The Zera Shimshon, Rav Shimshon Chaim ben Rav Nachmon Michoel Nachmani, was born in 5467 (1706/1707) into an illustrious family with great Rabbinical lineage. He served as Rav of Modena, Pisa, Sayna and Reggio, Italy. His Seforim were named, Zera Shimshon (al HaTorah) and Toldos Shimshon (Pirkei Avos). He passed away on the 6th of Elul 5539 (1779). His passionate plea and promise regarding learning his Chiddushim:
“I implore of you with ten terms of supplication to choose from my Chiddushim (novella) the piece ... that finds favor in your eyes, for your learning will sooth my soul etc...
“This righteousness will stand by you forever – to ‘eat’ in this world, and be satiated in the next. In this merit, Hashem will repay you with children, health and sustenance.
“...and now my brothers and friends etc. do a true kindness, and with your eyes you will see children and grandchildren surrounding your table, houses filled with all that is good, wealth and honor will not cease from your children...”
Following Local Custom
Rashi cites the Gemara (Baba Metzia 86b) that says that the angels only appeared to be eating but in reality they did not eat the food that Avraham Avinu served them. R’ Tanchum says that we learn from here that one should never deviate from the custom of the place in which he finds himself. When Moshe Rabbeinu ascended to Shamayim to receive the Torah, he refrained from eating (since that is the ‘custom’ in Heaven) and when the angels came down to Avraham Avinu, they ate, as is the ‘custom’ down here.
Tosfos quotes from the Seder Eliyahu Rabba that one shouldn’t learn like those who say that the angels only appeared to be eating, rather, the correct version is that they actually ate the food Avraham Avinu served them! Tosfos ends off – and this disagrees with what the Gemara says here.
The Zera Shimshon asks that Tosfos’s last words are absolutely unnecessary. Anyone reading the Gemara and then reading the Seder Eliyahu Rabba that Tosfos cites can see for himself that they don’t agree. Why does Tosfos find it necessary to point out that they disagree?
The Zera Shimshon explains that Tosfos pointed out the seemingly apparent, to bring to our attention what is really not so evident. Although the difference between the Gemara and the Seder Eliyahu Rabba is noticeable, that is not the only difference that exists here. In fact, there is a Halachic difference that ensues from whether or not the angels actually ate!
The Gemara (Pesachim 50a) says that one should not change from the custom of the place in which he finds himself, to avert strife. The Ran learns that since the reason given is to avert machlokes, therefore, in private, one does not need to be concerned about keeping to the custom of the place.
The Zera Shimshon explains that this is only true if the angels merely pretended to eat. Since the eating of the food was in public, everyone agrees that they were required to follow the custom of the land and do the action of eating. However, what happened to the food after it entered their mouth is where the difference lies. If the angels only pretended to eat the food so as not to change from the custom of this world, then we can learn that on the outside one must not change from the custom of the place but privately, he does not need to adhere to the custom.
However, according to Seder Eliyahu Rabba, the angels actually made themselves eat, even though they had an alternative option – they could have merely pretended to eat, as the Gemara holds they actually did, this entails that even privately, where no one would know the difference, still one must follow the custom of the place in which he finds himself, differing with the aforementioned Ran.
This, explains the Zera Shimshon is what Tosfos means by writing that the Gemara and the Seder Eliyahu Rabba disagree. Tosfos did not mean to point out the obvious. Rather, Tosfos meant to imply that based on this argument there is another machlokes in the ensuing halacha that is derived from the angels’ actions, as explained.
