BSD

Shkolim -11b (2)

Tamuz 17, 5784 – 07/23/2024

Some short notes:

1- We finished until the end of הלכה ג  which basically concludes the details of the מחצית השקל.

The rest of the מסכת deal with many aspects about the daily routine of the בית המקדש and the various appointed managers that ensured the עבודה would be run properly.

2- Discussed the 6 sheep that were always in a pen for the purposes of the קרבן תמיד. Every animal needed to be quarantined for 4 days prior to its שחיטה. During these 4 day they would be inspected to ensure they were not blemished – בעלי מום.

Each day, two sheep were used for the קרבן תמיד, and another 2 were added to this pen.

Inevitably, on the last day of the year (year meaning  from ניסן to אדר), on the 29th or 30th of Adar, there were 4 sheep in the pen that could not be used the next day – ראש חודש ניסן.

The reason is the the קרבן תמיד  of ראש חודש ניסן (and beyond) needed to be purchased from the new מחצית השקל. The ones currently in the pen were purchased with last year’s money. Thus making them unusable after ראש חודש ניסן.

So what do we do with these ‘sheep from last year’?

The גמרא  explains the opinions on the two methods of redeeming them.

3- The process of the פרה אדומה presented a stark contrast. On one side, numerous חומרות were put in place to ensure it was performed with the utmost טהרה. For instance, as mentioned a few pages earlier, a special ramp was constructed from the בית המקדש to the hill where the פרה אדומה was processed into the אפר הפרה, all to prevent any suspicion of טומאה.

Conversely, they would deliberately make the כהן who burned the פרה impure. This was done to demonstrate to the צדוקין that their interpretation of this הלכה in particular, and their entire view on תורה שבעל פה in general, was incorrect.

The צדוקין would say that the offering of the red heifer was acceptable only when those bringing it had waited until nightfall after immersion.

Therefore in the Second Temple, the court would cause the priest who burned the red heifer to become ritually impure through contact with the carcass of a crawling animal or the like. He would immerse and then offer the red heifer to nullify the words of these brazen ones who issue rulings according to their whims without basis in the received tradition.

Similarly, all of the containers into which the ashes of the red heifer were placed were all immersed that day.

We discussed the reason as to why they חכמים chose this particular ,מצוה from the many that they fought against the צדוקין, to emphasize and pronounce their error.

For example, the צדוקין’s opinion that the   קרבן עומר was brought only on the Sunday after פסח.

We do not find that any action from the חכמים  to emphasize this erroneous interpretation of the  תורה.

Why do we eat ‘cholent’ on Shabbos?

Their opinion was simply ignored. The קרבן עומר  was brought on the second day of פסח, regardless on the day of the week it occurred.

Perhaps the answer is based on what the the פני יהושע  suggests that the case of the פרה אדומה was a מצוה in which the צדוקין were מחמיר more than the חכמים. Their opinion was that the כהן that burned the פרה needed to be 100% טהור, as opposed to the opinion of the חכמים that even one that was quasi – טהור , (he needed to wait until nightfall to become 100% טהור) was permitted to do so.

So the חכמים intentionally would be מטמא the כהן who would then go to the מקוה but still would be only semi-טהור.

So to counter this perceived notion that the צדוקים were more ‘frum’ than the חכמים, they did both:

A- They used a כהן that was a טבול יום, quasi-טהור, but at the same time

B- Enacted many seemingly unnecessary precautions to emphasize that the above action (A) was just for the purpose of showing the חכמים’s non acceptance of their opinion. It was not done because they we more lenient than the צדוקין. On the contrary, they were מחמיר to an extreme in all other aspects of the preparation of the פרה אדומה.

BSD

Shkolim -11b

Tamuz 10, 5784. 07/16/2024

1- Continued discussing the multi-step process required to ‘renew’ the קטורת left over from the previous year.

A – In general – new construction materials would not become הקדש even after its installation. Such as a fresh brick replacing an older one.

B – Firstly by taking  הקדש money from the לשכה and transferring its  קדושה unto the bricks. Bricks become הקדש,  money becomes חולין.

C – Taking the old קטורת and transferring its קדושה onto the money. קטורת becomes חולין, money becomes קודש.

D – Paying the craftsmen with the קטורת that is now חולין.

E – Purchasing back from the craftsmen the קטורת with הקדש funds from the מחצית השקל money. Purchased קטורת becomes new קטורת (from the current year), money received by the craftsmen becomes חולין!

The Rambam has it slightly different and shorter.

2- The גמרא  discusses the opinions if the מכתשת , used to grind the קטורת , spices was a כלי שרת or not.

We mentioned the Tosfos  שבועות יא, ב   that asks on the opinion that the מכתשת was a כלי שרת.

