a Festival might be different from other Festival days, what should be offered, what other gifts should be brought, etc.  In examining these questions, they find themselves facing some of the halachot regarding offerings.  Are people bringing burnt offerings, Festival peace-offerings, or gifts of rejoicing? Or all three?  The rabbis review some of the details of these different offerings and their implications.

Years ago I participated in a Talmud workshop class with Rabbi Elyse Goldstein and a group of a dozen other students.  Over the entire semester, we learned that first verse of Peah.  In chevruta, we broke down the sentences and researched their possible implications.  What might it mean, "things without measure"?  What kind of measure?  According to whom?  How can anything be without measure?  It was my first experience of advanced Talmud learning and I was hooked.

Often I worry that I do not retain enough from this learning.  However, when reading today's daf, I was able to immediately understand the multiple, concurrent nuances and contexts that the rabbis might be considering when they questioned whether the mitzvah of appearance is without measure.  The details might be foggy, but the larger concepts are very clear - a wonderful surprise as I learn these unfamiliar, challenging dapim.