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How can a shevuah prohibiting eating create an issur on less than a kezayis when yesterday that amount was permitted? The shiur distinguishes between chatzi shiur as an issur ta'am (taste) versus an issur achilah (eating), arguing that a shevuah transforms a half-measure into a complete act of eating — like a beriah — thereby creating a new prohibition category entirely distinct from the Torah (תורה)'s underlying chatzi shiur issur.
This shiur is the second part of an analysis examining three fundamental approaches to understanding the issur of chatzi shiur (eating less than the standard measure). The Gemara (גמרא) in Yoma 73b discusses whether chatzi shiur is a gezeiras hakasuv (scriptural decree), a cheftza issur (object-based prohibition), or — according to the Rambam (רמב"ם) as understood by the Maharil — an issur achilah that applies only to prohibitions that were not permitted yesterday. The shiur focuses on two seemingly contradictory rulings in the Rambam. First, the Rambam (Hilchos Shevuos 5:7) rules that one can make a shevuah on chatzi shiur of neveilos and treifos, creating a new prohibition even though chatzi shiur is already Biblically prohibited. Second, the Rambam (Hilchos Shevuos 4:2 and Hilchos Nedarim 1) rules that when someone takes a shevuah not to eat, there is an issur chatzi shiur — one is prohibited from eating even less than a kezayis. Both rulings are extraordinarily difficult according to the Maharil's principle that chatzi shiur only applies to prohibitions involving a cheftza that was always prohibited, not something that was permitted yesterday.
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Yoma 73b
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