Makos 20a

1- We continued talking about Ma’aser Sheini, the obligation to bring a tenth (1/10) of one’s produce to Yerushalayim and eat it there.

[If one lives too far from Yerushalayim then one can “transfer” the value of the fruit or grain to money, travel with the cash to Yerushalayim, purchase fresh food and eat it there.]

Once the food enters Yerushalayim it cannot be ‘transferred’ to cash.

The Gemara poses a question – what if the farmer, traveling with the fruit in his backpack, enters Yerushalayim and stops right at the gate – positioning himself inside the city but with the fruit remaining outside the city walls: Do we consider the fruit in or out?

2- We mentioned Reb Yirmeyah – who is known for these type of quirky questions. In Bava Basra 23b he posed a question which caused him to be ousted from the Beis Hamidrash!  (see here for Adin Steinzaltz’s take on this).

However on page 165b it relates that during the time he was ousted his colleagues could not solve a Talmudic issue and they sent the question out for his opinion. His reply pleased them so they readmitted him.

Now – for our quirky question – for how long was Reb Yirmeyah outside the Beis Hamidrash?

Well, that depends… if that Beis Midrash was a Litvisher Yeshiva where they only cover 5-10 ‘dafim’ a year…..then that would be a long time.

On the other hand if it was a Chasidisher Yeshiva (or they were Daf Yomi followers…) his ouster was short lived….

In Nida 23a we find the ultimate humorous question by Reb Yirmeyah:

He asked Rav Zeira a question about a very unusual case. According to Rebbi Meir, who says that a woman who miscarries a form that resembled an animal is tamei with Tum’as Yoledes as if she gave birth to a human, meaning that we consider the infant as human!

woman and her baby horse

Now a father can marry off his daughter if she is under the age of 12.

A happy couple in their spacious cave

So what is the law in a case in which one gives money to the father of such a creature in order to be Mekadesh the creature during the pregnancy? May he marry the animal’s sister afterwards?

Rav Acha bar Yaakov explained that Rav Yirmeyah was merely trying to get Rav Zeira to laugh, but he did not succeed.

That’s not funny.

What was Reb Yirmeyah’ s motivation for trying to amuse Rav Zeira and make him laugh?

The Maharatz Chayes there explains that it is possible that many of the unusual questions throughout the Gemara that Rav Yirmeyah posed to Rav Zeira can be attributed to Reb Yirmeyah’ s desire for Rav Zeira to laugh.

 

Maharatz Chayes

Rav Zeira was of a very serious nature and his student Reb Yirmeyah was attempting to get a laugh out of his teacher.

3- We spoke about the concept that all produce which is about to be “tithed’ – Truma and Ma’aser to be taken out of it – is in an abstract sense as if they were already taken out.

Following this logic the Gemara concludes that produce, although un-tithed, which was in Yerushalayim we consider the Maaser Sheini that is in the pile separated and designated as Maaser Sheini.

This concept is called “”Matanos she’Lo Hurmu k’Mi she’Hurmu Damu”.

3- We continued discussing the issues one would encounter if Jews were to bring a Korban Tzibur prior to the coming of Moshiach. In the previous Shiur we mentioned some potential problems and how they were addressed by Reb Tzvi Hirsh Kalisher.

Moshe Rosenfeld suggest this site for a quick overview.

One issue is that Korbonos Tzibur must belong to the Tzibur. The Machatzis Hashekel was collected for this purpose. Once donated it becomes “public funds”. One cannot donate, say, ten sheep, for the Korban Tamid and still consider himself a ‘noted donor’.

For example: The “kupa’ cannot accept from the “The Joseph S. Gruss Sheep Fund”……(Mr Gruss A”H was a great Bal Tzedoka. ULY on Albany was donated by him. His fund distributes over $15,000,000 a year to Yeshivos!!)\\

One may donate individually into this pot of Tzibur money on the condition that his name is not associated with his donation at all.

 

Joseph and Caroline Gruss

So in theory, we can indeed create a “Klal Yisroel Animal…Fund” and accept individual donations that lose their individuality by becoming part of the fund.

Or can we? How do the trustees represent Klal Yisroel? Who appoints them? Do we need at least 50% participation to be considered representing Klal Yisroel?

What of the millions of Jews that are unaware of this fund?  Can we donate on their behalf?

What if there are some who oppose this fund?

We mentioned the famous Rav from Yerushalayim, Rabbi Yechiel Michel Tukatchinsky, that wrote extensively on this topic.