HaMaayan/The Torah Spring Edited by Shlomo Katz Parashat Re'eh Volume V, Number 42 (228) 30 Menachem-Av 5751/August 10, 1991 "Shlishi D'Nechemata" Parasha Overview Parashat Re'eh always falls on or very close to Rosh Chodesh Elul, the beginning of the annual forty day period when our "Teshuva" (repentance) is particularly pleasing to Hashem. Appropriately, our Parasha begins with the verse, "Behold I am placing before you today a blessing and a curse." As the verses which follow explain, this is the choice which we make when we choose to observe the Mitzvot or to be lax in their performance. It is not always obvious that we are making such a choice. Many commentators note that most people think of themselves, in all honesty, as quite righteous individuals. R' Yosef Chaim Azulai ("Chida") writes of the person who said to Rambam (Maimonides), "I do not recite the 'Vidui' (confession) found in the Yom Kippur Machzor, for to do so would be a lie." Rambam responded, "If you truly understood the extent of your obligation to G-d, you would realize that you have committed every single sin listed there many times over." It is not that G-d is overly demanding, explains Chida, but simply that the more intelligent and understanding a person is, the more that is expected of him. (Lev David, ch. 12, quoted in Sefer Nedivut HaLev). The "Alter of Novardok" (R' Yosef Yoizel Horowitz) points out in a similar vein that the extremes of righteousness and evil are obvious to all, but most people have trouble seeing the many gradations in between. Most people can rightfully say, "I am certainly not a 'Rasha'," and they therefore assume incorrectly that they are Tzaddikim. (Madregat HaAdam quoted in Nedivut HaLev). During Elul we are called upon to discover these intermediate levels and our place among them. ************************************ "You shall surely open your hand to him...for because of this Hashem your G-d will bless all your belongings..." (Devarim 15:8, 10) The Gemara (Baba Batra) records that Rava forced R' Natan bar Ami to donate 400 Zuz (a type of coin) to charity, Tosfot asks: How could Rava do this? Doesn't the Gemara (Chullin 110b) imply that a Bet Din cannot force a person to perform a "Mitzvat Asei SheMatan Secharah BeTzida" - a positive commandment whose reward is found beside it? In other words, while a Rabbinical court can force a person to build a Sukkah, buy a Lulav, or perform most other positive commandments, if the Mitzvah is one whose reward is explicitly stated in the Torah, Bet Din cannot force a person to observe it! Tosfot offers four answers, each implying a different limit to a Bet Din's authority to enforce the performance of Mitzvot. Rabbenu Tam suggests that Rava did not force R' Natan to give charity, but merely persuaded him. Alternatively, perhaps R' Natan's and his neighbors agreed among themselves that in their community the Bet Din would have the authority to enforce even positive commandments whose reward is found in the Torah. May not a community instruct its Rabbis to be stricter on them than the Torah requires?! R' Yitzchak ("Ri") answers that a Bet Din in fact has the authority to force recalcitrant Tzedakah-givers to donate. This is because charity, in addition to the positive commandment of our verse, also involves a negative commandment: "Do not close your hand before you impoverished brother" (Devarim 15:7) Finally, R' Yitzchak ben Avraham ("Ritzba") answers that a Bet Din inherently has the authority to enforce every Mitzvah. The difference between Mitzvot whose reward is stated in the Torah and those where it is not is that Bet Din must enforce the latter, but has discretion with regard to enforcing the former. ************************************ Maharal's Study Plan In the previous two issues we discussed the arguments that were made for and against the study method known as Pilpul as it was practiced in the Polish Yeshivot of the 16th and 17th centuries. Perhaps no name stands out among the opponents of Pilpul more than that of R' Yehuda ben Bezalel, the "Maharal of Prague" (ca.1512- 1609). Numerous places among the Maharal's thousands of pages of writings does he take on those who he feels are corrupting the system of the Jewish people. In particular, Maharal stands out among his contemporaries in his concern for the youngest elementary-Yeshiva student, and the effect that Pilpul will have on his education. Maharal's comments on these issues are scattered throughout his writings, but are found in