Today's Learning Ketubot 6:1-2 Sponsored by O.C. 174:4-6 the Rutstein family Sanhedrin 33 in memory of mother and grandmother Yerushalmi-- Pesha Batya bat Zemach A"H Yevamot 21 (Bessie Rutstein) Hamaayan/The Torah Spring edited by Shlomo Katz Emor Vol. IX, No. 31 (415), 13 Iyar 5755, May 13, 1995 At the end of this week's parashah we read of the man who cursed G-d's Name. The midrash (Torat Kohanim) explains: What made him do this? He heard the law in this week's parashah that twelve loaves of bread should be placed on the shulchan (table) in the mishkan (tabernacle) and left there for a week. He questioned this halachah, asking, "Is the King of Kings to be fed with week-old bread?" Then he cursed G-d's Name. How can we understand this progression? Rav Zalman Sorotzkin zatz'l explains as follows: This man questioned Divine Providence. He thought that it was insulting to "serve" stale bread to G-d, but had he waited one week, he would have seen that the bread miraculously stayed warm and fresh. This man believed, "If I don't understand G-d's ways now, then they make no sense!" This is a common mistake. Frequently, we see that Hashem does things which we do not understand. However, we must trust G-d and learn to wait, whether it be for an hour, a week, or until the end of days. (Heard from Rav Yissochor Frand shlita.) ************************************ "Hashem said to Moshe, 'Say to the kohanim, the sons of Aharon, and tell them. . . '." (21:1) Rashi comments that the redundancy, "Say . . . tell them," teaches that the elders should be warned to teach the children. How is this lesson implied in these words? Rav Moshe Feinstein zatz'l explains that teaching one's children has two parts. It is not enough to teach the commandments and the laws; one must tell and demonstrate(!) to his children how dear those laws are. [Rav Moshe was wont to say that the most destructive expression that parents could use was, "It's difficult to be a Jew."] One must "say" the laws, and then one must "tell them" how beloved the laws of the Torah are. (Darash Moshe) ************************************ "And you shall count for yourselves, from the morrow of the rest day ('Shabbat'). . . ." (23:15) The Oral Tradition notes that the "Shabbat" referred to here is not the seventh day of the week but is the first day of Pesach. Why does the Torah call it Shabbat? Rav Eliezer David Gruenwald zatz'l explains as follows: On Shabbat, we conclude the kiddush with the phrase, "He who sanctifies the Shabbat." On yom tov, we conclude that blessing, "He who sanctifies Israel and the times [i.e., holidays]." Why do we not mention the sanctification of Israel on Shabbat? The reason is that the holiness of Shabbat does not depend on the Jews, while the sanctification of yom tov does. Shabbat invariably comes along on every seventh day; this would happen if there were no Jews. Yom tov, however, depends on the calendar, and the arrangement of the calendar is given over to the sanhedrin, the leaders of the Jews. Before the holidays can be sanctified, Israel must be sanctified; not so Shabbat. There is one holiday which is similar to Shabbat in this respect. That is Pesach, particularly the first day. Chazal teach that Bnei Yisrael were not really deserving of the Exodus, and it took place only so that the Jews could become deserving, retroactively, by receiving the Torah. (The Omer, which the above verse instructs us to count, marks the days until that event.) Pesach, therefore, like Shabbat, took place independently of the sanctification of Israel, and it is appropriately called "Shabbat." (Chasdei David p.6) ************************************ Pirkei Avot "One whose deeds ("ma'asav") are greater than his wisdom . . . all the winds in the world may blow, but they will not move him, as it is written [Yirmiyah 17:8], 'He will be like a tree planted by the waters, that sends forth its roots to the veins of water and will not perceive that the heat is coming, whose leaves will be always be fresh, and he will not worry in a drought year, and he will never cease to yield fruit'." (Chapter 3) Rav Yaakov Chaim of Baghdad zatz'l (1854-1921; son of the more famous Rav Yosef Chaim of Baghdad) suggests that the word "ma'asav" used here means "creations." Specifically, the mishnah refers to a person's students. Chazal say that one's students are his creations. We are also taught in Pirkei Avot that if one's deeds (or, according to Rav Yaakov, his creations or students) are numerous, his wisdom will last. This may be understood, says Rav Yaakov, in light of the proverb, "I learned most of all from my students." (Z'chut Avot) Why is it that a person learns so much from his students? Rav Shimon Shkop zatz'l (died 1940) explains that Torah, like money, is entrusted to a person by Hashem. If a person proves himself a reliable caretaker, he is entrusted with even more wealth. Thus, one who gives charity is rewarded with greater monetary wealth, while one who teaches Torah is rewarded with greater knowledge. ************************************ The verse from Yirmiyah quoted above refers to one who places his faith in Hashem. (The previous verse is, "Blessed is the man who will trust in G-d. . . .") Rav Joseph Breuer zatz'l (1882-1980) comments on these two verses: "Blessings will accompany those who, whatever the obstacles[,] will keep their lives firmly and enduringly rooted in G-d and who are upheld by the profound awareness that not even the most potent resources on earth can replace the one true Source of power and might [represented by the river], near which alone the tree [i.e., man], as it were, must place itself. The tree must eagerly send forth its roots to the veins of water flowing from that source if it wishes to survive the withering hot desert in ever-verdant freshness. If it chooses this course, the tree will never have cause to fear the scorching breath of the desert winds, which it will never have to experience." [Note that the last sentence is a play on the similarity between the Hebrew words for fear and seeing.] (Sefer Yirmiyah: Translation and Commentary) ************************************ Rav Meir of Lublin zatz'l born 5318 (1558) - died 16 Iyar 5376 (1616) Rav Meir, known as "Maharam," was one of the leading poskim (halachic authorities) of the 16th and 17th centuries. He was born in Lublin and was educated in Krakow. In 1582, Maharam established a yeshiva in Lublin, which he conducted until 1587, when he was appointed rabbi of Lublin to succeed his father-in-law. From 1595 until 1613, Maharam was rabbi of L'vov (Lemberg), and he then returned to Lublin where he reopened his yeshiva and also served as rabbi. His students included many of the luminaries of the next generation, including the "Shelah Hakadosh." Maharam was one of the leading disputants in a halachic debate involving the validity of a certain "death-bed" divorce known as the "Vienna get." The story behind this get was as follows: If a man dies childless and leaves a brother, the widow must obtain a chalitzah before she may remarry. If the deceased's brother-in-law lives in a different country, or if the family is too poor to travel, this can be difficult. It was therefore customary that a man would give a get on his death-bed, with the get being conditional upon his dying. This get (or a separate contract) would also say that if the husband or wife refused to return to the other (in the event the man did not die), then the recalcitrant spouse would pay the other 2,000 gold coins. In the case of the "Vienna get," the documents were not completed in the customary way. When the husband did not die, he insisted that the get was void, and he demanded the 2,000 gold coins. Instead, however, the wife's family managed to extort 4,600 gold coins from the young husband. The halachic issues raised by these events were passed on by nearly all of the sages of Eastern Europe. Maharam was in the minority that invalidated the get. He was, however, recognized by his contemporaries as one of the foremost scholars in Europe. Indeed, numerous halachic queries were addressed to him, including questions of agunot. Maharam lived in the generation after the Shulchan Aruch was completed, and he was opposed to this "easy" way of learning halachah. Maharam left numerous unpublished works, in addition to his published responsa and the Talmud commentary which can be found in the standard Vilna edition of the Talmud. ************************************ Donations to Hamaayan are tax-deductible.