Today's Learning Chullin 6:2-3 O.C. 489:3-5 Sponsored by Bechorot 51 The Marwick family in memory of Joel L. Slotsky a"h Hamaayan/The Torah Spring edited by Shlomo Katz Ki-Tisah Vol. XI, No. 21 (504), 22 Adar I 5757, February 29, 1997 A large part of this week's parashah is devoted to the incident of the golden calf. The Torah relates that when Moshe came down from Har Sinai and saw what the Jews had done, he threw down the luchot/tablets and broke them. What was Moshe thinking? asks Rav Shimon Shkop z"l. Did he think that henceforth the Jews would be without a Torah? The gemara (Eruvin 54) states that if the first luchot had not been broken, one who studies Torah would never forget what he had learned. This was not a blessing, Moshe felt after he saw the golden calf, but a recipe for disaster. If one could read the Torah once and never forget it, one could easily amass vast Torah knowledge and use it for improper purposes. Also, imagine the desecration of G-d's Name that would result when egregious sinners turned out to be immense Torah scholars! Moshe preferred a world where one had to struggle to learn in the first place, and had to review and practice in order to retain what he had learned. In this way, when a person deviated from a Torah lifestyle, he would begin to forget what he had learned. The gemara (Nedarim 38) teaches that Moshe became rich from the scraps that were left after the luchot were engraved. Rav Shkop explains that this was intended to answer the people's fear: If Moshe changed the world so that one now has to struggle over Torah learning, when will people earn their livings? From Moshe's experience we see that G-d can find ways to support us and even to make us rich, while we devote our time to Torah and mitzvot. (Sha'arei Yosher, Introduction) ************************************ Parashat Ki-Tisah In Halachah This parashah contains nine of the Torah's 613 mitzvot. They are: (#105) to give a half-shekel to the Bet Hamikdash every year; (#106) that the kohanim should wash their hands and feet before working in the Bet Hamikdash; (#107) that High Priests and kings should be anointed with oil; (#108) that a non-kohen should not be anointed with the oil that Moshe made; (#109) that one should not make oil like the anointment oil; (#110) that one should not make a mixture of spices like the ketoret; (#111) that one may not eat or drink that which was sacrificed to idolatry; (#112) that Eretz Yisrael should rest in the shemittah/sabbatical year; and (#113) not to eat meat and milk that were cooked together. (Sefer Hachinuch) ************************************ "You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk." (34:26) This instruction appears three times in the Torah, once to teach that cooking meat and milk together is prohibited, once to teach that it is prohibited to eat meat and milk that were cooked together, and once to teach that it is prohibited to have any benefit (including economic) from such a mixture. Why doesn't the Torah say: "Do not eat meat and milk that were cooked together"? Because then we would have prohibited only the ordinary manner of eating, but one would not be liable if, for example, he swallowed a scalding hot mixture of meat and milk. In fact, however, a person is liable for that. (Sefer Hachinuch) Chazal say: "Shivrei haluchot munachim ba'aron" -- the shards of the luchot that Moshe broke were placed in the Aron Kodesh alongside the second, whole set of luchot. This teaches us that even an old talmid chacham/Torah scholar who has forgotten his learning (who is like the broken luchot) must be accorded the honor due a Torah scholar. ************************************ From the humor of our sages . . . "On this side and on this side they were written." (32:15) A merchant once approached Rav Chaim Eliezer Wachs (rabbi of Kalish) and said, "I've been offered a deal, and if I twist the truth just a little bit, I'll make a huge profit." Rav Wachs responded, "What can you do? The luchot were engraved on both sides; no matter how you twist them, they still say, 'Thou shall not steal'." ************************************ "Every man shall give Hashem an atonement for his soul when counting them, and there will not be a plague among them when counting them." (30:12) Why is the phrase, "when counting them," repeated? asks Rav Eliezer Zusia Portugal (the "Skulener Rebbe") z"l. He explains as follows: Some people might think of putting off paying their half-shekel contributions, saying, "Count the other people now and I will pay later." Thus the Torah says, "Every man shall give . . . when counting them," and not later. As a reward for prompt payment, the Torah promises, "[T]here will not be a plague among them when counting them." The Torah emphasizes "when counting them" to say that, not only will counting Bnei Yisrael not cause a plague (as it might have, because of the ayin hara involved), but prompt payment actually will protect the Jews. Indeed, during the entire period of the mishkan's construction and beyond, some seven months, not one person died. (Noam Eliezer) ************************************ "And on the seventh day He rested va'yeenafash/and was refreshed." (31:17) Chazal read the word, "va'yeenafash," as a contraction of, "Vai! Avda nefesh"/"Woe! The soul is lost." Rav Mendel of Kossov z"l explains: If a person comes to the seventh day and rests without having prepared himself spiritually during the preceding six days, then his soul will be lost. (Ahavat Shalom) ************************************ "You know that the nation is in evil." (32:22) Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heschel of Apta z"l (known as the "Ohev Yisrael") observes that Aharon did not say that the nation is evil, only that it is in evil. G-d forbid, he writes, that a person should speak badly of the holy nation whose souls come from under G-d's throne. Even if a person sins, one should not blame him, for it is only that he is entrapped by his material nature. This is what Aharon meant: The nation is in evil and it cannot get out. The people themselves, however, are good. (Ohev Yisrael) Of course, writes Rav Tzadok Hakohen z"l, after expressing a similar idea, this refers only to our view of others. However, one may not excuse his own behavior in this manner. (Tzidkat Hatzaddik No. 43) ************************************ Rav Yeshayah Schorr z"l died 27 Adar 5639 (1879) Rav Schorr's praises are many: He was considered one of the leading scholars and poskim (halachic authorities) of his time, he taught many students, and he wrote works covering Talmud, halachah, chumash and kabbalah. Due to his longevity -- some say 98 years, some say longer -- he was an important link between the earliest generations of chassidic leaders and more recent times. In particular, the rebbes of the Skulener chassidic dynasty are his spiritual heirs. Rav Yisrael Avraham Portugal, grandfather of the present-day Skulener Rebbe of the same name, lived in Rav Schorr's house in order to learn from his teacher full-time. Rav Schorr, for his part, pushed his student to super-human levels, never permitting him to sleep more than two hours a night. (Undoubtedly, the teacher himself did not sleep more than that either.) Although Rambam writes that one should sleep eight hours each night, Rav Schorr held that that applies only for the common man. Rav Schorr's primary teacher was Rav Mordechai of Kremnitz, the son of the Maggid of Zlotchov, one of the leading students of the Ba'al Shem Tov. Rav Schorr also was a frequent visitor to Rav Mendel of Kossov and to Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heschel, known as the "Ohev Yisrael." Rav Schorr's last rabbinical post, and the one for which he is best remembered, was in Iasi (on the present-day border between Rumania and Moldova). Towards the end of his days, Rav Schorr reluctantly permitted some of his writings to be published -- best- known among them, Klil Tiferet on chumash. (Divrei Torah from several of the sages mentioned above appear on page 3 of this issue.) ************************************ Donations to Hamaayan are tax-deductible