BSD

Shkolim 10a (2)

Iyor 20, 5784 –  05/28/2024

Brief notes.

1- We continued with the story of the 9 families that donated fire wood for the מזבח.

Generally, firewood for the מזבח is considered a קרבן ציבור. Thus it would need to be purchased with the מחצית השקל.

The issue is if firewood from an individual (other than thru the מחצית השקל) can be accepted to use as a קרבן ציבור.

 

Now, there is no question that accepting a private donation and this donation will remain ‘private’ it cannot be used. A private gift is an oxymoron with the definition of קרבן ציבור.

The only way it can conceivably be used for a קרבן ציבור is if the private donor gifts it totally to the ציבור.

As mentioned last week – the חכמים say we cannot accept an individual’s gift, since they doubt the gift is transferred 100% to the ציבור.

רבי יוסי says that an individual can indeed donate something 100% to the ציבור.

2- So the story mentioned in תנ”ך where firewood was indeed accepted form the families seems to be according to the opinion of רבי יוסי.

The חכמים who say this type of private donation is not acceptable, cannot argue on the story in the תנ”ך. They say that it was a בדיעבד situation due to the lack of wood at the time.

In normal times, however, such donations are not acceptable.

3- In our משנה we had the same argument about the wheat for the מנחות if it came from an individual.

Here too, the חכמים say we cannot accept an individual’s gift, whereas רבי יוסי says that an individual can indeed donate something 100% to the ציבור.

The גמרא continues and makes a distinction between a private donation to be used  as an actual קרבן, like wheat for a מנחה and firewood that is used to create a fire on the מזבח.

קרבן vs מכשירי קרבן.

4 – The גמרא presents another story to prove the above distinction.

One of the families that donated wood was סְנָאָה בֶן בִּנְיָמִן. Their day to bring the wood was on the 10th of Av. יו”ד אב. This family would celebrate that day even after the בית המקדש was destroyed.

Occasionally, י אב would fall out on a Sunday, meaning that ט’ באב fell on Shabbos and the fast would be נדחה to י’ אב.

So how would the family of  סְנָאָה בֶן בִּנְיָמִן celebrate on a fast day?

Surprisingly- they didn’t!

אָמַר רִבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֵּירִבִּי צָדוֹק. אָנוּ הָיִינוּ מִבְּנֵי סְנָאָה בֶן בִּנְיָמִן וְחָל תִּשְׁעָה בְאָב לִהְיוֹת בַּשַּׁבָּת וְדָחִנוּ אוֹתוֹ לְמוֹצָאֵי שַׁבָּת וְהָיִינוּ מִתְעַנִּין וְלֻא מַשְׁלִימִין.

“Rebbi Eleazar ben Rebbi Tzadok said, we were of the descendants of Senaah ben Benjamin. When the Ninth of Av fell on a Sabbath, we postponed it to Sunday and we began the fast but did not complete it⁠”.

5 – We touched briefly on the following topics related to this story:

A-  ט’ באב during the second בית המקדש- did they fast or not?

B- Story of רבי when ט’ באב fell on Shabbos he wanted to proclaim not to fast. ‘Since it was pushed over to Sunday, let’s push it off completely’.

The question: If ט’ באב fell on Shabbos, so did יז בתמוז. [Probably, but not necessarily]. So why did רבי attempt to do so only for תשעה באב?

Answer of Reb Pinchos Hirschsprung: רבי’s issue was the מלוה מלכה that would be omitted with ט באב since the fast starts the night before!

Reb Pinchos Hirschsprung

C-  רִבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֵּירִבִּי צָדוֹק was actually a כהן. So how is he from the family of סְנָאָה בֶן בִּנְיָמִן, the family that brought the wood on the 10th of Av?

Tosfos  עירובין מא, א   answers that his mother was from בנימין.

