פרקי אבות- משנה יג

ר' יהודה בר אלאי was one of the main תלמידים of ר' עקיבא. ר' יהודה praised the Romans, so they loved him and because of this he was able to accomplish good for כ''י. More than 600 הלכות are written in the משנה by ר' יהודה. He was the ראש המדברים in his תקופה.

The גמרא gives an accolade to the דור of ר' יהודה- "אשה יראת ה' היא תתהלל". Why? Six men sat wrapped in one טלית and learn תורה. We see from here that they learnt מתוך הדחק. They were so poor, but they didn’t use it as an excuse. We can also learn out that they had אחדות נפלאה- they reached the דרגה of אחדות like there was by הר סיני.

"... כיסו, כוסו, כעסו"- this was said by ר' יהודה בר אלאי.

ר' יונה שכחה is something that is the territory of every human being. It is very important to review so that the למוד isn’t for nothing. Part of למוד is reviewing. You must review in order that you shouldn’t forget. People are forgetful. A person should never rely on the first take of an ענין because really, you didn’t go into it deeply. Really you could make a mistake, and you don’t have it in your heart. Then when you forget, it’ll be considered that he’s a פושע.

ר' משה He finished ש''ס 101 times. When he told his nephew, the nephew wanted to drink a לחיים with him. ר' משה said that he’s already drunk with happiness. He finished שלחן ערוך over 700 times!

ר' שמעון בר יוחאי was supposed to be killed, so he ran to a cave in Meiron with his son ר' אלעזר. Here, he was on such a high level and he wrote the זוהר. ה' made a נס for them and there was a spring and carob tree. They buried themselves in the sand up to their necks when they learnt so that their clothing could be saved for davening. After twelve years, a בת קול came out and told them to leave. But when they came out, they saw a man doing something wrong and they burnt him. ה' made them go back in for another year. When they came out, they saw a man carrying two הדסים- one for שמור and one for זכור. When they saw this, they said, "חזי כמה חביבין מצות על ישראל".

Story- a תלמיד of ר' שמעון became wealthy and the other תלמידים began to get jealous of him. So he took his תלמידים to a valley and said, "בקעה, בקעה מלאי דנרי זהב". The valley filled up with gold. ר' שמעון told his תלמידים that they could take as much as they want, but if they take they will lose their עוה''ב. No one took.

He used to say, "שלש מתנות טובות..." and all three are acquired through יסורים:
1. תורה- you must toil for תורה.
2. א''י
3. עוה''ב- מצות and נצחיות come with giving up.

ר' שמעון and ר' עקיבא had a tremendous bond. ר' שמעון attributed everything to his רבי.

אלשי''ך Don’t think that all these כתרים are equal. The first three in the משנה are in one category and כתר שם טוב is in a different category.

רע''ב שלש כתרים הם- the תורה requires us to give כבוד to those who fall into these three descriptions.
כתר תורה- "והדרת פני זקן"

כתר כהונה- "וקדשתו"

כתר מלכות- "שום תשים אליך מלך"- you should place his אימה on you.

רמב''ם יב When were these כתרים built into the structure of כ''י? The structure of כ''י was built around these three כתרים.

ר' יונה רבי שמעון אומר...- Who got these crowns?
1. כתר כהונה was given over to זרע אהרן- "וראה ושמח בלבו".
2. מלכות דוד is like the sun since they are both לנצח. In order to be king, you must be a descendant of דוד המלך.
3. תורה was given over לכל באי עולם. If you want to merit it, you can.

Which one of these is the most important from amongst the three and why? The greatest crown is כתר תורה. Proof: in the בהמ''ק, three of the כלים had crowns.
1. שלחן- מלכות, like the שלחן מלכים.
2. מזבח הזהב- כהונה
3. ארון- תורה
The first two are found in the קדש, but the ארון is found in the קדש הקדשים. This shows that תורה is the greatest of all three. Additionally, מלוכה ("בית דוד כה אמר ה'") and כהונה ("בית אהרן בית הלוי") both have specific בתים. But תורה, "התקן עצמיך ללמוד תורה שאין ירושה לך"- it’s not an inheritance. If you want it, you must go and get it.

אברבנל Why are the כתרים written in this order? תורה is mentioned first because it includes the מצוות באל''מ and באל''ח. כהונה is only קשור to מצוות באל''מ. מלכות is written last because it can’t be fulfilled until after כיבוש וחלוק- "כי תבאו אל הארץ וירשת וישבת... שום תשים אליך מלך".

