Study Menachot folio 42B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
of Pashronya: A Torah scroll, tefillin, or mezuzot that were written by a heretic, a Samaritan, a non-Jew, a Canaanite slave, a woman, a minor, or a Jewish apostate [meshummad] are unfit, as it is stated: “And you shall bind them for a sign on your arm…and you shall write them on the doorposts of y
And despite the fact that tefillin written by a non-Jew are unfit, a Jew who writes them does not have to recite a blessing. As Rav Ḥiyya, son of Rav Huna, sent a ruling in the name of R' Yoḥanan: On tefillin of the arm one says the blessing: Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who
Rather, isn’t this the reason for the distinction between different mitzvot: For any mitzva whose performance is the completion of the mitzva, such as circumcision, even though it is valid when performed by a non-Jew, when it is performed by a Jew he must recite a blessing. But for any mitzva where
And with regard to reciting a blessing when one attaches tzitzit to a garment, the rabbis disagree about this: One Sage, Rav Adda bar Ahava, holds that it is an obligation pertaining to the cloak. Therefore, when one attaches the tzitzit he is completing the mitzva, and he should recite a blessin
Rav Mordekhai said to Rav Ashi: You teach this halakha about non-Jews attaching tzitzit to a garment in this manner, citing Rav Yehuda in the name of Rav that the tzitzit are invalid. Consequently, Rav Ḥisda raises a contradiction between this ruling and another ruling of Rav.