ואע”ג דר’ אלעזר בן צדוק כהן היה כדמוכח בפרק כל פסולי המוקדשין (בכורות דף לו.) גבי רבי אלעזר בר צדוק הוה ליה בוכרא וכו’ שמא אמו היתה מבנימין או חתנם היה והיה עמהם בסייעתם:

That would mean that his mother practiced the מנהגים of her family despite being married to someone who didn’t have this מנהג. And her son followed his mother’s מנהגים – also לקולא – not fasting all day on ט באב!

Reb Moshe (OC 158) discusses this topic of ‘mixed’ marriages.

D – We see that ט באב can be pushed off if it is  נדחה to Sunday due to a celebration.

Indeed, we find in Shulchan Aruch (OC 509’ 9) that the בעלי הברית are permitted to eat on  ט באב that has been pushed Sunday.

(ט) ט׳ בְּאָב שֶׁחָל לִהְיוֹת בְּשַׁבָּת וְנִדְחָה לְיוֹם רִאשׁוֹן, בַּעַל בְּרִית מִתְפַּלֵּל מִנְחָה בְּעוֹד הַיּוֹם גָּדוֹל, וְרוֹחֵץ, וְאֵינוֹ מַשְׁלִים תַּעֲנִיתוֹ לְפִי שֶׁיּוֹם טוֹב שֶׁלּוֹ הוּא.

6 – We moved on to the topic of the עומר ושתי הלחם if they needed to come from ארץ ישראל.

7- In relation to ארץ ישראל and the בית המקדש, we mentioned an interesting point from the Rebbe – see this Shiur.

Geography and topography ב’ ענינים שונים.

.לקו”ש ראה חכ“ט שיחה א

• במשכן הכל היה שטוח. מחנה ישראל עד לקה”ק. קרקע לא נתקדש.
• במקדש היו עליות. כל עלי’ במקום היא עלי’ בקדושה. ושיטת הרמב”ם שזה מעכב.
• אבל לא בין ההיכל לקודש הקדשים. כי שם הקדושה היא באין ערוך, וא”א לבטא אפילו ברמז, גובה גשמי, שמדוד ומוגבל.

8- Spoke about the status of Syria and why, despite being conquered by דוד המלך, it was not granted the same level of קדושה like ארץ ישראל proper.  Rashi and Rambam.

Malchus Yisroel under David Hamelech

9 – Concluded with the question of Reb Zeira מנחות סט, ב  if wheat came down from heaven, can it be use for the שתי הלחם? Rashi and Tosfos.

Fish from Heaven

Can some thing that was created by a miracle be used in the בית המקדש? Do all standard הלכות apply to it?

Diver in a tree

The חרובין tree that grew miraculously at the מערה where רשב”י and his son for 13 years. Did they need to wait 3-4 year for ערלה? Or perhaps since it was created by a נס, then it’s not really a ‘tree’.

Ditto for the שמן at the נס חנוכה.

To be continued BL”N.

BSD

Shkolim 10a.

Iyor 13, 5784. 05/21/2024

We prefaced a few facts prior to learning the next Mishnah.

שׁוֹמְרֵי סְפִיחִים בַּשְּׁבִיעִית, נוֹטְלִין שְׂכָרָן מִתְּרוּמַת הַלִּשְׁכָּה. רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר, (אַף הָרוֹצֶה) מִתְנַדֵּב שׁוֹמֵר חִנָּם. אָמְרוּ לוֹ, אַף אַתָּה אוֹמֵר, שֶׁאֵינָן בָּאִין אֶלָּא מִשֶּׁל צִבּוּר.

1 – Just as a person can donate an animal (עולה ותודה)  or flour (מנחה) to be brought as a קרבן, one can donate wood as well. Not just firewood for the מזבח, but wood as an actual קרבן.

שקלים 6, 1.   הָאוֹמֵר, הֲרֵי עָלַי עֵצִים, לֹא יִפְחוֹת מִשְּׁנֵי גִּזְרִין.