ת. י. א- someone who has an overflowing amount of חכמת התורה, like a דיין or ראש סנהדרין.

Sheet III רמב''ם: one who’s heart has the שעיפה of being מקיים the מצוה ת''ת and wishes to be coroneted with the crown of תורה:
1. Don’t divert your mind to other things.
2. Don’t work to acquire equal measures of wealth, תורה and כבוד- it’s impossible!
3. Take it step by step- you can’t acquire תורה in one day.
When a person is מרבה לימוד תורה, he’s מרבה שכר. The שכר goes according to how much you were עמל.

If you want to have תורה and עושר in the same measure, you’ll never merit כתר תורה. Rather, "הוי ממעט בעסק ועסוק בתורה". Never say I’ll learn when I have the time, because you’ll only have time if you make time.

מדרש רבה: the crown of תורה is different than the other crowns-
1. When a person wears royal בגדים, it shows that he’s elevated from the common people.
2. Bearer of a crown symbolizes that he’s a leader amidst a following.
3. Bearer of a crown symbolizes that he’s linked to a royal dynasty.

כתר תורה though, is different:
1. It’s permitted for everyone to acquire it- whoever wants to can acquire it, they don’t have to be linked to a dynasty.
2. Someone with a כתר תורה doesn’t stand more elevated than others, he’s elevated from himself, from his נפש הבהמי- מאן מלכי? רבנו!.
3. Doesn’t have throngs of literal followers, they rule over themselves. The תורה rules on their thoughts, minds, kidneys, the moment… He’s a master of every second and day of his life. True royalty is that of תורה- "צדיקים לבם ברשותם".

According to הלכה, the כהן is ראש וראשן לכל דבר שבקדושה- "וקדשתו". Examples:
1. ברכת המזון
2. עלי' לתורה- in an אסיפה of צדיקים, the כהן still gets the first עלי'.
3. Can’t marry a גרושה.

The first time the תורה mentions כהונה- "ומלכי צדק מלך שלם הוציא להם לחם ויין והוא כהן לקל עליון". We learn from here that a כהן is a כהן לקל עליון- his whole essence is to be linked to ה', he is a שליח דרחמנא.

מדרש Three כהנים were discussing the size of their לחם הפנים. One said, my חלק was the size of פי שנים, the second said that his was the size of a כזית and the third said that his was the size of a lizard’s tail. A lizard is amongst the eight רמשים that make a person טמא if they touch it when it is dead. It was inappropriate of him to compare theהפנים לחם to this. When the חכמים heard his remark, they did research and found that he was born from a marriage אסור to a כהן and he was removed from his position. We can learn from this that you are what you say.

A כהן הדיוט has four בגדים and a כה''ג has eight. These בגדים are a reflection of the שלמות within the כהן.

כתר מלכות-

It says, "שום תשים...". רמב''ם-
1. There is a חיוב to have fear of the מלך.
2. You can’t sit on his horse.
3. You can’t sit on his throne.
4. You can’t use his scepter.
5. You can’t use any of his belongings.
6. "מלח שמחל על כבודו אין כבודו מוחל"

We make a ברכה on a king:
1. מלך ישראל- "אשר חלק מכבודו ליראיו"
2. Goyish king- "אשר נתן מכבודו לבו''ד"

ב''י asked for a king, and it was disgusting in the eyes of ה'. Why? Because they asked for it so that they could be like the גויים.

רמב''ם כתר תורה is more מעולה than the other כתרים. Why? Because כהונה and מלכות aren’t שלמים without the כתר תורה-
1. כהונה- "והוא מלך לקל עליון"- he becomes like this by learning.
2. מלכות- the king always carried around a ספר תורה.

מגן אבות The three כתרים are כנגד the three pillars of the world:
1. כהונה- עבודה
2. מלוכה-גמ''ח – since the מלך had a לב טוב and was rich and did good with his people.
3. תורה-תורה
And כתר שם טוב is עולה על גביהן.

How do you define כתר שם טוב? When do מעש''ט not necessarily result in a good reputation?

רע''ב וכתר שם טוב- definition: a person who does good things and he acquires a good reputation because of his מעשים. Why the need for the second half of the definition? To teach us that not everyone who does good acquires a good שם. What is it תלוי upon? Your frame of mind.

ספר החנוך "לא נתנה המצוות אלא לצרף בהם את הבריות"- they were given to us in order to cleanse us.

You should do מצוות for yourself, not for other people. מצוות are like putting us through a refinery- they turn us into sensitive people, turn us into נותנים instead of נוטלים. This will give you a שם טוב and success in life.

