ראש השנה is יום הדין- it’s a scary and frightening moment. We should at least know that there’s something to be scared about and have בטחון in ה'- without His רחמים, it won’t go. It can be compared to the boys in Japan waiting for their trial. ה' is the sweetest person, but there are people around Him so He has no choice.
We don’t blow the שופר this year. It says that somewhere where they don’t blow the שופר, they should expect a tragedy to come because they don’t have the protection that blowing it brings upon us. By taking away this took, we are showing that we are being מוסר נפש for שבת.
These 10 days between ראש השנה and יו''כ are known as the עשרת ימי תשובה. חז''ל discuss the עשי''ת in the גמרא- gives it authority.
These days are specially designated for תשובה. These days start at ראש השנה and culminate at יו''כ- ''בין כסה לעשר''. תשובה isn’t so easy to accomplish most of the time, but it’s easier during the עשי''ת.
דינים on מחילה:
יו''כ has so much קדושה because ה' is מוחל us. ה' is so happy- it’s a big חסד.
We have to think about תשובה on יו''כ:
1. חרטה
2. קבלה על העתיד
3. עזיבת החטא
4. ודוי- it is said ten times. You only have to say it one time to be יוצא, but you must be standing. One should stand with a bowed heart.
There are התירים to take medicine on יו''כ, but you should ask a doctor and רב before using them. Medicine can’t be taken with water and you shouldn’t take chewables.
חמישת עינוים:
1. You shouldn’t wear leather shoes.
2. Fasting- at the end of the fast, even if your father isn’t home, you can say ברוך המבדיל and drink water. If you’re really hungry, you can make your own הבדלה- make sure to take fire from the נר שבת.
3. Washing- only up to the knuckles.
Saying מוריד הטל isn’t as eloquent- it’s a substitute, and when we talk to ה', we want to talk in the most eloquent manner.
If you didn’t say משיב הרוח:
1. If you finished the whole ש''ע, you have to repeat. Take three steps back (putting the שכינה in front of you) and say ה' שפתי.
2. If you caught yourself in the middle of ש''ע, you go back to ה' שפתי, but you don’t take the three steps back. If you were in the middle of שם ה', say ''למדני חוקיך''.
3. If you caught yourself before ''ברוך אתה'' of that ברכה, even if you said מוריד הטל, you go back. If you said the שם ה', you only go back if you didn’t say anything. IF you got up to ''מחיה'', finish the ברכה and say משיב הרוח over there.
יעלה ויבא is in the ברכה of הודאה.
If you forgot יעלה ויבא:
1. If you finished the whole ש''ע, you have to repeat.
2. If you didn’t yet finish ש''ע, you go back to the beginning of the ברכה of רצה because you have ruined that ברכה.
3. If you said ''ותחזנה...אתה'', you go back. Once you said the שם ה', you finish the ברכה and say it then.
The תורה warns us about שבת 12 times. Why so many?
The תורה doesn’t tell what the מלאכות are, so how do we know? It’s מסורה from משהand חז''ל knew it from קבלה and they found a רמז in the תורה- in ויקהל and פקודי it talks about the מלאכת המשכן.
What’s an אב and what’s a תולדה? An אב is how the מלאכה was done it the משכן. The תולדה is just as important as the אב. Why are they called by these names? Because the אב is the concept. Each of the אב מלאכות have a purpose, and this is how we derive the תולדה. An activity that has the same תכלית as the אב is a תולדה.
What’s the definition of בורר- what’s the תכלית? Sorting from a mixture of types.
In order for something to be בורר, it has to have things:
1. It has to be a mixture.
2. In the mixture, there have to be types.
If you have lemon and lime candies, it would be considered a mixture because the two different flavors mean there are two types.
What isn’t an assortment? If you have a pot of soup with chicken and vegetables, in this pot there are different types, but they aren’t mixed. If you wanted to remove the chicken and vegetables from the soup to make it clear, you would be allowed to because there’s no mixture. If there were noodles in the soup, that would be a mixture.
You can have a mixture but not have two types, like if you have a plate of cookies, and some are bigger than others. This wouldn’t be בורר.
What’s a mixture? You wash silverware on Friday night, and it’s all mixed together after you wash it. Now you want to set the table and you want to take out the knives. Every time you remove something from the mixture, you’re sorting types. This is an act of בורר. If the silverware was divided into compartments, you would be allowed to remove items from the compartments and set the table.
If you have different types that are a mixture, there is a התיר to separate when you follow the following conditions:
1. אוכל מן פסולת- take the good from the bad.
2. יד- separate by hand.
3. מיד- do it before you eat, in the time frame of סמוך לסעודה.
If you’re going somewhere and want to set the table before you leave, what do you do? If אי''ם doesn’t work for you, you could spread the silverware out, so that it isn’t a mixture anymore.
Two other methods of getting out of בורר:
1. You can take some of the good with the bad that you want to remove.
2. פסולת that blocks access to the food is considered part of the food, like by a peel or wrapper. (Questionable התיר)
How can you remove bones from fish or seeds from watermelon?
1. Remove the פסולת for immediate use. This is called דרך אכילה- remove the bones while it’s still in your mouth.
2. מיד לפה- since it’s on my plate in front of me, it’s considered דרך אכילה, so I can remove the bones from the fish. This applies when feeding children who can’t remove the bones the first way.
טוחן= grinding.
1. אב- crushing grain.
2. תכלית- breaking down a large particle into smaller particles for a different kind of use. The purpose can’t be achieved in its original form.
Included in the תכלית is breaking down everything else, not just grain. For example, gravel for laying down a sidewalk- big rocks wouldn’t do the job, but smaller pebbles can.
The fact that you’re making something smaller isn’t טוחן. There is no standard of smallness with the מלאכה of טוחן. The תכלית is to achieve something significant. By giving it a new use or purpose, that defines it as טוחן.
When you chop vegetables for a salad, you’re giving them a new use. Mashing a banana would also be giving it a new use. The חזון איש says that mashing is טוחן and רב משה says that it isn’t- טוחן is only for breaking something down into different units. Can one break down a banana for a small child?
1. חזון איש- yes, but with a שנוי.
2. רב משה- yes, but we should do like the חזון איש.
There are four exemptions to טוחן, and you only need one:
1. אין טוחן אא בגדולי קרקע- food that doesn’t grow from the ground, טוחן doesn’t apply to it:
a. Eggs
b. Liver
c. Meat
d. Fish
e. Cheese
2. סמוך לסועדה- even something that’s גדולי קרקע, the מיד from בורר applies here. Not all פוסקים agree on this, so we try to combine it with another exemption. A salad is hard to find another exemption for, so we use a שנוי, such as cutting bigger pieces.
3. אין טחינה אחר טחינה- when the original טוחן is totally obliterated, there is no more טוחן. If you got mud on your clothing, you can’t scrape it off because there’s a cycle and you’re bringing it back to its original form. Instead, you should wash it off. If there is a lot of mud, be careful because it may be לש.
4. שנוי- do it in an awkward way. This is usually used with another condition when you need a היתר.
עובדא דחול- you can’t use a device used for mashing or grinding on שבת even if you have the exemptions.
It doesn’t discuss taking medicine in the תורה, so how could חז''ל make it אסור? חז''ל were given permission to make certain barriers so that we shouldn’t be עובר on the תורה- ''עשו משמרת למשמרתי''.
In the old days, they used herbs for medication. They used to crush them, so the איסור of taking medicine on שבת was instituted. Any kind of therapy is included. רפואה is that which rectifies a malady of any kind.
רפואה isn’t restricted on everyone:
1. מיחוש בעלמה- a common place malady, that doesn’t make you very sick. Included in this would be aches and pains. It’s אסור to take medicine.
2. חולה כל גופו- not to bad, but confines someone in bed and affects his whole body, like a flu. One can take medicine.
3. פקוח נפש- not necessarily life threatening, but even something that could be life threatening, like diabetes. Not only should one take medicine, you’re מחוייב to be מחלל שבת for it.
For all children under the age of five or six or that are very frail, any of their needs are considered חולה כל גופו.
Two questions about the איסור of רפואה:
1. Who is included in this איסור? Only a מיחוש בעלמה would be included in this איסור. If someone isn’t sure if they’re considered a מיחוש בעלמה or חולה כל גופו, they can be מקיל and take the medicine.
2. What exactly is אסור? Any kinds of therapy, not just substance therapy. If a doctor tells someone to do physical therapy, he can do it even on שבת.
One can’t take vitamins on שבת, but there is an exemption for רפואה:
1. מאכל בריאים- food for healthy people. An example would be tea. Even if one is taking it for their sore throat, and wouldn’t usually drink it, they can still drink it, because it’s food.
2. דרך בריאים- since during the winter people put cream on even before their hands get chapped, if someone has chapped hands, he can put on cream as long as he doesn’t smear it.
You can’t mix רפואה into food on שבת, but you can do it before שבת and use it on שבת.
A person is allowed to take medicine to prevent himself from becoming a חולה כל גופו. An example of this would be to take Tums so you don’t get heartburn.
מרקד means sifting. Why would one sift? In order to separate the good in the flour from the bad. What would be considered bad in flour? Bran, pebbles or other matter that got mixed in must be separated from the finer flour. The idea of מרקד is separating the good from the bad in a mixture by passing the mixture through a screen.
The אב מלאכה is sifting flour.
When it comes to sifting confectioner sugar over a cake, the lumps in the sugar can be crushed because אין טוחן אחר הטוחן, and the sugar can be sifted over the cake.
If there are clumps in the salt or sugar shakers, it would be considered מרקד to put rice in the shaker and use it.
Sand in a sand box- if it rained, and the sand is clumpy, there could be problems. If the sand is dry, and someone is playing with a sand sifter, they can’t use it.
מצה meal also can’t be sifted because there might be parts in it that shouldn’t be there.
A תולדה of מרקד is משמר מסמנן- filtering sediment in a fluid. In the city, many people have water filters because there are undesired objects in the water. This water that has been filtered is אסור to drink, even though some פוסקים hold otherwise. This water can be used to wash your hands with or do the dishes with.
There are three levels of mixtures:
1. צלולים- clear, clean. This is what we drink
2. עכורים קצת. Most of the שאלות are on this.
3. עכורים- muddy and dirty- liquids that are turbid and undrinkable. You probably won’t run into this on שבת.
Passing עכורים through a filter turns it into צלולים.
עכורים: מלאכה מדאוריתא
The water in New York looks clear but it’s not. It’s עכורים only for drinking. Let’s say someone does an oil change- the oil may go into the ground and will eventually reach water. Now there are toxins (=עכורים) in the water, so they filter it. Sometimes bubbles are bugs. It’s עכורים and can’t be filtered on שבת.
צלולים:
Clear enough that people don’t mind drinking. Our water would fall into this category. It’s not אסור to filter it- you can use a filter on your tap. If someone is sensitive to the water, it makes it more עכורים or עכורים קצת, so they shouldn’t use a filter. A mild preference, however, doesn’t make it a problem.
עכורים קצת:
Let’s say water is a drop yellow- it is still drinkable, but we might not want to. It’s אסור to filter it on שבת.
After מרקד, we have flour that’s ready for baking.
Steps of the מלאכה:
1. נתינת מים- when water makes contact with the flour, and the particles of flour cling together.
2. גיבול- this involves mixing the flour with liquid to blend them together.
The תכלית of לש (kneading) is to combine particles of solid into a thick mass with a liquid medium. This can include:
1. Pastes
2. Sand with water→ mud or cement.
There are four kinds of mixtures:
1. בלילה עבה- a thick mixture. This is אסור מדאוריתא.
2. בלילה רכה- a thin, pourable, battler-like mix.
3. דברים נוזלים- a very thin mix that has no density such as coffee. It is permissible to make this on שבת.
4. חתיכות- not an even consistency, like coleslaw. This can be done on שבת.
Pure, ground liver is equivalent in הלכה to flour. If you add liquid to flour, you did לש. If you mix liver with oil, you’re doing גיבול. Liver is already moist, so why are you doing גיבול? Because the natural moisture of the food is considered like it’s dry. There are some התירים for making liver on שבת, such as אין לש אלא בגדולי קרקע.
Chopped liver or chopped eggs that aren’t finely ground- not לש because it’s חתיכות. Because of this, it’s permissible to make cole slaw.
If you want to mix ketchup and mayonnaise, it wouldn’t be אסור because it’s דברים נוזלים.
You can’t make בלילה. In order for something to be considered בלילה, it must have three properties:
1. A combination of solids and liquids mixed together. Mixing honey and mayonnaise wouldn’t be considered בלילה. Mashing a banana also wouldn’t be considered בלילה because the moisture is natural and the natural moisture of the food is considered like it’s dry.
2. Viscosity- it must be thick enough to have the density of viscosity.
3. It has to be an even consistency- particles have blended perfectly with each other. To make a new consistency would be בלילה.
It’s אסור to make baby cereal on שבת unless it’s done with a שנוי.
A שנוי is אסור by a דאוריתא, but not by a דרבנן. Since בלילה רכה is דרבנן, it can be done with a שנוי. A שנוי has to be done in every aspect of the לש:
1. נתינת מים- whatever you normally add first, add it second.
2. גיבול- either mix with the handle of the spoon or finger in a criss-cross motion. You can also put everything in one bowl and then move it from one bowl to another.
A שנוי can be to reverse the normal way- now a days, people usually first put in the liquid then add the powder. If one isn’t sure how he usually does it, he should use he standard שנוי- add the solid first and the liquid second.
Potato flakes start off as a בלילה רכה then thicken and turn into a בלילה עבה.
There are four sections to thisמלאכה :
1. Basic premises.
2. דין of אש and תולדת אש- fire and second hand fire.
3. בישול אחר הבישול- there is no בישול after בישול.
4. גזרות חכמים of בישול.
There’s a מחלוקת over what the אב מלאכה is. If you go according to סדורי דפת, the אב מלאכה is אופה. Most of the ראשונים hold that סדורי דפת is symbolic- there was no מלאכה of אופה, it’s really בישול. But didn’t they bake in the משכן? Yes, but they did many actions that aren’t considered אב מלאכות. Really, מלאכות were functions they did to build the משכן. They did בישול when they boiled the dyes for the יריאות.
Examples of איסורים דרבנן:
1. Blech
2. Not to put cold foods on the blech because of חזרה.
3. Wrapping something hot with a towel.
Definition of the מלאכה: 1. Causing a 2. change in a 3. food or substance by the use of 4. heat.
Basic premises of the מלאכה:
1. בישול
2. צליי'- roasting
3. אופה
4. טיגון- frying
1. בישול- immersed in a hot liquid.
2. צליי'- without liquid or dry heat.
3. אופה- dry heat.
4. טיגון- pan frying or sautéing.
צליי' and בישול is hardening something soft. אופה is softening something hard.
Deep frying something is בישול. When there’s only a little oil, is it בישול or אופה?
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Pirkei Avos- Mishna Daled
רבי לויטס איש יבנה was from the third generation of תנאים. He learned in יבנה and was a
תלמיד חשוב there.
מאד מאד הוי שפל רוח- על האדם להיות ענו ביותר
שתקות אנוש- שתקות גופו במותו
רמה- תולעים יאכלו את גופו
The משנה is coming to teach us to have ענוה ביותר. We learn this from the words ''מאד מאד''.
Story- the ח''ח didn’t take a donation because he felt that he didn’t fit the title in the letter. It’s not enough to be humble. A person has to be exceedingly humble- ''יפה ענותנותא לישראל''.
רע''ב -מאד מאד הוי שפל רוח in all other מידות we’re supposed to take the middle road- the שביל
הזהב, the דרך האמצעי/ הממוצא. When it comes to ענוה, there’s no such thing as being a little humble or having a little bit of גאוה. We have to be totally humble and have absolutely no גאוה. A person should turn to the opposite extreme of גאוה because:
1. גאוה is exceedingly disgusting.
2. The majority of mankind stumble in גאוה and don’t separate themselves from it, therefore we have to distance ourselves.
ר' יונה How can a person feel a גאוה when at the end the worms will be greater than him?
When it comes to מידות, a person should choose the קו האמצעי, for example in נדיבות and כילות and in אכזריות and רחמנות- we know that ''כל המרחם על האכזר, סופו להיות אכזר על הרחמנים''.
There is no מידה that is worse than גאוה:
1. Most עבירות are enrooted in גאוה. Often, if a person feels too high or mighty, he may be חוטא.
2. גאוה causes שכחת ה'- ''ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה' אלוקיך''.
Sheet There are some מידות that one shouldn’t take the middle road with, but rather go from one
I side to the opposite extreme. One of these מידות is גאוה. A person can’t just be a big ענו, he
has to be שפל רוח. By משה it doesn’t just say that he was an ענו because that’s a level, not a
שבח. It says that he was an ענו מאד. It’s the way of צדיקים:
1. When insulted not to insult back- people would insult back because they’re worried about their כבוד, which shows גאוה.
2. When they hear people embarrass them, they don’t say anything in return.
3. Do it from אהבה.
4. They’re happy with their יסורים.
Someone who does the above four things, he’s like the sun when it comes out. What’s the connection? The moon came before ה' and said, ''איו שני מלכים משתמשים בכתר אחד''. The words of the לבנה were an עלבון to the sun, and ה' made the moon smaller. Those who insult, ''וחרפה תשוב אל חקם''- reflect the בושה on them, and become smaller. The sun, ה' מגדיל כבודו and it became bigger.
ר' זאב Why is there a double לשון of מאד מאד? A person has a נפש הבהמי and a נפש הרוחני. A person
מבאסקאוויץ is able to have גאוה- מצד מעלות נפשו הרוחני. The טענה is giving him a warning- מאד. A person can also feel גאוה- הגשמי מצד מעלות נפשו (pretty hair, big eyes…) so the טענה is giving him a warning- מאד.
פסקי With most מידות, the best דרך is the דרך האמצעית. By ענוה, a person has to be שפל רוח. תלמדי
השל''ה חכמים are considered like ספר תורה חי. We have to have כבוד התורה, therefore we have to have כבוד toward חכמים תלמדי. A תלמיד חכם has to have ענוה, but shouldn’t be שפל רוח because the ציבור has to have כבוד towards him. Story- כתב סופר at his son’s wedding.
רמב''ם What’s a גזירת שוה? When you have one word in the תורה and the same word somewhere
Sheet II else, they become equal. A גזירת שוה is the rule of equality.
1. An עובד ע''ז and a בעל גאווה are equal. Proofs:
a. ''תועבת ה' כל גבה לב''
b. ''ולא חביא תועבה אל ביתך''
From here we can learn that someone who has גסות הרוח, it’s like he serves ע''ז. Story-
ר' אליהו לופיאן repeated the פסוק of ''ולא חביא תועבה אל ביתך'' so that he shouldn’t have גאוה.
2. Someone who has גאוה, it’s like he’s עובר on ג''ע
a. ''תועבת ה' כל גבה לב''
b. ''כי את כל הטועבות אל'', and after it’s מפרט all the אסורים of עריות.
3. Someone who’s a בעל גאווה, it’s as if he’s the idol itself- ''חדלו לכם מן האדם אשר נשמה באפו כי במה נחשב הוא''- withhold from yourself גאוה, that today you’re living but tomorrow you could be gone, because if you don’t, you’re considered like the בָמָה itself.
4. A מתגאה is worthy to be killed, he abuses his right to live- ''אין אני והוא יכול לדור בדירה אחת''.
a. ''ורמי הקומה גדועים''- those that are of elevated status, they have to be destroyed.
b. ''ואשריהם תגדעון''- you have to remove the בעל גאווה just like you have to remove the trees that are used for ע''ז.
5. Haughty people won’t awake by תחית המתים. We learn this פסוק from ישעיהו- ''הקיצו ורננו כל שכני עפר''- only those that wereשכני עפר in their lifetime will awaken.
רש''י We always have to keep in mind that we were created from earth and we end up back in the earth. If a person frames his mind with this reasoning, which is the מסובב, he’ll acquire the effect- ''מאד מאד...''.
נודע ''יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו''- the גמרא tells us that when משיח comes, ה' will שחט the יצה''ר. The צדיקים will rejoice because the יצה''ר will appear to them like a huge mountain and they’ll rejoice that they were able to scale it. The רשעים will cry from frustration because the יצה''ר will appear to them as a hair strand and they’ll be upset that even that they couldn’t conquer. Man’s hope is to conquer his יצה''ר and withstand the temptation of being חוטא. The means of doing so is reminding one’s self about the יום המיתה that it strengthens his ענוה- who am I to be mean to someone else or be חוטא before ה'.
תוספות תקוה= קו מדה. Throughout our lives, a person can do great things and take credit. We can allow גאוה to seep into the realm of our accomplishments. The measuring rod throughout the course of our lives is our מעשים, but a person has to measure his מעשים against the רמה. The earthworm is מחי' us- it loosens up the soil so nutrients can permeate the ground. Also in the fall, the earthworm decomposes leaves, which makes fertilizer, which we need to sustain us. When a person does a מעשה נורא, you should condition your mind and say ''תקות אנוש רימה''.
כנסת רמה is from the לשון of ''למה רמיתני''- it’s a לשון of deceit. It says in משלי, ''רבות מחשבות...''. ה' carries out all the plans of man. All man’s hopes are שקר and only what ה' wants will happen. How humbling to man that no matter how hard you plan, only what ה' wants will happen.
חתם When a person goes up after 120, he’ll be asked questions. The סניגרs and קטיגרs will be standing there- ''אוי לנו מיום הדן ואוי לנו מיום התוכחה''. The person may try to come up with a פתחון פה- my יצה''ר attacked me with renewed vigor every day, like a strong lion. I was like a נמלה compared to him. Man’s whole hope to come out victorious on the יום הדין will only be fulfilled if he led his life like a רמה- conducted himself with ענוה.
יכהן פאר The גמרא in ברכות tells us ''קשה רמה למת כמחט בבשר החי''- just like a needle pricks live flesh, similarly the רמה that eats his flesh will prick. A person has a גוף and a נשמה, and a רוח is מיחד the two so that the רמה somehow pricks. To the degree that during your lifetime you prick your friend, the רמה will prick you in your קבר- ''במדה שאדם מודד מודדין לו''. In order not to have the prick of the רמה, we have to be ''מאד מאד הוי שפל רוח''- someone that’s an ענו won’t be a בעל גאוה and prick his friend.
