QUESTION: In the Mishnah, Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel disagree about a case in which Shavuos occurs on Erev Shabbos. According to Beis Shamai, the Yom Tavo'ach (the day of bringing the Korban) is on neither Erev Shabbos nor Shabbos, but after Shabbos (on Sunday). According to Beis Hillel, it is not necessary to have a separate Yom Tavo'ach, because all of the Korbanos for Shavuos may be offered on Yom Tov (Erev Shabbos) itself. The Mishnah then states that everyone agrees that when Shavuos occurs on Shabbos, the Yom Tavo'ach is on Sunday (since the Korbanos of the Yom Tov may not be offered on Shabbos).

Why does Beis Shamai rule that when Shavuos is on Erev Shabbos, the Yom Tavo'ach is on Sunday? Apparently, Beis Shamai is consistent with his opinion in the beginning of the Mishnah where he says that offering Korbenos Olos -- even the Olos of the festival -- on Yom Tov is prohibited. Beis Hillel disagrees and says that Olos may be offered on Yom Tov.

RASHI (DH Yom Tavo'ach), however, describes Beis Shamai's Yom Tavo'ach as "the day of offering the Korbenos Re'iyah and Chagigah of Yom Tov." (This is also the way RABEINU AVRAHAM MIN HA'HAR explains the words "Yom Tavo'ach.") Why, though, does Beis Shamai require a Yom Tavo'ach for the Korban Chagigah, which is a Korban Shelamim? Beis Shamai explicitly permits offering Shelamim on Yom Tov!

It is not logical to suggest that, according to Rashi, Beis Shamai permits offering the Shalmei Simchah on Yom Tov but not the Shalmei Chagigah. The Shalmei Chagigah is more of an obligation than the Shalmei Simchah, since the Chagigah must be brought from Chulin while the Shalmei Simchah may be brought from animals which one is already obligated to offer as a Korban (Nedarim, Nedavos, Ma'aser, etc.; see 7b) or from a Korban brought the day before Yom Tov (Pesachim 71a)! The only obligation of Shalmei Simchah is to eat the meat of a Korban; there is no obligation to offer a Korban specifically for that purpose (see Insights to Chagigah 8:1). Why should one be permitted to offer the Shalmei Simchah on Yom Tov?

Moreover, the Gemara in Beitzah (19a) and Megilah (5a) explicitly states that Beis Shamai permits offering Shalmei Chagigah on Yom Tov, as he derives from the verse, "v'Chagosem Chag la'Hashem" (Vayikra 23:41). Why, then, does Rashi write that Beis Shamai prohibits offering the Korban Chagigah on Yom Tov? (TOSFOS, DH Yom Tavo'ach)

(a) The SI'ACH YITZCHAK suggests that Beis Shamai says that the Chagigah is deferred until Sunday only when Yom Tov occurs on Friday; Beis Shamai requires that the Olah and Chagigah be offered either on the same day or on consecutive days. When Yom Tov occurs on any other weekday, the Chagigah is offered on Yom Tov and the Olah is offered the next day (on Chol ha'Mo'ed, or on the day after Shavuos). When Yom Tov is on Erev Shabbos and the Olah will not be offered until Sunday (two days after the Chagigah was offered), then the Chagigah is also deferred until Sunday.

Similarly, the CHAFETZ CHAIM (in ZEVACH TODAH) answers that Beis Shamai agrees that mid'Oraisa one is permitted to offer a Korban Chagigah on Yom Tov. This is the intent of the beginning of the Mishnah here (and of the Gemara in Beitzah and Megilah) which says that Beis Shamai permits Shalmei Chagigah to be offered on Yom Tov. When the Mishnah quotes Beis Shamai who says that the Yom Tavo'ach is after Shabbos, it means that the Rabanan decreed that one should not offer the Chagigah on a day other than the day on which he offers the Olas Re'iyah, as a safeguard to ensure that the Chagigah is not offered on Yom Tov even when Shavuos occurs on Shabbos (when offering the Chagigah is prohibited mid'Oraisa). (See the NETZIV in MEROMEI SADEH for another approach.)

The problem with these approaches is that they do not address the source from which Rashi derives these novel laws. What motivates Rashi to explain Beis Shamai's opinion in such a novel way?

RAV YITZCHAK ISAAC CHAVER and other Acharonim explain that perhaps Rashi's source is an inference from the phrase, "Yom Tavo'ach" -- "the Day of Offering [the Korbanos]," which implies that all Korbanos of Yom Tov are brought on that day, including the Chagigah.

The Si'ach Yitzchak challenges this suggestion. The Gemara later (17b) asks that Beis Shamai already states in the beginning of the Mishnah that one may not offer a Korban on Yom Tov; why does he repeat himself in the case of Shavuos that falls on Friday? If Rashi is correct that even the Chagigah is offered after Shabbos on the Yom Tavo'ach, then what is the Gemara's question? The reason why Beis Shamai repeats his opinion in the case of Shavuos that falls on Friday is obvious: he teaches a very important Chidush -- that in certain cases even the Chagigah may not be offered on Yom Tov.

