BS”D

Shkolim 4a

Teves 7, 5784. December 19, 2023

1- We continued with the topic of the Kusim if  כותים גירי אמת או גירי אריות

Pointed out that our גמרא (as opposed to the many places in בבלי) has the names of the תנאים, that argued if the Kusim are real גרים or not, as רבי שמעון בן גמליאל and his son רבי יהודה.

2 – We began the topic of accepting donations from גויים for the בית המקדש. This will lead us into the הלכות of accepting צדקה from גויים.

3 – The opposing opinions of רבי יוחנן and ריש לקיש if גויים can participate in the building and upkeep of the בית המקדש.

ריש לקיש is very stringent and not allowing any participation at all.

רבי יוחנן allows accepting after the building is complete and then only items that are not distinctive דבר המסויים. That means any donation that cannot be identified once it’s accepted.

As an example to a distinctive item the גמרא suggests the  כליא עורב

“היכי דמי דבר המסויים? אמר רב יוסף: כגון אמה כליא עורב”  , ערכין, ו ע”א.

4 – The גמרא quotes the משנה in ערכין if a גוי can pledge an ערך or נדבה.

An ערך is a type of pledge that one offers the ‘value’ of a person, as specified in פרשת בחוקתי . The proceeds go to בדק הבית.

For example – 50 Shekel for a male from the age of 20 to 60 and 30 Shekel for a female.

On the other hand a נדבה is any amount pledged by a donor.

5 –  Now we know that a boy becomes Bar Mitzvah at 13 and a girl at 12.

This means that they are not obligated to perform מצוות until that age.

The exception to this rule are the laws of נדרים, as the גמרא elaborates (45b נדה) that a boy (if he knows what he is doing) can make a valid נדר starting at the age of 12 and a girl from the age of 11.

The גמרא says the reason to the above is that a girl matures in intelligence quicker than a  boy  –   בינה יתירה ניתנה באישה יותר מבאיש.

6 – In 1922 the Rebbe (IK 1, 5) asked the Rogatchover as to why the Rambam offers a totally different reason as to why a girl can begin to make a נדר earlier in life than a boy.

“Women (usually) have shorter lives than men!”

ושני הנקבה לעונת נדרים פחות משני הזכר להיות חייהן קצרים מחיי האיש ברוב:

We do not have the response of the Rogatchover to the Rebbe.

7 – In modern times the opposite is true. The life expectancy of women is longer than of males.

We mentioned that from our סדרה, פרשת ויגש, we see quite clearly that in Biblical times a group of men all outlived their wives who were also their brother’s twin sisters!

As Rashi writes that according to one opinion all the שבטים had a twin sister.

And yet, when they came to travel down to מצרים, none of the the sisters were alive!

וכל בנותיו – ר׳ יהודה אומר: אחיות תאמות נולדו עם כל שבט ושבט, ונשאום

ולדברי האומר (בראשית רבה פ״ד:כ״א): תאומות נולדו עם השבטים, צריכין אנו לומר שמתו לפני ירידתן למצרים, שהרי לא נמנו כאן.