ר' בונים A person has to lead his life with the imagination that before him are to pockets. In one of them is a paper that says ''ואנכי עפר ועפר'' and in the other is a note that says ''בשבילי נברא העולם''. How can we maintain a balance of the two? One of the בעלי מוסר said that if you don’t know your shortcomings, it’s a פחד but if you don’t know your values, it’s a פחד שבפחד. A person has to realize that his מעלות are from ה' and that you have them in order to serve Him.
אור יהל When משה came to be מנחם אבל to אהרן when נדב and אביהו died, he said, “there’s a פסוק that says that ה'’s משכן will be sanctified by His honor”. This can be understood to mean by His honorable ones. משה said, “I thought it would be either of us but now I see that it’s through נדב and אביהו so they’re greater than us”.
Why would משה, who was the ענו מכל אדם, say that he thought that it would be him who was chosen- isn’t this גאוה? משל- a king says to one of his servants that he wants to honor one of his קרובים and the servant assumes it’s him. If you don’t know the values that ה' gave you, you’re not an ענו, but a fool. So what is an ענו? You know what you have but you know that it’s not yours. It’s ה'’s and He’s given you the ability.
So it’s not that משה said, “I’m so great,” rather that ה' gave him this כח to be his קרוב. He recognized his מעלות and חסרונות and that they were from ה'.
So why are we still מתגאה and think that we are superior? There’s a פסוק, ''וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך''. The source of דעת is ה'. It’s the חלק אלוקים ממעל. The נשמה is the דעת as it says, ''ויפח באפו נשמת חיים ויהי לנפש חיה''- ה' made אדם alive with the נשמה and made him into a נפש חיה- a רוח ממללא (because our דעות are expressed through speech). So our נשמה contains our דעת and it’s up in שמים because the נשמות come from under the כסא הכבוד, so that’s ''וידעת היום''. What’s your לב? It’s the חלק הנפש בגוף האדם- a physical housing for the נפש. The גוף comes from the ארץ. So to transfer between ''וידעת היום'' and ''והשבות אל לבבך'', the דעת has to travel from שמים to ארץ. You have to work very hard to do this- you have to do it ברגילות to make it really travel the distance.
Don’t have גאוה- you have a כח, but don’t be מתגאה over it because it’s not yours. A ת''ח also can’t have גאוה because everything he has is from ה'- ''והחכמה מאין תמצא''. A ת''ח without מידות is worse off than a carcass.
משה knew that he had כוחות, but he recognized that they were from ה'.
Now, ר' יוחנן בן ברוקא discusses the ענין of חלול ה'. He was the תלמיד of ר' יהושע בן חנני' (say about his mother ''אשרי יולדתו''). He lived in the third generation of תנאים. He said that one who is מחלל ש''ש privately will get punished in public and ה' is מתיחס with the מזיד and the שוגג the same way when it comes to the עון חלול ה', therefore it’s a very severe עון.
The מצוה of קידוש ה' as an עשה is ''ונקדשת בתוך ב''י'' and the עבירה of חלול ה' as a לאו is ''לא
תחללו את שם קדשי''
There are three עבירות that are יהרג ועל יעבור:
1. ע''ז
2. ג''ע
3. ש''ד
People were created for one reason- to serve ה'. If we’re not ready to give up our lives for Him then we’re not totally given over to Him. We have to be ready to be מוסר נפש for ה' completely. When there’s a time of שמד, you must give up your life for any מצוה in the תורה. If the מעביר (one who’s forcing someone to transgress) is doing it for his הנאה, it’s more lenient then if he would be doing it just to show ה'. It’s also more lenient if it’s in private than public. What are the דינים?
1. ג' עבירות חמורות-יהרג ועל יעבור
2. בשעת השמד- יהרג ועל יעבור
3. Not בשעת השמד, in private, solely for the הנאה of the מעביר- יעבר ואל יהרג
4. Not בשעת השמד, in private, למען ההעברה- יעבר ואל יהרג
5. Not בשעת השמד, in public, solely for the הנאה of the מעביר- יעבר ואל יהרג
6. Not בשעת השמד, in front of at least ten men, למען ההעברה- יהרג ועל יעבור
יהרג ועל יעבור is upholding a קדיש ה'. A קדיש ה' is required for everyone to do. The only thing to be מכפר on a חלול ה' is:
1. תשובה
2. יו''כ
3. יסורים
4. Only after all that, מיתה.
רמב''ם Someone who is known to be a גדול בתורה andמפורסם בחסידות who does something this is not anעבירה but something that’s inappropriate for him to do, it’ll cause a חלול ה'. For example:
1. Not paying up immediately
2. Joining theעמי הארץ inקלות ראש
3. Speaking in a way that’s notבנחת
4. Acting withכעס andמחלוקת
All this is worse and worse according to yourמדרגה . Instead, we have to do good things that will make people be impressed with you and people will want to be like you. That’s a.קדוש ה' Story- theח''ח wanted to make a birthday party when he turned eighty in order to make a קדוש ה'. Story- ר' נחום הרודנה fell in gutter while collectingצדקה and didn’t want to die so as not to make a חלול ה'.
ת''י -כה Not everyone is included in this in נפרעין ממנו בגלוי. For example, there is a person that תקפו יצרו- he gave intoתאוה but wasn’t חוטא להכעיס. He can’t beעומד the נסיון but he has בושה, so he does it in private. He gets paid back in private. If this person sins in public, he gets paid back in public. Who is theמשנה talking about? Someone who is פושט טלפיו כחזיר– pretends that he’sכשר when he really isn’t. He is aחונף and hypocritical. He isאחד בפה ואחד בלב. He isחוטא andמחלל ש''ש in private intentionally to trick people- he’s מחכיש ה'. But in public, he acts like aצדיק because he’sחס on his כבד. He will get paid back in public even though he wasחוטא in private. They everyone will know that he’s really not a צדיק.
תוספת יו''ט What does it mean that ''ואחד שוגג אחד מזיד בחלול ה' ''? The שוגג is more lenient than the מזיד so it can’t be the same punishment for both. Where it says ''אחד'', id doesn’t mean the same punishment but that it’s both punished in public.
''חלול'' is from the ל' of חול, חולין- regular, a חסרון in קדושה. Someone who makes a חלול ה' acts in a חול way to ה'.
רוח חיים חלולים means hollow, so that’s what חלול means here.
A person who says that in a certain aspect of his life ה' isn’t there is מחלל ש''ש במחשבה because ''מלא כל הארץ כבודו''. Even every footstep we take is a דבר רוחני.
Sheet II Make ה'’s name beloved onto others- וְאִהַבְתָּ, so that ש''ש should become beloved through your life. A person should learn תשבע''פ and תשבכת''ב. He should serve a ת''ח so that he can see him live. You should also act nicely to others so that they’ll say, ''אשרי... אתפאר''. Someone who learns תורה and serves a ת''ח but doesn’t conduct himself honestly and act like a mensch, people will say on him, ''אוי...יצאו''.
תלמיד חשוב there.
מאד מאד הוי שפל רוח- על האדם להיות ענו ביותר
שתקות אנוש- שתקות גופו במותו
רמה- תולעים יאכלו את גופו
The משנה is coming to teach us to have ענוה ביותר. We learn this from the words ''מאד מאד''.
Story- the ח''ח didn’t take a donation because he felt that he didn’t fit the title in the letter. It’s not enough to be humble. A person has to be exceedingly humble- ''יפה ענותנותא לישראל''.
רע''ב -מאד מאד הוי שפל רוח in all other מידות we’re supposed to take the middle road- the שביל
הזהב, the דרך האמצעי/ הממוצא. When it comes to ענוה, there’s no such thing as being a little humble or having a little bit of גאוה. We have to be totally humble and have absolutely no גאוה. A person should turn to the opposite extreme of גאוה because:
1. גאוה is exceedingly disgusting.
2. The majority of mankind stumble in גאוה and don’t separate themselves from it, therefore we have to distance ourselves.
ר' יונה How can a person feel a גאוה when at the end the worms will be greater than him?
When it comes to מידות, a person should choose the קו האמצעי, for example in נדיבות and כילות and in אכזריות and רחמנות- we know that ''כל המרחם על האכזר, סופו להיות אכזר על הרחמנים''.
There is no מידה that is worse than גאוה:
1. Most עבירות are enrooted in גאוה. Often, if a person feels too high or mighty, he may be חוטא.
2. גאוה causes שכחת ה'- ''ורם לבבך ושכחת את ה' אלוקיך''.
Sheet There are some מידות that one shouldn’t take the middle road with, but rather go from one
I side to the opposite extreme. One of these מידות is גאוה. A person can’t just be a big ענו, he
has to be שפל רוח. By משה it doesn’t just say that he was an ענו because that’s a level, not a
שבח. It says that he was an ענו מאד. It’s the way of צדיקים:
1. When insulted not to insult back- people would insult back because they’re worried about their כבוד, which shows גאוה.
2. When they hear people embarrass them, they don’t say anything in return.
3. Do it from אהבה.
4. They’re happy with their יסורים.
Someone who does the above four things, he’s like the sun when it comes out. What’s the connection? The moon came before ה' and said, ''איו שני מלכים משתמשים בכתר אחד''. The words of the לבנה were an עלבון to the sun, and ה' made the moon smaller. Those who insult, ''וחרפה תשוב אל חקם''- reflect the בושה on them, and become smaller. The sun, ה' מגדיל כבודו and it became bigger.
ר' זאב Why is there a double לשון of מאד מאד? A person has a נפש הבהמי and a נפש הרוחני. A person
מבאסקאוויץ is able to have גאוה- מצד מעלות נפשו הרוחני. The טענה is giving him a warning- מאד. A person can also feel גאוה- הגשמי מצד מעלות נפשו (pretty hair, big eyes…) so the טענה is giving him a warning- מאד.
פסקי With most מידות, the best דרך is the דרך האמצעית. By ענוה, a person has to be שפל רוח. תלמדי
השל''ה חכמים are considered like ספר תורה חי. We have to have כבוד התורה, therefore we have to have כבוד toward חכמים תלמדי. A תלמיד חכם has to have ענוה, but shouldn’t be שפל רוח because the ציבור has to have כבוד towards him. Story- כתב סופר at his son’s wedding.
רמב''ם What’s a גזירת שוה? When you have one word in the תורה and the same word somewhere
Sheet II else, they become equal. A גזירת שוה is the rule of equality.
1. An עובד ע''ז and a בעל גאווה are equal. Proofs:
a. ''תועבת ה' כל גבה לב''
b. ''ולא חביא תועבה אל ביתך''
From here we can learn that someone who has גסות הרוח, it’s like he serves ע''ז. Story-
ר' אליהו לופיאן repeated the פסוק of ''ולא חביא תועבה אל ביתך'' so that he shouldn’t have גאוה.
2. Someone who has גאוה, it’s like he’s עובר on ג''ע
a. ''תועבת ה' כל גבה לב''
b. ''כי את כל הטועבות אל'', and after it’s מפרט all the אסורים of עריות.
3. Someone who’s a בעל גאווה, it’s as if he’s the idol itself- ''חדלו לכם מן האדם אשר נשמה באפו כי במה נחשב הוא''- withhold from yourself גאוה, that today you’re living but tomorrow you could be gone, because if you don’t, you’re considered like the בָמָה itself.
4. A מתגאה is worthy to be killed, he abuses his right to live- ''אין אני והוא יכול לדור בדירה אחת''.
a. ''ורמי הקומה גדועים''- those that are of elevated status, they have to be destroyed.
b. ''ואשריהם תגדעון''- you have to remove the בעל גאווה just like you have to remove the trees that are used for ע''ז.
5. Haughty people won’t awake by תחית המתים. We learn this פסוק from ישעיהו- ''הקיצו ורננו כל שכני עפר''- only those that wereשכני עפר in their lifetime will awaken.
רש''י We always have to keep in mind that we were created from earth and we end up back in the earth. If a person frames his mind with this reasoning, which is the מסובב, he’ll acquire the effect- ''מאד מאד...''.
נודע ''יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו''- the גמרא tells us that when משיח comes, ה' will שחט the יצה''ר. The צדיקים will rejoice because the יצה''ר will appear to them like a huge mountain and they’ll rejoice that they were able to scale it. The רשעים will cry from frustration because the יצה''ר will appear to them as a hair strand and they’ll be upset that even that they couldn’t conquer. Man’s hope is to conquer his יצה''ר and withstand the temptation of being חוטא. The means of doing so is reminding one’s self about the יום המיתה that it strengthens his ענוה- who am I to be mean to someone else or be חוטא before ה'.
תוספות תקוה= קו מדה. Throughout our lives, a person can do great things and take credit. We can allow גאוה to seep into the realm of our accomplishments. The measuring rod throughout the course of our lives is our מעשים, but a person has to measure his מעשים against the רמה. The earthworm is מחי' us- it loosens up the soil so nutrients can permeate the ground. Also in the fall, the earthworm decomposes leaves, which makes fertilizer, which we need to sustain us. When a person does a מעשה נורא, you should condition your mind and say ''תקות אנוש רימה''.
כנסת רמה is from the לשון of ''למה רמיתני''- it’s a לשון of deceit. It says in משלי, ''רבות מחשבות...''. ה' carries out all the plans of man. All man’s hopes are שקר and only what ה' wants will happen. How humbling to man that no matter how hard you plan, only what ה' wants will happen.
חתם When a person goes up after 120, he’ll be asked questions. The סניגרs and קטיגרs will be standing there- ''אוי לנו מיום הדן ואוי לנו מיום התוכחה''. The person may try to come up with a פתחון פה- my יצה''ר attacked me with renewed vigor every day, like a strong lion. I was like a נמלה compared to him. Man’s whole hope to come out victorious on the יום הדין will only be fulfilled if he led his life like a רמה- conducted himself with ענוה.
יכהן פאר The גמרא in ברכות tells us ''קשה רמה למת כמחט בבשר החי''- just like a needle pricks live flesh, similarly the רמה that eats his flesh will prick. A person has a גוף and a נשמה, and a רוח is מיחד the two so that the רמה somehow pricks. To the degree that during your lifetime you prick your friend, the רמה will prick you in your קבר- ''במדה שאדם מודד מודדין לו''. In order not to have the prick of the רמה, we have to be ''מאד מאד הוי שפל רוח''- someone that’s an ענו won’t be a בעל גאוה and prick his friend.
ר' בונים A person has to lead his life with the imagination that before him are to pockets. In one of them is a paper that says ''ואנכי עפר ועפר'' and in the other is a note that says ''בשבילי נברא העולם''. How can we maintain a balance of the two? One of the בעלי מוסר said that if you don’t know your shortcomings, it’s a פחד but if you don’t know your values, it’s a פחד שבפחד. A person has to realize that his מעלות are from ה' and that you have them in order to serve Him.
אור יהל When משה came to be מנחם אבל to אהרן when נדב and אביהו died, he said, “there’s a פסוק that says that ה'’s משכן will be sanctified by His honor”. This can be understood to mean by His honorable ones. משה said, “I thought it would be either of us but now I see that it’s through נדב and אביהו so they’re greater than us”.
Why would משה, who was the ענו מכל אדם, say that he thought that it would be him who was chosen- isn’t this גאוה? משל- a king says to one of his servants that he wants to honor one of his קרובים and the servant assumes it’s him. If you don’t know the values that ה' gave you, you’re not an ענו, but a fool. So what is an ענו? You know what you have but you know that it’s not yours. It’s ה'’s and He’s given you the ability.
So it’s not that משה said, “I’m so great,” rather that ה' gave him this כח to be his קרוב. He recognized his מעלות and חסרונות and that they were from ה'.
So why are we still מתגאה and think that we are superior? There’s a פסוק, ''וידעת היום והשבות אל לבבך''. The source of דעת is ה'. It’s the חלק אלוקים ממעל. The נשמה is the דעת as it says, ''ויפח באפו נשמת חיים ויהי לנפש חיה''- ה' made אדם alive with the נשמה and made him into a נפש חיה- a רוח ממללא (because our דעות are expressed through speech). So our נשמה contains our דעת and it’s up in שמים because the נשמות come from under the כסא הכבוד, so that’s ''וידעת היום''. What’s your לב? It’s the חלק הנפש בגוף האדם- a physical housing for the נפש. The גוף comes from the ארץ. So to transfer between ''וידעת היום'' and ''והשבות אל לבבך'', the דעת has to travel from שמים to ארץ. You have to work very hard to do this- you have to do it ברגילות to make it really travel the distance.
Don’t have גאוה- you have a כח, but don’t be מתגאה over it because it’s not yours. A ת''ח also can’t have גאוה because everything he has is from ה'- ''והחכמה מאין תמצא''. A ת''ח without מידות is worse off than a carcass.
משה knew that he had כוחות, but he recognized that they were from ה'.
Now, ר' יוחנן בן ברוקא discusses the ענין of חלול ה'. He was the תלמיד of ר' יהושע בן חנני' (say about his mother ''אשרי יולדתו''). He lived in the third generation of תנאים. He said that one who is מחלל ש''ש privately will get punished in public and ה' is מתיחס with the מזיד and the שוגג the same way when it comes to the עון חלול ה', therefore it’s a very severe עון.
The מצוה of קידוש ה' as an עשה is ''ונקדשת בתוך ב''י'' and the עבירה of חלול ה' as a לאו is ''לא
תחללו את שם קדשי''
There are three עבירות that are יהרג ועל יעבור:
1. ע''ז
2. ג''ע
3. ש''ד
People were created for one reason- to serve ה'. If we’re not ready to give up our lives for Him then we’re not totally given over to Him. We have to be ready to be מוסר נפש for ה' completely. When there’s a time of שמד, you must give up your life for any מצוה in the תורה. If the מעביר (one who’s forcing someone to transgress) is doing it for his הנאה, it’s more lenient then if he would be doing it just to show ה'. It’s also more lenient if it’s in private than public. What are the דינים?
1. ג' עבירות חמורות-יהרג ועל יעבור
2. בשעת השמד- יהרג ועל יעבור
3. Not בשעת השמד, in private, solely for the הנאה of the מעביר- יעבר ואל יהרג
4. Not בשעת השמד, in private, למען ההעברה- יעבר ואל יהרג
5. Not בשעת השמד, in public, solely for the הנאה of the מעביר- יעבר ואל יהרג
6. Not בשעת השמד, in front of at least ten men, למען ההעברה- יהרג ועל יעבור
יהרג ועל יעבור is upholding a קדיש ה'. A קדיש ה' is required for everyone to do. The only thing to be מכפר on a חלול ה' is:
1. תשובה
2. יו''כ
3. יסורים
4. Only after all that, מיתה.
רמב''ם Someone who is known to be a גדול בתורה andמפורסם בחסידות who does something this is not anעבירה but something that’s inappropriate for him to do, it’ll cause a חלול ה'. For example:
1. Not paying up immediately
2. Joining theעמי הארץ inקלות ראש
3. Speaking in a way that’s notבנחת
4. Acting withכעס andמחלוקת
All this is worse and worse according to yourמדרגה . Instead, we have to do good things that will make people be impressed with you and people will want to be like you. That’s a.קדוש ה' Story- theח''ח wanted to make a birthday party when he turned eighty in order to make a קדוש ה'. Story- ר' נחום הרודנה fell in gutter while collectingצדקה and didn’t want to die so as not to make a חלול ה'.
ת''י -כה Not everyone is included in this in נפרעין ממנו בגלוי. For example, there is a person that תקפו יצרו- he gave intoתאוה but wasn’t חוטא להכעיס. He can’t beעומד the נסיון but he has בושה, so he does it in private. He gets paid back in private. If this person sins in public, he gets paid back in public. Who is theמשנה talking about? Someone who is פושט טלפיו כחזיר– pretends that he’sכשר when he really isn’t. He is aחונף and hypocritical. He isאחד בפה ואחד בלב. He isחוטא andמחלל ש''ש in private intentionally to trick people- he’s מחכיש ה'. But in public, he acts like aצדיק because he’sחס on his כבד. He will get paid back in public even though he wasחוטא in private. They everyone will know that he’s really not a צדיק.
תוספת יו''ט What does it mean that ''ואחד שוגג אחד מזיד בחלול ה' ''? The שוגג is more lenient than the מזיד so it can’t be the same punishment for both. Where it says ''אחד'', id doesn’t mean the same punishment but that it’s both punished in public.
''חלול'' is from the ל' of חול, חולין- regular, a חסרון in קדושה. Someone who makes a חלול ה' acts in a חול way to ה'.
רוח חיים חלולים means hollow, so that’s what חלול means here.
A person who says that in a certain aspect of his life ה' isn’t there is מחלל ש''ש במחשבה because ''מלא כל הארץ כבודו''. Even every footstep we take is a דבר רוחני.
Sheet II Make ה'’s name beloved onto others- וְאִהַבְתָּ, so that ש''ש should become beloved through your life. A person should learn תשבע''פ and תשבכת''ב. He should serve a ת''ח so that he can see him live. You should also act nicely to others so that they’ll say, ''אשרי... אתפאר''. Someone who learns תורה and serves a ת''ח but doesn’t conduct himself honestly and act like a mensch, people will say on him, ''אוי...יצאו''.
Pirkei Avos- Mishna Gimmel
What’s the connection between what בן עזאי said before and what he says here? In משנה ב', he’s warning about קיום המצוות, even the easy ones. Here, he’s telling us:
1. Not to degrade anyone, even a lowly person.
2. To give every person and creation כבוד no matter how small.
תומר Everything that’s created, from the lowest blade of grass to the largest cedar tree, they are
דבורה all דברים מכובדים because they are all created by ה'. Someone who’s מבזה one of ה'’s sheet creations is in essence being מבזה ה'’s חכמה. It says ''מה רבו מעשיך ה' ''- רבו doesn’t mean גדלות, rather כמה חשובים הם.
A person has to have רחמנות on all the בריות- he can’t disgrace them and he has to have רחמנות on them. ה'’s חכמה is spread out on all creations, from the most insignificant to the most significant. Because of this, we are careful of בזוי אוכלים. A person gets פרטית הנאה from food, so he should be extra careful not to be מבזה it for nothing. Story- The ח''ח had black bread, said that you can’t say ל''ה on it. Story- Cow that was being led to שחיטה. רבי said to it ''זיל לכך נוצרת''. Because of this, he got terrible צרות. Why? Because he acted with דין towards the cow. Once, there was a weasel in רבי’s house and his maid wanted to get rid of it, and he had רחמנות on it. Immediately after, the יסורים were removed. They weren’t an עונש, rather a תוצאה.
