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.
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