BS”D

Sukkah 39b – 40a

Tamuz 6, 5782. July 5th, 2022

Some brief notes. 

1- We reviewed the issue of purchasing the ד’ מינים in the year of שמיטה and afterwards. Who to purchase from and how to designate the payment. 

 

2- Continuing on the topic of doing business with פירות שביעית, we read the text of the Yerushalmi that if one prepares for a wedding and has שמיטה produce left over he may sell them as that is not considered ‘ordinary business’. 

3- The designation of produce that begins to grow in one year but are picked in the next year. Fruits are identified and labeled by they year they blossom. Vegetable are identified by the year they are picked. 

The identity of an Esrog. Is it a fruit or vegetable? It grows on a tree, however, being a citrus tree it needs to be watered manually. (just like vegetables).   

Mendel Nemanov sent this interesting link regarding whether a tomato is a fruit or vegetable:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nix_v._Hedden

4- We discussed the various levels of שמיטה observance. 

Starting at the top:

1. Eating only imported fruits or vegetable.
2. Buying from non-Jewish farmers.
3. Otzar Beis Din
4. Utilizing the היתר מכירה.

 

1. 

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/309465

We discussed Reb Shlomo Zalman Ohrbach’s interesting query based on our Gemara. מנחת שלמה א, מד

Say someone keeps level 2, and buys produce only from Arabs, or level 3. Can he buy in the market from a stall that sells פירות שביעית at level 4? 

What is the issue? The buyer will treat them with קדושת שביעית. Is giving the money to someone that is at level 4 a problem? Is he, the seller, considered (to a level 2 guy) an עם הארץ that one is not permitted to give שביעית money? 

There’s more…

5- Our Gemara, to prove that the word מן can also mean food, quotes the פסוק from Daniel:

וַיְמַן לָהֶם הַמֶּלֶךְ דְּבַר יוֹם בְּיוֹמוֹ מִפַּת בַּג הַמֶּלֶךְ וּמִיֵּין מִשְׁתָּיו וּלְגַדְּלָם שָׁנִים שָׁלוֹשׁ וּמִקְצָתָם יַעַמְדוּ לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ.

The king allotted daily rations to them from the king’s food and from the wine he drank. They were to be educated for three years, and some of them at the end of which they were to enter the king’s service.

We discussed the story behind this פסוק and mentioned that perhaps this is the first time that non-Jews recognized the talents of Jews and elevated them to high positions in government.
Mentioned the often tragic result of this ר״ל. 

6- Mentioned that the Tur OC 428 uses this as a סימן as to when נצבים and וילך are separated into two פרשיות. So too writes the מחזור ויטרי!  See this shiur where we spoke about it.

• •  בג When Rosh Hashanah occurs on Monday or Tuesday
  • המלך Rosh Hashanah
  • פת פרשת וילך ומצבים is crumbled. Meaning split up. 

7- In connection to #3 above, that an Esrog being a citrus fruit that needs watering, we discussed the interesting fact that it was only about 150 years ago that the question of citrus fruits arose in ארץ  ישראל in regards to Shmita and Maaser. 

That could mean that until then only non Jews had farms or that oranges and lemons did not grow then in ארץ ישראל.

Comments please.

Beitza 32a.

1- We discussed the opinion of Reb Nechemia that one can use any כלי  on Shabbos and (perhaps) Yom Tov only for its original purpose.

Therefore, using a knife to cut a rope or a cord would be problematic, since a knife is presumably for eatingm though R”T in Tosafos found this problematic, as knives are used for cutting.

Ditto for using a piece of furniture, such as a chair for firewood. [Don’t try this at home unless it’s פיקוח נפש…]

2- We spent the rest of the Shiur discussing two interesting idea about פסח.

A– כלים נאים.

The Maharil. מהרי”ל. Many of the מנהגים that Ashkenazi Jews follow were penned by the Maharil.

In the Minhagim of Pesach he writes something quite interesting:

Although one should minimize having fancy dishes in one’s house, זכר לחורבן, nevertheless on Pesach one should flaunt!

 

 See here as quoted by the מגן אברהם .    

482 .2.  

We discussed this little known and adhered to מנהג not to spend fortunes on fancy dishes……

The Alter Rebbe adds that placing nice dishes on the Pesach should be done, “as long as one can afford it”.  482, 6.

Jewish Plate:

 

The Maharil then goes on to allow to adorn the Seder table using the כלים of a goy (obviously taking the Halachos of Kashrus into consideration) that a Yid has in his possession as collateral for a loan extended to this goy.

Goyish Plates:

We discussed on how this Halachah sheds some light on the life of Jews at that time. Barred from owning land etc., money lending would many time be the only option to survive. The guarantees one would receive would also need something tangible. 

B–  ליל שימורים.

Mentioned the story of the Israeli diamond factory that hired a Jewish security guard. On the night of Pesach he decided to go home for the Seder. Well… a robbery occurred. A lawsuit followed and made its way to a Din Torah.

The guard claimed that the diamonds were in a vault. He was hired just as ‘added protection’. Now since it was Pesach night…..and “one does not need to worry about ‘mazikim’… no need to lock the doors on Pesach night”  [Alter Rebbe 480, 5.  481.2] he had the right to abandon his post for the night.

[We also mentioned that ליל שימורים is  the reason we do not say ברכה מעין שבע Pesach occurs Friday night.]

If I recall correctly the guard lost the case and was forced to pay for the loss.