The rule is that any כלי שרת that becomes not functional, like turning rusty or due to a punctured hole, would not be repaired but was  melted down and a new כלי would be formed. The reason is that to repair a כלי.  is a sign of poverty and in the בית המקדש they followed the rule of אין עניות במקום עשירות.

זבחים פח, א

ואין מתיכין לתוכן אבר: – לסתום הנקב וכולהו משום דמיחזי כעניות ולאו אורח ארעא.

However we find a story ערכין י, ב about the מכתשת when it developed a hole it was sent to craftsmen in Alexandria to be repaired! This seems to be proof that the מכתשת was not considered a כלי שרת.

Tosfos offers 2 answers:

1 – This particular מכתשת was the one from משה רבינו that was unique in the grinding of the קטורת.

2 – The opinion above that ‘the מכתשת was a ׳כלי שרת  means (not that it was a כלי שרת , but) the קטורת  was sanctified בפה during the grinding process. [As opposed to the opinion that one would be מקדיש it later?]

3 – We spoke about the date of ט’ תמוז and the burning of the Talmud in Paris on that day in the year 4964/1240.

See here.  Here.  Here.

This tragedy is commemorated as a יום תענית, as mentioned by the מגן אברהם, is observed by some, but not particularly on ט’ תמוז! Fasting is observed on the Friday of פרשת חקת.

Here is the story and the reason.

Mentioned what is quoted in ספרים of the ראשונים that it was on that particular day only a 40 days earlier, on the exact spot in Paris, some extremist Jews burned the ספרים of the רמב”ם!

Some say these two incidents were a few years apart.

Today, this spot is known as the Place de la Grève is Hotel de Ville is the site of Paris City Hall

When the Jews, witnessing the burning of the ש״ס  , realized that it was a punishment for the רמב״ם’s Seforim, they did תשובה and asked for forgiveness.

חמדה גנוזה.  עדעלמאן ע‘ 19

4- Spoke about the era prior to the Rambam being accepted by all and the controversy concerning his writings, the מורה נבוכים in particular.

5 The letter of the Alter Rebbe  (אג”ק נב) to his Chassidim of Vilna when they felt oppressed by their opponents.

The AR writes to them that in the time of the Rambam there was also bitter feuds amongst the קהילות , where in some they burned his books and in others they held the Rambam in such esteem that they inserted his name when saying קדיש!

The reason for these מחלוקת is simply,  writes the AR, because his works were not fully understood and appreciated by some.

ואודות השריפה אשר שרפו ספר הידוע, לא לכם לריב את ריב הבעש”ט זצללה”ה ולעורר מדנים⁹² ח”ו, לא זו העיר ולא זו הדרך⁹³ אשר חפץ בה ה’⁹⁴. ובעיניכם זה דבר חדש, אך כבר היה לעולמים⁹⁵. זכרו ימות עולם⁹⁶, כי מי לנו גדול ממשה⁹⁷ בדורו, ה”ה הרמב”ם ז”ל, אשר בארצו בספרד גדל בשם טוב הלוך וגדל מאד, עד שבחייו היו אומרים בנוסח הקדיש בחייכון וביומיכון ובחיי מרנא ורבנא משה⁹⁸ ובחיי דכל בית ישראל וכו’, מפני שראו כבודו וקדושתו וחסידותו, אך בארצות הרחוקות אשר לא שמעו את שמעו ולא ראו את כבודו, החזיקוהו למין וכופר בתחיית המתים ושרפו ספריו, דהיינו ספר הראשון מס’ הי”ד, ברחובות קריה, על פי חכמים גדולים בעיניהם, שקראו מה שכתב הרמב”ם בהלכות תשובה, ולא עלתה על דעתם לתלות בקוצר ידיעתם והבנתם בדברי קדשו, כאשר נתבאר לבסוף על ידי הרמב”ן והרד”ק⁹⁹ ז”ל. אך כאשר חלפו ועברו¹⁰⁰ ימים רבים וכו’, וגם שנאתם¹⁰¹ וכו’, ותצמח אמת מארץ¹⁰², וידעו כל ישראל כי משה אמת ותורתו אמת¹⁰³ וכו’. וכה יהי’ לנו במהרה בימינו אמן.

כ”ד אוהב נפשם דורש שלומם¹⁰⁴ מלב ונפש חפצה¹⁰⁵

שניאור זלמן בלא”א מו”ה ברוך זללה”ה

 

BSD

Shkolim -11a (2)

Tammuz 3, 5784. 07/09/2024

Short notes:

1- The גמרא discusses the measuring of wine and flour in the בית המקדש. When filling up the measuring כלי how much would one pour into it.

The issue concerns the overflow – if it becomes קודש.

 

We discussed the 3 levels of “full” we come across in ש”ס.  Like in a “full cup of wine or flour”.