ג אל תהי בז לכל אדם- אל תתנהג בבזיון לשום אדםאפילו השפל והנקלה ביותר
אל תהי מפליג- אל תחיקאת עצמך
דבר-נברא- דומם,צומח,חי
שעה- תועלת
מקום- חשיבותו בעולם
רע''ב -אל תהי בז לכל אדם to say that פלוני is so vulnerable and he can’t get me back.
-ואל תהי מפליג to distance yourself because of גאוה from everything because every person
has to care for every creation, because every creation has a תועלת.
ר' יונה ר' יונה divides the משנה differently:
1. אל...שעה- don’t disgrace anyone and don’t distance yourself (by dismissing the responsibility) with דבר of disgrace- never say something mean to someone because you think you’ll never see him again, because there will be a time when you’ll be repaid.
2. ואין לך דבר שאין לו מקום- there is no creation that isn’t important, so one has to give כבוד to everything and everyone.
I sheet ''נוח...ברבים''- obviously, it’s not easier in this world, but in the long run, next to ה', it’s easier
than the burning decree of someone who embarrasses his friend in public. Story- מר עוקבא
thrust himself into a hot oven. This story teaches us that even as a תוצאה of a מצוה, you
can’t cause someone embarrassment.
Why is this אסור so חמור?
1. Because it’s like you’re being מבזה ה', since every person is created בצלם אלוקים, and we know ''ובזי יקלו''.
2. Because the embarrassment is so strong, it could take someone years to recuperate. Story- the בית הלוי and the butcher. Story- ר' שמואל מגיד kept his face in the furnace and let the flames rise towards his face until the man who slapped him left. Story- ר' יוסף חיים קפלן was crying because he saw someone embarrassing someone else publicly- it was like he stabbed someone to death.
חסיד יעב''ץ -אל תהי בז לכל אדם ''לכל'' is coming to include even a רשע. The תורה tells us about a רשע,
''כבדהו וחשדהו''. There is never any excuse to humiliate another human being. This applies to a child, or someone with limited דעת.
ספר מוסר -אל תהי בז לכל אדם the אזהרה is קשורה to a יחיד. Sometimes, someone does something and
אבות and you may think that if he could do something so terrible, then you want to cut ties with him. Don’t be מבזה the person in their entirety because of one bad מעשה, one הנהגה that is questionable, or one פגם. Judge them favorable, because you don’t know the whole picture.
ר' שלמה -אל תהי בז לכל אדם אל תבזה עצמך בפני שום אדם. Don’t cheapen yourself by doing or saying
קפלן things that lessen your dignity. It says in דברי הימים, ''ויגבה לבו בדרכי ה'''- we have to have dignity in דרכי ה'. This אזהרה is for a תלמיד חכם because he’s a ספר תורה חי.
It’s a tactic on how a person should relate to his יצה''ר. The יצה''ר makes דרכי ה' look like such a big thing that a person may come to a state of despair. When we have a fall in our רוחניות, we should tell ourselves, ''אלמלא נפלתי לא קמתי''- I fell, but I’ll get back up and put the pieces back together. It says about a צדיק- ''שבע יפול וקם'', but he’s still called a צדיק because he gets back up.
ר' בונים When the תורה uses the word ענו, רש''י is מסביר in two ways- שפל וסבלן. A person has to be
מפשיסחא humble with himself. When someone slips in רוחניות, he has to be an ענו with himself. He has
to be סובל את שפלתו- tolerate his lowliness, and סבלן אם עצמו- patient with himself. If he’s סובל את שפלתוand סבלן אם עצמו, then he can get back up.
ת''י -יט Even a דומם,צומח,חי that is disgusting, harmful, hurtful, hateful and poisonous, such as a
fly, snake or scorpion, one should not dismiss. ה' created them for the good of the world.
-כ At this moment, this person may seem purposeless- he may be totally empty of חכמה or he may be the persecutor of good people. But it’s not for nothing that ה' lets him live. Either he’s necessary now and you just can’t see it, or the time will come when his contribution to the world will come forth- ''קל דעות ה'''.
עבודת There’s no person that doesn’t have his שעה in רוחניות, where he can turn around his whole ישראל course in life. We learn this from אלעזר בן דורדיא. He was so שטוך בחטא that his תשובה
wouldn’t be accepted. As soon as he heard this, he ran and asked the mountains, valleys, sky, sun and moon to daven for him but they all said that first they had to daven for themselves. אלעזר בן דורדיא then realized III sheet- ''אין הדבר תלןי אלא בי''. He put his head between his knees and cried out until his נשמה left him. A בת קול came out and said, ''ר' אלעזר בן דורדדיא מזומן לחיי עוה''ב''. רש''י says on the words ''זה קלי ואנבהו''- ''ראתה שפחה בים מה שלא ראוי יחזאקל בן בוזי'' - by קריעת ים סוף there was an amazing revelation, higher than the revelation of יחזאקל. But they remained שפחות because they didn’t translate it into reality. You have to integrate it otherwise you won’t grow. A התעוררות is worthless if you don’t act upon it. You must do something immediately to trap it so that it doesn’t fizzle out.
''יפה שעה אחת של תשובה ומעים טובים בעוה''ז מכל חיי עוה''ב'', because in this world, the עולם המעשה, we can take action.
רש''י -אין לך דבר... There’s never a דבר חכמה that isn’t used in our life because all חכמה comes from the תורה- ''הפך בה הפך בה דכולה בה''.
מדרש ''בז לדבר יחבל לו''- someone who is מבזה something that ה' created will be punished through it. דוד questioned ה'’s creations, among them insanity, and ה' said, ''חייך סוף שצטרך לשדות''.
1. Insanity- דוד was running from שאול and came to גת. The king at that time was אכיש, the brother of גליות. When he heard that דוד was in גת, he wanted to take revenge on him. דוד-שמואל א, כא, יג-טז came before him and started to garble his speech, draw on the doorposts and drool on his beard. He portrayed himself as a משוגעה, so אכיש chased him out. It says ''בשנותו את טעמן לפני אבימלך''- at that time, all the kings of גת were called אבימלך, so it’s really referring to אכיש.
2. Spider-when דוד was running from שאול, he hid in a cave. ה' put a spider web on the outside of the cave so it looked like it had been sealed for a long time.
3. Wasp- שאול knew where דוד was hiding and he was going to go kill him with a special spear. דוד snuck into שאול’s camp in the middle of the night to get the spear, but it was under שאול’s head. ה' put שאול in a תרדמה and a wasp bit him. He moved his head a little, and דוד took the spear. When שאול woke up, he was very confused, and he cancelled his plans.
נוצר חסד -ואין לך ךבר שאין לן מקום מקום is referring to ה'- ''ברוך המקום''. There is nothing in this world that isn’t touched by the hand of ה'. Fools call it Mother Nature. הטבע= 86= אלקים. It’s an עבודת עבד ה' to search out the יד ה' because it can be found in everything- ''על כל נשימה ונשימה תהלל קה''.
V sheet What is the שרש העמוק when one humiliates another person or being? לצנות- mockery, scoffing, laughing at, poking fun at… This מידה is so strict that חז''ל say that ליצנים are included in the four groups of people who won’t be מקבל פני השכינה.
The five חלקים of ליצנים:
1. הנותן דופי בבני אדם ללא סיבה- finds fault without a reason. This stems from גאוה and a רוע לב. He wants to make light a person’s reputation before others.
2. מי שלועג בלבו לבני אדם- scoffs others in the inner chambers of his heart. Why? מפני קוצר השגתם במעלה- because you feel that they aren’t up to par. Who designated this job for you? R’ Ephraim Wachsman said that there used to be individual mockers in a generation, but now there is a דור of ליצנים- people who feel that they are above humanity. ''יושב במים ישחק''.
3. מי שקובע עצמו תמיד ללעוג על דברים ופעולות- someone who is addicted to ליצנות, someone who feels that they are a cut above humanity, people look down on him. Someone who mocks events, undertakings, efforts… by saying that they’re hopeless falls into this category. שלמה said on these people, ''ראיתי איש חכם בעיניו? תקוה לכסיל ממנו''- there’s more hope for a כסיל and he’s better off in life than someone like this. Someone like this can come to אפיקרסות because he could be לועג על המצוות.
4. הקובע עצמו תמיד לשיחה בטלה ודברים בטלים בדרך יושבי קרנות- watch out for too much overindulgence in empty talk because it will come to be that you’ll indulge in דברי לצנות.
5. המתלוצץ על מעשים ודברים על דרך מקרה ועראי- many people sin through him. At times, he randomly knocks. Be cautious!
אור יהל
sheet ``
Here, תוכחה means הוכחה, which means שכל. If a person mocks, he doesn’t use his שכל. What caused קרח to get into the mood of מרידה? ה' told משה to appoint אליצפן as the נשיא of קהת. When קרח heard about אליצפן’s appointment, he was upset. He went to משה and said that קהת had four sons. The oldest received to מנות of גדולה (משה → מנהיג, אהרן → כהונה) and the next מנה should go to the next son of קהת. His argument was illegitimate, because in the face of ה', there is no reasoning. קרח was a פקח- wise and he knew that his words had no footing. He knew that משה was just speaking the words of ה'- we know that the שכינה spoke from משה’s throat. קרח’s מרידה was doomed before it even started. Because of his קנאה, קרח aroused the עם for מרידה against משה and אהרן. קרח gathered 250 people and they came before משה. קרח began to mock him-
1. Does a room full of ספרים need a מזוזה? משה said yes.
2. Does a בגד of תכלת need a חוט of תכלת? משה said yes.
קרח mocked, and all 250 of his followers were brought under the spell of לצנות.
ה' brought three groups of punishment on the מורדים:
1. בלועי דקרח- the land opened up its mouth and swallowed קרח, his wife- ''חכמת נשים...'', possessions, עבדים and שפחות alive. (This פי הארץ was created בין השמשות along with the פי הבאר and פי האתון.) קרח jumps up and down and says, ''משה אמת ותורתו אמת''.
2. שרופי דקרח- קרח’s followers were burnt alive by a heavenly fire.
3. הנגף בעם- 14,700 people were killed by a מגפה because they began to question דינו של הקב''ה.
After these punishments, משה told all the נשיאים to bring their מטות and from שבט לוי he took the מטה of אהרן. משה put them before the ארון and said that whoever’s blossoms first, it’ll show that he’s the כהן נאמן. אהרן’s grew almonds and now everyone knew that he was the כהן נאמן.
Why did ה' wait to bring the אות? Why didn’t He do it first so that the מרידה would be quieted? If someone falls under the spell of לצנות, he doesn’t have שכל so no matter how great of an event happened, it wouldn’t be absorbed.
A לץ is like an animal because an animal has no שכל. A human being is a combination of two נפשות:
1. נפש הבהמי- eat, drink, תאבות
2. נפש הרוחני- the control we have over our actions and תאבות.
When someone is a לץ, he’s using his נפש הבהמי.
First, ה' had to remove the לצנות and only afterwards could he show them and they would accept.
A לץ can’t have logic so he ends up having יסוריםand then death because he never does תשובה. Why? A person who’s moved into action and change because he’s התבונן, he doesn’t need יסורים. But a לץ that didn’t feel moved from תוכחה because of כח הלצנות, you have to treat him with יסורים. When a person mocks, he’s now like an animal and what would rebuke help? It says in משלי that ה' prepares יסורים for a לץ. The purpose of the יסורים is to break the לצנות, remove the נפש הבהמי, and only after that will he have the שכל to listen.
קרח turned his followers into ליצנים. With this כח of mockery, a person tramples on everything and nothing makes an impression on him. לצנות shatters מוסר. יסורים break and humble a person. The three sets of יסורים broke them.
1. Not to degrade anyone, even a lowly person.
2. To give every person and creation כבוד no matter how small.
תומר Everything that’s created, from the lowest blade of grass to the largest cedar tree, they are
דבורה all דברים מכובדים because they are all created by ה'. Someone who’s מבזה one of ה'’s sheet creations is in essence being מבזה ה'’s חכמה. It says ''מה רבו מעשיך ה' ''- רבו doesn’t mean גדלות, rather כמה חשובים הם.
A person has to have רחמנות on all the בריות- he can’t disgrace them and he has to have רחמנות on them. ה'’s חכמה is spread out on all creations, from the most insignificant to the most significant. Because of this, we are careful of בזוי אוכלים. A person gets פרטית הנאה from food, so he should be extra careful not to be מבזה it for nothing. Story- The ח''ח had black bread, said that you can’t say ל''ה on it. Story- Cow that was being led to שחיטה. רבי said to it ''זיל לכך נוצרת''. Because of this, he got terrible צרות. Why? Because he acted with דין towards the cow. Once, there was a weasel in רבי’s house and his maid wanted to get rid of it, and he had רחמנות on it. Immediately after, the יסורים were removed. They weren’t an עונש, rather a תוצאה.
ג אל תהי בז לכל אדם- אל תתנהג בבזיון לשום אדםאפילו השפל והנקלה ביותר
אל תהי מפליג- אל תחיקאת עצמך
דבר-נברא- דומם,צומח,חי
שעה- תועלת
מקום- חשיבותו בעולם
רע''ב -אל תהי בז לכל אדם to say that פלוני is so vulnerable and he can’t get me back.
-ואל תהי מפליג to distance yourself because of גאוה from everything because every person
has to care for every creation, because every creation has a תועלת.
ר' יונה ר' יונה divides the משנה differently:
1. אל...שעה- don’t disgrace anyone and don’t distance yourself (by dismissing the responsibility) with דבר of disgrace- never say something mean to someone because you think you’ll never see him again, because there will be a time when you’ll be repaid.
2. ואין לך דבר שאין לו מקום- there is no creation that isn’t important, so one has to give כבוד to everything and everyone.
I sheet ''נוח...ברבים''- obviously, it’s not easier in this world, but in the long run, next to ה', it’s easier
than the burning decree of someone who embarrasses his friend in public. Story- מר עוקבא
thrust himself into a hot oven. This story teaches us that even as a תוצאה of a מצוה, you
can’t cause someone embarrassment.
Why is this אסור so חמור?
1. Because it’s like you’re being מבזה ה', since every person is created בצלם אלוקים, and we know ''ובזי יקלו''.
2. Because the embarrassment is so strong, it could take someone years to recuperate. Story- the בית הלוי and the butcher. Story- ר' שמואל מגיד kept his face in the furnace and let the flames rise towards his face until the man who slapped him left. Story- ר' יוסף חיים קפלן was crying because he saw someone embarrassing someone else publicly- it was like he stabbed someone to death.
חסיד יעב''ץ -אל תהי בז לכל אדם ''לכל'' is coming to include even a רשע. The תורה tells us about a רשע,
''כבדהו וחשדהו''. There is never any excuse to humiliate another human being. This applies to a child, or someone with limited דעת.
ספר מוסר -אל תהי בז לכל אדם the אזהרה is קשורה to a יחיד. Sometimes, someone does something and
אבות and you may think that if he could do something so terrible, then you want to cut ties with him. Don’t be מבזה the person in their entirety because of one bad מעשה, one הנהגה that is questionable, or one פגם. Judge them favorable, because you don’t know the whole picture.
ר' שלמה -אל תהי בז לכל אדם אל תבזה עצמך בפני שום אדם. Don’t cheapen yourself by doing or saying
קפלן things that lessen your dignity. It says in דברי הימים, ''ויגבה לבו בדרכי ה'''- we have to have dignity in דרכי ה'. This אזהרה is for a תלמיד חכם because he’s a ספר תורה חי.
It’s a tactic on how a person should relate to his יצה''ר. The יצה''ר makes דרכי ה' look like such a big thing that a person may come to a state of despair. When we have a fall in our רוחניות, we should tell ourselves, ''אלמלא נפלתי לא קמתי''- I fell, but I’ll get back up and put the pieces back together. It says about a צדיק- ''שבע יפול וקם'', but he’s still called a צדיק because he gets back up.
ר' בונים When the תורה uses the word ענו, רש''י is מסביר in two ways- שפל וסבלן. A person has to be
מפשיסחא humble with himself. When someone slips in רוחניות, he has to be an ענו with himself. He has
to be סובל את שפלתו- tolerate his lowliness, and סבלן אם עצמו- patient with himself. If he’s סובל את שפלתוand סבלן אם עצמו, then he can get back up.
ת''י -יט Even a דומם,צומח,חי that is disgusting, harmful, hurtful, hateful and poisonous, such as a
fly, snake or scorpion, one should not dismiss. ה' created them for the good of the world.
-כ At this moment, this person may seem purposeless- he may be totally empty of חכמה or he may be the persecutor of good people. But it’s not for nothing that ה' lets him live. Either he’s necessary now and you just can’t see it, or the time will come when his contribution to the world will come forth- ''קל דעות ה'''.
עבודת There’s no person that doesn’t have his שעה in רוחניות, where he can turn around his whole ישראל course in life. We learn this from אלעזר בן דורדיא. He was so שטוך בחטא that his תשובה
wouldn’t be accepted. As soon as he heard this, he ran and asked the mountains, valleys, sky, sun and moon to daven for him but they all said that first they had to daven for themselves. אלעזר בן דורדיא then realized III sheet- ''אין הדבר תלןי אלא בי''. He put his head between his knees and cried out until his נשמה left him. A בת קול came out and said, ''ר' אלעזר בן דורדדיא מזומן לחיי עוה''ב''. רש''י says on the words ''זה קלי ואנבהו''- ''ראתה שפחה בים מה שלא ראוי יחזאקל בן בוזי'' - by קריעת ים סוף there was an amazing revelation, higher than the revelation of יחזאקל. But they remained שפחות because they didn’t translate it into reality. You have to integrate it otherwise you won’t grow. A התעוררות is worthless if you don’t act upon it. You must do something immediately to trap it so that it doesn’t fizzle out.
''יפה שעה אחת של תשובה ומעים טובים בעוה''ז מכל חיי עוה''ב'', because in this world, the עולם המעשה, we can take action.
רש''י -אין לך דבר... There’s never a דבר חכמה that isn’t used in our life because all חכמה comes from the תורה- ''הפך בה הפך בה דכולה בה''.
מדרש ''בז לדבר יחבל לו''- someone who is מבזה something that ה' created will be punished through it. דוד questioned ה'’s creations, among them insanity, and ה' said, ''חייך סוף שצטרך לשדות''.
1. Insanity- דוד was running from שאול and came to גת. The king at that time was אכיש, the brother of גליות. When he heard that דוד was in גת, he wanted to take revenge on him. דוד-שמואל א, כא, יג-טז came before him and started to garble his speech, draw on the doorposts and drool on his beard. He portrayed himself as a משוגעה, so אכיש chased him out. It says ''בשנותו את טעמן לפני אבימלך''- at that time, all the kings of גת were called אבימלך, so it’s really referring to אכיש.
2. Spider-when דוד was running from שאול, he hid in a cave. ה' put a spider web on the outside of the cave so it looked like it had been sealed for a long time.
3. Wasp- שאול knew where דוד was hiding and he was going to go kill him with a special spear. דוד snuck into שאול’s camp in the middle of the night to get the spear, but it was under שאול’s head. ה' put שאול in a תרדמה and a wasp bit him. He moved his head a little, and דוד took the spear. When שאול woke up, he was very confused, and he cancelled his plans.
נוצר חסד -ואין לך ךבר שאין לן מקום מקום is referring to ה'- ''ברוך המקום''. There is nothing in this world that isn’t touched by the hand of ה'. Fools call it Mother Nature. הטבע= 86= אלקים. It’s an עבודת עבד ה' to search out the יד ה' because it can be found in everything- ''על כל נשימה ונשימה תהלל קה''.
V sheet What is the שרש העמוק when one humiliates another person or being? לצנות- mockery, scoffing, laughing at, poking fun at… This מידה is so strict that חז''ל say that ליצנים are included in the four groups of people who won’t be מקבל פני השכינה.
The five חלקים of ליצנים:
1. הנותן דופי בבני אדם ללא סיבה- finds fault without a reason. This stems from גאוה and a רוע לב. He wants to make light a person’s reputation before others.
2. מי שלועג בלבו לבני אדם- scoffs others in the inner chambers of his heart. Why? מפני קוצר השגתם במעלה- because you feel that they aren’t up to par. Who designated this job for you? R’ Ephraim Wachsman said that there used to be individual mockers in a generation, but now there is a דור of ליצנים- people who feel that they are above humanity. ''יושב במים ישחק''.
3. מי שקובע עצמו תמיד ללעוג על דברים ופעולות- someone who is addicted to ליצנות, someone who feels that they are a cut above humanity, people look down on him. Someone who mocks events, undertakings, efforts… by saying that they’re hopeless falls into this category. שלמה said on these people, ''ראיתי איש חכם בעיניו? תקוה לכסיל ממנו''- there’s more hope for a כסיל and he’s better off in life than someone like this. Someone like this can come to אפיקרסות because he could be לועג על המצוות.
4. הקובע עצמו תמיד לשיחה בטלה ודברים בטלים בדרך יושבי קרנות- watch out for too much overindulgence in empty talk because it will come to be that you’ll indulge in דברי לצנות.
5. המתלוצץ על מעשים ודברים על דרך מקרה ועראי- many people sin through him. At times, he randomly knocks. Be cautious!
אור יהל
sheet ``
Here, תוכחה means הוכחה, which means שכל. If a person mocks, he doesn’t use his שכל. What caused קרח to get into the mood of מרידה? ה' told משה to appoint אליצפן as the נשיא of קהת. When קרח heard about אליצפן’s appointment, he was upset. He went to משה and said that קהת had four sons. The oldest received to מנות of גדולה (משה → מנהיג, אהרן → כהונה) and the next מנה should go to the next son of קהת. His argument was illegitimate, because in the face of ה', there is no reasoning. קרח was a פקח- wise and he knew that his words had no footing. He knew that משה was just speaking the words of ה'- we know that the שכינה spoke from משה’s throat. קרח’s מרידה was doomed before it even started. Because of his קנאה, קרח aroused the עם for מרידה against משה and אהרן. קרח gathered 250 people and they came before משה. קרח began to mock him-
1. Does a room full of ספרים need a מזוזה? משה said yes.
2. Does a בגד of תכלת need a חוט of תכלת? משה said yes.
קרח mocked, and all 250 of his followers were brought under the spell of לצנות.