One who says “I obligate myself to bring wood” (as a donation) should not bring less than two logs…”

2 – In מנחות כ, א we find the opinion of Reb Yossi that this קרבן of עצים is just like any other קרבן מנחה  – it requires  קמיצה הגשה ומלח and was not used as firewood for other קרבנות.

The רבנן say that it is not actually a מנחה although it was placed on the מזבח.

[Whether this קרבן עצים was used as firewood for other  קרבנות or they were placed on the מזבח not at the center fire is another topic].

 

3 – The regular עצים for the מערכה were purchased with the funds of the מחצית השקל and are considered a קרבן ציבור.

4 – The grains for the מנחות were also acquired with the מחצית השקל fund.

In the year of שמיטה, this becomes an issue. Since plowing, sowing etc. is prohibited, there are no ‘new’ grains produced. One could use only produce that sprouted on their own (ספיחים) which is הפקר.

Since anyone can grab them, the only way to obtain grains for the מנחות would be to send שלוחים to these fields where there is תבואה – ספיחים to watch them until ripe and then collect these self-grown grains.

5 – The חכמים say that the salary of these שומרים also came from the מחצית השקל fund since the wheat they kept on on eye on were used for the קרבנות ציבור.

Our משנה quotes the opinion of רבי יוסי there was no need to pay for any שומרים. Anyone could volunteer to be a שומר of these fields.

6 – What is the basis for these different opinions? Paid security vs volunteers.

The גמרא in בבא מציעא 118א  suggests a few explanations. One is that the issue is: by just looking at an object of הפקר one is קונה. Being that this wheat is הפקר, a mere הבטה קני.

So if an individual volunteers to keep an eye on them (least someone else takes them) they become owners of this wheat and then must gift it to the בית המקדש.

The issue is that the חכמים do dot believe that such an individual gifts it 100% to the ציבור. Now since this wheat will be used a קרבן ציבור, using a volunteer is not advisable.

רבי יוסי says that an individual can indeed donate something 100% to the ציבור.

7- The גמרא continues on this topic: Paid security vs volunteers.

It begins with the famous story of the 9 families that donated wood for the מזבח at the beginning of the בית שני era. Each family chose a particular day to supply firewood at that time of great poverty.

תענית כו, א.

These were private holidays specific to certain families, on which their members would volunteer a wood offering for the altar. There were nine such days and families: On the first of Nisan, the descendants of Araḥ ben Yehuda; on the twentieth of Tammuz, the descendants of David ben Yehuda; on the fifth of Av, the descendants of Parosh ben Yehuda; on the seventh of Av, the descendants of Jonadab ben Rechab; on the tenth of Av, the descendants of Sena’a ben Binyamin; on the fifteenth of Av, the descendants of Zattu ben Yehuda…..

On the twentieth of Av, the descendants of Paḥat Moav ben Yehuda; on the twentieth of Elul, the descendants of Adin ben Yehuda

8 – We mentioned that the Rebbe writes that the only place he found in ש”ס a mention of כ אב is the above גמרא.  In the footnotes he added some other sources where this day is noted. See here.

LS 4, 1103

 

To be continued.

 

קרבן  קרבן עצים. מחלוקת חכמים ורבי. מנחות. כ, א. לרבי זה קרבן בכל הפרטים – כמו מנחה.  הגשה קמיצה שמן ועצים וכו’. לרבנן אין זה קרבן ממש. וראה שם קו, ב. וברבינו גרשום ובריטב”א תענית כו, א.

 

 

BS”D

Shkolim – 9b

6 Nisan 5784. 05/14/2024

1– Our גמרא quotes the famous ברייתא of Reb Pinchos ben Yo’ir.

