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What makes something a tolda of shen rather than keren? The shiur analyzes two formulations in Rashi (רש"י)—rubbing against a wall (nisacha be'kaisa) versus rolling on fruit (tin fa'peris)—and builds toward a fundamental principle: for shen, the damage must generate the pleasure. When an animal gets pleasure independent of causing destruction, the classification shifts. A deep analysis of matoglolam (excrement) and whether davar ha'yotzei mi'gufo counts as gufo or koach unfolds competing views in Rashi and Rambam (רמב"ם).
The shiur opens with Rashi (רש"י) on Bava Kamma 3a examining two examples of a tolda of shen: an animal rubbing its back against a wall (nisacha be'kaisa la'hanos) and an animal rolling on fruit (tin fa'peris la'hanos). Rabbi Zweig asks why Rashi needs two separate examples when both seem to describe the same action—an animal rubbing itself for pleasure. The wall may collapse, the fruit may be crushed, but what distinguishes these as two distinct tolaydos rather than one? The first proposal is that the difference lies in what is destroyed versus what gives pleasure. When the animal rubs against a wall, the wall itself does not provide the pleasure—the rubbing does—but the wall may fall. By contrast, when it rolls on fruit, the fruit itself may be smashed beneath the animal, yet the pleasure comes from the contact. This introduces a subtle but critical distinction: must the damage itself be the source of the pleasure (as in eating), or is it sufficient that pleasure and damage occur simultaneously?
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Bava Kamma 3a
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