Zman grama, I recently learned, is another word for “time-based”. Thanks to Geoff for the link to this shiur.
(I originally wrote this for my Torah study partner, but I might as well have it here too, I suppose. That accounts for the carefree tone of this particular post.
…I still can’t get over how the guy missed the fact that his classification pretty much exempts almost everything but chagim stuff like Sukkot from being zman grama.)
Here’s the basic throw down of what zman grama is according to this guy:
-direct time given in Torah
-only a mitzvah at a certain time, though you could conceivably do it any time
-requires a beginning and ending time (Tur Even ha-Ezer said this?)
-dependent on time, not conditions
-only covers mitzvot inherent in the person
-refers to date, not event
So, OK. The guy gave some examples of things that are currently seen as zman grama even though they’re not. For example, counting the Omer is generally seen to be totally time-dependent, I mean you have to say it for 49 days, and it’s only at night and if you miss one you can’t go back etc. But no, he says it’s not time-based because it doesn’t say in the Torah COUNT THESE DAYS—it’s indirect. It says “count from the Sabbath” or whatever it says. So this is the intermediary that we count.
Next, brit milah isn’t time-based because it’s depending on conditions, not a specific time. Even though it says “eight days after birth”, if you do it AFTER eight days, it’s still good (EDIT: I recently read it’s from eight to twelve days.). Furthermore, like he says, “If there’s no baby there, there’s no mitzvah!” It’s dependent on conditions.
Also kiddush levana isn’t time-based, he says, because it’s also dependent on condition. The moon has to be in a certain cycle, and that’s dependent on the conditions of the moon, not time.
So, using this list, we can decipher whether other certain things are time-based. Some things definitely are, like sitting in the sukkah, for example. It MUST be done on Sukkot, and when the time has passed, you can’t do it anymore. Like he says, “you can go build a sukkah any time but it won’t be a mitzvah.” I can’t think of that many other things that are really truly time-based according to this list…I mean a bunch of the Pesach stuff is but who’s arguing?
Well, since apparently Ber. 3:3 is so FULL OF time-based mitzvot (see last post for my views about 3:3…), let’s look at those.
Women and slaves and minors are exempt from reciting the Shema and from wearing phylacteries, but they are not exempt from saying the Tefillah, from the law of the Mezuzah or from saying the Benediction after meals.
Later, it says in Mishnah that “women slaves and minors” are exempt from all time-based too, but the rabbis only combined the two later on, because, so I hear, it’s never really specified WHAT is considered time-based in Mishnah; that’s a later “innovation”, if you will.
OK, so Shema is considered time-based because it’s done “when you get up and when you lie down” and this means “at the time when most people get up or lie down”, and not actually lying down because if you do that your horse will trample you and Shammai said that one anyway and he’s always wrong and gets people trampled.
-direct time given in Torah? Not really, but I guess you could derive it so that’s not so bad.
-only a mitzvah at a certain time, though you could conceivably do it any time: This one fits, because if you say Shema too late it only counts as Torah study and not as Shema. HOWEVER the guy in the shiur also says that zman grama is something “if you don’t do it that day, the night ruins it, and you can’t do it again”. So, sitting in the sukkah would be covered by this, but Shema is something you could just do again the next day. So not sure about that one.
-requires a beginning and ending time: See #2.
-dependent on time, not conditions: I think this would also be true because we’re not following Shammai and don’t actually have to be in the condition of laying down to say Shema.
-only covers mitzvot inherent in the person: True.
-refers to date, not event: I don’t know about this one….there’s definitely no specific date given….but neither is there an actualy event going on, either.
There are so many qualifications in this list, I have to admit that I don’t see how any mitzvah could actually stand up to this and still be considered time-based.
Anyway, moving on. Wearing phylacteries.
-direct time given in Torah? No; this is connected with the Shema but as you know originally tefillin were meant to be worn all day, but people stopped doing it because of guf naki. Apparently, some people in Israel still go around with the shel yad on all day (so I hear…I hope that’s true because that’s kind of fun).
-only a mitzvah at a certain time, though you could conceivably do it any time: I don’t think this is true either. I admit that I don’t know if there’s any place where it specifically rules that tefillin are now only a Shema thing or a Shaharit thing…I mean, you don’t wear them on Shabbat, but that’s because of a specific exemption of “crossing signs” or whatever—so that’s the exemption to the rule; not the rule itself.
-requires a beginning and ending time: I don’t think so…also, just like Shema, you can just do it over the next day.
-dependent on time, not conditions: Well, I could argue that it’s dependent on the condition of guf naki, so like if you’re wallowing in the swamps or something you don’t have to wear tefillin, but that is probably just another exemption, not the rule itself. (So the baseline would be “yes tefillin” and any condition could override it; not that there is a bseline that conditions must be met…I don’t know, though.)
-only covers mitzvot inherent in the person: I think this is so.
-refers to date, not event: No.
Tefillah:
-direct time given in Torah: These correspond with the sacrifices, so like the Shema I guess you could derive specific times.
-only a mitzvah at a certain time, though you could conceivably do it any time: I don’t think this is true, if only because the times given are so lenient, and if you miss an Amidah, you can totally make it up just about any time. I’m not sure if it still counts like doing it on time, though. It might also be like Shema.
-requires a beginning and ending time: I guess you could say this, even though you could just do it again the next day too.
-dependent on time, not conditions: Yes.
-only covers mitzvot inherent in the person: Yes.
-refers to date, not event: Not a date.
Also Rambam says that it isn’t time-based, only that the rabbis made it so. However, women were obligated in tefillah AND exempt from time-based mitzvot both in Mishnah, so I don’t know.