וְכֵן הָיָה רִבִּי פִינְחָס בֶּן יָאִיר אוֹמֵר. זְרִיזוּת מְבִיאָה לִידֵי נְקִיּוּת. נְקִיּוּת מְבִיאָה לִידֵי טַהֳרָה. טַהֳרָה מְבִיאָה לִידֵי קְדוּשָּׁה. קְדוּשָּׁה מְבִיאָה לִידֵי עֲנָוָה. עֲנָוָה מְבִיאָה לִידֵי יִרְאַת חֵטְא. יִרְאַת חֵטְא מְבִיאָה לִידֵי חֲסִידוּת. חֲסִידוּת מְבִיאָה לִידֵי רוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ. רוּחַ הַקֹּדֶשׁ מֵבִיא לִידֵי תְחִייַת הַמֵּתִים. תְּחִייַת הַמֵּתִים מְבִיאָה לִידֵי אֵלִיָּהוּ זָכוּר לַטּוֹב.

We mentioned that this ברייתא is found in other places in ש”ס but with variations to the order.

We paused to discuss:

2– זְרִיזוּת 

The Alter Rebbe in אגרת הקודש כא discusses that אברהם אבינו ‘s virtue of the  עקידה  was primarily due to his  ,זריזות , not the עקידה  itself !

וּזְרִיזוּתֵיהּ דְּאַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ עָלָיו־הַשָּׁלוֹם הִיא הָעוֹמֶדֶת לָעַד, לָנוּ וּלְבָנֵינוּ עַד עוֹלָם,

כִּי הָעֲקֵדָה עַצְמָהּ אֵינָהּ נֶחְשָׁבָה כָּל כָּךְ לְנִסָּיוֹן גָּדוֹל לְעֵרֶךְ מַעֲלַת אַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ עָלָיו־הַשָּׁלוֹם,

בְּשֶׁגַּם, כִּי ה’ דִּיבֶּר בּוֹ: “קַח נָא אֶת בִּנְךָ כוּ'”

וַהֲרֵי כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה קְדוֹשִׁים שֶׁמָּסְרוּ נַפְשָׁם עַל קְדוּשַּׁת ה’ גַּם כִּי לֹא דִיבֶּר ה’ בָּם.

רַק שֶׁאַבְרָהָם אָבִינוּ עָלָיו־הַשָּׁלוֹם עָשָׂה זֹאת בִּזְרִיזוּת נִפְלָאָה,

לְהַרְאוֹת שִׂמְחָתוֹ וְחֶפְצוֹ לְמַלֹּאות רְצוֹן קוֹנוֹ וְלַעֲשׂוֹת נַחַת רוּחַ לְיוֹצְרוֹ.

וּמִמֶּנּוּ לָמְדוּ רַבּוֹתֵינוּ־זִכְרוֹנָם־לִבְרָכָה לְקִיּוּם כָּל הַמִּצְוֹת בִּכְלָל, וּבִפְרָט מַעֲשֵׂה הַצְּדָקָה הָעוֹלָה עַל כּוּלָּנָה

So, too, it is [the merit of] “the eager promptness of our father Abraham” (peace upon him), who hastened to the עקידה  , the binding of Isaac, that stands by us and our children, for ever.

For the akedah itself, which G‑d constantly recalls, is not really regarded as so great a test in relation to the stature of our father Abraham, peace upon him,

especially considering that G‑d Himself said to him, “Please take your son…[and bring him as an offering].”

After all, there have been numerous saintly individuals who gave their lives for the sanctification of G‑d, even though He did not speak to them.

How, then, can this be considered such a great test for Abraham when G‑d Himself commanded him to offer his son?

The point is that our father Abraham (peace upon him) did this with wondrous alacrity, (2:38) for, as the verse testifies, “Abraham rose very early and [himself] saddled his donkey,” in order to demonstrate—to others as well—his joy and eager desire to fulfill the will of his Master and to bring gratification to his Maker.