מלא מחוק גדוש

מלא- is a general term for ‘full’.

מחוק- means full but not overflowing. (literally – to pass a stick over the top of say, a full cup of flour, removing any overflow. This was actually  done with קמיצה. After filling ones four fingers, the כהן would pass his thumb over his fingers to remove any excess. See מנחות 1, 2 ).

גדוש – means ‘overflowing’.

2- When making קידוש and הבדלה it says that the cup needs to be מלא.

או”ח קפג.

However, the מנהג ישראל is to pour a bit more for it to overflow. גדוש.

In Chabad, (I may be incorrect) until 1982 we would only do גדוש by הבדלה as it is a סימן ברכה.

Alter Rebbe או”ח רצו, ה

At a Farbrengen   תשמ”ב פרשת שלח the Rebbe mentioned in passing that ‘we do it at קידוש and הבדלה’.

תורת מנחם תשמ”ב עמוד 1692

3 – The next Mishna discusses how the left over קטורת was dealt with since every ראש חודש ניסן, a new fresh batch acquired using funds from the new מחצית השקל was required. We will continue next shiur bl”n.

4 – Speaking of קטורת we quipped about a רמז in the קטורת about the date of 9/11. [For those that didn’t attend the shiur….come next week for the answer]

5 –  Gimmel Tamuz.

We mentioned a few interesting ideas from the Rebbe, each one emphasizing the Rebbe’s view on various topics.

A – The  דיוק – exactness of any and all details of תורה.

Example:

The Rebbe once spoke about a particular משנה that has 2 topics that seem not to be related and asked as to why they were not split into 2 משניות.

‘The division of the משניות is intentional and has Halachik ramifications.

We find that if one says הרי את מקודשת לי if I can read חומש, then he needs to know a minimum of 3 פסוקים.

If one says הרי את מקודשת לי if I know משניות, he needs to know a minimum of 3 משניות.

Now, in one particular מסכת, we find 1 Mishna, that interestingly is marked as 2 משנהs!!

כלאים ז- משנה ד-ה.

 

Concludes the Rebbe, one can say that if one knows this one משנה it is considered that he knows 2 משנהs!

ליקוטי שיחות 11 page 64.

 

 

B – A דיוק in אהבת ישראל.

In a letter dated לג בעומר תשמ”א the Rebbe quotes a saying from רבי שמעון בר יוחאי, that ‘I can absolve the whole world entirely from their sins’.  סוכה מה, ב

יכול אני לפטור את כל העולם כולו מן הדין מיום שנבראתי עד עתה

The exact words seem like a duplication: כל העולם כולו. The whole world entirely.

The Rebbe points to a ט”ז in הלכות ראש השנה that states in the name of the לבוש that generally even when the word כל is used, (like: always, all, or never) it does not imply 100%, but majority – רוב.

  ט”ז או”ח תקפ”ב.

However, on ראש השנה, a time of expressing the מלכות of הקב”ה, we need to repeat מלוך על כל העולם כולו.

• Interestingly, the Alter Rebbe agrees to the ט”ז in his Shulchan Aruch, 591, 8 but in his מחזור he wrote:

The Rebbe’s citation of the ט”ז is to note that when רשב”י said, ‘I can absolve the whole world entirely from their sins’, by using the double ‘all’ he really meant all. Rashbi’s is saying that his זכות can absolve absolving the entire world – 100% with no exception.

[We humbly suggested that this double expression is also encountered in the גמרא and in תניא, explicitly in regards to אהבת ישראל

 

In : גמרא

שוב מעשה בנכרי אחד שבא לפני שמאי, אמר לו: גיירני על מנת שתלמדני כל התורה כולה כשאני עומד על רגל אחת. דחפו [שמאי] באמת הבנין שבידו. בא לפני הלל, גייריה [גייר אותו], אמר לו: דעלך סני לחברך לא תעביד [מה ששנאוי עליך אל תעשה לחברך] – זו היא כל התורה כולה, ואידך פירושה היא, זיל גמור.

In תניא 32.

וז”ש הלל הזקן על קיום מצוה זו זהו כל התורה כולה ואידך פירושא הוא כו’.

Meaning the אהבת ישראל is for all – not only most – but to 100%.]

 

C- The idea behind paying a חומש.

ליקוטי שיחות ז, ע’ 13

BSD

Shkolim -11a

Sivan 26, 5784. 07/02/2024

1- Last week, we encountered a גמרא expressing very unkind words about the conduct of a few of the  כהנים גדולים.

The גמרא said that every כהן גדול that made a new פרה אדומה would destroy the ramp (going up to  הר המשחה ) built by his predecessor and build a fancier one.

The גמרא mocked at this waste of money and called it, שחצנות ‘vain pomposity’!

