BS”D
Sukkah 52b
Tamuz 8, 5783. June 28, 2023
1- We began with the interesting news about South Korea!
Years ago, at the beginning of ראש השנה מסכתא we learnt that the years of kings were counted in a very unusual way.
ארבעה ראשי שנים הם: באחד בניסן ר”ה למלכים
רש”י: רגילים היו למנות זמן שטרותיהם לשנות המלך משנה שעמד בה המלך כדאמרינן במסכת גיטין (ד’ פ.) משום שלום מלכות וקבעו חכמים אחד בניסן לתחלת שנתו, ואפילו עמד בשבט או באדר כלתה שנתו משהגיע ניסן ויתחילו למנות לו שנה שניה:
On day 1 of a coronation, in the timeline of the king, it was considered that we are in ‘year one’ of this particular king. When the next ראש חודש ניסן arrived, it was year two. So if one was coronated on the last day of Adar, the next day, ראש חודש ניסן, it would be considered ‘year two of the king’.
להבדיל, in S Korea, until today, 06/28/2023 the common person used such a system! Everyone has the same birthday on January 1st. Say you were born on April 1st, you are 1 year old!
On the next January 1st you are officially 2 years old.
“Under the age system most commonly used in South Koreans’ everyday life, people are deemed to be a year old at birth and a year is added every Jan. 1.”
2 – Our גמרא spends many lines analyzing the idea of the יצר הרע.
We explained the one that says:
יצרו של אדם מתגבר עליו בכל יום ומבקש להמיתו שנאמר (תהלים לז, לב) צופה רשע לצדיק ומבקש להמיתו ואלמלא הקב”ה שעוזר לו אינו יכול לו
‘If not for the help and assistance of ה’ one would not be able to overcome the יצר הרע.’
As the Alter Rebbe says in תניא Chapter 13, the יצר טוב and the יצר הרע are like two opposing opinions expressed at a דין תורה.
They are just ‘opinions’, meaning that no action is resulted by the דיין expression his own thoughts. The הלכה is like the 3rd דיין.
That is a בינוני. Despite not being a צדיק, he never sins. He cannot transform his core being but is in complete control of what he thinks, speaks and does. But on the other hand, in his head, in theory, there are ‘opinions’ that are holy and also not holy. Two ‘opinions’ attempting to grab the attention of the בינוני.
The הלכה is like the 3rd דיין. That 3rd opinion is the deciding one, since he has one of the דיינים siding with him. ואלמלא הקב”ה שעוזר לו אינו יכול לו
3- Another interesting passage:
תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל אם פגע בך מנוול זה משכהו לבית המדרש
If one is being overpowered by the מנוול, the יצר הרע, drag him into the Beis Medrash.
Mentioned the quip of the Kotzker- מנוול זה. This particular יצר הרע.
The גמרא’s suggestion is not a global solution. Dragging oneself into the Beis Medrash will only take care of this particular יצר הרע. Not ‘all’ יצר הרעs will disappear by entering a בית מדרש.
Why?
Some יצר הרעs reside in the Beis Medrash itself…..
Vort of Reb Itche Masmid. הי”ד.
אם פגע בך מנוול זה משכהו לבית המדרש
The word פגע means a pinpoint or bull’s eye. The יצר הרע , wrote Reb Itche, is sly and will never approach and entice a person with a general suggestion of פריקת עול. Like ‘throw everything out the window’ ח”ו.
The way he works is by targeting a particular מצוה or מנהג with the usual justification of ‘not important’ or it’s only a small deviation.
That is the meaning of פגע בך מנוול זה.
The antidote is משכהו לבית המדרש. Not simply ‘sit down to learn’. Rather the way to control the יצר הרע is by joining a group of learners. Join a frum society/group and mingle amongst יראי שמים.
4 – The גמרא mentions the אטב”ח of Reb Chiya.
The 22 letters of the אלף בית are interchangeable. Meaning that one letter can be substituted with another one.
It’s not that any letter can be changed with another. Rather, each letter can be exchanged only to another corresponding letter. There needs to be a relationship between 2 letters in order to allow a substitution.
Now there are many rules and ‘systems’ as to which letters correspond to others allowing a substitution. .
One system is the אטב”ח system of Reb Chiya.
For example: every two letters that equal to 10 can be interchanged.
Thus, אלף and טית, which equal 10 can be substituted. Similarly, בית and חית, also equaling 10, can be changed. That’s the אטב”ח system.
There is a lot more on this and we just barely scratched the surface.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1N80qsGFURLhNIy976JRgjQNTdmEJG233EEtBedie94M/edit#gid=0