The New Gambling Epidemic: Sports Betting, Kalshi, Day Trading, and Halacha

1. It’s a shailoh of the חלקת יואב in his קבא דקשייתא. He brings in a השמטה there that many misunderstood his question. Obviously something which is swallowed is not considered carrying. As the magen avraham writes 312:8, and brought in shulchan aruch horav and mishna brura there. He clarifies his question is only according to the פירוש הר”ש that the psul of a pregnant cow is because it is a משא.

Seemingly the answer is that the rules of carrying on shabbos and carrying by para aduma are different. By para aduma the para is posul simply by having the load on her, without moving anywhere, עלה עליה. While on shabbos one must move the object in order to be chayav. So they are obviously different. Now it is clear that on shabbos, the melacha of carrying was bringing an object from one place to another and being able to leave it there. Something which cannot detach from one’s body is not an object that could be handed and left elsewhere. There is no such rule by para aduma.

2. Regarding Pinchas, the kesef mishna (roitzeiach 1:14) brings from the hagahos maimoniyos that one is chayov to put himself in safek sakana to save another yid. And here it’s all the more so, for the entire klal yisroel were in sakana because of the anger of Hashem because of what was happening. True that the poskim in hilchos shabbos write differently, (shulchan aruch horav 329:8, mishna brura 329:19) but in choshen mishpat the Shulchan aruch horav (nizkei guf vnefesh 7) brings as teh main opinion that one has to put oneself in safek sakana to save the another yid. And brings the meikel opinion in parenthesis. Which supports the opinion of the sfas emes that mitzad midas chasidus one is always allowed. And especially in our case where it’s about saving the entire klal yisroel, it definitely has a higher level of chiyuv, as is clear in the end of siman 306 that to save a entire tzibur from a aveira has more chiyuv than saving an individual yid. vdu”k

3. It seems like the Rashash understood the mishna as people stepping on it lchatchila for no purpose, and in hilchos lulav it ssays to treat the used hoshaanos with respect. However in pirush hamishnayos lhorambam (brought in tosfos yom tov) he writes that it’s referring to coming to the beis hamikdosh for avodah. And there was no choice but to step on it because there was so much on the floor. So it’s not disrespectful as it’s ltzoirech avoda, and the chidush here is solely that they are not metamei because נעשו מצותן and nothing to do with saying that it’s lchatchila ok. (alternatively, the Rama in hilchos lulav is metzayen to hilchos tzitzis siman 21, and there we find opinions that are very meikel in this regard, so perhaps the rashash understood pshat like those opinions.