ה' brought three groups of punishment on the מורדים:
1. בלועי דקרח- the land opened up its mouth and swallowed קרח, his wife- ''חכמת נשים...'', possessions, עבדים and שפחות alive. (This פי הארץ was created בין השמשות along with the פי הבאר and פי האתון.) קרח jumps up and down and says, ''משה אמת ותורתו אמת''.
2. שרופי דקרח- קרח’s followers were burnt alive by a heavenly fire.
3. הנגף בעם- 14,700 people were killed by a מגפה because they began to question דינו של הקב''ה.
After these punishments, משה told all the נשיאים to bring their מטות and from שבט לוי he took the מטה of אהרן. משה put them before the ארון and said that whoever’s blossoms first, it’ll show that he’s the כהן נאמן. אהרן’s grew almonds and now everyone knew that he was the כהן נאמן.
Why did ה' wait to bring the אות? Why didn’t He do it first so that the מרידה would be quieted? If someone falls under the spell of לצנות, he doesn’t have שכל so no matter how great of an event happened, it wouldn’t be absorbed.
A לץ is like an animal because an animal has no שכל. A human being is a combination of two נפשות:
1. נפש הבהמי- eat, drink, תאבות
2. נפש הרוחני- the control we have over our actions and תאבות.
When someone is a לץ, he’s using his נפש הבהמי.
First, ה' had to remove the לצנות and only afterwards could he show them and they would accept.
A לץ can’t have logic so he ends up having יסוריםand then death because he never does תשובה. Why? A person who’s moved into action and change because he’s התבונן, he doesn’t need יסורים. But a לץ that didn’t feel moved from תוכחה because of כח הלצנות, you have to treat him with יסורים. When a person mocks, he’s now like an animal and what would rebuke help? It says in משלי that ה' prepares יסורים for a לץ. The purpose of the יסורים is to break the לצנות, remove the נפש הבהמי, and only after that will he have the שכל to listen.
קרח turned his followers into ליצנים. With this כח of mockery, a person tramples on everything and nothing makes an impression on him. לצנות shatters מוסר. יסורים break and humble a person. The three sets of יסורים broke them.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Dinim: Rabbi Frankel
Someone who is involved in קרוב רחוקים work may be dealing with people not dressedבצניעות :
1. Hair- the ארוך השלחן says that hair being a totalערבה depends on society. Long ago, even unmarried girls covered their hair, so hair was considered anערבה . Today, most woman don’t cover their hair, so a married woman’s hair isn’t a totalערבה . All the other פוסקים don’t hold like this butבשעת הדחק , people do fall back on theשיטה of theארוך השלחן .
2. Collarbone, knees and elbows- the ארוך השלחן says these areas are considered anערבה no matter what the style is. The מאירי says that only byתלמוד תורה , a man may speak in front of an exposed woman. If someone is makingקדוש and someone is inappropriately dressed, the man should turn to the side. Story- Patty Park.
רוח רע- bad smells:
What type of bad odors do we have to be careful of?
1. Smells that come from rotting food- if we have a dirty garbage can, we have to be concerned about this.
2. Carcasses
3. Bodily wastes, such as a baby’s dirty diaper.
What do we do in terms of making davening near rotting material:
1. In order to daven near rotting material that has no smell, we must move 4 אמות away.
2. In order to daven near rotting material that does have a bad smell:
a. רוח רע שיש בו עיקר- a bad smell that the source of it is in the same room where we want to daven. We have to estimate where the bad smell ends and distance ourselves 4 אמות. When it comes to davening ש''ע, we can’t see the rotting material.
b. רוח רע שאין בו עיקר- rotting material that isn’t in the same room as us, but the bad smell still comes to us. We just have to get out of the smelly area.
Something that you personally think smells bad, or a pregnant woman whose hormones are messed up isn’t included in רוח רע.
If we put a כסוי on a something that has rotting materials in it, (such as a garbage pail) but there’s still a bad smell coming out of it, it falls into the category of רוח רע שאין בו עיקר. Today’s diapers are considered like a כסוי because everything is contained in it, but if someone uses cloth diapers, they should ask a שאילת חכם because it isn’t contained.
If someone wants to make a ברכה, they don’t have to check a little child to see if they’re dirty before making it, but if they smell that the child is dirty, they should change them.
If someone’s in middle of davening ש''ע and a child with a dirty diaper with a bad smell walks in:
1. Try to motion to someone to move the child.
2. Stop ש''ע and move to a different room and continue. It’s not considered a הפסק because you can’t daven while smelling a bad odor. If you would stop and change the child, that would be considered a הפסק.
What is the status of a bathroom?
1. Bathroom of old- didn’t have any type of plumbing system. A portable bathroom would fall into this category. The walls of these old bathrooms have the דין as if it’s the dirt itself.
a. We have to distance ourselves from the walls.
b. If there is a bad odor, it’s considered a רוח רע שיש בו עיקר so we have to move four אמות.
c. If it’s in the מזרח, you have to make sure you don't see it when davening.
2. Bathrooms of today- the חזון איש is מחמיר but other אחרונים are מקיל as to whether or not bathrooms of today (where everything is washed away) are the same as the bathrooms of old. A bathroom with plumbing isn’t considered the same:
a. We don’t have to distance ourselves from the walls.
b. You could see it when you are davening.
Can you wash your hands in today’s bathrooms? Yes, because רוח רע doesn’t apply.
IF you’re on a trip, and you don’t have any fresh water:
1. One can wash their hands in a bathroom, but should say the ברכה outside.
2. You could be יוצא נטילת ידים, but you should bring the water outside.
3. At a rest stop, since the sinks are separate from the bathroom, you could make a ברכה in the sink area.
ידים נקיות:
When it comes to the cleanliness of hands, when you want to make a ברכה, you have to be aware of two kinds of טומא:
1. Spiritual uncleanliness- if a person scratches a sweaty area of the body, his scalp, or an area that is usually covered, he must wash his hands. If he can’t wash his hands, he should rub them on a rough surface.
2. Physical dirt- if we wouldn’t want to walk out in public with that amount of dirt on us, we can’t recite a ברכה or מילתא דקדושא. There is no חיוב to wash your hands. You just remove the dirt.
Interruptions:
There are two categories:
1. After reciting the ברכה, but before doing the action that the ברכה pertains to.
a. If he’s מפסיק with דברי חול, it invalidates the ברכה.
b. If he said something on a level of קדושה, like ''אמן'':
i. Some hold that it isn’t considered an interruption because it’s on the same level
ii. Others hold that one shouldn’t say anything- even though it’s on the same level, it’s different areas, so it’s considered an interruption and he has to repeat.
iii. כף החיים- לחתכילה one shouldn’t interrupt, but if he already did, ספק ברכות להקל because it’s a דרבנן.
c. Non- word verbalization- one shouldn’t make sounds to begin with, but it doesn’t create a הפסק because they aren’t real words.
d. Humming, participating in other activities- it shouldn’t be done but doesn’t constitute as a הפסק.
2. Within the ברכה itself.
עצות on how to minimize interruptions:
1. Hot food or drink- put some on a spoon, blow on it and only when it’s cool enough should he make a ברכה.
2. When making a ברכה on a full roll, cut two-thirds of the way down, but enough that the roll should still be שלם. Make a ברכה, break off a piece, and eat.
3. Tangerine- peel it, loosen up one clove (still has the מעלה of שלם), recite a ברכה and break off the clove.
4. Packaging- take the food out of the packaging, or at least expose enough that you could eat it immediately after reciting a ברכה.
a. Commercial packaging- open it to the extent that it could be eaten right away.
b. Soda- prepare first (open, straw…), then make a ברכה.
5. Seeds- open up at least one and make a ברכה only after it’s shelled.
Even without these הכנות, the ברכה is still valid.
There’s a כלל that a ברכה should be stated עובר לעשיתם- before the action is done.
צרכי סעודה:
It’s a general rule which is necessary for the meal we’re partaking in at that moment. It doesn’t necessarily have to mean the סעודה ממש; it could be anything else necessary for the סעודה.
Things that you need at the table:
1. Salt- it’s a מצוה מדרבנן to dip our חלה in salt. If someone made the ברכה and sees that they need the salt, they can לחתכילה say, “please pass the salt”.
2. There’s a חיוב on a person to feed his animals before himself. If he made a ברכה and it was time to feed the animals, he can ask someone to go feed the animals. If there is no one else to feed the animals, he should eat a כזית and go feed the animals.
3. If someone is approaching the table, but did not yet wash their hands, and the ראש סעודה is making המוציא, he can listen, answer אמן, go wash his hands and then eat.
4. If someone washed their hands, made a ברכה and is about to make המוציא and someone says that he touched his hands, since it’s a ספק, he should go wash again to remove the ספק and then he can eat.
Even though צרכי סעודה doesn’t constitute as a הפסק, we should still minimize it.
In cases where the person already said נטילת ידים and is waiting to say המוציא, even if one has to speak out it isn’t considered a הפסק. It doesn’t invalidate anything because the goal of נטילת ידים was already fulfilled. A person can do so as long as he doesn’t have הסך הדעת.
When is it permitted to speak? Everyone holds that the ברכת הנהנין are on eating-
1. Some hold that one isn’t יוצא with the ברכה until you swallow something of that food.
2. Others hold that you’re יוצא with טעימה.
If you follow the first שיטה, once you swallow a little bit you can talk out. If go according to the second שיטה, the ברכה is חל when you taste the food. We פסקין that לחתכילה you shouldn’t talk until you swallow a little, but בדיעבד since ספק ברכות להקל, you can talk after the טעימה.
הפסק באמצע הברכה:
1. If we are מפסיק between ברוך and the שם ה', we have to repeat the ברכה.
2. If we are מפסיק between the שם ה' and מלכות, we have to repeat the ברכה.
3. If we are מפסיק between the פתיחת הברכה and the נושאי, we have to repeat the ברכה.
4. If we are מפסיק between the נושאי and the חתימה in a ברכה ארוכה, we have to repeat the ברכה.
5. By a ברכה ארוכה there’s an exception- once a person gets into the נושאי, if they interrupt so long as they don’t have הסך הדעת, it doesn’t invalidate the ברכה.
This has tremendous implications in הלכה because there are many אופנים of ברכות ארוכות. If someone comes late to shul and is behind, when can they answer?
1. If they’re in middle of פסוקי דזמרה or ברכות קריעת שמע, they can answer to ברכו.
2. If someone is saying קדיש, we can reply ''אמן. יהא שמי רבה...''.
3. By קדושה, we only say the sentence of ''קדוש קדוש קדוש'' and we’ll say ''ברוך כבוד ה' ממקומו''.
4. שמונה עשרה- we answer ''אמן'' to ''הקל הקדוש'' and ''שומע תפילה''. When the חזן says ''המחזיר שכינתו לציון'', we don’t answer ''אמן'', but we do bow down and say the words ''מודים אנחנו לך''.
While we are in the middle of ש''ע, we aren’t מפסיק for anything. If we’re in the middle of ש''ע and the ש''ץ is saying קדושה, we should stop and listen because of the כלל that שומע כעונה.
שנוי מקום: בנוגע לברכה ראשונה וברכה אחרונה
When are we מחויב to say a ברכה ראשונה on food? If you eat a משהו of food, even a small amount, you have to make a ברכה.
The only time you’ll find an exception is if you’re drinking a small amount for the sake of swallowing a pill. If you know that it takes you a lot of liquid to get the pill down, or you know that you’re going to drink more, then you do make a ברכה.
If we eat less than a כזית to taste food, like on ערב שבת, we don’t make a ברכה ראשונה on food. We should just taste the food and spit it out.
If a person knows that they’re going to eat less than a כזית of bread, do they have to wash? The משנה ברורה says that you wash, but you don’t recite the ברכה of ''על נטילת ידים''.
When it comes to a ברכה אחרונה, we don’t recite one on:
1. Solid- until we had a כזית.
2. Liquid- until we had a רביעית (approximately 3.3 oz.)
Some say that the שיעור has to be eaten תוך אכילת פרס- anywhere from two to nine minuets.
What foods will combine for a שיעור כזית?
1. אוכל ואוכל- all solids can combine to form a כזית, for example a fruit cup- all together, they make a כזית.
2. The ז' מינים are unique because you have to make an ''על העץ'' on them:
a. If we have a fruit bar where there’s a חצי זית of the ז' מינים and חצי זית of other foods, we make a בורא נפשות.
b. If we have a חצי זית of bread or a מזונות and a חצי זית of ז' מינים or other fruits, like a Fig Newton, you make a בורא נפשות.
c. If we have a חצי זית of bread and a חצי זית of other מזונות foods, you make a המוציא and על המחי'.
If someone drinks one or two ounces of wine and some other liquids- normally we would say a בורא נפשות, but the משנה ברורה is in doubt if you can even say a בורא נפשות. The משנה ברורה says that if you have a ספק on the על הגפן, you have a ספק on the בורא נפשות because the על הגפן makes the בורא נפשות פטור. ר' משה says that you should say a בורא נפשות.
Three ways to get around this:
1. Drink a משהו.
2. Drink a רביעית of wine.
3. Eat a כזית of solid food that demands a בורא נפשות.
1. Hair- the ארוך השלחן says that hair being a totalערבה depends on society. Long ago, even unmarried girls covered their hair, so hair was considered anערבה . Today, most woman don’t cover their hair, so a married woman’s hair isn’t a totalערבה . All the other פוסקים don’t hold like this butבשעת הדחק , people do fall back on theשיטה of theארוך השלחן .
2. Collarbone, knees and elbows- the ארוך השלחן says these areas are considered anערבה no matter what the style is. The מאירי says that only byתלמוד תורה , a man may speak in front of an exposed woman. If someone is makingקדוש and someone is inappropriately dressed, the man should turn to the side. Story- Patty Park.
רוח רע- bad smells:
What type of bad odors do we have to be careful of?
1. Smells that come from rotting food- if we have a dirty garbage can, we have to be concerned about this.
2. Carcasses
3. Bodily wastes, such as a baby’s dirty diaper.
What do we do in terms of making davening near rotting material:
1. In order to daven near rotting material that has no smell, we must move 4 אמות away.
2. In order to daven near rotting material that does have a bad smell:
a. רוח רע שיש בו עיקר- a bad smell that the source of it is in the same room where we want to daven. We have to estimate where the bad smell ends and distance ourselves 4 אמות. When it comes to davening ש''ע, we can’t see the rotting material.
b. רוח רע שאין בו עיקר- rotting material that isn’t in the same room as us, but the bad smell still comes to us. We just have to get out of the smelly area.
Something that you personally think smells bad, or a pregnant woman whose hormones are messed up isn’t included in רוח רע.
If we put a כסוי on a something that has rotting materials in it, (such as a garbage pail) but there’s still a bad smell coming out of it, it falls into the category of רוח רע שאין בו עיקר. Today’s diapers are considered like a כסוי because everything is contained in it, but if someone uses cloth diapers, they should ask a שאילת חכם because it isn’t contained.
If someone wants to make a ברכה, they don’t have to check a little child to see if they’re dirty before making it, but if they smell that the child is dirty, they should change them.
If someone’s in middle of davening ש''ע and a child with a dirty diaper with a bad smell walks in:
1. Try to motion to someone to move the child.
2. Stop ש''ע and move to a different room and continue. It’s not considered a הפסק because you can’t daven while smelling a bad odor. If you would stop and change the child, that would be considered a הפסק.
What is the status of a bathroom?
1. Bathroom of old- didn’t have any type of plumbing system. A portable bathroom would fall into this category. The walls of these old bathrooms have the דין as if it’s the dirt itself.
a. We have to distance ourselves from the walls.
b. If there is a bad odor, it’s considered a רוח רע שיש בו עיקר so we have to move four אמות.
c. If it’s in the מזרח, you have to make sure you don't see it when davening.
2. Bathrooms of today- the חזון איש is מחמיר but other אחרונים are מקיל as to whether or not bathrooms of today (where everything is washed away) are the same as the bathrooms of old. A bathroom with plumbing isn’t considered the same:
a. We don’t have to distance ourselves from the walls.
b. You could see it when you are davening.
Can you wash your hands in today’s bathrooms? Yes, because רוח רע doesn’t apply.
IF you’re on a trip, and you don’t have any fresh water:
1. One can wash their hands in a bathroom, but should say the ברכה outside.
2. You could be יוצא נטילת ידים, but you should bring the water outside.
3. At a rest stop, since the sinks are separate from the bathroom, you could make a ברכה in the sink area.
ידים נקיות:
When it comes to the cleanliness of hands, when you want to make a ברכה, you have to be aware of two kinds of טומא:
1. Spiritual uncleanliness- if a person scratches a sweaty area of the body, his scalp, or an area that is usually covered, he must wash his hands. If he can’t wash his hands, he should rub them on a rough surface.
2. Physical dirt- if we wouldn’t want to walk out in public with that amount of dirt on us, we can’t recite a ברכה or מילתא דקדושא. There is no חיוב to wash your hands. You just remove the dirt.
Interruptions:
There are two categories:
1. After reciting the ברכה, but before doing the action that the ברכה pertains to.
a. If he’s מפסיק with דברי חול, it invalidates the ברכה.
b. If he said something on a level of קדושה, like ''אמן'':
i. Some hold that it isn’t considered an interruption because it’s on the same level
ii. Others hold that one shouldn’t say anything- even though it’s on the same level, it’s different areas, so it’s considered an interruption and he has to repeat.
iii. כף החיים- לחתכילה one shouldn’t interrupt, but if he already did, ספק ברכות להקל because it’s a דרבנן.
c. Non- word verbalization- one shouldn’t make sounds to begin with, but it doesn’t create a הפסק because they aren’t real words.
d. Humming, participating in other activities- it shouldn’t be done but doesn’t constitute as a הפסק.
2. Within the ברכה itself.
עצות on how to minimize interruptions:
1. Hot food or drink- put some on a spoon, blow on it and only when it’s cool enough should he make a ברכה.
2. When making a ברכה on a full roll, cut two-thirds of the way down, but enough that the roll should still be שלם. Make a ברכה, break off a piece, and eat.
3. Tangerine- peel it, loosen up one clove (still has the מעלה of שלם), recite a ברכה and break off the clove.
4. Packaging- take the food out of the packaging, or at least expose enough that you could eat it immediately after reciting a ברכה.
a. Commercial packaging- open it to the extent that it could be eaten right away.
b. Soda- prepare first (open, straw…), then make a ברכה.
5. Seeds- open up at least one and make a ברכה only after it’s shelled.
Even without these הכנות, the ברכה is still valid.
There’s a כלל that a ברכה should be stated עובר לעשיתם- before the action is done.
צרכי סעודה:
It’s a general rule which is necessary for the meal we’re partaking in at that moment. It doesn’t necessarily have to mean the סעודה ממש; it could be anything else necessary for the סעודה.
Things that you need at the table:
1. Salt- it’s a מצוה מדרבנן to dip our חלה in salt. If someone made the ברכה and sees that they need the salt, they can לחתכילה say, “please pass the salt”.
2. There’s a חיוב on a person to feed his animals before himself. If he made a ברכה and it was time to feed the animals, he can ask someone to go feed the animals. If there is no one else to feed the animals, he should eat a כזית and go feed the animals.
3. If someone is approaching the table, but did not yet wash their hands, and the ראש סעודה is making המוציא, he can listen, answer אמן, go wash his hands and then eat.
4. If someone washed their hands, made a ברכה and is about to make המוציא and someone says that he touched his hands, since it’s a ספק, he should go wash again to remove the ספק and then he can eat.
Even though צרכי סעודה doesn’t constitute as a הפסק, we should still minimize it.
In cases where the person already said נטילת ידים and is waiting to say המוציא, even if one has to speak out it isn’t considered a הפסק. It doesn’t invalidate anything because the goal of נטילת ידים was already fulfilled. A person can do so as long as he doesn’t have הסך הדעת.
When is it permitted to speak? Everyone holds that the ברכת הנהנין are on eating-
1. Some hold that one isn’t יוצא with the ברכה until you swallow something of that food.
2. Others hold that you’re יוצא with טעימה.
If you follow the first שיטה, once you swallow a little bit you can talk out. If go according to the second שיטה, the ברכה is חל when you taste the food. We פסקין that לחתכילה you shouldn’t talk until you swallow a little, but בדיעבד since ספק ברכות להקל, you can talk after the טעימה.
הפסק באמצע הברכה:
1. If we are מפסיק between ברוך and the שם ה', we have to repeat the ברכה.
2. If we are מפסיק between the שם ה' and מלכות, we have to repeat the ברכה.
3. If we are מפסיק between the פתיחת הברכה and the נושאי, we have to repeat the ברכה.
4. If we are מפסיק between the נושאי and the חתימה in a ברכה ארוכה, we have to repeat the ברכה.
5. By a ברכה ארוכה there’s an exception- once a person gets into the נושאי, if they interrupt so long as they don’t have הסך הדעת, it doesn’t invalidate the ברכה.
This has tremendous implications in הלכה because there are many אופנים of ברכות ארוכות. If someone comes late to shul and is behind, when can they answer?
1. If they’re in middle of פסוקי דזמרה or ברכות קריעת שמע, they can answer to ברכו.
2. If someone is saying קדיש, we can reply ''אמן. יהא שמי רבה...''.
3. By קדושה, we only say the sentence of ''קדוש קדוש קדוש'' and we’ll say ''ברוך כבוד ה' ממקומו''.
4. שמונה עשרה- we answer ''אמן'' to ''הקל הקדוש'' and ''שומע תפילה''. When the חזן says ''המחזיר שכינתו לציון'', we don’t answer ''אמן'', but we do bow down and say the words ''מודים אנחנו לך''.
While we are in the middle of ש''ע, we aren’t מפסיק for anything. If we’re in the middle of ש''ע and the ש''ץ is saying קדושה, we should stop and listen because of the כלל that שומע כעונה.
שנוי מקום: בנוגע לברכה ראשונה וברכה אחרונה
When are we מחויב to say a ברכה ראשונה on food? If you eat a משהו of food, even a small amount, you have to make a ברכה.
The only time you’ll find an exception is if you’re drinking a small amount for the sake of swallowing a pill. If you know that it takes you a lot of liquid to get the pill down, or you know that you’re going to drink more, then you do make a ברכה.
