Commentary for Pesachim 4:15

מיתיבי מר זוטרא

the Divine Law permits, and from then Scripture forbids. And the other?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Does he not admit the distinction?');">¹⁶</span> - The [additional] hours are Rabbinical.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' V. infra ');">¹⁷</span> And the other? - The Rabbis [merely] erected a safeguard for a Scriptural law.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lest the day is cloudy and one does not know exactly when it is midday; therefore they added two hours. But when the law is entirely Rabbinical, they would not apply it to part of the day only.');">¹⁸</span> An objection is raised: Bonfires are lit only for a new moon that is visible in its [due] time, in order to sanctify it.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The Jewish month, which is lunar, consists of either twenty-nine or thirty days. During the early Talmudic age');">¹⁹</span> And when were the bonfires lit? on the evening ['or'] following the intercalated day.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' The additional day is the thirtieth, whereby the month is full; the bonfire is lit on the evening of the thirty-first.');">²⁰</span> This proves that 'or' is evening. This proves it. An objection is raised: If he [the priest] was standing all night and offering [the fats of sacrifices] on t altar, at daybreak [orah] he must wash his hands and feet:<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Lit., 'he needs the sanctification of his hands and feet (from the laver) ', v. Ex. XXX, 17.');">²¹</span> this is Rabbi's view?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Thus 'orah' denotes daybreak, and it is now assumed that 'or' and 'orah' are identical.');">²²</span> - Orah is [a] different [word]. Mar Zutra raised an objection:

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