Indeed, it was from [the example of Abraham], and with the power that he vested within all his descendants, that our Sages (of blessed memory) learned [that alacrity is required] in the fulfillment of all the commandments in general, and in particular with respect to the act of charity, which is superior to them all,

עֲנָוָה – 3

 We mentioned an interesting explanation by the Tzemach Tzedek regarding humility and its opposite – haughtiness/boasting – גאוה וגסות רוח.

In Or Hatorah (ויקרא ג, תשעה) the Tzemach Tzedek poses the question as to why ירבעם בן נבט, who was an outstanding תלמיד חכם on par with אחיה השילוני ,  fell so low turning into an עובד עבודה זרה and convincing others to do the same to the extent that as a result  אין לו חלק לעולם הבא !

Human achievement (or regression) usually follows a path of a ‘step by step’ pattern. We find this in קדושה and the opposite as well. As we see from our גמרא’s enumeration by Reb Pinchos ben Yo’ir of the ‘level by level elevation system’  to achieve  גילוי אליהו.

So what caused  ירבעם בן נבט  to swoop to the lowest step without the usual gradual descent?

The Tzemach Tzedek explains that as the  גמרא  says in סנהדרין

גסות הרוח שהיתה בו בירבעם טרדתו מן העולם. The arrogance,  גאוה  and  גסות רוח  was the cause for his swift downfall.

גאוה  and גסות רוח   have the ability to cause a person to ‘leap’ over the usual degrading steps to hit rock bottom in one swing.

On the reverse end of this spectrum, in קדושה, the same holds true. Whereas the usual methodical step by step system is needed to reach higher and higher, humility ענוה is a ‘ticket’ to jump and leap to a higher plane, bypassing the established route.

See there for more on this.

[We mentioned parenthetically that perhaps this is the reason why in Chumash, when mentioning the נבואה of משה רבינו, which was the highest form of G-D to man communication, פֶּה אֶל פֶּה אֲדַבֶּר בּוֹ,  the פסוק inserts the words   וְהָאִישׁ מֹשֶׁה עָנָיו מְאֹד מִכֹּל הָאָדָם אֲשֶׁר עַל פְּנֵי הָאֲדָמָה.]

4 – In relation the fellow כהן  who entered the לשכה  to withdraw the שקלים,  fill up 3 קופות and all the precautions taken to ascertain that there is no pilfering or pocketing any of the שקלים – we mentioned an interesting  תשובה  on this topic. שו”ת תורה לשמה סימן תז. (and referenced here)

Someone wanted to test the honesty of his house servant and came up with the following idea: He would place some cash in one of the rooms in a way that to his servant it would seem that this cash fell out of the owner’s pocket. He would then send this houseboy to fetch something from this room and see if the houseboy pocketed the money!

The question is: by doing so, he would perhaps cause his servant to stealת and that would constitute  לפני עור לא תתן מכשול .

The פסק of the  שו”ת תורה לשמה is that is indeed prohibited.

More so – he prohibits even if one uses the following scheme: He will gift the cash to his servant without telling him. So in case the houseboy does ‘steal’ it, it is not גניבה since it was his to take.

However sat the שו”ת תורה לשמה  even that would constitute  לפני עור לא תתן מכשול since the intention of the houseboy would be to steal it!

ומסיימין בטוב.

A gezunten zummer to all.

 

 

BSD

Shkolim – 9a (2)

29 Nisan 5784. 05/07/2024

A few short notes:

1 – Having discussed the שיעור רביעית our גמרא diverged to discuss some הלכות pertaining to הלכות טומאה.

2 – Story of the ‘mule belonging to רבי’.

In general, a Kosher and Non Kosher בהמה or חיה that died is טמא. The שיעור is a minimum of a כזית.

A Kosher animal that went thru שחיטה is not טמא.

The issue with this famous mule was the blood of this נבילה.

Is דם נבילה in general טמא, like its flesh? If yes – what is the shiur?

3 – רבי had a רב in his court that ruled on שאלות. Interestingly his name was like רבי!

רבי יהודה.

