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What is the measure of chatzi shiur (half-measure) that's forbidden on Yom Kippur? The shiur analyzes whether the Gemara (גמרא)'s din of chatzi shiur min haTorah applies the same way to Yom Kippur as it does to forbidden foods. A fundamental distinction emerges: in prohibited foods chatzi shiur means kol shehu, but on Yom Kippur—where the issur is inui, not mechales asuros—the Rambam (רמב"ם) requires hanachas grono, something close to a kezayis.
This shiur examines Yoma 73b and the sugya of chatzi shiur (half-measure) on Yom Kippur. The Mishna teaches that on Yom Kippur one who eats the size of a koseves hagasa (large date) or drinks a melo lugmav (cheekful) is chayav. The Gemara (גמרא) questions why the Mishna uses the term "asur" when it should say "chayav kareis" for eating on Yom Kippur. Rebbe Yochanan answers that the Mishna is not discussing the full shiur but rather chatzi shiur (half the measure), and chatzi shiur is asur min haTorah—forbidden by Torah (תורה) law—according to Rebbe Yochanan. The shiur begins by raising a fundamental question on Rashi (רש"י)'s formulation. Rashi explains "chatzi shiur" as "pochos mi'shiur" (less than the measure), but then adds "v'chi lo shalem shiurei kares like issur." This language appears redundant—if Rashi already said chatzi shiur means less than the full measure, why add that one is not chayav kareis for incomplete measures? Rabbi Zweig suggests that Rashi is teaching a fundamental principle: the issur of chatzi shiur only applies when one does NOT complete the full shiur. If one eats a full shiur, there is no separate issur of chatzi shiur—one is only chayav for the complete shiur. This addresses a conceptual problem: if chatzi shiur were forbidden even when one eats a full shiur, one would be over an infinite number of aveiros every time one ate a kezayis, since every full measure contains infinite half-measures within it.
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Yoma 73b
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