BSD
Shkolim -13b(2)
Menachem Av 30, 5784. 09/3/2024
1- Our גמרא discusses מרדכי ,פתחיה and בלשון. All being the same person.
2- Story of the 2 mutes, during a famine or war, pointing to various objects indicating where תבואה was available for the עומר and שתי הלחם.
גגות צריפין
In בבלי it relates this story occurring at the time of the civil war between הורקנוס and אריסטובולוס.
”כשצרו מלכי בית חשמונאי זה על זה היה הורקנוס מבחוץ ואריסטובלוס מבפנים. בכל יום היו משלשלין (אנשי אריסטובולוס) דינרים בקופה ומעלים (אנשי הורקנוס) להם תמידים (קורבנות). היה שם זקן אחד… אמר להם (לאנשי הורקנוס):”כל זמן שעוסקים בעבודה אינם נמסרים בידכם”. למחרת שלשלו להם דינרים בקופה – והעלו להם חזיר. כיוון שהגיע לחצי החומה נעץ ציפורניו בחומה ונזדעזעה ארץ ישראל ארבע מאות פרסה על ארבע מאות פרסה”
When the kings of the Hasmonean monarchy besieged each other in their civil war, Hyrcanus was outside of Jerusalem, besieging it, and Aristoblus was inside. On each and every day they would lower dinars in a box from inside the city, and those on the outside would send up animals for them to bring the daily offerings in the Temple.
DIscussed the מהרש”א who says that these mutes were actually spies sent by the אריסטובולוס loyalists that were far away from ירושלים to make their way into the בית המקדש to advise the כהנים where wheat is available.
Using mutes was a ploy to fool the הורקנוס faction that laid siege to ירושלים.
מרדכי was the one that deciphered that the ‘hand signals’ gestured by the mutes were clues to the locations of the fields where תבואה was available.
3- מנחות סד, ב. Spoke about the תוספות asking as how could מרדכי have been alive at that time (era of הורקנוס and אריסטובולוס) when he was present at the beginning of בית שני and this civil war occurred over 200 years later! (Rambam Megillah 3, 1).
Their answer is that after the original מרדכי , this particular position (ruling on the קינים) was called ‘מרדכי’, signifying and pointing to an intelligent person. So the actual name of this appointee may have been different but he was called the ‘מרדכי’.
So it wasn’t the original מרדכי that deciphered the mutes’ gestures, but an appointed person to the מרדכי position.
4- Story of the 3 women who spoke in code. The people of the בית המקדש understood them as inquiring as to ‘what type of bird Korban (קינין) does זבה or יולדות need to bring’
מרדכי deciphered their true story that it had nothing to do with any of the above. Rather, they each meant to say that they had experienced a נס and are inquiring about offering a קרבן תודה.
מרדכי advised them that the bird is to be brought as a תודה קרבן.
Famous question: A קרבן תודה is brought from an animal not a bird and 40 loaves of bread. So why didn’t מרדכי advise them of their full obligation?
5- We spoke briefly about the two illustrious brothers: Reb Pinchos and Reb Shmelke Horowitz who were students of the Maggid of Mezritch.
The Alter Rebbe’s sons mention their names in the הקדמה to the Shulchan Aruch describing the times they all spent in Mezritch and the brothers’ urging the Alter Rebbe to complete his שלחן ערוך. .
Reb Pinchos, who was a Rov in Frankfurt, authored many popular ספרים. The one on Chumash is the פנים יפות.
Discussed the observation by many in that Reb Pinchos does not mention his Rebbe, the מגיד ממזריץ in all of his books.
Some great Chasidisher Rebbes strongly suggested that the printers were מתנגדים and simply deleted any mention of the מגיד!
It’s a big topic amongst historians.
See here:
https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=13109&st=&pgnum=138
6- In the above ספר פנים יפות Reb Pinchos writes a big chidush. ויקרא ז, יג
A קרבן תודה is not obligatory! It’s only optional for one who experienced a נס, such as traveling across an ocean. The thanking to ה’ is a must, but to bring a קרבן is only a נדבה.
Some want to bring proof from our גמרא that although מרדכי heard their stories about the ניסים they experienced, he didn’t tell them to bring a proper בהמה – animal תודה קרבן. It seems that the birds they brought sufficed. Unless, as the פנים יפות says, it’s optional and the חכמים did not enact this for women.
כלי חמדה ויקרא, קונטרס המילואים ויקרא ג.
7- We mentioned this last week in relation to כ”ף מנחם אב.
בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁלִישִׁי וַיִּשָּׂא אַבְרָהָם אֶת עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא אֶת הַמָּקוֹם מֵרָחֹק.
וַיֹּאמֶר אַבְרָהָם אֶל נְעָרָיו שְׁבוּ לָכֶם פֹּה עִם הַחֲמוֹר וַאֲנִי וְהַנַּעַר נֵלְכָה עַד כֹּה וְנִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה וְנָשׁוּבָה אֲלֵיכֶם.
On day 3 אברהם אבינו tell his two ‘consultants’ wait ‘here’ and I with יצחק will go till ‘there’ we will do a השתחווה and return to you both.
These instructions beg for an explanation. What is he telling them exactly? We will go till ‘there’- where is there? How far is it? When is he coming back? It seems like very ambiguous information.
Says Reb Levik: Avrohom was actually very precise. He told them exactly how far they are going and when they will return.
How is that?
Based on a פסוק in משלי ד, יח:
וְאֹרַח צַדִּיקִים כְּאוֹר נֹגַהּ הוֹלֵךְ וָאוֹר עַד נְכוֹן הַיּוֹם.
שהולך ומאיר מעמוד השחר “עד נכון היום” – עד ,חצות היום שהוא בירורו של יום- רש”י
A צדיק will arrive a midday.
Reb Levik derives from the פסוק that the עקידה was to take place upon arrival, at חצות.
Now, a person can walk 10 פרסאות a day. (approximately 24 miles or 38 km). מהלך אדם בינוני ביום עשר פרסאות-
So, on day one and two they all covered 20 פרסאות.
On the morning of day three, אברהם אבינו tells them that he will walk alone with יצחק until midday. Meaning that in total he will have walked 25 פרסאות.
10+10+5=25.
Where is the number 25 in אברהם’s words?
וַאֲנִי וְהַנַּעַר נֵלְכָה עַד כֹּה –
כֹּה equals 25!
He’s telling them: We’ll walk another 5 פרסאות, – for a total of 25 פרסאות,
וְנִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה וְנָשׁוּבָה אֲלֵיכֶם.
כוח”ט