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Why can a shevuah take effect on chatzi shiur when the measure itself is only rabbinically prohibited? The shiur develops a fundamental yesod through Yoma 74a: a shevuah "shelo yochal kol shehu" creates a new beriah — a complete ma'aseh issur — transforming a partial measure into a distinct prohibition independent of the underlying chatzi shiur issur derabbanan.
This shiur completes the analysis of chatzi shiur on Yoma 74a, addressing a fundamental question in the laws of shevuah: how can a shevuah take effect on chatzi shiur (a half-measure) when the Gemara (גמרא)'s simple reading suggests that a shevuah is not chal (does not take effect) on an issur derabbanan? The Gemara's initial position is that on an issur derabbanan, a shevuah is not chal because of lo sasur. Yet the Gemara concludes that since chatzi shiur is also midoraisa, the shevuah is chal. This creates a fundamental question about the nature of the change between the havah amina and maskana. Rabbi Zweig develops the core kasha through the Mahari Chavad and Tosfos Yom Kippur. The Rambam (רמב"ם) holds that a shevuah is chal on chatzi shiur, stating that anything not meforash in the Torah (תורה) allows a shevuah to take effect. However, this seems inconsistent with our Gemara, which clearly implies that a shevuah is not chal on chatzi shiur according to Rav Yochanan. The Gemara in Shevuos (23b) presents an apparent contradiction: there, the sugya holds that according to Rav Yochanan, a shevuah can be chal on chatzi shiur, while our sugya suggests it cannot.
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Yoma 74a
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