Today's Learning Menachot 13:7-8 O.C. 469:10-470:1 Sponsored by Bechorot 30 Rochelle Dimont and family in memory of father-in-law and grandfather Rabbi Shmuel Elchanan Dimont a"h Elaine and Jerry Taragin on the yahrzeits of Mrs. Shirley Taragin a"h & Mr. Irving Rivkin a"h The Katz family, on the yahrzeit of Avraham Abba ben Avigdor Moshe Hakohen Katz a"h Hamaayan/The Torah Spring edited by Shlomo Katz Mishpatim Vol. XI, No. 18 (501), 1 Adar I 5757, February 8, 1997 This week's parashah contains the famous phrase, "Na'aseh v'nishmah"/"We will do and we will hear," by which Bnei Yisrael accepted the Torah unconditionally, even before hearing it. Yet, the gemara says, Hashem had to force Bnei Yisrael to accept the Torah. How so? Tosfot explains that Bnei Yisrael willingly accepted the Written Law, but had to be forced to accept the Oral Law (i.e., the Talmud, which was studied orally until about 1500 years ago). What does this mean? What good is the Torah without the Oral Law? Rav Dov Meir Kreuzer shlita (rosh yeshiva of the Yeshiva of New Square, N.Y.) explains as follows: Bnei Yisrael did not reject the content of the Oral Law; they merely wanted it to be written, just like the Five Books of the Torah were from the beginning. They wanted the study of the Oral Law to be as easy as the study of the Written Law. Chazal say that when the first Luchot/Tablets were given, they did somehow contain the entire Oral Law on them. This is why Moshe broke the Luchot when he saw the golden calf, for he understood that Bnei Yisrael had too much time on their hands. With the entire Torah handed to them on a platter, so-to-speak, Bnei Yisrael had time to sin. Only if Torah study was made difficult and time-consuming would Bnei Yisrael be too busy to stray. Chazal say that Moshe's face shone because he wiped the left-over ink from writing the second Tablets on his face. Why was there left- over ink? Because the second Tablets were "shorter" than the first; they did not include the Oral Law. The shine on Moshe's face was the light of the Oral Law, i.e., the radiance which comes from working hard to understand the Talmud. (Kovetz Be'er Yaakov, Vol. 3) ************************************ Parashat Mishpatim In Halachah This parashah contains 53 of the Torah's 613 mitzvot. (Sefer Hachinuch) In 13th century Barcelona, and in Algiers and Tunis even recently, this parashah was divided into two parashot in certain years. In those years, the second parashah began with verse 22:24. (See Minchat Chinuch [Machon Yerushalayim ed.], note on p.308 ) "These are the laws which you shall place before them." (21:1) Rabbi Tarfon said: Wherever you find gentile courts , even if their laws are the same as the Torah's laws, you are prohibited from bringing your cases before those courts, as it is written, "These are the laws which you shall place before them [i.e., the Jewish people"--"before them" and not before non-Jewish courts. (Gittin 88b) The Shulchan Aruch writes: "It is forbidden to adjudicate disputes before gentile judges or in their courts, even if their law is identical to the Torah's law, and even if both litigants have consented. One who brings a case before them is a rasha, and it is as if he blasphemed and raised his hand against the Torah." One must first summon his opponent to bet din. If he does not come, one may obtain permission from the bet din to sue in secular court. (Choshen Mispat 26:2) "His healing he shall heal." (21:19) From here we learn that doctors are permitted to heal (Bava Kama 85a). If the Torah did not teach us this, we might have thought that it was forbidden to attempt to undo what the King had done. Ramban writes: Since the verse did not say simply, "He shall give his healing," we learn that this award of damages must go directly to pay the doctors. The assailant may even pay the doctors directly. If the victim prefers to keep the money and not be healed, he does not have that right. ************************************ From the humor of our sages . . . "Distance yourself from an untruth." (23:7) An author once brought his work to Rav Eizel Charif and asked for an approbation. Rav Eizel leafed through the book, and then he took a large sheet of paper, wrote two or three lines of praise at the top, and signed his name at the