particular in Tiferet Yisrael (ch.56), D'rush Al HaTorah, Netivot Olam ("Netiv HaTorah"), and Gur Aryeh (Devarim 6:7). (A detailed listing of Maharal's writings on the subject may be found in R' Moshe Tzuriel's Otzrot Maharal, pages 5 and 46-49.) In Maharal's view, the popularity of Pilpul was only one symptom of a greater crisis in Jewish education, one that led the student's valuable childhood years to be lost. This situation arose, Maharal wrote, because the generations after the Talmud had abandoned the curriculum which the sages of the Mishnah had developed. It is described in Avot (chapter 5) as follows: At age five, to "Mikrah" (Bible). At age ten, to "Mishnah". At 13, one becomes obligated in Mitzvot. At 15, to "Gemara"... Mikrah - both "Chumash" and books of the prophets - explains Maharal, is the basis on which the rest of the Torah is built. It forms the roots of the Torah. Mishnah is the trunk of the tree, for it is the framework which supports the branches or details. Only after one has mastered Mikrah (the roots) and Mishnah (the trunk) is one prepared for the branches, i.e. the details which Gemara provides. Yet in most schools this order is not followed. Rather, at the age of eight a child is introduced to Gemara, and soon after, to the commentary of Tosfot, yet another level of complexity for which the typical child is not prepared. Even when Chumash is taught, writes Maharal, it is not done properly. In a typical school, the teacher will teach "Parashat HaShavuah" (the weekly Torah reading) each week, moving on to the next Parasha whether or not he has completed teaching the previous one. As a result, the child learns only part of each Parasha - at best - and nothing at all from those Parashot which fall during vacation periods. (The vacation period has its own detrimental effect, as well, for the student wastes that time and forgets all that he has learned.) Furthermore, under this system, the student reviews (part of) each Parasha only a full year after he has first learned it. Such is not considered review, and without review, no studies - whether Chumash or Gemara - can succeed. Maharal addresses as well the correct use of the works of the "Poskim" - the Halachic codifiers who lived after the time of the Talmud. While Maharal opposed the study method of the Tosfot, which concentrated on analysis and not Halacha, he opposed as well the methods of those who studied Halacha from the Shulchan Aruch and similar works, without any resort to Gemara. The correct path, in Maharal's view, is the middle road, one which calls on students to discover the Halachic conclusions hidden within the Gemara's discussions, and to use the Halachic codes as the standard against which each student's conclusions are measured. ("If only," muses Maharal in Netivot Olam, "those who print the Gemara would place the Halachic code of Rabbenu Asher alongside the text and leave off the Tosfot.") Rather than Pilpul, writes Maharal, the study of Gemara should emphasize the plain meaning. This does not necessarily mean (as some have suggested) that Maharal favored "Bekiut" (covering ground) over a strong grasp of the material. Rather, one should review over and over again until his student has mastered one or two tractates. In this way, writes Maharal, one will earn the Talmud's blessing of "If you see a generation that has abandoned Torah, arise and support it so that you may receive the reward due all of them." ************************************* The learning schedule for this Shabbat is: Daily Mishnah Arachin 5:6-6:1 (Learn two Mishnayot every day) Daily Halacha Orach Chaim (Mishnah Berura) 301:46-48 (Learn three paragraphs each day) Daf Yomi Yoma 7 (Learn two sides of a page each day) Pirkei Avot Chapter 5 (Learn one chapter each Shabbat afternoon during the summer) Rambam Chapter/Day: Hil. Tumat Tzaraat: Chapter 6 3 Chapters/Day: Hil. Avadim: Chapters 7-9 Sefer HaMamitzvot Sh:P235,N254,N255;Su:P243;M:P200,N238;Tu:P201 W:N267,N268;Th:N219,P244;F:P244 *********************************** The hard copy distribution of this week's HaMaayan is sponsored by: Dr. and Mrs. Robert Klein in memory of father, Dr. Shlomo Kaplowitz ******************** Posted by Alan Broder, ajb@grebyn.com (uunet!grebyn!ajb), who should be contacted to request back issues of HaMaayan or to get on or off the direct email mailing list. Shlomo Katz can not receive EMAIL, however I will pass on any comment forwarded to me, or alternately, send your comments care of yehuda@gwuvm.bitnet