If we eat less than a כזית to taste food, like on ערב שבת, we don’t make a ברכה ראשונה on food. We should just taste the food and spit it out.
If a person knows that they’re going to eat less than a כזית of bread, do they have to wash? The משנה ברורה says that you wash, but you don’t recite the ברכה of ''על נטילת ידים''.
When it comes to a ברכה אחרונה, we don’t recite one on:
1. Solid- until we had a כזית.
2. Liquid- until we had a רביעית (approximately 3.3 oz.)
Some say that the שיעור has to be eaten תוך אכילת פרס- anywhere from two to nine minuets.
What foods will combine for a שיעור כזית?
1. אוכל ואוכל- all solids can combine to form a כזית, for example a fruit cup- all together, they make a כזית.
2. The ז' מינים are unique because you have to make an ''על העץ'' on them:
a. If we have a fruit bar where there’s a חצי זית of the ז' מינים and חצי זית of other foods, we make a בורא נפשות.
b. If we have a חצי זית of bread or a מזונות and a חצי זית of ז' מינים or other fruits, like a Fig Newton, you make a בורא נפשות.
c. If we have a חצי זית of bread and a חצי זית of other מזונות foods, you make a המוציא and על המחי'.
If someone drinks one or two ounces of wine and some other liquids- normally we would say a בורא נפשות, but the משנה ברורה is in doubt if you can even say a בורא נפשות. The משנה ברורה says that if you have a ספק on the על הגפן, you have a ספק on the בורא נפשות because the על הגפן makes the בורא נפשות פטור. ר' משה says that you should say a בורא נפשות.
Three ways to get around this:
1. Drink a משהו.
2. Drink a רביעית of wine.
3. Eat a כזית of solid food that demands a בורא נפשות.
Chumash: Perek Tes
א דבר came to prove השגחת ה'. It did have a התראה because it came as an עד. The warning came in the palace in the middle of the day- ''בא אל פרעה''. It was said in front of all the servants in order to publicize it.
ודברת- ואתה תְּדַבֵּר
אור החיים -בא אל פרעה Why does it say ''בא'' instead of ''לך''? Surrounding פרעה’s palace were guards. He also put lions and dogs. משה was scared that he would be killed. ה' is now commanding him to go without permission and not to be scared. ה' watched over him that nothing should happen to him. From where do we know that משה did indeed go without רשות? After מכת חשך, פרעה told משה- ''אל תוסיף לראות את פני''. פרעה should’ve told his servants to tell משה, but they didn’t have the כח to do so therefore פרעה had to tell משה himself. By the מכות at the water (דם, ערוב, ברד), it says ''לך''. There was no need to say ''בא'' because there were no guards or animals. So what’s the meaning of ''לך''? He should go now, even though it’s not דרך ארץ because פרעה is doing his צרכים.
שערי אהרן By the other מכות is says ''ואמרת'' and here it says ''ודברת''. Why does משה have to speak in a harsher way than usual?
1. מלבי''ם- it’s a לשון of וויכוח- arguing. By all the other מכות, פרעה had a choice even after the מכה started that if he would have regret it would help, therefore it says ''ואמרת''. But here, all the animals died in a split second. משה is speaking in a harsh manner now to get the message across to פרעה that regret would only help before.
2. שפתי כהן- by all the other מכות, פרעה had some measure of צער, for example by כינים, ''מחככים זב''. Here, it wasn’t directly applicable to him. ה' told משה to exaggerate the מכה and specify every detail. ה' told משה to cause him צער with his words until פרעה felt that it was applicable to him. משה was very specific so that it would cause פרעה pain:
a. ''בסוסים''- horses symbolize a king. If all the horses would die, then פרעה wouldn’t have a horse.
b. ''בחמרים''- most of the animals that were found in מצרים were donkeys.
c. ''בגמלים''- used to carry loads.
d. ''בבקר''- all their food was dependant on בקר because they plow.
e. ''צאן''- they got their milk, and that was how they made a living. They were also their ע''ז.
ב מאן- מסרב
ועודך- ואתה עדיין
רש''י -מחזיק בם means to grab, like ''והחזיקה במבושיו''.
אונקלוס מחזיק= מתקף. It’s a לשון of holding on strong.
רש''י ג -הנה יד ה' הוי' it’s הווה.
הווה עתיד עבר
( like עוֹשָה, רוֹצָה, רוֹעָה) הויָ' תהי' היתה
(העומד- הווה)
רמב''ן By ברד it says ''שלח העז את מקנך... הירא את דבר ה' הניס את מקנהו''. There were also animals by קריעת ים סוף. But didn’t all the animals die by מכת דבר? It says ''במקניך אשר בשדה''. It’s not an exclusive statement, just where מקנה are usually found, but he was also including the animals that were elsewhere- ''וימת כל מקנה''.
אוה''ח Only the מקנה that was in the field died- ''במקניך אשר בשדה''. When it says ''וימת כל מקנה'', it means all the animals that were in the field died.
ישוב סתירה ראי' שיטה מפרש
התרה אותם בהווה ''במקניך אשר בשדה'' ''וימת כל מקנה' כל- שדה, בית רמב''ן
כל= שנאמר בפסוק ''וימת כל מקנה' ''במקניך אשר בשדה'' רק בשדה אוה''ח
אבן עזרה Not everything died- ''במקניך אשר בשדה'', it’s just generally referring to מקנה. It says ''וימת כל מקנה', so how could it be that some was left during ברד? רובו ככלו. Proof: it says by ברד, ''את כל עשב השדה'' but we know that it couldn’t be everything, because by ארבה it says ''ואכל את יתר הפליטה''.
רמב''ן Why specifically here does it say a לשון of הבדלה?
1. The מצריים hated shepherds because they didn’t think that their gods needed to be watched. They put all the sheep and all the other מקנה together on the boundaries of the city to separate them. The animals from גושן were also right nearby and according to nature since all the animals were together they all should’ve died.
2. There was a contamination in the air and all should’ve died, but only the מצריים’s animals did.
ד והפלה- וה' יַפְלֶה- וה' יבדיל
ה וישם- ה' שָם
מועד- זמן קבוע
רשב''ם Why did ה' put a מועד? So that the מצריים shouldn’t have a פתחון פה and say that it was a plague.
מלבי''ם Since they could only do תשובה before the מכה, he let them know that they had till the next day.
אוה''ח -וישם ה' מועד לאמר since only the מקנה in the field died, he was giving them time to bring their animals inside. By ברד it said, ''שלח העז את מקניך'', but from where in the פסוק do we see a רמז here? ''לאמר''- but no one’s speaking! Tell the מצריים the מועד so that they’ll have time to bring their animals in.
מלבי''ם Why did he say ''ממחרת'' and not ''היום''? To them a chance to do תשובה. That day he gave the warning and the next day the מכה started.
אוה''ח ב''י were slaves, so from where did they have animals?
1. When יעקב and his sons came down to מצרים, they brought מקנה.
2. By דם, they:
a. Bartered water for animals.
b. Used the money they got from selling water and bought מקנה.
Which part of the פסוק does ''וממקנה ב''י...'' connect to? There were some מצריים who tried to be smart and sold the animals ''על שם'', but not in their hearts. These animals died- ''וימת...וממקנה ב''י'', but those that were really ב''י’s, ''וממקנה ב''י לא מת אחד''.
ז וישלח- והוא שָלַח
ויכבד- והוא כָּבַד
ספורנו You can’t say that anyone else did this נס besides for ה' because no one else can be מחיה or ממית. פרעה saw, but he didn’t want to be מתבונן, therefore he hardened his heart.
Why didn’t פרעה call to them?
1. שפתי כהן- it wasn’t applicable to him.
2. אור החיים- there was no פחד מות.
חזקוני Why was there no רושם? Because it was too late.
שערי אהרן It says ''עד אחד''- but one. By קריעת ים סוף it says that everyone was killed ''עד אחד''- but פרעה. We learn from here that one of the Jew’s animals died. Who’s animal died? The animal of the son of שלומית בת דברי. Now, פרעה had a פתחון פה- he thought that this son was a Jew because his mother was Jewish, but before the תורה was givin, it went according to the father. Really the פתחון פה had no validity.
מכ''מ-
1. כל יקר, ז- יז- when the שבטים came down, they were shepherds. The מצריים switched their jobs, making them into builders. ב''י’s animals now died because they had no one to care for them, therefore all the מצריים’s animals died.
2. -שערי אהרןThe מצריים forced ב''י to be their shepherds, therefore their animals died.
3. When the מצריים wanted to plow the field, they used people instead of animals because they didn’t want to wear out their animals. This is referred to in –תהלים ''על גבי חרשו חורשים האריכו למעניתם''.
4. ילקוט שמוני- ''אמר הקב''ה יבא דבר שממית ויפרע מצרים שירצו לאבד עומה המוסרת עצמה על יחוד שמי כמו שכתוב 'כי עליך הורגנו כל היום' '' .
עד''ש comes to prove השגחת ה':
1. ערוב- the animals only went to מצרים.
2. דבר- only the מצריים’s died.
3. שחין- was an עונש therefore there was no warning.
ח חפניכם- חפנים שלכם- קמץ יד
soot of furnace פיח כבשן-
לעיני- לעינים של, לפני
רש''י -פיח כבשן the thing that is blown from burnt coals from the furnace . פיח is a לשון of blowing- the wind blows and spreads it. (burning embers עוממים- .coalsגחלים- )
-וזרקו משה everything that is thrown with force is thrown with one hand. There were many נסים:
1. Had four fistfuls in one hand.
2. The dust went on the whole ארץ מצרים.
3. מלבי''ם- it went up to the sky. This was a נס because it’s something light.
ט ( אבק פיח ) dust אבק-
רש''י -לשחין פורח אבעבעות אונקלוס says לשחין סגי אבעבועין- the שחין sprouted blisters.
-שחין from the לשון of hot.
רמב''ן - והי'... מצרים how did everyone get שחין?
1. The שחין fell from the sky and everyone it touched got שחין. Those that were in the houses got it from the dust that was moved by the air. This caused blisters and boils on them because it was hot. There was a sandstorm- happened frequently in times of drought. ב''י have a קללה that if they don’t keep the תורה, it won’t rain water- there’ll be sandstorms which ruin the crops.
2. The little bit of אבק that was thrown up in the air contaminated the air and the מכה traveled by air.
י ''השמימה'' teaches us a נס- it went up to the sky.
רש''י -באדם ובבהמה how could it be that they had animals if everything died in מכת דבר? Only
the animals that were in the field died. פרעה had taken in his animals so none of them
died- ''ויקח שש מאות רחב בחור''.
יא מלבי''ם They couldn’t stand because of the pain of the מכה. The חרטמים couldn’t do it because there was no one to do it on.
רמב''ן -ולא... משה they were embarrassed when they got the שחין, and they never returned to פרעה’s palace. They only stayed in their houses because they were embarrassed to meet משה on the street.
רביינו בחיי In the beginning, they were considered great- חרטמי מצרים. As time went on, they went down in חשיבות. Now, they were so low that they didn’t return to the palace.
אור החיים פרעה didn’t get שחין. He didn’t send ב''י out because there was no פחד מות.
יב רמב''ן -ויחזק ה' את לב פרעה in the beginning, the magicians encouraged him. Now, they left him so he had no support.
Missing!!!
מכ''מ-
1. The מצרים made ב''י make hot things cold and cold things hot, so they got שחין which was both hot and cold.
2. ב''י got terribly sun burnt from working out in the field. The מצרים pushed them to work, so they got even more burnt.
3. ''אמר הקב''ה יבא דבר העולה מן הכבשן ויפרע ממצרים שבקשו לאבד עומה שמסרו את עצמם על יחוד שמי''
יג השכם- קום מוקדם
והתיצב- ואתה תְּנַצֵב
By מכת דם, it didn’t say a לשון of השכם. By ערוב it did say a לשון of השכם.
אוה''ח There are three commandments in this פסוק:
1. השכם- get up early.
2. והתיצב- you should stand strong and proud. משה was an ענו so ה' is telling him to stand straight and not with הכנעה because משה is the אלקים. It says ''התיצב לפני פרעה''. He should stand strong, but his heart should be lowered before ה'.
3. ואמרת
מדרש He didn’t go to the יאור because he didn’t want משה to meet him. He went somewhere else. ה' told משה, ''השכם בבוקר'', but it doesn’t say to the יאור.
יד רש''י -את כל מגפתי going to send one that’s equal to all of them in strength= בכורות.
ש''ח ו- you have to read it as בַּכּוּרוֹת- ripe. The ברד cracked the ripe things- hard hit by hard will crack. The unripe things didn’t crack because they were soft and just bent over then popped back up. Later on, by ברד, it says, ''והפשתה והשערה נכתה כי השערה אביב והפשתה גבעול'', therefore ברד is also known as בַּכּוּרוֹת.
How could ברד be the worst מכה- it says in שמות that בכורות was the worst?
1. בכורות was the worst in the eyes of פרעה , but by the מצריים, ברד was the worst because they didn’t have any food to eat and one dies when they have no food.
2. ברד is the worst of all up until now, but בכורות is worse than all the other מכות. ברד is שקולה כנגד כל המכות- שעברו.
מהרש''ל בכורות has to be the worst מכה because פרעה sent out ב''י after בכורות. He only sent them out when he couldn’t handle it anymore.
בכורות is שקולה כנגד כל המכות, so why is it here? What’s the connection? After דבר, when all the animals died, פרעה thought that he was going to be next. By שחין, he saw that he didn’t die so he thought that he was getting away scot free, without punishment, and that ה' couldn’t kill him. ה' said that he could punish him, and that he could’ve killed him by דבר. The time will come that ה' will kill him but it just didn’t happen yet because ה' is waiting for an opportunity to show him his יד.
ספורנו -כי בפעם הזאת for the first six מכות there was no רושם. Here, there was an impression- ''אל לבך''. It caused harm because it ruined all the land, so there was no food for the animals to eat. This messed up the whole food chain. The impression was permanent because this מכה ruined the weather and the air. Now, they should’ve done תשובה because משה’s warning them. (הצמחים- טבועה, מזג אויר- ).
כלי יקר -כי בפעם... מגפתי It’s talking about בכורות. פרעה didn’t realize the greatness of בכורות because ''אינו דומה שמעי' לראי' '', so ה' brought ברד- destroyed all the first foods. This was a משל so that פרעה should understand the severity of בכורות. The צער was so great by ברד that פרעה said, ''חטאתי הפעם''. This shows that the first fruits are so חביב. The first-born are also so beloved. If you don’t pay attention to ברד, בכורות will come and it’ll go ''אל לבך''. If the צער of בכורים of the fruits was so great, קו''ח the בכורים of people.
אוה''ח -כל מגפתי through ברד, he’s going to pay attention to every other מכה and realize that it was from ה'. How so? פרעה thought that דם and צפרדע were through magic. By כינים, פרעה said, ''אצבע אלוקים היא''. They were granted an extra dosage of magic from ה'. By עד''ש, they didn’t really think it was from ה'- they thought it was natural. By ברד, fire came down from the sky, which is impossible. פרעה knew this and knew that it was from ה'. If ברד is from ה', then all the other מכות were also from ה'- אז לראשונות תתבונן.
פרעה believed this in his heart, but only for a second.
טו ותכחד- ואתה נְכְחַדְתָּ- נחרבת
רש''י כי עתה שלחתי את ידי- It says that ה' killed people by דבר, but He didn’t, so how could it be? He didn’t kill them, but He could have. ה' didn’t kill them because he wanted to show them how strong He was.
טז ואולם- אבל
Two reasons that ה' didn’t kill them:
1. ''בעבור הראתך את כחי''
2. ''ולמען ספר שמי בכל הארץ''
1. In שמות, it said that he didn’t know ה', so now ה' is letting him know who He is.
2. Everyone will see that if you don’t listen to ה', you’ll get an עונש- this will bring about a קדוש ה'.
ספורנו ה' didn’t kill פרעה so that:
1. He could do תשובה.
2. The rest of the world will do תשובה.
יז trampling - מםתולל- ל' מסילה, רומס
רש''י -עודך מסתולל בעמי אונקלוס says that it means כבישת. A מסילה is an אורח כבישא- a well trodden path. The words of the פסוק mean that you’re still trampling My nation.
It’s התפעל- when the פ הפועל is a ש,ש,ס, it gets switched with the ת of התפעל. Examples:
1. ''ויסתבל החגב''- from קוהלת. When a person is old, his legs will become so weary that it’s as if he’s carrying a heavy burden.
2. ''כי תשתרר עלינו''- דתן and אבירם said this to משה
ודברת- ואתה תְּדַבֵּר
אור החיים -בא אל פרעה Why does it say ''בא'' instead of ''לך''? Surrounding פרעה’s palace were guards. He also put lions and dogs. משה was scared that he would be killed. ה' is now commanding him to go without permission and not to be scared. ה' watched over him that nothing should happen to him. From where do we know that משה did indeed go without רשות? After מכת חשך, פרעה told משה- ''אל תוסיף לראות את פני''. פרעה should’ve told his servants to tell משה, but they didn’t have the כח to do so therefore פרעה had to tell משה himself. By the מכות at the water (דם, ערוב, ברד), it says ''לך''. There was no need to say ''בא'' because there were no guards or animals. So what’s the meaning of ''לך''? He should go now, even though it’s not דרך ארץ because פרעה is doing his צרכים.
שערי אהרן By the other מכות is says ''ואמרת'' and here it says ''ודברת''. Why does משה have to speak in a harsher way than usual?
1. מלבי''ם- it’s a לשון of וויכוח- arguing. By all the other מכות, פרעה had a choice even after the מכה started that if he would have regret it would help, therefore it says ''ואמרת''. But here, all the animals died in a split second. משה is speaking in a harsh manner now to get the message across to פרעה that regret would only help before.
2. שפתי כהן- by all the other מכות, פרעה had some measure of צער, for example by כינים, ''מחככים זב''. Here, it wasn’t directly applicable to him. ה' told משה to exaggerate the מכה and specify every detail. ה' told משה to cause him צער with his words until פרעה felt that it was applicable to him. משה was very specific so that it would cause פרעה pain:
a. ''בסוסים''- horses symbolize a king. If all the horses would die, then פרעה wouldn’t have a horse.
b. ''בחמרים''- most of the animals that were found in מצרים were donkeys.
c. ''בגמלים''- used to carry loads.
d. ''בבקר''- all their food was dependant on בקר because they plow.
e. ''צאן''- they got their milk, and that was how they made a living. They were also their ע''ז.
ב מאן- מסרב
ועודך- ואתה עדיין
רש''י -מחזיק בם means to grab, like ''והחזיקה במבושיו''.
אונקלוס מחזיק= מתקף. It’s a לשון of holding on strong.
רש''י ג -הנה יד ה' הוי' it’s הווה.
הווה עתיד עבר
( like עוֹשָה, רוֹצָה, רוֹעָה) הויָ' תהי' היתה
(העומד- הווה)
רמב''ן By ברד it says ''שלח העז את מקנך... הירא את דבר ה' הניס את מקנהו''. There were also animals by קריעת ים סוף. But didn’t all the animals die by מכת דבר? It says ''במקניך אשר בשדה''. It’s not an exclusive statement, just where מקנה are usually found, but he was also including the animals that were elsewhere- ''וימת כל מקנה''.
אוה''ח Only the מקנה that was in the field died- ''במקניך אשר בשדה''. When it says ''וימת כל מקנה'', it means all the animals that were in the field died.
ישוב סתירה ראי' שיטה מפרש
התרה אותם בהווה ''במקניך אשר בשדה'' ''וימת כל מקנה' כל- שדה, בית רמב''ן
כל= שנאמר בפסוק ''וימת כל מקנה' ''במקניך אשר בשדה'' רק בשדה אוה''ח
אבן עזרה Not everything died- ''במקניך אשר בשדה'', it’s just generally referring to מקנה. It says ''וימת כל מקנה', so how could it be that some was left during ברד? רובו ככלו. Proof: it says by ברד, ''את כל עשב השדה'' but we know that it couldn’t be everything, because by ארבה it says ''ואכל את יתר הפליטה''.
רמב''ן Why specifically here does it say a לשון of הבדלה?
1. The מצריים hated shepherds because they didn’t think that their gods needed to be watched. They put all the sheep and all the other מקנה together on the boundaries of the city to separate them. The animals from גושן were also right nearby and according to nature since all the animals were together they all should’ve died.
2. There was a contamination in the air and all should’ve died, but only the מצריים’s animals did.
ד והפלה- וה' יַפְלֶה- וה' יבדיל
ה וישם- ה' שָם
מועד- זמן קבוע
רשב''ם Why did ה' put a מועד? So that the מצריים shouldn’t have a פתחון פה and say that it was a plague.
מלבי''ם Since they could only do תשובה before the מכה, he let them know that they had till the next day.
אוה''ח -וישם ה' מועד לאמר since only the מקנה in the field died, he was giving them time to bring their animals inside. By ברד it said, ''שלח העז את מקניך'', but from where in the פסוק do we see a רמז here? ''לאמר''- but no one’s speaking! Tell the מצריים the מועד so that they’ll have time to bring their animals in.
מלבי''ם Why did he say ''ממחרת'' and not ''היום''? To them a chance to do תשובה. That day he gave the warning and the next day the מכה started.
אוה''ח ב''י were slaves, so from where did they have animals?
1. When יעקב and his sons came down to מצרים, they brought מקנה.
2. By דם, they:
a. Bartered water for animals.
b. Used the money they got from selling water and bought מקנה.
Which part of the פסוק does ''וממקנה ב''י...'' connect to? There were some מצריים who tried to be smart and sold the animals ''על שם'', but not in their hearts. These animals died- ''וימת...וממקנה ב''י'', but those that were really ב''י’s, ''וממקנה ב''י לא מת אחד''.
ז וישלח- והוא שָלַח
ויכבד- והוא כָּבַד
ספורנו You can’t say that anyone else did this נס besides for ה' because no one else can be מחיה or ממית. פרעה saw, but he didn’t want to be מתבונן, therefore he hardened his heart.
Why didn’t פרעה call to them?
1. שפתי כהן- it wasn’t applicable to him.
2. אור החיים- there was no פחד מות.
חזקוני Why was there no רושם? Because it was too late.