So the Rov ruled that this דם נבילה of this mule was טהור. But that was ambiguous (to the next generation) as to why he ruled as such.

Either because his opinion was that דם נבילה in general is טהור, or דם נבילה in general is טמא but in this particular case it lacked a שיעור- which is a רביעית.

That was the topic of our גמרא.

4 – The next section discussed an incident when one אמורא asked another about the above topic. Instead of answering the question he shrugged him off. Or worse -בעט ביה. When asked why he acted in this non תלמיד חכם fashion he had a very interesting reply:

‘I can’t think straight as I am penniless and have no clue where I’ll get some breakfast tomorrow’.

The גמרא talks about this phenomena and how it’s hinted to in the תוכחה.

The רבונו של עולם needs to give us wealth so that we should be able to think clearly!

5 – In relation to this we mentioned the אבות דרבי נתן that states (אדר״נ פל״א ה״א)

רבי אחאי בן יאשיה אומר ……זמן שאדם אוכל משלו דעתו מיושבת עליו ואפילו אוכל אדם משל אביו ומשל אמו ומשל בניו אין דעתו מיושבת עליו ואין צריך לומר משל אחרים:

Rabbi Ahai ben Yoshaya would say: When a person eats from his own farm, his mind is calm. However,  when a person eats food from his father’s or mother’s farm, or from his children’s farm, his mind is not calm – not to mention when he eats food from a stranger’s farm.

6 – On the above vein, the בנין יהושע  make a reference to an interesting ירושלמי in ערלה.

Very briefly:

There is מרכיב- Grafting. Which is actually splicing a twig from a selected tree to a root stock of the same or different species.

Then there is מבריך – Layering. One takes a branch of a bush or some low growing plant and buries it into the soil, waits for a few months and then, after it has rooted, cuts it off and plants it somewhere else.

Now, when layering, the branch develops roots in the ground. Before it is cut off from the tree it is receiving ‘life’ from both – the tree and the new roots.

Question: Which is the primary source of nourishment? Is it from the old tree or, because of its own roots- meaning it is a stand alone ‘new tree’. The answer manifest itself in הלכה in regards to ערלה.

If it is a new tree then the count for ערלה begins anew.

The ירושלמי  says that there is a simple way to tell where the main source of nourishment to this new branch is coming from.

Look at the leaves that are growing on this new branch. Where is it facing?

If it is facing away from the old tree, it means that it is still receiving חיות from the tree. It is facing away because ‘one cannot look in the face of the one that is feeding you’!

However if the leaves are facing the old ‘mother’ tree, then it is living from the new roots….

That is the meaning of

וְנָא אַל תַּצְרִיכֵנוּ ה’ אֱלהֵינוּ לא לִידֵי מַתְּנַת בָּשָׂר וָדָם וְלא לִידֵי הַלְוָאָתָם, כִּי אִם לְיָדְךָ הַמְּלֵאָה, הַפְּתוּחָה, הַקְּדוֹשָׁה וְהָרְחָבָה, שֶׁלּא נֵבוֹשׁ וְלא נִכָּלֵם לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד

7 – The גמרא says that the person who entered the שקלים chamber would be constantly talking the his friend on the outside. This was to ensure that he would not try to place some coins in his mouth. The גמרא asks that we could also accomplish this by having him enter with a mouth full of water…..

The גמרא responds that it would create an issue with a ברכה.

What ברכה? Some suggest that he may swallow some of the water with out making a ברכה.

The חכם צבי writes that is incorrect since one can make שהכל on water prior to entering! He suggest that it is a ברכה of על הפרשת תרומה.

We discussed as there is no particular  מצוה  for this stage of מחצית השקל.

But see here an interesting idea from the  שו”ת פני מבין. OC 1, 5. 31.

The Chamber of the Shekels

The final act of removing the coins from the chamber into the קופות is the culmination of the מצות מחצית השקל. Indeed t is only then that a ברכה can be made.