very bottom. When he was asked why he wrote in this manner, he cited the verse: "Distance yourself from an untruth." ************************************ "An eye for an eye." (21:24) The literal translation of the verse is: "An eye, below an eye." The Vilna Gaon observes that the Hebrew letters which follow the letters of the word "eye"/"ayin" -- ayin, yud, nun -- are feh, kaf, and samech. These make up the word "kessef," thus alluding to Chazal's teaching that the true punishment for gouging out someone's eye is monetary compensation. "Behold I will send an angel before you to protect you on the way . . ." (23:20) In Tehilim (91:11) we read: "He will charge His angels for you, to protect you in all your ways." Why, asks Rav Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer (the "Ketav Sofer") z"l, does the verse in Tehilim refer to the protection of multiple (i.e., two) angels, while our verse refers to the protection of only one angel? The Ketav Sofer answers as follows: A traveler needs two kinds of protection. Firstly, he himself needs to be protected while he is on the road. Secondly, he needs his family and his property to be protected while he is away. This is why Hashem sends two angels to protect a traveler -- one protects his person, and the other protects whatever he has left behind. Our pasuk refers to Bnei Yisrael when they traveled in the desert. They had no need for two angels because when they traveled, they took their families and belongings with them. The above idea also explains the verse (Devarim 28:6), "You shall be blessed when you arrive; you shall be blessed when you leave." Since a traveler leaves home before he arrives, should not the order of the verse have been reversed? The Ketav Sofer explains that until the traveler arrives home and finds that his family and his property are safe and sound, he cannot judge whether his trip was worthwhile. For example, what is the point of making a business trip only to have one's business looted while one is traveling? Only if you are blessed when you arrive home can you conclude that you were blessed when you left. (Ketav Sofer: Parashat Ki Tavo) ************************************ Rav Avraham Yehuda Farbstein z"l born 5677 (1917) - died 5757 (1997) This week marks the shloshim of Rav Avraham Farbstein, rosh yeshiva of the Chevron Yeshiva in Yerushalayim. (That yeshiva is the successor to the famed Slobodka Yeshiva, which moved from Lithuania to Chevron in 1924. After the Arabs massacred Chevron's residents in 1929, the yeshiva was rebuilt in Yerushalayim.) Rav Farbstein's father was one of the founders of Bnei Brak, and was head of its first city council. The young Rav Farbstein studied in the Chevron Yeshiva and, for two years, at the Mir Yeshiva in Europe. Rav Farbstein's wife was a daughter of Rav Yechezkel Sarna z"l, rosh yeshiva of Chevron. (A dvar Torah from Rav Sarna appears below.) Rav Farbstein taught in the Chevron Yeshiva for 50 years, and raised several generations of students. His four sons and one son- in-law also are yeshiva educators. ************************************ The Torah's description of the revelation at Har Sinai continues in this week's parashah. Rav Yechezkel Sarna z"l observes that this revelation was a noteworthy event in and of itself, aside from the fact that the Torah was given at that time. Thus we say in the Pesach Haggadah: "If He had brought us near Har Sinai and not given us the Torah, that too would have been enough." Why? We say in Hallel, "The sea saw [the Jews leaving Egypt] and fled . . . the mountains danced like rams; hills [danced] like lambs." Just as the sea literally fled before the eyes of tens of thousands of people, says Rav Sarna (in the name of Ramban), so, too, the mountains and hills literally danced. That is how awesome G-d's revelation was. At that time, the very heavens opened up before the eyes of Bnei Yisrael and they saw all the different types of angels and all manner of secrets. The fog which ordinarily shields us from great heights of spirituality was removed for a brief time. Thus, "If He had brought us near Har Sinai and not given us the Torah, that too would have been enough." (Daliot Yechezkel II p. 237) ************************************ Donations to Hamaayan are tax-deductible