(b) TOSFOS answers that Rashi's source may be the Yerushalmi here and the Tosefta (2:5) which record the reasons for the dispute between Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel. Beis Hillel maintains that all of the Korbanos of the festival may be offered on Yom Tov because they are Korbanos which have a "Zeman Kavu'a," a set time, and their time will pass if they are not offered at the first available opportunity. Nedarim and Nedavos, in contrast, may not be offered on Yom Tov because they have no set time at which they must be offered. Beis Shamai responds that the Korban Chagigah is also considered a Korban which has no set time because it may be offered on any of the days of Chol ha'Mo'ed. Beis Hillel responds that the Chagigah does have a set time; it must be offered during the festival and not afterwards, while Nedarim may be offered any time of year.

From the Yerushalmi and Tosefta it seems that Beis Shamai prohibits offering the Chagigah on Yom Tov, as Rashi here says. (It should be noted that the Gemara in Beitzah (20b) quotes this Tosefta but replaces the word "Chagigah" with the words "Olas Re'iyah." According to that version of the Tosefta, there is no support for Rashi from the Tosefta.)

This answer is problematic, because the beginning of the Mishnah (and Tosefta) says that Beis Shamai permits offering Shelamim on Yom Tov, which must refer to Shalmei Chagigah (as mentioned above, based on logic and based on the Gemara in Beitzah and Megilah).

RAV YITZCHAK ISAAC CHAVER suggests that Beis Shamai prohibits offering Shalmei Chagigah only on the Yom Tov of Shavuos. On the other festivals (Pesach and Sukos), which have a second Yom Tov at the end of seven days, Beis Shamai must permit offering the Chagigah on Yom Tov because it cannot be deferred to a later day (because the festival ends on the second day of Yom Tov). Since Beis Shamai permits offering the Chagigah on the second Yom Tov of Pesach and Sukos (because on that day it is a Korban with a set time which cannot be delayed), they also permit offering the Chagigah on the first Yom Tov. On Shavuos, however, there is no second day of Yom Tov. Since there is no day of Yom Tov which the Chagigah overrides, it does not override the Yom Tov of Shavuos at all.

(c) Perhaps an entirely new explanation for the words of Rashi may be proposed. Rashi certainly agrees that Beis Shamai permits offering the Korban Chagigah on Yom Tov. What, then, does Rashi mean when he says that the Yom Tavo'ach is for the Korban Chagigah as well?

The answer is that these words of Rashi (DH Yom Tavo'ach) are out of place. They belong after the following comment of Rashi (DH Ein Lah Yom Tavo'ach). These words of Rashi do not refer to the case of Shavuos that occurs on Friday, but rather they refer to the following case in the Mishnah, the case of Shavuos that occurs on Shabbos. In such a case, both Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel agree that the Yom Tavo'ach is on Sunday. The Yom Tavo'ach is indeed for all of the Korbanos, including the Chagigah, since those Korbanos could not be offered on Shabbos. (CHAGEI DAVID; see HAGAHOS HA'BACH on 18a, who points out that there are a number of comments of Rashi there which are out of place.)

With regard to the Yerushalmi and the Tosefta, many Acharonim point out that it is clear from the words later in the Yerushalmi and from the Tosefta itself that Beis Shamai permits offering Shalmei Chagigah on Yom Tov. When the Yerushalmi and Tosefta mention the word "Chagigah" in the dispute between Beis Shamai and Beis Hillel, it actually means the Olas Re'iyah (it calls the Re'iyah "Chagigah" because the Re'iyah is also a Korban offered on the festival, the "Chag"). Accordingly, when the Gemara in Beitzah quotes the Tosefta, it replaces the word "Chagigah" with the more accurate term, "Olas Re'iyah." (HAGAHOS RAV YITZCHAK ISAAC CHAVER)

However, this explanation -- that the comments of Rashi are out of place -- is difficult in light of the last words of Rashi's comment here. Rashi continues and says that the Yom Tavo'ach of the Re'iyah and Chagigah is after Shabbos because those Korbanos "may not be offered on Yom Tov or Shabbos." If Rashi is discussing the case of Shavuos that occurs on Shabbos, then why does he say that these Korbanos "may not be offered on Yom Tov"? That fact is not only irrelevant to this case, but it is also incorrect! It must be that Rashi is discussing an ordinary Yom Tov of Shavuos which does not occur on Shabbos, and yet he still says that neither the Re'iyah nor the Chagigah may be offered on Yom Tov.

(It is interesting to note that Rabeinu Avraham Min ha'Har omits these words of Rashi as well as the entire comment of Rashi that follows. Accordingly, none of Rashi's comments are out of order, and the approach suggested here remains valid.)

The answer to this question may be that the comment of Rashi here lacks a punctuation mark. Rashi's comment (in DH Yom Tavo'ach) actually ends with the words, "... Shel Yom Tov." The following words, "l'Achar ha'Shabbos...," begin a new comment of Rashi and belong before Rashi's comments in DH Yom Tavo'ach. His words "l'Achar ha'Shabbos..." refer back to the case of Shavuos that occurs on Friday (in our texts, the Mishnah there reads "Achar ha'Shabbos," but Rashi's Girsa was "l'Achar ha'Shabbos" like the Girsa of the manuscripts quoted by the DIKDUKEI SOFRIM).

Thus, even according to Rashi, everyone agrees that the Shalmei Chagigah may be offered on Yom Tov.