שערי אהרן It says ''עד אחד''- but one. By קריעת ים סוף it says that everyone was killed ''עד אחד''- but פרעה. We learn from here that one of the Jew’s animals died. Who’s animal died? The animal of the son of שלומית בת דברי. Now, פרעה had a פתחון פה- he thought that this son was a Jew because his mother was Jewish, but before the תורה was givin, it went according to the father. Really the פתחון פה had no validity.
מכ''מ-
1. כל יקר, ז- יז- when the שבטים came down, they were shepherds. The מצריים switched their jobs, making them into builders. ב''י’s animals now died because they had no one to care for them, therefore all the מצריים’s animals died.
2. -שערי אהרןThe מצריים forced ב''י to be their shepherds, therefore their animals died.
3. When the מצריים wanted to plow the field, they used people instead of animals because they didn’t want to wear out their animals. This is referred to in –תהלים ''על גבי חרשו חורשים האריכו למעניתם''.
4. ילקוט שמוני- ''אמר הקב''ה יבא דבר שממית ויפרע מצרים שירצו לאבד עומה המוסרת עצמה על יחוד שמי כמו שכתוב 'כי עליך הורגנו כל היום' '' .
עד''ש comes to prove השגחת ה':
1. ערוב- the animals only went to מצרים.
2. דבר- only the מצריים’s died.
3. שחין- was an עונש therefore there was no warning.
ח חפניכם- חפנים שלכם- קמץ יד
soot of furnace פיח כבשן-
לעיני- לעינים של, לפני
רש''י -פיח כבשן the thing that is blown from burnt coals from the furnace . פיח is a לשון of blowing- the wind blows and spreads it. (burning embers עוממים- .coalsגחלים- )
-וזרקו משה everything that is thrown with force is thrown with one hand. There were many נסים:
1. Had four fistfuls in one hand.
2. The dust went on the whole ארץ מצרים.
3. מלבי''ם- it went up to the sky. This was a נס because it’s something light.
ט ( אבק פיח ) dust אבק-
רש''י -לשחין פורח אבעבעות אונקלוס says לשחין סגי אבעבועין- the שחין sprouted blisters.
-שחין from the לשון of hot.
רמב''ן - והי'... מצרים how did everyone get שחין?
1. The שחין fell from the sky and everyone it touched got שחין. Those that were in the houses got it from the dust that was moved by the air. This caused blisters and boils on them because it was hot. There was a sandstorm- happened frequently in times of drought. ב''י have a קללה that if they don’t keep the תורה, it won’t rain water- there’ll be sandstorms which ruin the crops.
2. The little bit of אבק that was thrown up in the air contaminated the air and the מכה traveled by air.
י ''השמימה'' teaches us a נס- it went up to the sky.
רש''י -באדם ובבהמה how could it be that they had animals if everything died in מכת דבר? Only
the animals that were in the field died. פרעה had taken in his animals so none of them
died- ''ויקח שש מאות רחב בחור''.
יא מלבי''ם They couldn’t stand because of the pain of the מכה. The חרטמים couldn’t do it because there was no one to do it on.
רמב''ן -ולא... משה they were embarrassed when they got the שחין, and they never returned to פרעה’s palace. They only stayed in their houses because they were embarrassed to meet משה on the street.
רביינו בחיי In the beginning, they were considered great- חרטמי מצרים. As time went on, they went down in חשיבות. Now, they were so low that they didn’t return to the palace.
אור החיים פרעה didn’t get שחין. He didn’t send ב''י out because there was no פחד מות.
יב רמב''ן -ויחזק ה' את לב פרעה in the beginning, the magicians encouraged him. Now, they left him so he had no support.
Missing!!!
מכ''מ-
1. The מצרים made ב''י make hot things cold and cold things hot, so they got שחין which was both hot and cold.
2. ב''י got terribly sun burnt from working out in the field. The מצרים pushed them to work, so they got even more burnt.
3. ''אמר הקב''ה יבא דבר העולה מן הכבשן ויפרע ממצרים שבקשו לאבד עומה שמסרו את עצמם על יחוד שמי''
יג השכם- קום מוקדם
והתיצב- ואתה תְּנַצֵב
By מכת דם, it didn’t say a לשון of השכם. By ערוב it did say a לשון of השכם.
אוה''ח There are three commandments in this פסוק:
1. השכם- get up early.
2. והתיצב- you should stand strong and proud. משה was an ענו so ה' is telling him to stand straight and not with הכנעה because משה is the אלקים. It says ''התיצב לפני פרעה''. He should stand strong, but his heart should be lowered before ה'.
3. ואמרת
מדרש He didn’t go to the יאור because he didn’t want משה to meet him. He went somewhere else. ה' told משה, ''השכם בבוקר'', but it doesn’t say to the יאור.
יד רש''י -את כל מגפתי going to send one that’s equal to all of them in strength= בכורות.
ש''ח ו- you have to read it as בַּכּוּרוֹת- ripe. The ברד cracked the ripe things- hard hit by hard will crack. The unripe things didn’t crack because they were soft and just bent over then popped back up. Later on, by ברד, it says, ''והפשתה והשערה נכתה כי השערה אביב והפשתה גבעול'', therefore ברד is also known as בַּכּוּרוֹת.
How could ברד be the worst מכה- it says in שמות that בכורות was the worst?
1. בכורות was the worst in the eyes of פרעה , but by the מצריים, ברד was the worst because they didn’t have any food to eat and one dies when they have no food.
2. ברד is the worst of all up until now, but בכורות is worse than all the other מכות. ברד is שקולה כנגד כל המכות- שעברו.
מהרש''ל בכורות has to be the worst מכה because פרעה sent out ב''י after בכורות. He only sent them out when he couldn’t handle it anymore.
בכורות is שקולה כנגד כל המכות, so why is it here? What’s the connection? After דבר, when all the animals died, פרעה thought that he was going to be next. By שחין, he saw that he didn’t die so he thought that he was getting away scot free, without punishment, and that ה' couldn’t kill him. ה' said that he could punish him, and that he could’ve killed him by דבר. The time will come that ה' will kill him but it just didn’t happen yet because ה' is waiting for an opportunity to show him his יד.
ספורנו -כי בפעם הזאת for the first six מכות there was no רושם. Here, there was an impression- ''אל לבך''. It caused harm because it ruined all the land, so there was no food for the animals to eat. This messed up the whole food chain. The impression was permanent because this מכה ruined the weather and the air. Now, they should’ve done תשובה because משה’s warning them. (הצמחים- טבועה, מזג אויר- ).
כלי יקר -כי בפעם... מגפתי It’s talking about בכורות. פרעה didn’t realize the greatness of בכורות because ''אינו דומה שמעי' לראי' '', so ה' brought ברד- destroyed all the first foods. This was a משל so that פרעה should understand the severity of בכורות. The צער was so great by ברד that פרעה said, ''חטאתי הפעם''. This shows that the first fruits are so חביב. The first-born are also so beloved. If you don’t pay attention to ברד, בכורות will come and it’ll go ''אל לבך''. If the צער of בכורים of the fruits was so great, קו''ח the בכורים of people.
אוה''ח -כל מגפתי through ברד, he’s going to pay attention to every other מכה and realize that it was from ה'. How so? פרעה thought that דם and צפרדע were through magic. By כינים, פרעה said, ''אצבע אלוקים היא''. They were granted an extra dosage of magic from ה'. By עד''ש, they didn’t really think it was from ה'- they thought it was natural. By ברד, fire came down from the sky, which is impossible. פרעה knew this and knew that it was from ה'. If ברד is from ה', then all the other מכות were also from ה'- אז לראשונות תתבונן.
פרעה believed this in his heart, but only for a second.
טו ותכחד- ואתה נְכְחַדְתָּ- נחרבת
רש''י כי עתה שלחתי את ידי- It says that ה' killed people by דבר, but He didn’t, so how could it be? He didn’t kill them, but He could have. ה' didn’t kill them because he wanted to show them how strong He was.
טז ואולם- אבל
Two reasons that ה' didn’t kill them:
1. ''בעבור הראתך את כחי''
2. ''ולמען ספר שמי בכל הארץ''
1. In שמות, it said that he didn’t know ה', so now ה' is letting him know who He is.
2. Everyone will see that if you don’t listen to ה', you’ll get an עונש- this will bring about a קדוש ה'.
ספורנו ה' didn’t kill פרעה so that:
1. He could do תשובה.
2. The rest of the world will do תשובה.
יז trampling - מםתולל- ל' מסילה, רומס
רש''י -עודך מסתולל בעמי אונקלוס says that it means כבישת. A מסילה is an אורח כבישא- a well trodden path. The words of the פסוק mean that you’re still trampling My nation.
It’s התפעל- when the פ הפועל is a ש,ש,ס, it gets switched with the ת of התפעל. Examples:
1. ''ויסתבל החגב''- from קוהלת. When a person is old, his legs will become so weary that it’s as if he’s carrying a heavy burden.
2. ''כי תשתרר עלינו''- דתן and אבירם said this to משה
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
English- midterm review
Literature-
The Pit and the Pendulum:
Edgar Allen Poe lived in the 1800s. He was the first American author write the genre of literature known as Gothic literature. He felt that every single word in his poems contributed to the effect of the poem. Gothic literature portrays element of darkness and mystery.
The Pit and the Pendulum takes place during the one of the Spanish Inquisitions. Inquisitions were a symbol of brutality used up until World War II. The purpose of the Inquisitions was to make sure that the Catholics were remaining loyal to their religion. Inquisitions operated on the basis of innocent until proven guilty.
The Embarrassing Episode of Little Miss Muffet:
Parody- a humorous imitation of a piece of work, most often to bring across a point to the reader. Parody often includes satire.
Hyperbole- a huge exaggeration used to bring across a point.
Satire- exaggeration used to bring across most often social criticism in a humorous way.
Paragraph 1 Has a very casual tone
Paragraph 2 Grabbled and babbled- it’s an onomatopoeia. It adds to the humor.
Moral :
1. It’s rude to disrupt someone’s meal.
2. No matter how polite you’re being, if you’re annoying, you’re being rude.
Friends in San Rosaria:
Friends in San Rosario was written by O’ Henry. O’ Henry’s style of writing is one of:
1. Irony
2. Foreshadowing- seemingly insignificant details, events and mannerisms hint out to what will happen.
The emphasis of this story is characterization- being able to define attributes through what you read about them. There are five things that one has to pay attention to in order to characterize a character:
1. What the character says.
2. What the character does.
3. What others say to and about the character.
4. How other characters relate to this character.
5. What the author tells us about the character.
Characterization of main characters:
1. Tom and Bob- they are typical westerners with a typical western mentality and mindset.
a. Tom- very tall, the type of person you’d assume to be very broad and have a deep voice. Tom has a grizzled beard and piercing blue eyes. He was cowboy looking and very confident.
b. Bob- a stout, elderly man. Bob looked like a farmer dressed up- he didn’t fit into his role.
They regard themselves as cowboys- regarded his office as his pony corral. When Tom talks about the “first taste of prosperity and white shirts”, this shows that it’s a novelty to him, and that he doesn’t fit in- it doesn’t come naturally to him. It says that Tom “knew men as well as cattle”- Tom made his fortune from cattle and was able to understand people. He knew who was honest and who was a good businessman.
Their values- Tom and Bob were such good friends that Bob was willing to go to jail for his friend who had a family, even though he saw him taking the money. Now, Tom was putting himself all out to help his friend who could’ve been in trouble. The bottom line rule in cowboy society is that if you aren’t part of the pack and are disloyal, you’re out, because loyalty and friendship come above all.
2. Nettlewick- he was so confused when Tom said that he embezzled $70,000 for his friend- he thought that he was crazy, whereas Tom and Bob thought this was natural and normal. Tom pitied Nettlewick for not understanding his way of thinking.
Page 40 There is a contrast here- Nettlewick is purposeful and everyone else is just hanging around.
First direct description of Nettlewick’s personality- his first words were in cool, brittle tones.
Page 41 Edlinger is characterized to show that someone that someone and methodical got flustered by the inspector. This shows a lot about the bank examiner.
When counting the money, Nettlewick threw down the money down and the coins were whining and singing- discordant. This shows the friction.
The teller got all flustered and nervous because the bank examiner was being so picky and thorough. Turner was different than Nettlewick- he greeted everyone and was on a first name basis with Dorsey.
Page 42 “Stem-winder”- perfectionist and going to do the job well.
“Leaned back”- Tom was trying to figure out what to do.
Page 43 “Flutter…”- he was very efficient and very demanding. Nettlewick was like a whirlwind.
Tom was chilled, and he wasn’t intimidated by Nettlewick.
“One was a…”- this is showing the difference between Tom and Nettlewick.
Cattle had to do with the bank because the bank’s success was dependant on the cattle market.
Page 44 Tom referred to the loans in cattle terms. This is a proof that his heart was in cattle.
“Like a bloodhound seeking a trial”- Nettlewick did it very thoroughly, looking for something wrong.
Tom didn’t lie, but really the money was in his pocket. His words were very conniving.
Tom decorated his bank in a very interesting way. This shows that his heart was still in cattle.
Page 45 There was a preverbal ice in the room. Nettlewick feels like he has caught Tom and he’s about to relay harmful information to him. Nettlewick feels a tension, so he decides to break the ice. As the reader we think that anyway he should break the ice, because in essence he is a piece of ice.
“Must compel me…”- Nettlewick is still unfailingly polite.
Page 46 Tom glanced casually out the window, but we know that really it was to see if the shade was down.
Page 47 “First trip down into the shadows of life”- that someone who they trusted and thought they knew well is failing them.
Tom gave Bob boundaries. He didn’t lock him up, but he had to show up to the court case.
Page 48 Bob is asking Tom to admit it to him, but Tom doesn’t.
Page 49 “Draw a yellow shade down”- this is foreshadowing.
Page 50 Now, we see the significance of Tom looking out the window.
The letter wasn’t a request. Tom didn’t feel proud because of what he did. He felt that it was part of friendship.
The Roads We Take:
This story is written by O’ Henry. It is an ironic story, written with subtle humor.
Page 154 The old fashioned trains required water with coal in order that they should be able to run.
Page 156 Head for financing- this ironic because his head really was in financing.
Short of what I expected… looked pensively…- came up with a plan.
Shark Dodson wasn’t born into this. When someone is born into circumstances, it’s easier to justify.
Page 157 Bob is so shocked because he thought that they were friends.
I thought you was a man- that at least you would have loyalty to his friends.
Bore a deeply sorrowful look- he was still hoping that Shark Dodson has a spark of humanity in him.
You don’t know…- relying on his excuse.
Inexorable cupidity- unrelented greed.
An evil face…- a house could look nice and full of good but the only way to see what’s really going on inside is through a window. Through of his greedy actions, we are able to take a peek into his evil soul.
Indignant- righteous anger. Even the echoes of the gun seem to be protesting about the terrible action done with it.
When the author puts a dream in a short story, it carries a message.
Remarkable dream- most people would find such a dream disturbing.
Page 158 Peabody is asking Dodson to help a friend.
Dodson is greedy- if my gain comes at the expense of someone else’s life, so be it.
The author uses the technique of parallelism. He wrote to parallel events occurring to the same person. In reality, the Wall Street broker had a dream- subconscious thoughts. We see that he was aspiring to it. In the dream, Dodson has a philosophical conversation with his friend- he tells him that he was at a fork in the road and he could have gone either right or left. He went to the left and wonders if he had gone to the right if he would be different. Bob says that he would still have been the same- Dodson said that it’s not the road you take but what’s inside of you. We see that in reality, he went to the right and still turned out the same.
Bolivar cannot carry double- he’s using the same excuse- it’s all about me.
Grammar-
Mrs. Ribiat’s notes are really more helpful… but for those who asked…
1. We use commas to mark a series of words or phrases in a sentence:
a. You may choose cheesecake, pudding or a brownie for dessert.
A comma before the conjunctions of For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So and before the last item in the series is optional however you need to be consistent.
b. Tourists from all over the United States spend their summer at Lake Tahoe, at Big Sur or in California’s spectacular mountains.
Even though it’s more than one word, you still need to separate the phrases with commas.
c. We may arrive by noon if the weather is good, if there is no traffic, and if the car doesn’t give us trouble.
We have dependant clauses here. A clause is a group of words. A dependant clause could have a subject and verb (=predicate) but can’t stand alone. They need additional dependant or independent clause to make the thought complete.
d. They were young, they were unprepared, but they were eager.
Here, we have a series of short independent clauses joined by the conjunction of but, therefore they are set off by commas.
e. Pat has to get books by, Hawthorne, Twain, and Wharton, for her literature class.
There should be no commas put before or after the series.
2. We use commas to separate two or more adjectives which modify the same noun equally:
a. Dark, windy nights are ideal for telling ghost stories.
Both these adjectives modify the noun equally. This can be proven by switching them around. Since switching their order doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence, we know they both modify equally.
b. The violent volcanic eruption was scary.
c. The talkative disk jockey was irritating.
The adjectives are not interchangeable so they don’t modify the noun equally. Two adjectives that modify a noun unequally are called open compound.
d. Four small three year old boys…
Don’t put a comma when describing age, size, color and numbers.
3. We use a comma before a conjunction that joins two independent clauses:
a. The science class is enjoyable, but it requires a great deal of reading.
b. She was happy and I was not.
If the two independent clauses are short, you can leave out the comma.
c. Everyone had doubts, but Gail didn’t listen.
If the comma will clear the confusion in a sentence, it should be put in.
*. We don’t use a comma to separate a subject from its verbs:
a. Elana sat on the stage and she sang all night.
This is a sentence with a compound verb. When you have a compound verb, you don’t
separate the verbs from each other with commas.
b. The editor of the newspaper and a reporter attended.
Here we have two compound subjects who are doing one action. We don’t put a comma
to separate compound subjects.
c. The librarian ordered several newly published books as well as some
periodicals.
We have one person who did one action pertaining to two objects- compound objects.
We don’t use a comma to separate two compound objects.
d. Both the starkness and the beauty of America’s deserts are themes of O’Keefe’s paintings.
We don’t put a comma to separate the subjects from the verb.
Vocabulary-
Coincide- To match exactly
Collaborate- To work together
Condone- To excuse by seeming to overlook
Construe- To interpret
Contemplate- Meditate upon
Deter- To restrain through fear or doubt
Disparage- To belittle
Emanate- To flow forth
Exemplify- To serve as an example of
Alacrity- Lively willingness
Chagrin - Shame
Consternation- Amazement and terror
Dilemma- A predicament
Enigma- A puzzle
Innovation- New method or custom
Altruistic- Unselfishly concerned for others
Astute- Shrewd
Authentic- Genuine
Cumulative- Tending to increase
Despondent- Dejected
Imperial- Majestic
Emancipate- Liberate
Mediate- To act as go-between
Reciprocate- Repay an obligation
Reconcile- To bring to agreement
Relegate- To banish or to reduce to lower status
Subsidize- To provide financial aid
Usurp- To seize (power or control) unlawfully
Vindictive- To justify
Perspicacity- Mental penetration
Prerogative- Privilege
Propensity- Natural tendency
Propriety- Conformity to accepted standards of behavior
Restitution- Restoration
Surfeit- Excess
Latent- Hidden or unrevealed
Partisan- One sided
Recumbent- Reclining or leaning
Salient- Prominent
Succinct- Terse
Tangible- Real
Tentative- Provisional
Aggressive- Assertive, quick to attack
Arrogant- Haughty
Cynical- Scornfully distrustful
Dogmatic- Unduly positive
Fastidious- Daintily refined, very discriminating
Gregarious- Sociable
Impetuous- Rushing with great force
Nostalgic- Homesick
Sinuous- Curving or winding
Taciturn- Habitually silent
Truculent- Fierce
Versatile- Many sided in abilities
Volatile- Changeable
Annihilate- Destroy utterly
Capitulate- Surrender on certain terms
Extenuate- Make less serious
Fulminate- To explode, erupt, shout violently
Instigate- Provoke
Mitigate- Lessen
Auspicious- Promising
Equivocal- Vague
Expedient- Suitable
Intrinsic- Actual
Mystical- Participating in mysterious spiritual experience
Sacrilegious- Irreverent
Salubrious- Healthful
Coalition- Combination or alliance
Covenant- Solemn agreement or compact
Incentive- Stimulus
Paradox- Self- contradictory statement
Paragon- Perfect model
Plagiarism- The stealing of ideas
Solstice- Time when the sun is farthest from the equator
Aesthetic- Responsive to beauty
Exotic- Strange, foreign
Ineffable- Unutterable
Portentous- Foreshadowing evil
Relevant- Pertinent
Sadistic- Cruel, fond of cruelty
The Pit and the Pendulum:
Edgar Allen Poe lived in the 1800s. He was the first American author write the genre of literature known as Gothic literature. He felt that every single word in his poems contributed to the effect of the poem. Gothic literature portrays element of darkness and mystery.
The Pit and the Pendulum takes place during the one of the Spanish Inquisitions. Inquisitions were a symbol of brutality used up until World War II. The purpose of the Inquisitions was to make sure that the Catholics were remaining loyal to their religion. Inquisitions operated on the basis of innocent until proven guilty.
The Embarrassing Episode of Little Miss Muffet:
Parody- a humorous imitation of a piece of work, most often to bring across a point to the reader. Parody often includes satire.
Hyperbole- a huge exaggeration used to bring across a point.
Satire- exaggeration used to bring across most often social criticism in a humorous way.
Paragraph 1 Has a very casual tone
Paragraph 2 Grabbled and babbled- it’s an onomatopoeia. It adds to the humor.
Moral :
1. It’s rude to disrupt someone’s meal.
2. No matter how polite you’re being, if you’re annoying, you’re being rude.
Friends in San Rosaria:
Friends in San Rosario was written by O’ Henry. O’ Henry’s style of writing is one of:
1. Irony
2. Foreshadowing- seemingly insignificant details, events and mannerisms hint out to what will happen.
The emphasis of this story is characterization- being able to define attributes through what you read about them. There are five things that one has to pay attention to in order to characterize a character:
1. What the character says.
2. What the character does.
3. What others say to and about the character.
4. How other characters relate to this character.
5. What the author tells us about the character.
Characterization of main characters:
1. Tom and Bob- they are typical westerners with a typical western mentality and mindset.
a. Tom- very tall, the type of person you’d assume to be very broad and have a deep voice. Tom has a grizzled beard and piercing blue eyes. He was cowboy looking and very confident.
b. Bob- a stout, elderly man. Bob looked like a farmer dressed up- he didn’t fit into his role.
