Today's Learning Kinim 2:3-4 Hamaayan's editor O.C. 574:2-4 is on vacation. Nidah 37 Please enjoy this reprint. Hamaayan/The Torah Spring edited by Shlomo Katz Eikev Vol. XI, No. 45 (528), 20 Av 5757, August 23, 1997 This parashah warns repeatedly of the dangers of luxuries. For example, the Torah says (11:15-16), "And you will eat and be satiated. Take care lest your hearts be seduced. . ." What should a person do to protect himself? Chazal say (Avot ch.3) that if a person eats and does not say a dvar Torah (words of Torah) at the table, his meal borders on idolatry. Avudraham explains that this is precisely because eating is potentially fatal to a person's spirituality. A simple dvar Torah can put the meal back in perspective, and can even sanctify it. The same lesson was taught to Rav Yosef Karo by the "maggid" (angel) in connection with the verse in our parashah (8:3), "Man does not live by bread alone; rather by G-d's word man lives." If you think of divrei Torah even as you chew, your food will have the sanctity of a korban (sacrifice). A person cannot live if he eats bread alone; he must at the same time ingest Hashem's word, i.e. the Torah. (Maggid Mesharim) ************************************ "You will be unable to destroy them [the Canaanites] quickly lest wild animals overtake you." (7:22) Most simply, this means that if Bnei Yisrael had evicted the Canaanites faster than the Land was resettled, wild animals would have moved in. Therefore, Bnei Yisrael could advance through Canaan only slowly. But, asks Rav Shaul Eliezer Yedidyah Taub zatz'l ("Modshitzer Rebbe") , what could stop Hashem from curtailing the spread of the beasts if He chose? Rather, he explains the verse as follows: "You will be unable to destroy the Canaanites quickly lest the cruel traits of wild animals overtake you." Even in battle, Jews must advance deliberately to avoid unnecessary destruction and to maintain the trait of kindness. (quoted in Shabbat Be'shabbato) ************************************ "Man does not live by bread alone. . ." (8:3) Pirkei Avot (chapter 6) teaches, "This is the way of Torah: eat bread dipped in salt and drink a measured amount of water. . ." What does this mean? Rav Chaim Yosef David Azulai ("Chidah") zatz'l explains that one should become so engrossed in Torah that he has no time to think of eating. Not that man must torture himself in order to learn, but rather that one should be too busy learning Torah to think about luxuries. To what may this be compared? To one who is lovesick, and who thinks of nothing else but the one for whom he pines. Similarly, a person should pine for Torah study. (Petach Enayim) ************************************ "And you will eat, and you will be satiated, and you shall bless Hashem, your G-d. . ." (8:10) This verse teaches the mitzvah of birkat hamazon. However, the fourth blessing of birkat hamazon is a rabbinic ordinance to commemorate the miracles which followed the massacre at Betar in the time of the Emperor Hadrian. Rav Natan Shapira of Horodno zatz'l (grandfather of the kabbalist of the same name who authored the famous work Megaleh Amukot) offers the following reason for placing a reminder of Betar in birkat hamazon. Unfortunately, when people eat big meals and are satiated, they tend to forget, or at least put aside temporarily, their usual awareness of the transience of this life and the importance of spiritual pursuits. To combat this, we remember the martyrs of Betar, a "shock-treatment" of sorts to remind a person of the tenuousness of the human condition. (Seder Birkat Hamazon) ************************************ In his work on Torah-derived table manners, the 14th century sage Rabbenu Bachya ben Asher writes: When one finishes eating he should remain at the table for some time, as Chazal said (Berachot 54b), "If one extends his meal, his life will be extended." Why? Because the longer a person sits at the table, the greater the likelihood that a poor person will chance by and will be fed. In this vein, we find a verse (Yechezkel 41:22) where the words "altar" and "table" are used interchangeably, and Chazal explain that just as one's sins are atoned for upon the altar, so they are forgiven when one feeds the poor at his table. (So great is this mitzvah, writes Rabbenu Bachya, that some people have their coffins built from the wood of their tables so that the boards can "testify" on their behalf before the Heavenly court.) One is obligated to say divrei Torah (words of Torah) while sitting at the table. Chazal teach (Avot ch.3) that if one eats at a table where divrei Torah are said it is as if he has eaten at G-d's table, but if he eats at a table where no divrei Torah are said it is as if he ate from sacrifices brought before idols. Why such harsh words? To teach man that he was not created in order to eat and to drink, but in order to study Torah. (Shulchan Shel Arbah) ************************************ "What does Hashem ask of you other than to fear Him....?" (10:12) Rav Yehuda Halevi warns us not to think that Judaism is a religion of the heart or of the mind. Rather, it is a religion of deeds. This is clear from the Torah, a significant part of which describes mitzvot--some, in great detail--that require action. History shows that the great philosophers of Greece or other societies did not come closer to G-d than did the simple Jew who kept the mitzvot; if Hashem merely wanted our hearts or our minds, those philosophers would have fared better spiritually. How then are we to understand the above verse? Just as Hashem does not desire our hearts alone, He does not want deeds alone. In fact, it is unlikely that a person would perform the mitzvot unless he possessed some fear of Heaven. This pasuk may therefore be speaking to the "beginner"--start with fear of Hashem, love Him, emulate Him, and so on, until you come to keep all of the mitzvot. (Kuzari I, 99; II, 48) ************************************ Rav Yaakov Culi z"l born 5449 (1689) - died 19 Menacham Av 5492 (August 9, 1732) Rav Yaakov Culi, best known as the author of the Me'am Loez, was born in Yerushalayim, where his father, Rav Machir, had settled upon arriving from Crete a year earlier. Rav Machir's father-in-law was Rav Moshe ibn Chaviv, author of such classic works as Get Pashut. Rav Yaakov's first fame was as the editor of the works of his grandfather and Rav Yehuda Roseannes (1658 - 1727), Chief Rabbi of Constantinople. Rav Yehuda's most famous work is Mishneh Lemelech, one of the key commentaries on Rambam's Code. Today, the Mishneh Lemelech is printed in all standard editions of Rambam's work. Those passages of the commentary which are enclosed in brackets are the products of Rav Yaakov's hand. Having published the works of his grandfather and his teacher, Rav Yaakov turned to a project of his own: the Torah commentary Me'am Loez. (The title means, literally, "From a nation that speaks a foreign language.") This work was not intended for Torah scholars, bur for working people, and for this reason it was written in Ladino, the "Yiddish" of the Sephardic Jews. Me'am Loez not only explains each verse (generally drawing on the interpretations of others), but only discusses halachic topics relating to the verse. For example, when discussing the creation of Adam and Chava, the first man and woman, Rav Yaakov devotes many pages to the laws of marriage and family purity. Unfortunately, Rav Yaakov lived only two and a half years after beginning this monumental work, in which time he completed Sefer B'reishit and was well into Sefer Sh'mot. After his death, Rav Yaakov's contemporaries saw the benefits of his work, including the spawning of a large-scale return to observance. Therefore, Rav Yitzchak Magriso continued where Rav Yaakov had left off, finishing Sh'mot (1746), Vayikra (1753) and Bemidbar (1764). Rav Yitzchak Bechor Agruiti completed Devarim in 1772, and later scholars completed volumes on other books of Tanach, and translated the set into Hebrew. It was translated into English by Rav Aryeh Kaplan (1934 - 1983) under the title, The Torah Anthology. ************************************ Donations to Hamaayan are tax-deductible.