13 Middot of R. Yehoshua: an algorithm for deriving Halacha from the Torah text
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ShareBased on the writings of R. Emanuele Artom, former Chief Rabbi of Venice in the 1970s and Turin in the 1980s, and veteran of many education and advisory roles in government in Eretz Israel, this series of sheets aims to provide a taster of Italian Judaism (ebraismo italkit).
In his Festival Machzor according to the Italian minhag, R. Artom explains that this passage, which we read at the end of the section of blessings in the daily Tefillah, comes from the very beginning of Sifra, the halakhic midrash on the book of Vayikra.
R. Yehoshua, the author of the baraita, was a one of the most important of the third generation of Tannaim. He was from a priestly family. R. Yehoshua was executed by the Romans during the insurrection of Bar Kochba.
By means of these thirteen rules we are able to derive Halakha from the Torah text. Each of the rules, or hermeneutics, is listed using an extremely compact expression, which, of itself, is almost completely incomprehensible. For that reason, R. Artom provides an interpretative example based on the dynamics of each rule.
רַבִּי יִשְׁמָעֵאל אומֵר. בִּשְׁלשׁ עֶשרֵה מִדּות הַתּורָה נִדְרֶשֶׁת: א מִקַּל וָחמֶר.
R. Ishmael says: the Torah is interpreted according to thirteen rules.
1) Based on a fortiori reasoning;
קַּל וָחמֶר
Failure to bring the daily burnt offering (עולה תמיד) does not incur the maximum penalty, which is כרת. That penalty devolves on one who does not offer the פסח offering.
The עולה תמיד is offered on Shabbat, even though it involves performing actions that in another context would be forbidden on Shabbat.
קַּל וָחמֶר (how much more so), when the day on which the פסח offering must be offered falls on Shabbat, the פסח must be offered on that day.
ב וּמִגְּזֵרָה שָׁוָה.
2) Based on an equal expression;
גְּזֵרָה שָׁוָה
Regarding an individual who caused the death of a pregnant woman by unintentionally hitting her, the verse in Exodus 21:23 says: you shall give life for life, וְנָתַתָּ֥ה נֶ֖פֶשׁ תַּ֥חַת נָֽפֶשׁ. This expression could be understood as meaning the death penalty for the guilty party.
However, in the immediately preceding verse Exodus 21:22, it is stated that if the woman does not die, then the guilty party must pay. The exact word used are: וְנָתַ֖ן בִּפְלִלִֽים, he must give according to the amount set by the judges. Clearly here the word "give" (נָתַ֖ן) means to pay.
Given that the same expression (וְנָתַתָּ֥ה) is also used for the case in which the woman dies, application of גְּזֵרָה שָׁוָה means that in that case the punishment to be applied is also monetary compensation rather than the death penalty.
ג מִבִּנְיַן אָב מִכָּתוּב אֶחָד. וּמִבִּנְיַן אָב מִשְּׁנֵי כְתוּבִים.
3) Based on a base structure that depends on one verse or two verses;
It has been established that on חג הפסח it is permitted to carry out activities necessary for preparation of food.The verse Exodus 12:16, the כָּתוּב אֶחָד that establishes this rule is the "base structure", the בִּנְיַן אָב to which we apply the permission to prepare food for all the other מועדים.