They regard themselves as cowboys- regarded his office as his pony corral. When Tom talks about the “first taste of prosperity and white shirts”, this shows that it’s a novelty to him, and that he doesn’t fit in- it doesn’t come naturally to him. It says that Tom “knew men as well as cattle”- Tom made his fortune from cattle and was able to understand people. He knew who was honest and who was a good businessman.
Their values- Tom and Bob were such good friends that Bob was willing to go to jail for his friend who had a family, even though he saw him taking the money. Now, Tom was putting himself all out to help his friend who could’ve been in trouble. The bottom line rule in cowboy society is that if you aren’t part of the pack and are disloyal, you’re out, because loyalty and friendship come above all.
2. Nettlewick- he was so confused when Tom said that he embezzled $70,000 for his friend- he thought that he was crazy, whereas Tom and Bob thought this was natural and normal. Tom pitied Nettlewick for not understanding his way of thinking.
Page 40 There is a contrast here- Nettlewick is purposeful and everyone else is just hanging around.
First direct description of Nettlewick’s personality- his first words were in cool, brittle tones.
Page 41 Edlinger is characterized to show that someone that someone and methodical got flustered by the inspector. This shows a lot about the bank examiner.
When counting the money, Nettlewick threw down the money down and the coins were whining and singing- discordant. This shows the friction.
The teller got all flustered and nervous because the bank examiner was being so picky and thorough. Turner was different than Nettlewick- he greeted everyone and was on a first name basis with Dorsey.
Page 42 “Stem-winder”- perfectionist and going to do the job well.
“Leaned back”- Tom was trying to figure out what to do.
Page 43 “Flutter…”- he was very efficient and very demanding. Nettlewick was like a whirlwind.
Tom was chilled, and he wasn’t intimidated by Nettlewick.
“One was a…”- this is showing the difference between Tom and Nettlewick.
Cattle had to do with the bank because the bank’s success was dependant on the cattle market.
Page 44 Tom referred to the loans in cattle terms. This is a proof that his heart was in cattle.
“Like a bloodhound seeking a trial”- Nettlewick did it very thoroughly, looking for something wrong.
Tom didn’t lie, but really the money was in his pocket. His words were very conniving.
Tom decorated his bank in a very interesting way. This shows that his heart was still in cattle.
Page 45 There was a preverbal ice in the room. Nettlewick feels like he has caught Tom and he’s about to relay harmful information to him. Nettlewick feels a tension, so he decides to break the ice. As the reader we think that anyway he should break the ice, because in essence he is a piece of ice.
“Must compel me…”- Nettlewick is still unfailingly polite.
Page 46 Tom glanced casually out the window, but we know that really it was to see if the shade was down.
Page 47 “First trip down into the shadows of life”- that someone who they trusted and thought they knew well is failing them.
Tom gave Bob boundaries. He didn’t lock him up, but he had to show up to the court case.
Page 48 Bob is asking Tom to admit it to him, but Tom doesn’t.
Page 49 “Draw a yellow shade down”- this is foreshadowing.
Page 50 Now, we see the significance of Tom looking out the window.
The letter wasn’t a request. Tom didn’t feel proud because of what he did. He felt that it was part of friendship.
The Roads We Take:
This story is written by O’ Henry. It is an ironic story, written with subtle humor.
Page 154 The old fashioned trains required water with coal in order that they should be able to run.
Page 156 Head for financing- this ironic because his head really was in financing.
Short of what I expected… looked pensively…- came up with a plan.
Shark Dodson wasn’t born into this. When someone is born into circumstances, it’s easier to justify.
Page 157 Bob is so shocked because he thought that they were friends.
I thought you was a man- that at least you would have loyalty to his friends.
Bore a deeply sorrowful look- he was still hoping that Shark Dodson has a spark of humanity in him.
You don’t know…- relying on his excuse.
Inexorable cupidity- unrelented greed.
An evil face…- a house could look nice and full of good but the only way to see what’s really going on inside is through a window. Through of his greedy actions, we are able to take a peek into his evil soul.
Indignant- righteous anger. Even the echoes of the gun seem to be protesting about the terrible action done with it.
When the author puts a dream in a short story, it carries a message.
Remarkable dream- most people would find such a dream disturbing.
Page 158 Peabody is asking Dodson to help a friend.
Dodson is greedy- if my gain comes at the expense of someone else’s life, so be it.
The author uses the technique of parallelism. He wrote to parallel events occurring to the same person. In reality, the Wall Street broker had a dream- subconscious thoughts. We see that he was aspiring to it. In the dream, Dodson has a philosophical conversation with his friend- he tells him that he was at a fork in the road and he could have gone either right or left. He went to the left and wonders if he had gone to the right if he would be different. Bob says that he would still have been the same- Dodson said that it’s not the road you take but what’s inside of you. We see that in reality, he went to the right and still turned out the same.
Bolivar cannot carry double- he’s using the same excuse- it’s all about me.
Grammar-
Mrs. Ribiat’s notes are really more helpful… but for those who asked…
1. We use commas to mark a series of words or phrases in a sentence:
a. You may choose cheesecake, pudding or a brownie for dessert.
A comma before the conjunctions of For, And, Nor, But, Or, Yet, So and before the last item in the series is optional however you need to be consistent.
b. Tourists from all over the United States spend their summer at Lake Tahoe, at Big Sur or in California’s spectacular mountains.
Even though it’s more than one word, you still need to separate the phrases with commas.
c. We may arrive by noon if the weather is good, if there is no traffic, and if the car doesn’t give us trouble.
We have dependant clauses here. A clause is a group of words. A dependant clause could have a subject and verb (=predicate) but can’t stand alone. They need additional dependant or independent clause to make the thought complete.
d. They were young, they were unprepared, but they were eager.
Here, we have a series of short independent clauses joined by the conjunction of but, therefore they are set off by commas.
e. Pat has to get books by, Hawthorne, Twain, and Wharton, for her literature class.
There should be no commas put before or after the series.
2. We use commas to separate two or more adjectives which modify the same noun equally:
a. Dark, windy nights are ideal for telling ghost stories.
Both these adjectives modify the noun equally. This can be proven by switching them around. Since switching their order doesn’t change the meaning of the sentence, we know they both modify equally.
b. The violent volcanic eruption was scary.
c. The talkative disk jockey was irritating.
The adjectives are not interchangeable so they don’t modify the noun equally. Two adjectives that modify a noun unequally are called open compound.
d. Four small three year old boys…
Don’t put a comma when describing age, size, color and numbers.
3. We use a comma before a conjunction that joins two independent clauses:
a. The science class is enjoyable, but it requires a great deal of reading.
b. She was happy and I was not.
If the two independent clauses are short, you can leave out the comma.
c. Everyone had doubts, but Gail didn’t listen.
If the comma will clear the confusion in a sentence, it should be put in.
*. We don’t use a comma to separate a subject from its verbs:
a. Elana sat on the stage and she sang all night.
This is a sentence with a compound verb. When you have a compound verb, you don’t
separate the verbs from each other with commas.
b. The editor of the newspaper and a reporter attended.
Here we have two compound subjects who are doing one action. We don’t put a comma
to separate compound subjects.
c. The librarian ordered several newly published books as well as some
periodicals.
We have one person who did one action pertaining to two objects- compound objects.
We don’t use a comma to separate two compound objects.
d. Both the starkness and the beauty of America’s deserts are themes of O’Keefe’s paintings.
We don’t put a comma to separate the subjects from the verb.
Vocabulary-
Coincide- To match exactly
Collaborate- To work together
Condone- To excuse by seeming to overlook
Construe- To interpret
Contemplate- Meditate upon
Deter- To restrain through fear or doubt
Disparage- To belittle
Emanate- To flow forth
Exemplify- To serve as an example of
Alacrity- Lively willingness
Chagrin - Shame
Consternation- Amazement and terror
Dilemma- A predicament
Enigma- A puzzle
Innovation- New method or custom
Altruistic- Unselfishly concerned for others
Astute- Shrewd
Authentic- Genuine
Cumulative- Tending to increase
Despondent- Dejected
Imperial- Majestic
Emancipate- Liberate
Mediate- To act as go-between
Reciprocate- Repay an obligation
Reconcile- To bring to agreement
Relegate- To banish or to reduce to lower status
Subsidize- To provide financial aid
Usurp- To seize (power or control) unlawfully
Vindictive- To justify
Perspicacity- Mental penetration
Prerogative- Privilege
Propensity- Natural tendency
Propriety- Conformity to accepted standards of behavior
Restitution- Restoration
Surfeit- Excess
Latent- Hidden or unrevealed
Partisan- One sided
Recumbent- Reclining or leaning
Salient- Prominent
Succinct- Terse
Tangible- Real
Tentative- Provisional
Aggressive- Assertive, quick to attack
Arrogant- Haughty
Cynical- Scornfully distrustful
Dogmatic- Unduly positive
Fastidious- Daintily refined, very discriminating
Gregarious- Sociable
Impetuous- Rushing with great force
Nostalgic- Homesick
Sinuous- Curving or winding
Taciturn- Habitually silent
Truculent- Fierce
Versatile- Many sided in abilities
Volatile- Changeable
Annihilate- Destroy utterly
Capitulate- Surrender on certain terms
Extenuate- Make less serious
Fulminate- To explode, erupt, shout violently
Instigate- Provoke
Mitigate- Lessen
Auspicious- Promising
Equivocal- Vague
Expedient- Suitable
Intrinsic- Actual
Mystical- Participating in mysterious spiritual experience
Sacrilegious- Irreverent
Salubrious- Healthful
Coalition- Combination or alliance
Covenant- Solemn agreement or compact
Incentive- Stimulus
Paradox- Self- contradictory statement
Paragon- Perfect model
Plagiarism- The stealing of ideas
Solstice- Time when the sun is farthest from the equator
Aesthetic- Responsive to beauty
Exotic- Strange, foreign
Ineffable- Unutterable
Portentous- Foreshadowing evil
Relevant- Pertinent
Sadistic- Cruel, fond of cruelty
Sunday, January 24, 2010
SS midterm- Chapters 10/11/12
The north and south developed very differently:
1. North- was industrialized. Immigrants flooded the north in search of jobs.
2. South- was agricultural and rural.
In 1846, Congress debated the Wilmot Proviso- a bill that wanted to outlaw slavery in the new territories America had just received from Mexico. The northerners liked this bill- they didn’t want anymore slave states, because this would mean more southern representation in Congress. The south didn’t like the bill because they wanted slaves. The south felt that slaves are property and the constitution protects a person’s property.
In 1849, California asked to be admitted into the union as a free state. The southerners felt that California should be a slave state because the weather is warm, and good for slaves. Zachary Taylor also opposed California’s entry into the union as a free state. He felt that the slavery issue shouldn’t be a congressional issue; every state should come into the union however they want. The southerners were extremely passionate about the slavery issue- they felt that it shouldn’t be a back burner issue.
When Congress met, it was a very volatile Congress that met. There were three intense issues on the table:
1. Statehood for California.
2. The north felt that at least the capital district should abolish slavery, because how could the capital itself have slaves?
3. Fugitive Slave law- this law had been passed almost in the beginning of the formation of the nation. It stated that if a runaway slave ever reached the north and was spotted by a northerner, the northerner had to send him back to the south. The south felt that this law was ignored and that the north was helping runaway slaves. They wanted the laws tightened.
The south was very tense. They felt that if their need for slaves wasn’t going to be understood, they would have to leave the nation.
At this moment of tension, Clay came up with the Compromise of 1850-
1. California is a free state.
2. Strict Fugitive Slave laws.
3. Popular Sovereignty in the new territory- decide by themselves if they want to be a slave state or a free state.
4. The Federal government gave Texas ten million dollars to settle the border dispute in favor of New Mexico.
This caused sparked a tremendous debate in Congress- Daniel Webster was for the compromise and John Calhoun was against it. The debates went on for two years, and then they both died.
A new young fellow, Stephen Douglas said that the compromise should be passed in pieces. Taylor died in office, and Millard Fillmore became the new president. He was in favor of the compromise.
The Compromise of 1850 passed in pieces. It made the Fugitive Slave law stricter. The north was upset because they felt that the Fugitive Slave law was nasty. The north tried to ignore the Fugitive Slave law after it became stricter. Some abolitionists tried to help runaway slaves, but many northerners did follow the law. Abolitionists together with the freed slaves formed the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman was a conductor of this railroad.
Harriet Beacher Stowe wrote a fictitious novel called “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, in which she made it very graphically clear to all who read it about the evils of slavery. Many southerners wrote their own books about slavery.
In 1854, the issue of slavery erupted once again. Stephan Douglas, the senator from Illinois, proposed that the Nebraska territory should be divided into Nebraska and Kansas. Douglas had a few different motives for this:
1. He thought that most of the nation wants to see territories form into states.
2. He felt it would bring unity because everyone would be the same- they would all be states and have representatives in Congress. He thought it would rid the country of the lawlessness of territories.
3. He thought that everyone would be happy with this because the territory was being dived into one free state and one slave state.
4. Douglas had his own personal reason- he lived in Illinois and owned land. Douglas wanted a railroad in his town because this would up the value of his property. Douglas knew that the south would never vote for a railroad through his home town, so he offered them popular sovereignty in the land north of 36’’ 30°.
This act was heavily debated in Congress, but it passed.
Kansas is now getting ready for statehood. Now, the people in Kansas are going to vote whether or not they want slaves. Many people both for and anti slavery flooded Kansas. Abolitionist John Brown killed hundreds of people who were pro slavery. The violence didn’t end there, and spread to Congress- one senator clubbed another senator.
As the debate over slavery grew more intense, old political parties fell apart and new parties formed. The Whig party now lost political power because the party was dividing into pro and anti slavery.
Franklin Peirce won the election of 1852. He was a democrat.
A new political party was now forming- the American party. This party was anti immigrants. At this time, many immigrants were flooding the country. Nativists were worried because they felt that the immigrants:
1. Were taking away job opportunities.
2. Were from a different religion. Many immigrants were Roman Catholic. Nativists felt that they would therefore listen to the pope before the government.
This party became nicknamed the Know Nothing party because there were many secrets meetings and dealings to ostracize immigrants. When people would ask party members about their party, they would say they knew nothing.
Anti slavery parties formed now such as the Free Soil party. They opposed the extension of slavery into the new territories.
Northerners weren’t against slavery out of compassion for the blacks. Most of the north actually discriminated against the blacks, making them live in segregated areas. While there were some abolitionists, most northerners were against slavery from an intellectual standpoint- they felt it wrecks the free enterprise system because slaves aren’t getting paid, and this knocks workers out of the picture.
A new Republican party formed. It didn’t want slavery extended in the new territories. It took on many view points not related to slavery. The Republican party was a little broader than the American and Free Soil parties. They put up John Freemont as a candidate in the election of 1856.
The Democrats put up James Buchanan and he won. Buchanan was out of the country during the Kansas issue so people felt that he was out of slavery. Buchanan was the only bachelor as president. He led during a very volatile time in US history and wasn’t a very strong leader.
There were many hot issues:
1. Dred- Scott case- Dred Scott was a slave who came to the Supreme Court in 1857. Dred lived down south with his master, and then his master moved north. Dred went from Missouri to Illinois to Wisconsin, and was freed. When his master went back south, Dred became a slave again. Dred wanted to be free because he used to be free. This case reached the Supreme Court ni Dred Scott vs. Sanford. Five out of the nine judges were southerners. Chief Justice Roger Taney issued a shocking ruling:
a. Blacks aren’t citizens and have no right to petition in the Supreme Court.
b. Slaves are property- the US government pledges to protect people’s property, therefore the Missouri Compromise of 1820 is unconstitutional because it said that one could own a slave in the south, but not in the north.
c. This was a fabulous victory for the south and a resounding defeat for the north.
2. In 1858, another slavery issue arose- the Lincoln-Douglas debate. A position for the state senator of Illinois was open and both Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas were vying for the position.
a. Douglas- well known politician, natty dresser, short, stout, was a dynamic speaker.
b. Lincoln- tall, skinny, wore rumpled clothing which he often slept in, was a newcomer to politics, simple speaker- spoke in vernacular.
c. The two were involved in debates across the state of Illinois, which captured the nation. Slavery was a major topic of the debates, but none of them discussed ending slavery where it already existed. They discussed slavery in the new territories. Douglas wanted popular sovereignty in the new territories, but Lincoln didn’t. Lincoln added the idea of slavery being a moral wrong. Douglas won the senate seat, and Lincoln emerged on the political scene.
3. Harpers Ferry- in 1859, John Brown said that a voice from god spoke to him and he felt that he had to free all the slaves. Brown prepared a slave rebellion- he’ll go with a group of people and they’ll attack Harpers Ferry, Virginia where there was a federal arsenal. Then they’ll give out the guns to all the slaves and they’ll kill their masters and slavery will end. Brown went with a couple of men- he tried to attack and was caught and later hanged. This awoke a passion in American people- the north felt that Brown was a martyr and the south felt that this is what happens to a treasonous young man.
The election of 1860 was a four-way race. Lincoln ran as a Republican. While he didn’t receive a single southern vote, he still won. The southern states felt that obviously they didn’t have that much political clout and that America was going on a path different than theirs because Lincoln made it clear that he didn’t care for slavery.
The south felt that they should now secede. In December of 1860, South Carolina broke away. By February of 1861, six more state seceded. These seven states formed their own country called the Confederate States of America. They set up their own government and Jefferson Davis became president. Their constitution was somewhat similar to the US’s with two basic differences:
1. Slavery is legal across the country.
2. There is limited federal power, but the real power comes from the states.
Lincoln took office in March. He didn’t want to start a war with the Confederacy. Although Lincoln felt that it was illegal to secede, he waited. The Confederacy began taking over legal buildings in the south such as post offices and forts. Lincoln didn’t want to do anything confrontational so he sent food to the legal buildings. The south attacked Fort Sumter and took it over. At this point, Lincoln felt that he was going to go to war because he wasn’t starting up, he was just responding.
The Civil war has now begun. The remaining slave states took sides- four more seceded and Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware and Missouri remained with the union. Everyone thought that this would be a nice, quick, easy war and both sides thought that the victory would be theirs. Both sides had advantages over the other side:
1. North-
a. More people.
b. Better technology-
i. Better production of food.
ii. Railroads to transport food and soldiers.
c. Very able president.
2. South- had better generals- Robert E. Lee was a West Point trained general. All the south had to do to win the war was do nothing- they broke away and now the north has to win them back. The south was eager to defend their way of life- they had a passion about what they were fighting for.
Many battles were fought. The single bloodiest day was the Battle of Antietam, Maryland. The north forced Lee to retreat. History says that had the north chased Lee back to Virginia, they would’ve won.
The south had hope that England would join them. The south and England had a great relationship because the south sent England cotton, which the English depended on. However England didn’t join because:
1. They no longer needed southern cotton so desperately because they found other sources.
2. Lincoln was being pressured to free the slaves, and in January of 1863 he succumbed and issued the Emancipation Proclamation- freed all slaves in the rebelling territories. Lincoln didn’t view the Confederacy as a separate country, rather as rebels and he felt that he could make laws for them. The war used to be an intellectual war, a war about state rights. It now changed to a war for slavery; people were now fighting either for or against slavery. England had already freed their slaves in 1833 and wasn’t going to join the war pro slavery.
This made the south realize that if they lose the war, they’ll lose their whole way of life. They now fought with extreme intensity.
The north and south both had dissenters- people who were on a side but didn’t agree. Some people stayed neutral. Both sides suspended the writ of habeas corpus- this showed Lincoln’s power. He took away the people’s rights during the war. Suspending the writ of habeas corpus was wrong, but after the war was over, Congress said that it was indeed right because this action was needed to maintain order.
In 1863, General Lee attacked Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. After three bloody days, the north won. This was the bloodiest battle of the Civil war. The battle was the turning point of the war. The Battle of Vicksburg was another defeat for the south. The north was now on a steady pace to victory. Lee wanted to resign, but wasn’t given permission, as he led the south very well strategically.
A few months after the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln came and gave a short speech known as the Gettysburg Address. This speech spoke about the preservation of the union.
After these loses, the south was exhausted, worn down and many southerners were becoming disillusioned. Jefferson Davis was accused of being a lousy president. Meanwhile, Lincoln made Ulysses S. Grant the general over the entire northern army. Grant told Lincoln that he won’t stop fighting until the north won.
In spring of 1865, Grant and Lee met in Appomattox, Virginia. Lee surrendered there. Lincoln told Grant to be generous with Lee:
1. Southerners were allowed to keep their rifles for hunting.
2. The Confederate soldiers were paroled.
Legacy of the war-
The war changed the nation in many ways- the issue of states rights was over and the supremacy of the federal government was established- secession was never discussed again. During the Civil war was the first time there was a draft and the first time an income tax was placed on people- the war was very costly.
The Civil war affected the economy:
1. North- was booming. Factories churned out war materials and the federal government helped businesses by building railroads.
2. South- was devastated. The war was fought on southern territory and many southern lands were destroyed. Slavery was now over therefore the entire way of southern life ended.
The war intensified the gap between the north and the south.
Another change that occurred was through woman. Over the course of the war, many women took over men’s jobs such as working in the fields and factories. There were also nurses who went to the battlefield to help wounded soldiers. The hygiene on the battlefield was terrible, and some died because of it. One of these women was Clara Barton. After the war, she started the Red Cross to continue her good work.
The human cost of the war was tremendous- 500,000 died and 600,000 were wounded.
This war changed the way wars were now fought- they used rifle guns. This made shooting more accurate. They also had iron clad ships.
The lives of the African Americans changed drastically for the better. In 1865, the thirteenth amendment was passed. It abolished slavery in the United States of America.
Five days after Lee’s surrender, Lincoln was shot at Ford’s theater by John Wilkes Booth, a southern sympathizer.
Lincoln’s plan for reconstruction was a very mild program- he wanted it to be peaceful. Lincoln said that as long as they pledged loyalty they could come back into the nation. Lincoln’s plan couldn’t be carried out though because he was shot.
Vice president Andrew Johnson took over for Lincoln. He wasn’t as strong as Lincoln and was faced with tremendous opposition in Congress. He wanted to carry out Lincoln’s plan but Congress was full of Radical Republicans- they were strong people who wanted the south to be dealt with in a harsh manner.