The  גמרא of this week reverses itself. ‘How can you say that building a new ramp is ‘pomposity’ when the righteous שמעון הצדיק who did two פרה אדומות, demolished the first ramp to build a fancier one’?

One must say, concludes the גמרא, that this act of destroying the old and rebuilding a new one was in honor of the מצווה of פרה אדומה. It was not done to flaunt or to out-do a previous כהן גדול.

It seems that the גמרא is saying that there is an איסור  to reuse the existing ramp. Meaning that there was no pomposity ever.

 

See Shiur on Sukkah 21a-b, Sivan 14, 5781, 05/25/2021

2- We mentioned briefly the משנה in   מסכת פרה,  Parah 3, 5. about the history of the 9 פרה אדומות.

וּמִי עֲשָׂאָם. הָרִאשׁוֹנָה עָשָׂה משֶׁה, וְהַשְּׁנִיָּה עָשָׂה עֶזְרָא, וְחָמֵשׁ, מֵעֶזְרָא וָאֵילָךְ, דִּבְרֵי רַבִּי מֵאִיר. וַחֲכָמִים אוֹמְרִים, שֶׁבַע מֵעֶזְרָא וָאֵילָךְ. וּמִי עֲשָׂאָן. שִׁמְעוֹן הַצַּדִּיק וְיוֹחָנָן כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל עָשׂוּ שְׁתַּיִם שְׁתַּיִם, אֶלְיְהוֹעֵינַי בֶּן הַקּוֹף וַחֲנַמְאֵל הַמִּצְרִי וְיִשְׁמָעֵאל בֶּן פִּיאָבִי עָשׂוּ אַחַת אֶחָת.

And who made these פרה אדומה? The first Moshe Rabeinu made, the second Ezra made, and five from Ezra and onward, according to Rabbi Meir.

And the Sages say: Seven [were made] from Ezra and onward [for a total of nine]; and who made them? Shimon the righteous and Yochanan the high priest made two each, Elyehoeinai ben Hakof and Chanamel the Egyptian and Yishmael ben Pi’avi each made one.

Parah 3, 5.

3 – We spoke about the words added by the Rambam (3, 4) when he describes the history of the 9 פרה אדומות he concludes: .And the tenth will be brought by the king Mashiach; may he speedily be revealed. Amen, so may it be God’s will.

 

The Rebbe’s Sicha on this. LS 28, 131. LS 33, 127.

 

תשע פרות אדומות נעשו משנצטוו במצוה זו עד שחרב הבית בשניה, ראשונה עשה משה רבינו, ושניה עשה עזרא, ושבע מעזרא עד חורבן הבית, והעשירית עושה המלך המשיח, מהרה ייגלה:

Nine red heifers were offered from the time that they were commanded to fulfill this mitzvah until the time when the Temple was destroyed a second time. The first was brought by Moses Rabeinu. The second was brought by Ezra. Seven others were offered until the destruction of the Second Temple. And the tenth will be brought by the king Mashiach; may he speedily be revealed. Amen, so may it be God’s will.

4 – On the next עמוד we will encounter a phrase:

רִבִּי אוֹמֵר. אוֹמֵר אֲנִי.

Rebi says: I say……

We spoke at length about the fascinating insight of Reb Yosef Engel (and here) about this phrase since we find that it was only used by רבי יהודה , the author/ compiler of the משנה.

While is seems not a humble thing to say “I say”, in reality it showed the humbleness of רבי. Reb Yosef Engel explains that with the אני he meant the שכינה and was emphasizing that his entirety being, his knowledge etc, was from above.

In his lengthy piece, he has a unique explanation of this פסוק.

תהילים מה ב

(ב) רָ֘חַ֤שׁ לִבִּ֨י דָּ֘בָ֤ר ט֗וֹב אֹמֵ֣ר אָ֭נִי מַעֲשַׂ֣י

לְמֶ֑לֶךְ לְ֝שׁוֹנִ֗י עֵ֤ט סוֹפֵ֬ר מָהִֽיר׃

My heart stirs with a good thing. I recite my composition to a king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.

Briefly, it is דוד המלך praying for his descendant, רבי, who will need to decide if to write the משניות on paper.

דוד המלך is saying:

אֹמֵ֣ר אָ֭נִי   – my grandson who is fond of saying אֹמֵ֣ר אָ֭נִי

despite the prohibition to write תורה שבעל פה, the intention of רבי will be מעשי למלך .  Meaning, לשם שמים.

And therefore- despite the משניות being לְ֝שׁוֹנִ֗י, allowed only to be recited verbally, nevertheless the time necessitates it to jot it down in writing. עֵ֤ט סוֹפֵ֬ר מָהִֽיר׃

בית האוצר א, לג. רבי אומר אומר אני… לשוני עט סופר מהיר

https://beta.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=20921&st=&pgnum=96