Sheet II It’s אסור to be משעבד an עבד עברי with unnecessary work, it’s a לאו. You can do it to an עבד כנעני according to דין, however it is the conduct of the pious that a person should be a רחמן and not give his עבד hard work. The חכמים הראשנים used to preface their food with food for their עבד and animals. You can’t abuse your עבד verbally of physically. Cruelty is found only by the גויים. We are the children of א''א, we have the תורה, therefore we are רחמנים. Although we are allowed we are allowed to be אכזרים to גויים, we shouldn’t be because then we might be cruel to a Jew. By the עיר הנדחת, ה' gave the killers and extra dose of רחמנות so that they wouldn’t become אכזרים. Some people are the same at sixteen and sixty because they don’t absorb their actions. You must refrain from being cruel to an עבד כנעני for yourself so that you shouldn’t absorb it and become an אכזר. You will only get a שם טוב if you absorb your good actions and do them for the right reasons.

Sheet IV A master was leading his שור to שחיטה and it was frightened. The שור came and nestled itself in רבי’s coattails. רבי said, ."קום כי לכך יצרת" Because of what he said, he suffered seven years of kidney stones and six years of thrush. One day, his maid swept up a weasel and he said to let it go out in the field, and right away his יסורים went away. For ourselves, we must be רחמנים.

Sheet III By the מצוה of שלוח הקן, the גמרא says, "האומר על קן צפור יגיע רחמיך משתקין אותו"- someone who says that the טעם מצוה is that you have mercy on the mother bird, make him be quiet. We do it לצד עצמינו, to teach us רחמים. By שחיטה you שחט from the front of the neck, not the back. The גמרא says, "וכי מה אכפט להקב''ה משוחט הצואר לשוחט העורף"- to teach us רחמנות. Even while doing an act of אכזריות, do it with רחמים. There is a לאו that you can’t שחט a mother and her children on the same day. Why? In order to teach us רחמים. Our actions must be more than just skin deep. The מצות of ה' are to mold us and make us into רחמנים. Every מצוה is created for man, to learn from. What do מצוות do to a person?
1. Pluck out bad מידות and השקפות and replace them with good ones.
2. To remember the נסים of ה'.
3. לדעת את ה'.
מצוות extract all impurities and bad השקפות. So who has a כתר שם טוב? A person who has been molded through כתר תורה and the מצוות.

Sheet IV The first three מכות were brought by אהרן. Although objects don’t have feelings, משה couldn’t do the מכות himself out of הכרת הטוב toward the objects (ground, water…) which saved him.

מלאכי "מתורה יבקשו מפיהו כי מלאך צבקות הוא"- from whose mouth should you seek תורה? From someone who is compared to a מלאך ה'. מלאכים are כלו טוב, and they are שואלים זה לזה- shows כבוד.

כתר שם טוב is better than a כתר תורה, because כתר תורה needs כתר שם טוב in order to be שלם.

It says "נשיא בעמך לא תאור". בעמך- he’s מרוצה בין העמים. He’s desirable and has מדות בין אדם לחבירו. Without the כתר שם טוב he isn’t worthy to be king.

כתר כהונה without כתר שם טוב isn’t ראוי to be כתר כהונה. One time a כהן was מבזה שמעי' and אבטליון (they were גרים) by revealing their past. He was removed from practicing his כהונה, he lost his chance to work in the בהמ''ק. So you need a כתר שם טוב.

ר' יונה "טוב שם משמן טוב ויום המות מיום הולדו"- perfumed oil only has a benefit for those in its vicinity. A שם טוב goes from one end of the world to the other. Why is death better than birth? When a child is born, there is tremendous uncertainty of how he will live his life. When someone dies and has acquired a שם טוב and lived properly, there is such שמחה. It’s like a ship returning safely to shore.

מדרש רשב''י said that a שם טוב is more precious than the ארון. Why? The ארון went three days in front of כ''י to prepare the way for them, a שם טוב prepares the whole world for him.

ר' סורנו Who is מוחטר with a כתר שם טוב? When a person is so good that they inspire other to do good and they become a so good that a בעל רגש and בעל לב will try to copy them. They become a paragon to the רבים without even giving lessons. The aura surrounding them makes people want to be better.

אש דות כתר שם טוב is "ענו ושפל רוח ומרוצה לכל".

מהר''ל A כתר שם טוב is compared to the מנורה. The מנורה was made from one solid piece of gold. Also, it was מאיר לעולם. Also a כתר שם טוב is מאיר לעולם.