The Radical Republicans were angry at the white south and wanted to help the black south. One way of punishing the whites was to be extra nice to the blacks. One famous Radical Republican was Thaddeus Stevens- he was so into them that he wanted to be buried with them. The Radicals in Congress didn’t want to be nice to the white south:
1. They set up the Freed Men’s Bureau- to help freed slaves set up lives. They gave them money for hospitals and for education.
2. They passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866- to give the blacks equality. It made all black codes illegal. Black codes were white laws to make blacks suppressed.
Johnson vetoed these acts. He said that they’re giving too much power to the Federal government. Congress overrode Johnson’s veto and the bills became laws.
Congress went ahead and passed the fourteenth amendment, which gave full citizenship to the blacks. Johnson encouraged states not to ratify it and it wasn’t ratified until 1868.
In the 1866 elections, the Radicals won enough seats in Congress to override Johnson’s vetoes regularly. This is an example of somewhere where one side has too much power.
They passed the Reconstruction act:
1. If any of the states managed to squeak in and reinstate themselves as a state during Lincoln or Johnson’s time, they’re invalid.
2. The south is now under military control.
3. The south shouldn’t think about reentering the union unless they ratify the fourteenth amendment.
4. Black men now got the right to vote.
Congress was looking for a way to impeach Johnson. They knew that Johnson wanted to fire the Secretary of War. Congress now passed the Office of Tenure act which stated that it’s illegal to fire a cabinet member. If it is done, it’s ground for impeachment. Johnson fired the Secretary of War and was impeached (also because he used vulgar language in Congress). The Senate found him not guilty by one vote.
In 1868, Ulysses S. Grant became president. Grant was a US general during the Civil war, so he used the tactic of “waving the bloody shirt”- look what I did for the nation, now vote for me.
In 1870, the fifteenth amendment was passed- it gave blacks the right to vote.
By 1870, all the Confederate states had joined the union. Reconstruction was heavily in effect- the Radicals were heavily involved in the south. They had military control and were making sure that the whites were giving the blacks their rights of equality. They were also there to build up the south post war.
Down south, there were people who joined the Republican Party:
1. African Americans that were down south were very excited with the opportunity to be a part of political parties and they loved what the Republicans were doing.
2. Scalawags- they were poor, white southerners. They were happy that the rich shouldn’t be powerful. Additionally, there were now business opportunities to make money.
3. Carpet baggers- they were northerners that came down south. Some that came were very idealistic- they wanted to change the south. Some were doctors, school teachers, etc. They came down south to help.
A lot of cartoons about the scalawags and carpet baggers were negative- they portrayed them as being friends with the black only because they wanted money.
After the Civil war, many blacks moved north looking for opportunities. Many stayed down south and benefited from the opportunities that were available for them. Some blacks were even a part of Congress.
During the years of reconstruction, the blacks were able to vote. The Radical Republicans controlled the white southerners. Schools were set up for the blacks. The Freed Men’s Bureau helped blacks find family members, readjust and set up schools.
Most of the blacks were promised “forty acres and a mule” during the war, but the government didn’t come through. Many blacks ended up being sharecroppers. Sharecroppers worked white land. They were given all the necessary materials but two- thirds of the crop went to the owner. Sharecroppers usually remained poor their whole lives. If they were successful, they became tenant farmers- rented the land from the white man. They had to pay for their own materials, but received all the profit. Cotton was no longer king in the south because synthetic materials were taking their place.
The collapse of reconstruction-
1. Many white southerners hated reconstruction. They hated the military rule and the fact that the blacks were getting equality. A secret group called the Ku Klux Klan was formed to fight reconstruction. They were violent and would try to frighten blacks away from the voting poles.
2. As white southerners regained their seats in Congress, they fought the Radicals.
3. Grant’s government was corrupt.
4. Economic crisis- Panic of 1873.
Many American people said that they should move on from reconstruction and deal with the issues at hand.
Grant served for two terms. In the next election:
1. Republicans- Rutherford B. Hayes.
2. Democrats- Samuel Tilden.
Many southerners were now becoming Democrats because the powerful whites hated the Republicans. The south was leaning more and more democratic until it came to be known as the “Solid South”. Tilden won the popular votes, but was one vote short of the electoral majority. The decision went to the House of Representatives. A political bargain was made- the southern senators said that they’ll let Hayes win but they have to end reconstruction- they have to get every Republican out and restore home rule. They also had to make sure there would be a southern cabinet member. Reconstruction now officially ended.
The minuet the Radicals left the south, the whites took over and crushed the blacks. They put all the Jim Crowe laws into effect- the laws of segregation:
1. The blacks could no longer vote.
2. Separate schools.
3. Separate parks.
4. Separate busses.
5. Set up a poll tax.
6. Literacy test.
If someone did pay the tax, they usually failed the test. The Ku Klux Klan frightened anyone who got past both the poll tax and literacy test. The whites didn’t have to worry about these new laws because they fell under the Grandfather clause- if your grandfather voted, then you’re exempt.
Some say that reconstruction was successful because at least the amendments were passed.
1. North- was industrialized. Immigrants flooded the north in search of jobs.
2. South- was agricultural and rural.
In 1846, Congress debated the Wilmot Proviso- a bill that wanted to outlaw slavery in the new territories America had just received from Mexico. The northerners liked this bill- they didn’t want anymore slave states, because this would mean more southern representation in Congress. The south didn’t like the bill because they wanted slaves. The south felt that slaves are property and the constitution protects a person’s property.
In 1849, California asked to be admitted into the union as a free state. The southerners felt that California should be a slave state because the weather is warm, and good for slaves. Zachary Taylor also opposed California’s entry into the union as a free state. He felt that the slavery issue shouldn’t be a congressional issue; every state should come into the union however they want. The southerners were extremely passionate about the slavery issue- they felt that it shouldn’t be a back burner issue.
When Congress met, it was a very volatile Congress that met. There were three intense issues on the table:
1. Statehood for California.
2. The north felt that at least the capital district should abolish slavery, because how could the capital itself have slaves?
3. Fugitive Slave law- this law had been passed almost in the beginning of the formation of the nation. It stated that if a runaway slave ever reached the north and was spotted by a northerner, the northerner had to send him back to the south. The south felt that this law was ignored and that the north was helping runaway slaves. They wanted the laws tightened.
The south was very tense. They felt that if their need for slaves wasn’t going to be understood, they would have to leave the nation.
At this moment of tension, Clay came up with the Compromise of 1850-
1. California is a free state.
2. Strict Fugitive Slave laws.
3. Popular Sovereignty in the new territory- decide by themselves if they want to be a slave state or a free state.
4. The Federal government gave Texas ten million dollars to settle the border dispute in favor of New Mexico.
This caused sparked a tremendous debate in Congress- Daniel Webster was for the compromise and John Calhoun was against it. The debates went on for two years, and then they both died.
A new young fellow, Stephen Douglas said that the compromise should be passed in pieces. Taylor died in office, and Millard Fillmore became the new president. He was in favor of the compromise.
The Compromise of 1850 passed in pieces. It made the Fugitive Slave law stricter. The north was upset because they felt that the Fugitive Slave law was nasty. The north tried to ignore the Fugitive Slave law after it became stricter. Some abolitionists tried to help runaway slaves, but many northerners did follow the law. Abolitionists together with the freed slaves formed the Underground Railroad. Harriet Tubman was a conductor of this railroad.
Harriet Beacher Stowe wrote a fictitious novel called “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, in which she made it very graphically clear to all who read it about the evils of slavery. Many southerners wrote their own books about slavery.
In 1854, the issue of slavery erupted once again. Stephan Douglas, the senator from Illinois, proposed that the Nebraska territory should be divided into Nebraska and Kansas. Douglas had a few different motives for this:
1. He thought that most of the nation wants to see territories form into states.
2. He felt it would bring unity because everyone would be the same- they would all be states and have representatives in Congress. He thought it would rid the country of the lawlessness of territories.
3. He thought that everyone would be happy with this because the territory was being dived into one free state and one slave state.
4. Douglas had his own personal reason- he lived in Illinois and owned land. Douglas wanted a railroad in his town because this would up the value of his property. Douglas knew that the south would never vote for a railroad through his home town, so he offered them popular sovereignty in the land north of 36’’ 30°.
This act was heavily debated in Congress, but it passed.
Kansas is now getting ready for statehood. Now, the people in Kansas are going to vote whether or not they want slaves. Many people both for and anti slavery flooded Kansas. Abolitionist John Brown killed hundreds of people who were pro slavery. The violence didn’t end there, and spread to Congress- one senator clubbed another senator.
As the debate over slavery grew more intense, old political parties fell apart and new parties formed. The Whig party now lost political power because the party was dividing into pro and anti slavery.
Franklin Peirce won the election of 1852. He was a democrat.
A new political party was now forming- the American party. This party was anti immigrants. At this time, many immigrants were flooding the country. Nativists were worried because they felt that the immigrants:
1. Were taking away job opportunities.
2. Were from a different religion. Many immigrants were Roman Catholic. Nativists felt that they would therefore listen to the pope before the government.
This party became nicknamed the Know Nothing party because there were many secrets meetings and dealings to ostracize immigrants. When people would ask party members about their party, they would say they knew nothing.
Anti slavery parties formed now such as the Free Soil party. They opposed the extension of slavery into the new territories.
Northerners weren’t against slavery out of compassion for the blacks. Most of the north actually discriminated against the blacks, making them live in segregated areas. While there were some abolitionists, most northerners were against slavery from an intellectual standpoint- they felt it wrecks the free enterprise system because slaves aren’t getting paid, and this knocks workers out of the picture.
A new Republican party formed. It didn’t want slavery extended in the new territories. It took on many view points not related to slavery. The Republican party was a little broader than the American and Free Soil parties. They put up John Freemont as a candidate in the election of 1856.
The Democrats put up James Buchanan and he won. Buchanan was out of the country during the Kansas issue so people felt that he was out of slavery. Buchanan was the only bachelor as president. He led during a very volatile time in US history and wasn’t a very strong leader.
There were many hot issues:
1. Dred- Scott case- Dred Scott was a slave who came to the Supreme Court in 1857. Dred lived down south with his master, and then his master moved north. Dred went from Missouri to Illinois to Wisconsin, and was freed. When his master went back south, Dred became a slave again. Dred wanted to be free because he used to be free. This case reached the Supreme Court ni Dred Scott vs. Sanford. Five out of the nine judges were southerners. Chief Justice Roger Taney issued a shocking ruling:
a. Blacks aren’t citizens and have no right to petition in the Supreme Court.
b. Slaves are property- the US government pledges to protect people’s property, therefore the Missouri Compromise of 1820 is unconstitutional because it said that one could own a slave in the south, but not in the north.
c. This was a fabulous victory for the south and a resounding defeat for the north.
2. In 1858, another slavery issue arose- the Lincoln-Douglas debate. A position for the state senator of Illinois was open and both Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas were vying for the position.
a. Douglas- well known politician, natty dresser, short, stout, was a dynamic speaker.
b. Lincoln- tall, skinny, wore rumpled clothing which he often slept in, was a newcomer to politics, simple speaker- spoke in vernacular.
c. The two were involved in debates across the state of Illinois, which captured the nation. Slavery was a major topic of the debates, but none of them discussed ending slavery where it already existed. They discussed slavery in the new territories. Douglas wanted popular sovereignty in the new territories, but Lincoln didn’t. Lincoln added the idea of slavery being a moral wrong. Douglas won the senate seat, and Lincoln emerged on the political scene.
3. Harpers Ferry- in 1859, John Brown said that a voice from god spoke to him and he felt that he had to free all the slaves. Brown prepared a slave rebellion- he’ll go with a group of people and they’ll attack Harpers Ferry, Virginia where there was a federal arsenal. Then they’ll give out the guns to all the slaves and they’ll kill their masters and slavery will end. Brown went with a couple of men- he tried to attack and was caught and later hanged. This awoke a passion in American people- the north felt that Brown was a martyr and the south felt that this is what happens to a treasonous young man.
The election of 1860 was a four-way race. Lincoln ran as a Republican. While he didn’t receive a single southern vote, he still won. The southern states felt that obviously they didn’t have that much political clout and that America was going on a path different than theirs because Lincoln made it clear that he didn’t care for slavery.
The south felt that they should now secede. In December of 1860, South Carolina broke away. By February of 1861, six more state seceded. These seven states formed their own country called the Confederate States of America. They set up their own government and Jefferson Davis became president. Their constitution was somewhat similar to the US’s with two basic differences:
1. Slavery is legal across the country.
2. There is limited federal power, but the real power comes from the states.
Lincoln took office in March. He didn’t want to start a war with the Confederacy. Although Lincoln felt that it was illegal to secede, he waited. The Confederacy began taking over legal buildings in the south such as post offices and forts. Lincoln didn’t want to do anything confrontational so he sent food to the legal buildings. The south attacked Fort Sumter and took it over. At this point, Lincoln felt that he was going to go to war because he wasn’t starting up, he was just responding.
The Civil war has now begun. The remaining slave states took sides- four more seceded and Maryland, Kentucky, Delaware and Missouri remained with the union. Everyone thought that this would be a nice, quick, easy war and both sides thought that the victory would be theirs. Both sides had advantages over the other side:
1. North-
a. More people.
b. Better technology-
i. Better production of food.
ii. Railroads to transport food and soldiers.
c. Very able president.
2. South- had better generals- Robert E. Lee was a West Point trained general. All the south had to do to win the war was do nothing- they broke away and now the north has to win them back. The south was eager to defend their way of life- they had a passion about what they were fighting for.
Many battles were fought. The single bloodiest day was the Battle of Antietam, Maryland. The north forced Lee to retreat. History says that had the north chased Lee back to Virginia, they would’ve won.
The south had hope that England would join them. The south and England had a great relationship because the south sent England cotton, which the English depended on. However England didn’t join because:
1. They no longer needed southern cotton so desperately because they found other sources.
2. Lincoln was being pressured to free the slaves, and in January of 1863 he succumbed and issued the Emancipation Proclamation- freed all slaves in the rebelling territories. Lincoln didn’t view the Confederacy as a separate country, rather as rebels and he felt that he could make laws for them. The war used to be an intellectual war, a war about state rights. It now changed to a war for slavery; people were now fighting either for or against slavery. England had already freed their slaves in 1833 and wasn’t going to join the war pro slavery.
This made the south realize that if they lose the war, they’ll lose their whole way of life. They now fought with extreme intensity.
The north and south both had dissenters- people who were on a side but didn’t agree. Some people stayed neutral. Both sides suspended the writ of habeas corpus- this showed Lincoln’s power. He took away the people’s rights during the war. Suspending the writ of habeas corpus was wrong, but after the war was over, Congress said that it was indeed right because this action was needed to maintain order.
In 1863, General Lee attacked Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. After three bloody days, the north won. This was the bloodiest battle of the Civil war. The battle was the turning point of the war. The Battle of Vicksburg was another defeat for the south. The north was now on a steady pace to victory. Lee wanted to resign, but wasn’t given permission, as he led the south very well strategically.
A few months after the Battle of Gettysburg, Lincoln came and gave a short speech known as the Gettysburg Address. This speech spoke about the preservation of the union.
After these loses, the south was exhausted, worn down and many southerners were becoming disillusioned. Jefferson Davis was accused of being a lousy president. Meanwhile, Lincoln made Ulysses S. Grant the general over the entire northern army. Grant told Lincoln that he won’t stop fighting until the north won.
In spring of 1865, Grant and Lee met in Appomattox, Virginia. Lee surrendered there. Lincoln told Grant to be generous with Lee:
1. Southerners were allowed to keep their rifles for hunting.
2. The Confederate soldiers were paroled.
Legacy of the war-
The war changed the nation in many ways- the issue of states rights was over and the supremacy of the federal government was established- secession was never discussed again. During the Civil war was the first time there was a draft and the first time an income tax was placed on people- the war was very costly.
The Civil war affected the economy:
1. North- was booming. Factories churned out war materials and the federal government helped businesses by building railroads.
2. South- was devastated. The war was fought on southern territory and many southern lands were destroyed. Slavery was now over therefore the entire way of southern life ended.
The war intensified the gap between the north and the south.
Another change that occurred was through woman. Over the course of the war, many women took over men’s jobs such as working in the fields and factories. There were also nurses who went to the battlefield to help wounded soldiers. The hygiene on the battlefield was terrible, and some died because of it. One of these women was Clara Barton. After the war, she started the Red Cross to continue her good work.
The human cost of the war was tremendous- 500,000 died and 600,000 were wounded.
This war changed the way wars were now fought- they used rifle guns. This made shooting more accurate. They also had iron clad ships.
The lives of the African Americans changed drastically for the better. In 1865, the thirteenth amendment was passed. It abolished slavery in the United States of America.
Five days after Lee’s surrender, Lincoln was shot at Ford’s theater by John Wilkes Booth, a southern sympathizer.
Lincoln’s plan for reconstruction was a very mild program- he wanted it to be peaceful. Lincoln said that as long as they pledged loyalty they could come back into the nation. Lincoln’s plan couldn’t be carried out though because he was shot.
Vice president Andrew Johnson took over for Lincoln. He wasn’t as strong as Lincoln and was faced with tremendous opposition in Congress. He wanted to carry out Lincoln’s plan but Congress was full of Radical Republicans- they were strong people who wanted the south to be dealt with in a harsh manner.
The Radical Republicans were angry at the white south and wanted to help the black south. One way of punishing the whites was to be extra nice to the blacks. One famous Radical Republican was Thaddeus Stevens- he was so into them that he wanted to be buried with them. The Radicals in Congress didn’t want to be nice to the white south:
1. They set up the Freed Men’s Bureau- to help freed slaves set up lives. They gave them money for hospitals and for education.
2. They passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866- to give the blacks equality. It made all black codes illegal. Black codes were white laws to make blacks suppressed.
Johnson vetoed these acts. He said that they’re giving too much power to the Federal government. Congress overrode Johnson’s veto and the bills became laws.
Congress went ahead and passed the fourteenth amendment, which gave full citizenship to the blacks. Johnson encouraged states not to ratify it and it wasn’t ratified until 1868.
In the 1866 elections, the Radicals won enough seats in Congress to override Johnson’s vetoes regularly. This is an example of somewhere where one side has too much power.
They passed the Reconstruction act:
1. If any of the states managed to squeak in and reinstate themselves as a state during Lincoln or Johnson’s time, they’re invalid.
2. The south is now under military control.
3. The south shouldn’t think about reentering the union unless they ratify the fourteenth amendment.
4. Black men now got the right to vote.
Congress was looking for a way to impeach Johnson. They knew that Johnson wanted to fire the Secretary of War. Congress now passed the Office of Tenure act which stated that it’s illegal to fire a cabinet member. If it is done, it’s ground for impeachment. Johnson fired the Secretary of War and was impeached (also because he used vulgar language in Congress). The Senate found him not guilty by one vote.
In 1868, Ulysses S. Grant became president. Grant was a US general during the Civil war, so he used the tactic of “waving the bloody shirt”- look what I did for the nation, now vote for me.
In 1870, the fifteenth amendment was passed- it gave blacks the right to vote.
By 1870, all the Confederate states had joined the union. Reconstruction was heavily in effect- the Radicals were heavily involved in the south. They had military control and were making sure that the whites were giving the blacks their rights of equality. They were also there to build up the south post war.
Down south, there were people who joined the Republican Party:
1. African Americans that were down south were very excited with the opportunity to be a part of political parties and they loved what the Republicans were doing.
2. Scalawags- they were poor, white southerners. They were happy that the rich shouldn’t be powerful. Additionally, there were now business opportunities to make money.
3. Carpet baggers- they were northerners that came down south. Some that came were very idealistic- they wanted to change the south. Some were doctors, school teachers, etc. They came down south to help.
A lot of cartoons about the scalawags and carpet baggers were negative- they portrayed them as being friends with the black only because they wanted money.
After the Civil war, many blacks moved north looking for opportunities. Many stayed down south and benefited from the opportunities that were available for them. Some blacks were even a part of Congress.
During the years of reconstruction, the blacks were able to vote. The Radical Republicans controlled the white southerners. Schools were set up for the blacks. The Freed Men’s Bureau helped blacks find family members, readjust and set up schools.
Most of the blacks were promised “forty acres and a mule” during the war, but the government didn’t come through. Many blacks ended up being sharecroppers. Sharecroppers worked white land. They were given all the necessary materials but two- thirds of the crop went to the owner. Sharecroppers usually remained poor their whole lives. If they were successful, they became tenant farmers- rented the land from the white man. They had to pay for their own materials, but received all the profit. Cotton was no longer king in the south because synthetic materials were taking their place.
The collapse of reconstruction-
1. Many white southerners hated reconstruction. They hated the military rule and the fact that the blacks were getting equality. A secret group called the Ku Klux Klan was formed to fight reconstruction. They were violent and would try to frighten blacks away from the voting poles.
2. As white southerners regained their seats in Congress, they fought the Radicals.
3. Grant’s government was corrupt.
4. Economic crisis- Panic of 1873.
Many American people said that they should move on from reconstruction and deal with the issues at hand.
Grant served for two terms. In the next election:
1. Republicans- Rutherford B. Hayes.
2. Democrats- Samuel Tilden.
Many southerners were now becoming Democrats because the powerful whites hated the Republicans. The south was leaning more and more democratic until it came to be known as the “Solid South”. Tilden won the popular votes, but was one vote short of the electoral majority. The decision went to the House of Representatives. A political bargain was made- the southern senators said that they’ll let Hayes win but they have to end reconstruction- they have to get every Republican out and restore home rule. They also had to make sure there would be a southern cabinet member. Reconstruction now officially ended.
The minuet the Radicals left the south, the whites took over and crushed the blacks. They put all the Jim Crowe laws into effect- the laws of segregation:
1. The blacks could no longer vote.
2. Separate schools.
3. Separate parks.
4. Separate busses.
5. Set up a poll tax.
6. Literacy test.
If someone did pay the tax, they usually failed the test. The Ku Klux Klan frightened anyone who got past both the poll tax and literacy test. The whites didn’t have to worry about these new laws because they fell under the Grandfather clause- if your grandfather voted, then you’re exempt.
Some say that reconstruction was successful because at least the amendments were passed.
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