Chagiga 9: When We Are Late With Our Offerings

A new Mishna tells us about what happens when we are late bringing our offerings.  It quotes Ecclesiastes 1:15, where we are told that which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.  The rabbis ask how this might apply to someone who has made a mistake like missing the opportunity to do a mitzvah on the first day of the Festival.  Usually that phrase is used to describe the result of a forbidden sexual relationship - we cannot change the status of a mamzer.

The Gemara begins by examining the last days of the Festivals.  Is Shemini Atzeret a separate holiday of its own?  Or is it the last day of Sukkot?  Why call it atzeret, which translates as 'stop', when we already know that we are to stop doing labour?  Why the number seven - is this similar to mentions of the seventh month?  The rabbis consider the notion of inclusion/exclusion of celebration based on time.  And we continue to discuss the special status of Shemini Atzeret.

Turning to the notion of 'redress', the rabbis wonder how we can correct a mistake.  Was the person unfit to offer on the first day and thus the second day is fine?  They compare this to the experience of a nazirite who is forced to bring two offerings because he becomes ritually impure on the eighth day after purifying himself.  They think about whether or not the night is included in the counting of days.  Further, they look to rules governing the second Pesach (an opportunity for those who missed the first Pesach to bring their offerings 30 days later) and the rules governing zavim to help them understand how to interpret this Mishna.

A note teaches us that the night is not counted as part of the following day.  Instead, "night is considered part of a date whose time has not yet arrived."  

Finally, our Gemara discusses other possible meanings of the line from Ecclesiastes, That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is wanting cannot be numbered.  We are introduced to the scholar Bar Hei Hei, a convert, who debated with Hillel.  Perhaps this phrase is referring to not saying the shema, and to being out of the consensus reached by one's friends to perform a mitzvah.  Another argument between them regards the verse from Malachi (3:18), where we learn about distinguishing between the righteous and the wicked; between he who serves G-d and he who does not.  Hillel points out that those who do not serve G-d might also be righteous - like one who reviews his studies one hundred times verses one who reviews 101 times.  He explains this world of difference and then reminds us of the importance of going above and beyond our expectations of ourselves in serving G-d.

Does poverty teach us good character - unwanted, but good for us? Shmuel or Rav Yosef thought so.

Perhaps this refers to Torah scholars who leave the study of Torah. Of course, the rabbis must have flirted with this idea, but there were such strong sanctions against such a decision that it would rarely happen. 

Crookedness refers to one who was once straight.  Even a man who has intercourse with his sister can repent (redress) - but if a child is born, he cannot become straight.  Others argue that simply having intercourse with a married woman is enough to 'stay crooked', for even without having a child who is a mamzer, her relationship with her husband is now forbidden to her and thus her marriage is ruined.  Thus the seducer/violator must remain crooked. 

More about this tomorrow...