Nafka minnah ( Aramaic: נפקא מינה, lit. "emerges from it" ) is a Talmudic phrase used in analytical debates. It is often used in the phrase Mai nafka minnah? (מאי נפקא מינה), which asks, "What is the practical difference?"
The question mai nafka minnah is a way of testing the difference between two or more explanations for a given law, by investigating the different practical halachic rulings that would follow from each explanation. In other words, it means "so how do they differ in practice?"
It is contrasted with the question be-mai peligei, which also means "how do they differ", but implies that the two views have the same practical consequences and that the difference is the intellectual process by which they are arrived at (for example, which Biblical verse is the relevant authority).
Examples of a nafka minnah abound, both in Jewish law as derived from the Talmud, as well as in any situation that presents multiple rationales for a particular item.
To begin the Shabbos meals, kiddush is recited, followed by the eating of challah. During kiddush, the challah should be covered, [1] which has led to a market for commercially available challah covers that are often beautifully decorated with embroidery or other designs. There are three reasons given for this practice:
Now that the custom to cover the challah has been established together with its three reasons, one could ask what the nafka minnah would be between the three reasons—how would a difference in practice occur as a result of one rationale being dominant over another? Each of the following bullets represents a distinct nafka minnah:
Nafka minnah ( Aramaic: נפקא מינה, lit. "emerges from it" ) is a Talmudic phrase used in analytical debates. It is often used in the phrase Mai nafka minnah? (מאי נפקא מינה), which asks, "What is the practical difference?"
The question mai nafka minnah is a way of testing the difference between two or more explanations for a given law, by investigating the different practical halachic rulings that would follow from each explanation. In other words, it means "so how do they differ in practice?"
It is contrasted with the question be-mai peligei, which also means "how do they differ", but implies that the two views have the same practical consequences and that the difference is the intellectual process by which they are arrived at (for example, which Biblical verse is the relevant authority).
Examples of a nafka minnah abound, both in Jewish law as derived from the Talmud, as well as in any situation that presents multiple rationales for a particular item.
To begin the Shabbos meals, kiddush is recited, followed by the eating of challah. During kiddush, the challah should be covered, [1] which has led to a market for commercially available challah covers that are often beautifully decorated with embroidery or other designs. There are three reasons given for this practice:
Now that the custom to cover the challah has been established together with its three reasons, one could ask what the nafka minnah would be between the three reasons—how would a difference in practice occur as a result of one rationale being dominant over another? Each of the following bullets represents a distinct nafka minnah: