This world is compared to a foyer. Prepare yourself in this chamber so that you can enter the palace.
רע''ב Prepare in this world so you will be זוכה to עוה''ב.
מ. י. "היום לעשותם ומחר לקבל שכרם"
עוה''ב עוה''ז
שבת ערב שבת
ים יבשה
Story- ר' יעקב גלינסקי came to Novardik. He went to the shul, and he heard a man saying, "חטף ואכל חטף ואשתי דהאי עלמא דאליזן מיניה כביא הילולא דמי"- eat and drink now because we’re all going to have to depart.
Monday, May 30, 2011
פרקי אבות- משנה טו
רע''ב אין בידינו- we don’t know why ה' makes a רשע prosper and the good person suffer.
We don’t see in גלות an exacting רשע who has tranquility and צדיקים with crippling יסורים. They have יסורים של אהבה- these don’t cause ביטול תורה. It says, "יצאינו... הגענו"- in גלות there are no real רשעים , but we haven’t reached the level of צדיקים.
כל- even to the גוי in the marketplace. But not like שלומית בת דברי- she was a פתפתה and her son was a מקלל. Story- nun at ר' יעקב’s לוי'.
It is better to be a tail to lions rather than a leader to foxes.
רע''ב אריות- people who are a lion in רוחניות.
שועלים- someone who is a קטן in רוחניות.
ת''י When it comes to כבוד, respect every yid. But when it comes to who you are friends with, it’s better to be מתחבר with חשוב people and be lower than them because the honor of lowly people is good, but the honor of low people amongst honorable people, that is considered כבוד .
We don’t see in גלות an exacting רשע who has tranquility and צדיקים with crippling יסורים. They have יסורים של אהבה- these don’t cause ביטול תורה. It says, "יצאינו... הגענו"- in גלות there are no real רשעים , but we haven’t reached the level of צדיקים.
כל- even to the גוי in the marketplace. But not like שלומית בת דברי- she was a פתפתה and her son was a מקלל. Story- nun at ר' יעקב’s לוי'.
It is better to be a tail to lions rather than a leader to foxes.
רע''ב אריות- people who are a lion in רוחניות.
שועלים- someone who is a קטן in רוחניות.
ת''י When it comes to כבוד, respect every yid. But when it comes to who you are friends with, it’s better to be מתחבר with חשוב people and be lower than them because the honor of lowly people is good, but the honor of low people amongst honorable people, that is considered כבוד .
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.
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.
פרקי אבות- משנה יב
This משנה was said by ר' אלעזר בן שמוע. He lived in the fourth generation of תנאים. רבי was his תלמיד. The גמרא describes him as being a ת''ח השמח יותר מכולם". He lived a very long life. When asked why he was זוכה to live so long, he said that whole life he was זהיר in כבוד הבריות.
מדרש רבה One time, he was on a טיול at the river’s shore. He saw a broken ship in the water and saw a man bobbing in the water. He saw that the man was still alive and he saved him. He took off his coat and covered the body. He carried the body to his home and nursed the man back to health. He gave him some money and returned the man to his city. After many years, the man became great in the Roman government. The government made terrible decrees against כ''י. When ר' אלעזר heard who was responsible for it, he went to the Roman. The Roman recognized him. He got rid of the גזירה and gave him money and ר' אלעזר went back בשלום. It says in קהלת, "שלח לחמיך ע''פ המים..."- if you do a good act, it will come back to help you later on.
The first part of this משנה is an אזהרה to a רבי.
רוח חיים He connects the three parts of the משנה: the nature of a person is to be מקיל בכבוד אחרים. But we must be מכבד others, even more than they deserve. We see from here that every person should be praised more than they deserve. This way if you fall, you will give him the כבוד that he really deserves, but not less.
רע''ב יהי כבוד תלמידך...- משה ר' said, "בחר לנו אנשים". He was משוה the כבוד of his תלמיד to his own כבוד.
רש''י יהי כבוד תלמידך- בדין הוא, it’s obligatory. We know"לכל אדם מתקנא חוץ מבנו ותלמידו" , because he is an extension of yourself. Therefore, a תלמיד טוב is a source of נחת to his רבי. The תלמיד is the סיבת כבוד of his רבי, therefore the רבי must be מחזיר the כבוד to his תלמיד.
ר' ירוחם ממיר "גדולה שמושה של תורה יותר מלמודה"- it is more important for a תלמיד to be משמש his רבי than למודים. Why? Because it’s תורת חיים. If a תלמיד is serving his רבי, the רבי can ח''ו become a בעל גאוה. Therefore חז''ל made a שמירה- יהי חביב עליך תלמידך יותר מגופך.
ר' נחום פרצביץ gave beautiful שיעורים, but he was handicapped. One time, his תלמידים were lifting him out of his wheelchair and he kept saying, "נישט מייענע איז דייענע". He told them that he said this to remind himself as they were rising him that the honor isn’t for him, it is for ה'’s תורה.
ת''י סז- sometimes, the תלמיד in connection to the רבי is as if the רבי found a pearl in its raw state. The תלמיד still has a thick shell, but the רבי polishes it and then its brilliant light can shine forth. Sometimes the רבי has to bring out the beauty of the תלמיד. Therefore, he must pay close attention to the words that his תלמיד says so that he could see what his תלמיד needs to get rid of and what he should build on. Then the רבי will polish him to the utmost, until he can learn from him, as ר' חנינא said, "הרבה למדתי מרבתי ומחברי יותר מרבותי ומתלמדי יותר מכלם", therefore a רבי must respect his תלמיד.
ר' עקיבא איגר’s sons were preparing a compilation of his שאלות and תשובות. They wrote in the הקדמה that their father instructed them to delete the title "תלמידך" from the letters because he would never call anyone his תלמיד, כי מי יודע מי למד יותר ממי?
ר' חיים וולזין came to visit the גר''א on an ערב שבת. The גר''א was having difficulty understanding a certain piece in גמרא and ר' חיים explained it to him. The גר''א said, "הרבה למדתי מחברי ומתלמדי יותר מכלם".
ר' שלמה קלגר מחנכים must remember to teach their תלמידים the מידה of הכנעה- to be מקבל מורים. This is the יסוד of a yid because it trains him in accepting עול מלכות שמים. So a רבי can’t be מותר on his כבוד. יהי כבוד תלמידך חביב עליך- you should be מחביב the כבוד they give you so that you can raise them to be עובדי ה'. A parent is not a friend to their child. There is a line which can’t be crossed.
ר' אלעזר בן שמוע used to sit in the middle of a circle with his תלמידים around him. He was always there before his תלמידים so:
1. They shouldn’t have to move for him.
2. They shouldn’t have to wait for him.
ר' יצחק אלחנן ספקטר, the ר''י in קבנא, was once fahering a boy who traveled for many days to come take the faher. The first thing he asked the boy was if he eat and or slept, and when he heard of the difficult and lengthy journey, he immediately went to prepare food and lodging for the boy before fahering him.
In ר' חיים וואלזין’s ישיבה, there was extreme poverty. Some boys didn’t have shoes, and the winters were very fierce. The בחורים wanted to buy ר' חיים a present, so they bought him a pair of boots. They noticed though that he only wore them when the snow was extremely high and he would shovel a path so that those without boots would have an easier time entering the בית מדרש.
"וכבוד התורה כמורא רבך"- what is the מקור for this?
רע''ב אהרן called משה "בי אדוני" even though he was his younger brother.
The פסוק in משלי says "הוקר רגליך מבית רעך". Why? Because familiarity breeds contempt.
Story- מיר boys and the policeman. ר' ירוחם said that he seriously thought about closing down the ישיבה- how could you allow your friend to go alone with the policeman in the pitch dark. You might have been afraid, but imagine how afraid he was! If would be כדאי to close down the ישיבה if the בחורים don’t show each other respect.
Concern and care are part of כבוד חברים. You aren’t a true friend if you don’t have a deep care and concern for your friends.
ת''י What does it mean to have כבוד with your friends? Not to disagree or contradict them in a hurtful way. Don’t disagree for the sake of a disagreement. Think of how you give it over- that makes all the difference.
עבודת פנים Why does the תנא compare the כבוד necessary for a friend to the כבוד necessary for a רבי? He’s not equating the amount of כבוד that should be given. But there is a common thread here- the same way you aren’t מכבד your רבי so that he will respect you in return, you shouldn’t be מכבד your friend so that he does the same for you.
בינה לעתיים "הרבה למדתי מרבותי ומחברי יותר מרבותי"- you learn more from a friend than from a רבי, so a friend takes on the שם of a רבי. You must show him כבוד and there even has to be some measure of יראה.
מהר''ל What’s the connection between כנסי' לש''ש and the ענון of כבוד חברים? The כנסי' will only be מתקיים if the people have כבוד for each other.
The גמרא speaks about the סורא and פומפדיתא and the כבוד חברים there:
1. When someone walked into the room, everyone would stand up.
2. When there was a מיתה and someone among them tore קריעה, they would all tear.
So אחדות is another strand of כבוד.
We see the opposite by ר' עקיבא though. All of his תלמידים were נפתר in the days between פסח and שבועות. Why? Because they had an עין צרה, they couldn’t fargin when someone else got ahead in לימוד תורה. קנאת סופרים is when you’re מקנא the thing, but they were מקנא the hole person. They didn’t have אחדות. So they all died from whooping cough, which effects their throat which is where the תורה comes from.
גמרא "שקר החן והבל היופי אשה יראת ה' היא תתהלל"-
1. שקר החן זה דורו של משה ויהושע. רש''י- שעסקו תורה הרבה.
2. והבל היופי זה דורו של חזקיהו. רש''י- שעסקו בתורה יותר שבדקו מדן ועד באר שבע ולא מצאו תינוק או תינקת שלא היו בקיאים בהלכות טומאה וטהרה.
3. אשה יראת ה' היא תתהלל זה דורו של ר' יהודה בר אלעי. רש''י- שהיו ששה תלמידים מתכסין בטלית אחת ועוסקין בתורה- they were so poor, but they didn’t use it as an excuse. They learnt מתוך הדחק.
ר' חיים ש. You can only have six people under one טלית if they are sharing and giving to each other. They reached such a great level of אחדות here like they had by הר סיני- where כאיש אחד בלב אחד.
ר' עקיבא saw his תלמידים dozing off. He asked, what did אסתר see that allowed her to endure being married to such a רשע? She correlated herself with שרה. שרה lived 127 years and now she is ruling over 127 provinces.
1. How could ר' עקיבא be teaching to students who were dozing off? They weren’t sleeping because they were bored, they were disconnecting because ר' עקיבא was teaching them things far beyond their reach.
2. How is ר' עקיבא drawing them in with this correlation between אסתר and שרה? He was showing them that there is never anything too elevated from where we stand. A person should hold on to the one thing they can you to connect themselves and reign themselves in.
3. What is the פשט in this correlation? אסתר was in the lion’s den- אחשוירוש was an anti- Semite and a scary person. But אסתר didn’t disconnect. She searched to connect herself to something very celestial and draw herself in. She connected herself to the fact that שרה lived 127 years, and rose above all of her trials and tribulations. אסתר connected herself to this and rose above everything she was faced with.
When ב''י were נהנה from the סעודה of אחשוירוש, the שטן showed ה'. ה' made a גזירה on them to destroy them. אליהו saw this and ran to the אבות and משה. They asked him if it was sealed with טיט or blood. If it is sealed in mud, it can be repealed. But if it is sealed in blood, it can’t be. What is the difference between טיט and blood? טיט represents earth, גשמיות. As long as it is not a part of them and is just גשמיות, it can be repealed. But blood is נפש, symbolizes רוחניות. If it is a part of them, it can’t be repealed.
ר' חיים ש. By מתן תורה, it says כאיש אחד בלב אחד. This is אחדות. So why does the תורה write בלב אחד by this ענין of אחדות? It’s not enough to have just a superficial fondness. The תורה requires that כבוד חברים is in your kishkes, that it comes from the depths of your heart. There shouldn’t be any animosity. You must make sure that it’s a relationship of כבוד and love.
It says in פרשת בהר, "לא תרדה בו בפרך ויראת מאלקיך". פרך means something which cheapens a person. רש''י says that a master may not make his servant to unnecessary tasks which will be מזלזל the עבד. This means even if the servant will never no, that’s why it says "ויראת מאלקיך"- ה' will know whether you really needed it or not.
The איסור here is to make the servant do something you don’t need, thereby cheapening him and even if he doesn’t know that it’s for naught that he toiled.
כבוד חברים is in your heart, you must really feel it in your heart.
"זכור את אשר עשה ה' למרים בדרך בצאתכם ממצרים". There seems to be a כפה ל' here, בדרך and בצאתכם. When you were leaving, it was a time of ecstasy that you were leaving bondage or you could say that maybe מרים wasn’t thinking straight because she was hurrying. But ה' didn’t overlook it. And even thought she spoke about her brother at a time of שמחה, ה' didn’t excuse her. There are no תרוצים what so ever!
You may have the deepest חשבונות, but it doesn’t matter. If you hurt someone, you will pay for it. "ורבת בנים אומללה"- one with many was left with none. פנינה was a צדקת. It pained her to be mean to חנה, but she did it so that חנה would daven harder. Tampering with someone’s feelings, no matter what your חשבון is, is like placing your hand into a burning fire- there are repercussions for your actions.
In the days of the אמוראים, it took a very long time for people to travel. So when someone would go learn, they would go learn for many months. ר' רחומי used to learn for a long time, and he would come home every ערב יו''כ and stay through סוכות. One year, he came home early. Since no one was expecting him, he went up to the attic to learn. He got so busy and he forgot to come down. His wife, who was expecting him, was looking for him and she began to cry. Suddenly, the roof collapsed and ר' רחומי died. We can’t say that this is an עונש מכ''מ, but we can learn out from here that there is a חוק טבעי ומציאותי- if you hurt someone, there will be an effect.
ר' יוחנן was an old man and he had eyebrows that covered his eyes. ר' כהנא once got a מכה to his lip and it healed into a permanent smile. One time, ר' כהנא had to ask ר' יוחנן a question in person. They had never seen each other before. ר' יוחנן thought that ר' כהנא was laughing at his eyebrows and he was very hurt. ר' כהנא died and came back to life again. This is baffling- ר' כהנא didn’t do anything, it wasn’t his fault that his lip was like this and ר' יוחנן thought he was mocking him. Although he didn’t do anything wrong, ר' כהנא was the גורם which made ר' יוחנן downtrodden. If there is a flame, there will be a repercussion.
בנימין caused his brothers to rip their clothing when the גביע was found in his bag. He was innocent, but he was a גרמה על גרמה. Years later, the עונש came out in שושן- מרדכי, the descendant of בנימין, ripped his clothing. We can’t control what isn’t ours to control, but we could have a התבוננות in כבוד חברים (this will lead to זהירות).
רע''ב ומורא רבך כמורא שמים- it is comparing יראת הרבי to יראת ה' and it brings down the following פסוק- "אדוני משה..."- יהושע told משה to kill אלדד and מידד.
ב''י were all complaining together that they only had מן. משה couldn’t deal with this anymore. He told ה' that he can’t do it anymore, so ה' told him to appoint seventy זקנים and he’ll do the process of אצילות- transfer of the nobility of משה onto the seventy זקנים. משה took seventy- two pieces of paper. On seventy he wrote זקן and two he left blank. Everyone wanted an equal number of זקנים from their שבט, so they did a גורל because it’s משמים. משה called on the ראוים, but two people didn’t come. אלדד and מידד didn’t come because they felt that they weren’t ראוי. Immediately they began to be מתנבא. גרשם בן משה heard this and came to tell his father what they were saying-
מ י א ב נ ת מ
כ ה ל ג פ נ ש
נ ו ק ן ש ו ה
י ש י ו ח
ס ע ם
יהושע was there and he said this פסוק because those who are מורד in their רבי, it is like they are פוגע in כבוד שמים.
Sheet V שמעון העמסוני was explaining all the "את"s in the תורה. When he got to "את ה' אלקיך תירא", he said that you can’t attach anything else to יראת ה'. His students said that maybe everything else he said is invalid. שמעון העמסוני said, the same way I got שכר for explaining everything else, I got שכר for stopping here. ר' עקיבא said that the "את" here comes to include יראת ת''ח. Why? Because through them we come to יראת ה'.
טור "כשם שאדם מצוה בכבוד אביו ויראתו כך הוא מצוה בכבוד רבו ויראתו ורבו יותר מאביו שאביו הביאו לחיי עוה''ז ורבו מביאו לחיי עוה''ב ואמרו חכמים ומורא רבא כמורא שמים"- a person must have a greater measure of כבוד and יראה for his רבי than his father.
גמרא סוטה "וילך איש מבית לוי ויקח את בת לוי"- a man from בית לוי (עמרם) went and took יוכבד, his aunt. "... שהלך בעצת בתו. עמרם גדול הדור הי'. כיון שגזר פרעה כל הבן הילוד היאורה תשליכוהו. אמר לשב אנו עמלין עמד וגרש את אשתו ועמדו כולם וגרשו את נשותיהן שלמדו כולם ממעשיו שגדול הדור הי'. אמרה לי' ביתו אבא גזרתך קשה משל פרעה 1) שפרעה לא גזר על הזכרים ואתה גזרת על הזכרים ועל הנקבות 2) פרעה לא גזר אלא אל עוה''ז... 3) פרעה הרשע ספק גזרתו מתקיימת ספק אינה מתקיימת. עמד והחזיר את אשתו, עומדין כולם והחזירו את נשותיהן שלמדו כולם ממעשיו שגדול הדור הי'". ר' חצקל לווינשטין- weren’t there people who didn’t agree with this? We see from there that they were מבטל their דעת to the דעת of their רבי. From this second לקוחין, משה ר' was born. We see from here that they were זוכה to גאולה because they listened to their רבי.
ר' מנדל מורא insinuates a התרחקות. When a relationship requires awe and fear, it requires distance מפני כבוד. אהבה insinuates התקרבות. A relationship with a רבי is compared to the צבא השמים- the moon gets its light from the sun. When the moon moves close to the sun, it gets overshadowed and its light is less. However, when the moon is far from the sun, its light is greater. So too a תלמיד- there is a התרחקות because of the built in כבוד, and he is influenced greatly. When he crosses that line though, there is no השפעה and his brilliance doesn’t shine forth.
At the סדר, a תלמיד who is at his רבי doesn’t lean. A son at his father’s table does lean. R’ Foyer asked his father-in-law, who was also his רבי if he should lean or not. The רבי said, I consider you my son, but our primary relationship is a רבי- תלמיד relationship. He will gain more from this kind of relationship.
גמרא שבת "דרחמים רבנן הווליה בנין רבנן דמוקיר רבנן הוו ליה חתנוותא רבנן. דדחיל מרבנן הוא גופי' הוי צורבא מרבנן. ואי לאו בר הכי הוא משתמען מוליה כצורבא דרבנן"- someone who has a love for רבנים, he will merit having sons who are תורה sages. If you honor and respect רבנים, you will merit having sons-in-law who will be ת''ח. When you fear the words of רבנים, you yourself will become amongst the fire of תורה and become a רבי yourself. If he is incapable of becoming great in תורה, his words will be accepted by all like the words of an erudite ת''ח.
חז''ל י''ח קללות כלל ישעי' את ישראל ולא נתקרבה דעתו עד שאמר להם המקרא הזה- ישעי' said over to כ''י eighteen cursed conducts that the world will experience before משיח. When he reached the eighteenth, which is the lowest, he calmed down. Why? The darkest point is before the break of light. ישעי' saw that they can’t fall any lower than that so he calmed down.
ישעי' sheet This is the eighteenth- every person will say דעות on the other person (how they should have done it…) and the youth will be arrogant and won’t accept the חכמה of זקנים- אילו שקנה חכמה. There will be no מורא הרב and everyone will say דעות on each other. רד''ק- another קללה is that they won’t be able to be subservient. We challenge our parents and מורות. Everyone will be a boss and say דעות and criticize their friends. The youth will say דעות on the חכמים.
רד''ק They won’t be מכניע to people of authority. It can also mean that someone who is מנוער מן המצוות will be מתגאה over those who are full of מצוות, like a רמון is of its seeds. And someone who is נקלה- a person that even the חמורות are קלות for him will be מתגאה over the נכבד- a person that the קלות are חמורות for him.
מהרש''א This doesn’t mean a literal נער or זקן. It means in terms of תורה. ישעי' calmed down when he said this. This קללה is the greatest of רוחניותדיק depravity of man. They can’t fall any lower and the גאולה must come.
Sheet V כ''י is compared to a bird- just like a bird can’t fly without its wings, so too כ''י can’t do anything without their גדולים.
"רב שמוחל על כבודו..."- because if he is מבטל his כבוד, he is מבטל his השפעה on כ''י, thereby being מבטל the קיום of כ''י.
ת''י סט- the מצוות of ה':
1. You can’t question them even when your מחשבה isn’t מתקיים (like the דור of עמרם). We must always remember "שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד". We must always walk around with מורא שמים saddling us. You can’t correct your רבי, even if you think you know better and even if you aren’t in from of him.
2. An אמתה תלמיד is someone who always does what he thinks his רבי would do, as if he is in front of him. If you question your רבי, you are questioning the שכינה.
3. A person must be מחשיב his רבי as if he’s more than a regular man.
גמרא- you can’t sit in his seat and you can’t stand in his place if he has a specific place for davening.
Before חרבן בית שני, there was a מצר around ירושלים and the Romans didn’t let anyone leave. They cut off the food and water supply. The גדולים felt that it was time to go out and negotiate. ר' יוחנן בן זכאי collaborated with אבא סקראי, the head of the בריונים. The בריונים didn’t want to let anyone leave ירושלים, they wanted to fight. The only person they let leave was a מת. So ר' יוחנן בן זכאי pretended to be dead, and he told אבא סקראי (his nephew) to keep them away from him. The בריונים really wanted to check and make sure that ר' יוחנן בן זכאי was dead, but they were משיג the ענין of מורא הרב וכבודו, and since אבא סקראי didn’t want them to pierce the body they didn’t.
It says in מסילת ישרים that הנהגות of טחיסות כבוד הרב are תולדות of the מדת הגאוה which has a negative effect on people. It turns the חכמים backwards and makes their דעת foolish. Even the young בחורים who barely know anything are מתגאה- they think that they are as great as their חכמים. Even the בריונים understood this and were מוסר נפש because of it.
מדרש רבה One time, he was on a טיול at the river’s shore. He saw a broken ship in the water and saw a man bobbing in the water. He saw that the man was still alive and he saved him. He took off his coat and covered the body. He carried the body to his home and nursed the man back to health. He gave him some money and returned the man to his city. After many years, the man became great in the Roman government. The government made terrible decrees against כ''י. When ר' אלעזר heard who was responsible for it, he went to the Roman. The Roman recognized him. He got rid of the גזירה and gave him money and ר' אלעזר went back בשלום. It says in קהלת, "שלח לחמיך ע''פ המים..."- if you do a good act, it will come back to help you later on.
The first part of this משנה is an אזהרה to a רבי.
רוח חיים He connects the three parts of the משנה: the nature of a person is to be מקיל בכבוד אחרים. But we must be מכבד others, even more than they deserve. We see from here that every person should be praised more than they deserve. This way if you fall, you will give him the כבוד that he really deserves, but not less.
רע''ב יהי כבוד תלמידך...- משה ר' said, "בחר לנו אנשים". He was משוה the כבוד of his תלמיד to his own כבוד.
רש''י יהי כבוד תלמידך- בדין הוא, it’s obligatory. We know"לכל אדם מתקנא חוץ מבנו ותלמידו" , because he is an extension of yourself. Therefore, a תלמיד טוב is a source of נחת to his רבי. The תלמיד is the סיבת כבוד of his רבי, therefore the רבי must be מחזיר the כבוד to his תלמיד.
ר' ירוחם ממיר "גדולה שמושה של תורה יותר מלמודה"- it is more important for a תלמיד to be משמש his רבי than למודים. Why? Because it’s תורת חיים. If a תלמיד is serving his רבי, the רבי can ח''ו become a בעל גאוה. Therefore חז''ל made a שמירה- יהי חביב עליך תלמידך יותר מגופך.
ר' נחום פרצביץ gave beautiful שיעורים, but he was handicapped. One time, his תלמידים were lifting him out of his wheelchair and he kept saying, "נישט מייענע איז דייענע". He told them that he said this to remind himself as they were rising him that the honor isn’t for him, it is for ה'’s תורה.
ת''י סז- sometimes, the תלמיד in connection to the רבי is as if the רבי found a pearl in its raw state. The תלמיד still has a thick shell, but the רבי polishes it and then its brilliant light can shine forth. Sometimes the רבי has to bring out the beauty of the תלמיד. Therefore, he must pay close attention to the words that his תלמיד says so that he could see what his תלמיד needs to get rid of and what he should build on. Then the רבי will polish him to the utmost, until he can learn from him, as ר' חנינא said, "הרבה למדתי מרבתי ומחברי יותר מרבותי ומתלמדי יותר מכלם", therefore a רבי must respect his תלמיד.
ר' עקיבא איגר’s sons were preparing a compilation of his שאלות and תשובות. They wrote in the הקדמה that their father instructed them to delete the title "תלמידך" from the letters because he would never call anyone his תלמיד, כי מי יודע מי למד יותר ממי?
ר' חיים וולזין came to visit the גר''א on an ערב שבת. The גר''א was having difficulty understanding a certain piece in גמרא and ר' חיים explained it to him. The גר''א said, "הרבה למדתי מחברי ומתלמדי יותר מכלם".
ר' שלמה קלגר מחנכים must remember to teach their תלמידים the מידה of הכנעה- to be מקבל מורים. This is the יסוד of a yid because it trains him in accepting עול מלכות שמים. So a רבי can’t be מותר on his כבוד. יהי כבוד תלמידך חביב עליך- you should be מחביב the כבוד they give you so that you can raise them to be עובדי ה'. A parent is not a friend to their child. There is a line which can’t be crossed.
ר' אלעזר בן שמוע used to sit in the middle of a circle with his תלמידים around him. He was always there before his תלמידים so:
1. They shouldn’t have to move for him.
2. They shouldn’t have to wait for him.
ר' יצחק אלחנן ספקטר, the ר''י in קבנא, was once fahering a boy who traveled for many days to come take the faher. The first thing he asked the boy was if he eat and or slept, and when he heard of the difficult and lengthy journey, he immediately went to prepare food and lodging for the boy before fahering him.
In ר' חיים וואלזין’s ישיבה, there was extreme poverty. Some boys didn’t have shoes, and the winters were very fierce. The בחורים wanted to buy ר' חיים a present, so they bought him a pair of boots. They noticed though that he only wore them when the snow was extremely high and he would shovel a path so that those without boots would have an easier time entering the בית מדרש.
"וכבוד התורה כמורא רבך"- what is the מקור for this?
רע''ב אהרן called משה "בי אדוני" even though he was his younger brother.
The פסוק in משלי says "הוקר רגליך מבית רעך". Why? Because familiarity breeds contempt.
Story- מיר boys and the policeman. ר' ירוחם said that he seriously thought about closing down the ישיבה- how could you allow your friend to go alone with the policeman in the pitch dark. You might have been afraid, but imagine how afraid he was! If would be כדאי to close down the ישיבה if the בחורים don’t show each other respect.
Concern and care are part of כבוד חברים. You aren’t a true friend if you don’t have a deep care and concern for your friends.
ת''י What does it mean to have כבוד with your friends? Not to disagree or contradict them in a hurtful way. Don’t disagree for the sake of a disagreement. Think of how you give it over- that makes all the difference.
עבודת פנים Why does the תנא compare the כבוד necessary for a friend to the כבוד necessary for a רבי? He’s not equating the amount of כבוד that should be given. But there is a common thread here- the same way you aren’t מכבד your רבי so that he will respect you in return, you shouldn’t be מכבד your friend so that he does the same for you.
בינה לעתיים "הרבה למדתי מרבותי ומחברי יותר מרבותי"- you learn more from a friend than from a רבי, so a friend takes on the שם of a רבי. You must show him כבוד and there even has to be some measure of יראה.
מהר''ל What’s the connection between כנסי' לש''ש and the ענון of כבוד חברים? The כנסי' will only be מתקיים if the people have כבוד for each other.
The גמרא speaks about the סורא and פומפדיתא and the כבוד חברים there:
1. When someone walked into the room, everyone would stand up.
2. When there was a מיתה and someone among them tore קריעה, they would all tear.
So אחדות is another strand of כבוד.
We see the opposite by ר' עקיבא though. All of his תלמידים were נפתר in the days between פסח and שבועות. Why? Because they had an עין צרה, they couldn’t fargin when someone else got ahead in לימוד תורה. קנאת סופרים is when you’re מקנא the thing, but they were מקנא the hole person. They didn’t have אחדות. So they all died from whooping cough, which effects their throat which is where the תורה comes from.
גמרא "שקר החן והבל היופי אשה יראת ה' היא תתהלל"-
1. שקר החן זה דורו של משה ויהושע. רש''י- שעסקו תורה הרבה.
2. והבל היופי זה דורו של חזקיהו. רש''י- שעסקו בתורה יותר שבדקו מדן ועד באר שבע ולא מצאו תינוק או תינקת שלא היו בקיאים בהלכות טומאה וטהרה.
3. אשה יראת ה' היא תתהלל זה דורו של ר' יהודה בר אלעי. רש''י- שהיו ששה תלמידים מתכסין בטלית אחת ועוסקין בתורה- they were so poor, but they didn’t use it as an excuse. They learnt מתוך הדחק.
ר' חיים ש. You can only have six people under one טלית if they are sharing and giving to each other. They reached such a great level of אחדות here like they had by הר סיני- where כאיש אחד בלב אחד.
ר' עקיבא saw his תלמידים dozing off. He asked, what did אסתר see that allowed her to endure being married to such a רשע? She correlated herself with שרה. שרה lived 127 years and now she is ruling over 127 provinces.
1. How could ר' עקיבא be teaching to students who were dozing off? They weren’t sleeping because they were bored, they were disconnecting because ר' עקיבא was teaching them things far beyond their reach.
2. How is ר' עקיבא drawing them in with this correlation between אסתר and שרה? He was showing them that there is never anything too elevated from where we stand. A person should hold on to the one thing they can you to connect themselves and reign themselves in.
3. What is the פשט in this correlation? אסתר was in the lion’s den- אחשוירוש was an anti- Semite and a scary person. But אסתר didn’t disconnect. She searched to connect herself to something very celestial and draw herself in. She connected herself to the fact that שרה lived 127 years, and rose above all of her trials and tribulations. אסתר connected herself to this and rose above everything she was faced with.
When ב''י were נהנה from the סעודה of אחשוירוש, the שטן showed ה'. ה' made a גזירה on them to destroy them. אליהו saw this and ran to the אבות and משה. They asked him if it was sealed with טיט or blood. If it is sealed in mud, it can be repealed. But if it is sealed in blood, it can’t be. What is the difference between טיט and blood? טיט represents earth, גשמיות. As long as it is not a part of them and is just גשמיות, it can be repealed. But blood is נפש, symbolizes רוחניות. If it is a part of them, it can’t be repealed.
ר' חיים ש. By מתן תורה, it says כאיש אחד בלב אחד. This is אחדות. So why does the תורה write בלב אחד by this ענין of אחדות? It’s not enough to have just a superficial fondness. The תורה requires that כבוד חברים is in your kishkes, that it comes from the depths of your heart. There shouldn’t be any animosity. You must make sure that it’s a relationship of כבוד and love.
It says in פרשת בהר, "לא תרדה בו בפרך ויראת מאלקיך". פרך means something which cheapens a person. רש''י says that a master may not make his servant to unnecessary tasks which will be מזלזל the עבד. This means even if the servant will never no, that’s why it says "ויראת מאלקיך"- ה' will know whether you really needed it or not.
The איסור here is to make the servant do something you don’t need, thereby cheapening him and even if he doesn’t know that it’s for naught that he toiled.
כבוד חברים is in your heart, you must really feel it in your heart.
"זכור את אשר עשה ה' למרים בדרך בצאתכם ממצרים". There seems to be a כפה ל' here, בדרך and בצאתכם. When you were leaving, it was a time of ecstasy that you were leaving bondage or you could say that maybe מרים wasn’t thinking straight because she was hurrying. But ה' didn’t overlook it. And even thought she spoke about her brother at a time of שמחה, ה' didn’t excuse her. There are no תרוצים what so ever!
You may have the deepest חשבונות, but it doesn’t matter. If you hurt someone, you will pay for it. "ורבת בנים אומללה"- one with many was left with none. פנינה was a צדקת. It pained her to be mean to חנה, but she did it so that חנה would daven harder. Tampering with someone’s feelings, no matter what your חשבון is, is like placing your hand into a burning fire- there are repercussions for your actions.
In the days of the אמוראים, it took a very long time for people to travel. So when someone would go learn, they would go learn for many months. ר' רחומי used to learn for a long time, and he would come home every ערב יו''כ and stay through סוכות. One year, he came home early. Since no one was expecting him, he went up to the attic to learn. He got so busy and he forgot to come down. His wife, who was expecting him, was looking for him and she began to cry. Suddenly, the roof collapsed and ר' רחומי died. We can’t say that this is an עונש מכ''מ, but we can learn out from here that there is a חוק טבעי ומציאותי- if you hurt someone, there will be an effect.
ר' יוחנן was an old man and he had eyebrows that covered his eyes. ר' כהנא once got a מכה to his lip and it healed into a permanent smile. One time, ר' כהנא had to ask ר' יוחנן a question in person. They had never seen each other before. ר' יוחנן thought that ר' כהנא was laughing at his eyebrows and he was very hurt. ר' כהנא died and came back to life again. This is baffling- ר' כהנא didn’t do anything, it wasn’t his fault that his lip was like this and ר' יוחנן thought he was mocking him. Although he didn’t do anything wrong, ר' כהנא was the גורם which made ר' יוחנן downtrodden. If there is a flame, there will be a repercussion.
בנימין caused his brothers to rip their clothing when the גביע was found in his bag. He was innocent, but he was a גרמה על גרמה. Years later, the עונש came out in שושן- מרדכי, the descendant of בנימין, ripped his clothing. We can’t control what isn’t ours to control, but we could have a התבוננות in כבוד חברים (this will lead to זהירות).
רע''ב ומורא רבך כמורא שמים- it is comparing יראת הרבי to יראת ה' and it brings down the following פסוק- "אדוני משה..."- יהושע told משה to kill אלדד and מידד.
ב''י were all complaining together that they only had מן. משה couldn’t deal with this anymore. He told ה' that he can’t do it anymore, so ה' told him to appoint seventy זקנים and he’ll do the process of אצילות- transfer of the nobility of משה onto the seventy זקנים. משה took seventy- two pieces of paper. On seventy he wrote זקן and two he left blank. Everyone wanted an equal number of זקנים from their שבט, so they did a גורל because it’s משמים. משה called on the ראוים, but two people didn’t come. אלדד and מידד didn’t come because they felt that they weren’t ראוי. Immediately they began to be מתנבא. גרשם בן משה heard this and came to tell his father what they were saying-
מ י א ב נ ת מ
כ ה ל ג פ נ ש
נ ו ק ן ש ו ה
י ש י ו ח
ס ע ם
יהושע was there and he said this פסוק because those who are מורד in their רבי, it is like they are פוגע in כבוד שמים.
Sheet V שמעון העמסוני was explaining all the "את"s in the תורה. When he got to "את ה' אלקיך תירא", he said that you can’t attach anything else to יראת ה'. His students said that maybe everything else he said is invalid. שמעון העמסוני said, the same way I got שכר for explaining everything else, I got שכר for stopping here. ר' עקיבא said that the "את" here comes to include יראת ת''ח. Why? Because through them we come to יראת ה'.
טור "כשם שאדם מצוה בכבוד אביו ויראתו כך הוא מצוה בכבוד רבו ויראתו ורבו יותר מאביו שאביו הביאו לחיי עוה''ז ורבו מביאו לחיי עוה''ב ואמרו חכמים ומורא רבא כמורא שמים"- a person must have a greater measure of כבוד and יראה for his רבי than his father.
גמרא סוטה "וילך איש מבית לוי ויקח את בת לוי"- a man from בית לוי (עמרם) went and took יוכבד, his aunt. "... שהלך בעצת בתו. עמרם גדול הדור הי'. כיון שגזר פרעה כל הבן הילוד היאורה תשליכוהו. אמר לשב אנו עמלין עמד וגרש את אשתו ועמדו כולם וגרשו את נשותיהן שלמדו כולם ממעשיו שגדול הדור הי'. אמרה לי' ביתו אבא גזרתך קשה משל פרעה 1) שפרעה לא גזר על הזכרים ואתה גזרת על הזכרים ועל הנקבות 2) פרעה לא גזר אלא אל עוה''ז... 3) פרעה הרשע ספק גזרתו מתקיימת ספק אינה מתקיימת. עמד והחזיר את אשתו, עומדין כולם והחזירו את נשותיהן שלמדו כולם ממעשיו שגדול הדור הי'". ר' חצקל לווינשטין- weren’t there people who didn’t agree with this? We see from there that they were מבטל their דעת to the דעת of their רבי. From this second לקוחין, משה ר' was born. We see from here that they were זוכה to גאולה because they listened to their רבי.
ר' מנדל מורא insinuates a התרחקות. When a relationship requires awe and fear, it requires distance מפני כבוד. אהבה insinuates התקרבות. A relationship with a רבי is compared to the צבא השמים- the moon gets its light from the sun. When the moon moves close to the sun, it gets overshadowed and its light is less. However, when the moon is far from the sun, its light is greater. So too a תלמיד- there is a התרחקות because of the built in כבוד, and he is influenced greatly. When he crosses that line though, there is no השפעה and his brilliance doesn’t shine forth.
At the סדר, a תלמיד who is at his רבי doesn’t lean. A son at his father’s table does lean. R’ Foyer asked his father-in-law, who was also his רבי if he should lean or not. The רבי said, I consider you my son, but our primary relationship is a רבי- תלמיד relationship. He will gain more from this kind of relationship.
גמרא שבת "דרחמים רבנן הווליה בנין רבנן דמוקיר רבנן הוו ליה חתנוותא רבנן. דדחיל מרבנן הוא גופי' הוי צורבא מרבנן. ואי לאו בר הכי הוא משתמען מוליה כצורבא דרבנן"- someone who has a love for רבנים, he will merit having sons who are תורה sages. If you honor and respect רבנים, you will merit having sons-in-law who will be ת''ח. When you fear the words of רבנים, you yourself will become amongst the fire of תורה and become a רבי yourself. If he is incapable of becoming great in תורה, his words will be accepted by all like the words of an erudite ת''ח.
חז''ל י''ח קללות כלל ישעי' את ישראל ולא נתקרבה דעתו עד שאמר להם המקרא הזה- ישעי' said over to כ''י eighteen cursed conducts that the world will experience before משיח. When he reached the eighteenth, which is the lowest, he calmed down. Why? The darkest point is before the break of light. ישעי' saw that they can’t fall any lower than that so he calmed down.
ישעי' sheet This is the eighteenth- every person will say דעות on the other person (how they should have done it…) and the youth will be arrogant and won’t accept the חכמה of זקנים- אילו שקנה חכמה. There will be no מורא הרב and everyone will say דעות on each other. רד''ק- another קללה is that they won’t be able to be subservient. We challenge our parents and מורות. Everyone will be a boss and say דעות and criticize their friends. The youth will say דעות on the חכמים.
רד''ק They won’t be מכניע to people of authority. It can also mean that someone who is מנוער מן המצוות will be מתגאה over those who are full of מצוות, like a רמון is of its seeds. And someone who is נקלה- a person that even the חמורות are קלות for him will be מתגאה over the נכבד- a person that the קלות are חמורות for him.
מהרש''א This doesn’t mean a literal נער or זקן. It means in terms of תורה. ישעי' calmed down when he said this. This קללה is the greatest of רוחניותדיק depravity of man. They can’t fall any lower and the גאולה must come.
Sheet V כ''י is compared to a bird- just like a bird can’t fly without its wings, so too כ''י can’t do anything without their גדולים.
"רב שמוחל על כבודו..."- because if he is מבטל his כבוד, he is מבטל his השפעה on כ''י, thereby being מבטל the קיום of כ''י.
ת''י סט- the מצוות of ה':
1. You can’t question them even when your מחשבה isn’t מתקיים (like the דור of עמרם). We must always remember "שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד". We must always walk around with מורא שמים saddling us. You can’t correct your רבי, even if you think you know better and even if you aren’t in from of him.
2. An אמתה תלמיד is someone who always does what he thinks his רבי would do, as if he is in front of him. If you question your רבי, you are questioning the שכינה.
3. A person must be מחשיב his רבי as if he’s more than a regular man.
גמרא- you can’t sit in his seat and you can’t stand in his place if he has a specific place for davening.
Before חרבן בית שני, there was a מצר around ירושלים and the Romans didn’t let anyone leave. They cut off the food and water supply. The גדולים felt that it was time to go out and negotiate. ר' יוחנן בן זכאי collaborated with אבא סקראי, the head of the בריונים. The בריונים didn’t want to let anyone leave ירושלים, they wanted to fight. The only person they let leave was a מת. So ר' יוחנן בן זכאי pretended to be dead, and he told אבא סקראי (his nephew) to keep them away from him. The בריונים really wanted to check and make sure that ר' יוחנן בן זכאי was dead, but they were משיג the ענין of מורא הרב וכבודו, and since אבא סקראי didn’t want them to pierce the body they didn’t.
It says in מסילת ישרים that הנהגות of טחיסות כבוד הרב are תולדות of the מדת הגאוה which has a negative effect on people. It turns the חכמים backwards and makes their דעת foolish. Even the young בחורים who barely know anything are מתגאה- they think that they are as great as their חכמים. Even the בריונים understood this and were מוסר נפש because of it.
פרקי אבות- משנה יא
ר' אלעזר בן יעקב lived in the fourth generation of תנאים. He was one of the students of ר' עקיבא.
Sheet I כ''י will be as many as the sand of the sea which can’t be counted. Characteristic of sand- you can dig and form it, but it will always return to its original form. כ''י also has this תחונה. Like sand, they are חוזר לצורתם. There will be generations where ב''י are small in number, but we will always return to our original צורה of רבוי. To prove this idea, look at the Holocaust and see how we are thriving today. It says in ויקרא, "לא מאסתם ולא געלתים לכלותם"- this is a הבטחה that ה' will never make us so dirty that we will be cast away.
יא רע''ב פרקליט- an advocate, a מלאך who is מדבר טוב on כ''י.
קטיגור- a מלאך who is a prosecutor. קטיגור- קורא תיגר- he calls out a טענה (ט and ת are אותיות מתחלפות). The פרקליט is also known as סניגר- שונא תיגר (ס and ש are אותיות מתחלפות).
ר' יונה תשובה is the סור מרע and מעש''ט is the עשה טוב. תשובה and מעש''ט are כסריס- כטריתים= shades. Shades are a מגן. תשובה and מעש''ט are a מגן from the פורענות- מכות וחלאים. פורענות come from עבירות. In order to ward off the פורענות, we need תשובה and מעש''ט.
Sheet Read the חזון איש story. The סניגר protected him against the קטיגורים.
"אחת" seems to be extra. It comes to teach us:
מאירי סניגר= 329, קטיגר= 328. After a person dies, he comes on his יום הדין before ה'. All a person needs to be saved is מצוה אחת. The גמרא in עירובין tells us that a person should live with the following mantra- "חטף ואכל חטף ואשתי דהאי עלמא דאליזן מיניה כביא הילולא דמי"- grab and eat, grab and drink because this world is like a banquet. Eat and drink because there will come a time where the opportunity will be gone. Chap every מצוה because it may be your last.
ילקוט שמעוני A person has three beloved connections in his life:
1. His family
2. His money
3. מעשיו הטובים
When he is dying, he summons his family and asks them, "הצילני מדין המות הרע הזה", and they answer him "אין שלטון ביום המות"- we have no sovereignty after you die. Next, he summons his money and asks, "הצילני מדין המות הרע הזה". His money answers, "לא יועיל הון ביום עברה". Lastly, he calls upon his מעש''ט and they say to him, "עד שלא תבא הרי אנו מקדימים לך שנא' והלך לפניך צדקיך"- your מעש''ט will go before you and save you.
לב אליהו Every yid must keep 613 מצוות. Attached to this חיוב, a person should choose a מצוה אחת that he is deeply attached and will be מוסר for it. He is זוכה to a פרקליט אחת, the greatest פרקליט, מלאך גבריאל.
Someone who can’t separate himself from a certain עבירה, he creates for himself a קטיגור- שטן. ריש לקיש says, "בתחילו יורד לפתות האדם לחטוא", and after he convinces you to do it, he goes up to ה' and is a קטיגור against you, and he comes back down and wreaks havoc.
ח''ח This לשון is used in order to teach us that we should keep each מצוה with such איכות- quality as if it’s the only one. You should do it completely and invest your entire heart into it במחשבה הנכונה ובשמחה. Then you will get a מלאך מליץ that is חזק and גבור to be מגן upon you ביום הדין. If you do an עבירה with געשמעק, you going to create a מלאך who is strong in a bad way. Depending on how you do the מצוה is what type of מלאך you will create. If you do it כמצות אנשים מלומדה, you will get a crippled מלאך.
חתם סופר ירידת הדורות is not in חכמה but the לב- הרגש of the מצוה. We now serve ה' with a לב אבן- without פנמיות. We live in a generation of reverse Muranoism.
מהרש''א "בדרך שאדם רוצה לילך..."- someone who does a מצוה in this world gets a פרקליט. We know that "מצוה גוררת מצוה". How is this? The מלאך that you created helps you. The same applies for an עבירה.
בינה לעתים "תשובה ומעש''ט כתריס לפני הפורענות"- when you do a מצוה , you create a מלאך מליץ טוב in that specific area. When you do תשובה and מעש''ט, a person creates פרקליטים כללים to protect him.
כוכבי אור What is the difference between מצוות and מעש''ט? They aren’t equal. "מעש''ט אין כונתם לשמירת התורה בפשטות אלא חובות העומדות מעל לחובות הרגילות"- מעש''ט are the obligations which stand above usual obligations, for example:
1. "כמה גדולה מעשי חייא"- did the חיוב of teaching תורה, but he went above and beyond. So מעש''ט is our חובות. Doing them in a great way shows אהבה and a connection to ה'.
2. "שאני ר' יחזאקל דבעל מעשים הוא"- you do it in the best possible way, not just to get away with it. This shows that you love to do it.
Why does it say תשובה before מעש''ט? To show us, "גדולה תשובה ממעש''ט". חז''ל tell us, "במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדין...". Why? Because when you severe your connections with something, it is very hard, therefore תשובה is greater then מעש''ט.
"אמר ריש לקיש: גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כשגגות. גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כזכויות. כן מיראה, כן מאהבה"- תשובה is so great that when you do it מיראה, your חטאים במזיד become חטאים בשוגג. When you do תשובה from אהבה, your חטאים במזיד turn into זכויות. יראה is a lower מדרגה because you do it because you’re scared, not because you have it in you and you want to do it. אהבה is a greater level because you feel the desire to keep the מצוות within you.
There were seven things created before the world. One of them was תורה, "הסתכל באוריתא וברא עלמא" and one of them was תשובה because:
1. It’s למעלה מן הטבע- above the concept of time and place.
2. The world needed תשובה before it was created, it can’t exist without it.
מדרש "שאלו לחכמה חוטא מהו ענשו אמרה להם חטאים תרדף שנאה"- when they asked intellect what the עונש of a חוטא is, it said that sinners should be chased by hate. Why? Because חטאים diminish טוב and are מרבה the רע, so they get רע.
"שאלו לנבואה (מדת הדין) חוטא מהו ענשו אמרה להם נפש החוטאת היא תמות"- נבואה said that he should die because your נפש is only here to be used למען ה'. So if you’re not using it למען ה', it must be taken away.
"שאלו לתורה חוטא מהו ענשו אמרה לו יביא אשם ויתכפר"- he should bring a קרבן. But what if you’re living in גלות or there’s no בהמ''ק?
"שאלו להקב''ה חוטא מהו ענשו אמרה לו עשה תשובה ויתכפר"- ה' said that he should do תשובה.
It says, "בראשית ברא אלוקים"- in the beginning ה' wanted to create the world במדת הדין. But ה' knew that the world couldn’t have a קיום that way. So he was מקדים the רחמים and set דין up as its partner as the פסוק says, "ביום עשה ה' אלוקים ארץ ושמים"- both מידות. תשובה is because there is רחמים that is כלו רחמים.
The פסוק in תהלים says, "טוב וישר ה' על כן יורה חטאים בדרך". יורהmeans teaches. He doesn’t just give, he also teaches about תשובה, He teaches us how to implement it into our lives.
מלאכי sheet ואשובה אליכם- מוסג of ס''ד. If you take the first few baby steps, ה' will pull you over the hump.
מדרש sheet Open up for me a small opening. It must be the size of the eye of a needle- pierces through and through. You must be sincere and then ה' will open up for you.
רמח''ל Surely the קיום העולם is רחמים. It wouldn’t exist without it. But you may say that there is punishment. There is no מדת הדין that exacts punishment on a person. If it was from מדת הדין:
1. It would happen immediately, without a waiting period.
2. It would be with full fledged potency as is appropriate for someone who has the audacity not to listen to what ה' says.
3. There would be no תקון for the חטא.
Really, how can it be that someone can undo something that was contorted? If a person murders or is עובר on זנות, how can he go back? Can you really remove something you did from reality? ע''פ טבע you can’t. But:
1. We are given a grace period, don’t get destroyed right away.
2. The עונש itself isn’t to a point of destruction.
3. תשובה was given to the sinner as a חסד. When you remove your רצון to do bad, it’s as if you are removing the מעשה.
It’s like a person who made a vow and regrets entirely that he made it. He longs that he had never done it. You must feel the צער and suffering for what you did. By uprooting the רצון, you are uprooting the מעשה and you are granted כפרה. It says in ישעי', "וסר עונך וחטאתך תכופר".
ר' יוחנן הסנדלר is also mentioned in this משנה. He speaks about כנסיות. He was one of the תלמידים of ר' עקיבא. He came from אלכסנדרי', מצרים and that’s why he was called סנדלר. Others say that he was a shoemaker, so he was called by his profession.
מדרש כנסי'= כנס קה- a gathering for ה'. So if it’s a כנס קה, doesn’t it for sure have to be לשם שמים? We see from here that even if it’s a כנס קה, for a דבר מצוה, it is possible for it not to be לש''ש. It is only לש''ש if people have the correct conduct. The הנהגות between the people should be ישרות, with no personal נגיעות or בקוש כבוד.
ר' יונה כנסי'- אסיפה. So what makes it לש''ש? למען תורה ומצוות. What isn’t לש''ש? If he’s motivated by recognition and prestige. If when you make a כנסי' you’re doing it for the sake of your own כבוד, it’s not good. If you’re doing it לש''ש, everyone is working towards one כלליותדיק goal. But it you’re doing it not לש''ש, everyone has his own personal goal in mind and it won’t have a קיום because you’re not working together. It says, "רבות מחשבות בלב איש ועצת ה' היא תקום"- everyone in his heart has a different מחשבה. But when you’re working למען ה', היא תקום.
ת''י It can still be לשם שמים even if the essence of the כנסי' was for חול, with no שיכות to קדושה:
1. If the people involved act properly with each other
2. If the מחשבות are pure.
Such a כנסי' will be סופה להתקיים, meaning that:
1. The people within the כנסי' remain connected.
2. The עצה they had set out to do is still being done.
ה' has נחת רוח from this.
ר' חיים עוזר This is a סיבה and מסובב- the cause is סופה להתקיים and the effect is כנסי' לש''ש. If it was מתקיים, then obviously it was לש''ש.
גר''א "ותקרבון אלי כל ראשי שבטיכם וזקניכם ותאמרו... את כבודו ואת גדלו"- this is a כנסי' that was לש''ש. This was by מעמד הר סיני. It was נתקיים because everyone had ד''א. "ותקרבון אלי כלכן ותאמרו נשלחה אנשים לפנינו"- this one wasn’t לש''ש. When they approached משה to request מרגלים, they approached בערבובי'- ילדים דוחפים את הזקנים, זקנים דוחפים את הראשים". From the beginning, there was a חסרון in ד''א, from the beginning it was doomed to fail. For the forty days that the מרגלים were in א''י, ב''י had to wander forty years in the מדבר until everyone from that generation died.
אבות רבי נתן כנסי' לש''ש- אכה''ג. Whatever they were פועל we still have today. When something endures, it is proof that it was done correctly. ושאינה לש''ש- כנסת אנשי דור הפלגה. They were אפיקורסים. How could you say that their entire wrongdoing was gathering שאינה לש''ש? "ויאמרו הבה נבנה לנו עיר ומגדל וראשו בשמים ונעשה לנו שם פן נפוץ על פני כל הארץ ונעשה לנו שם"- they did it because they wanted to be recognized for their act. They were on a quest for גאוה and כבוד so it poisoned their endeavors and they became a כנסי' שאינה לש''ש. Had they not had that מחשבה, it wouldn’t have turned out like that.
The תורה wasn’t given to the מלאכים, it was given to בני אדם and בני אדם are בעלי נגיעות- their judgment is tainted by personal מחשבות and inclinations. So even when a person wants to do something לש''ש, the יצר turns him toward bad. We must be cognizant towards this. Therefore, before every פעולה, a person should proclaim his goal and he should do it verbally. He should additionally daven a short תפילה that the יצה''ר shouldn’t stop you and lead you to become ensnared in the net of personal נגיעות.
Sheet I כ''י will be as many as the sand of the sea which can’t be counted. Characteristic of sand- you can dig and form it, but it will always return to its original form. כ''י also has this תחונה. Like sand, they are חוזר לצורתם. There will be generations where ב''י are small in number, but we will always return to our original צורה of רבוי. To prove this idea, look at the Holocaust and see how we are thriving today. It says in ויקרא, "לא מאסתם ולא געלתים לכלותם"- this is a הבטחה that ה' will never make us so dirty that we will be cast away.
יא רע''ב פרקליט- an advocate, a מלאך who is מדבר טוב on כ''י.
קטיגור- a מלאך who is a prosecutor. קטיגור- קורא תיגר- he calls out a טענה (ט and ת are אותיות מתחלפות). The פרקליט is also known as סניגר- שונא תיגר (ס and ש are אותיות מתחלפות).
ר' יונה תשובה is the סור מרע and מעש''ט is the עשה טוב. תשובה and מעש''ט are כסריס- כטריתים= shades. Shades are a מגן. תשובה and מעש''ט are a מגן from the פורענות- מכות וחלאים. פורענות come from עבירות. In order to ward off the פורענות, we need תשובה and מעש''ט.
Sheet Read the חזון איש story. The סניגר protected him against the קטיגורים.
"אחת" seems to be extra. It comes to teach us:
מאירי סניגר= 329, קטיגר= 328. After a person dies, he comes on his יום הדין before ה'. All a person needs to be saved is מצוה אחת. The גמרא in עירובין tells us that a person should live with the following mantra- "חטף ואכל חטף ואשתי דהאי עלמא דאליזן מיניה כביא הילולא דמי"- grab and eat, grab and drink because this world is like a banquet. Eat and drink because there will come a time where the opportunity will be gone. Chap every מצוה because it may be your last.
ילקוט שמעוני A person has three beloved connections in his life:
1. His family
2. His money
3. מעשיו הטובים
When he is dying, he summons his family and asks them, "הצילני מדין המות הרע הזה", and they answer him "אין שלטון ביום המות"- we have no sovereignty after you die. Next, he summons his money and asks, "הצילני מדין המות הרע הזה". His money answers, "לא יועיל הון ביום עברה". Lastly, he calls upon his מעש''ט and they say to him, "עד שלא תבא הרי אנו מקדימים לך שנא' והלך לפניך צדקיך"- your מעש''ט will go before you and save you.
לב אליהו Every yid must keep 613 מצוות. Attached to this חיוב, a person should choose a מצוה אחת that he is deeply attached and will be מוסר for it. He is זוכה to a פרקליט אחת, the greatest פרקליט, מלאך גבריאל.
Someone who can’t separate himself from a certain עבירה, he creates for himself a קטיגור- שטן. ריש לקיש says, "בתחילו יורד לפתות האדם לחטוא", and after he convinces you to do it, he goes up to ה' and is a קטיגור against you, and he comes back down and wreaks havoc.
ח''ח This לשון is used in order to teach us that we should keep each מצוה with such איכות- quality as if it’s the only one. You should do it completely and invest your entire heart into it במחשבה הנכונה ובשמחה. Then you will get a מלאך מליץ that is חזק and גבור to be מגן upon you ביום הדין. If you do an עבירה with געשמעק, you going to create a מלאך who is strong in a bad way. Depending on how you do the מצוה is what type of מלאך you will create. If you do it כמצות אנשים מלומדה, you will get a crippled מלאך.
חתם סופר ירידת הדורות is not in חכמה but the לב- הרגש of the מצוה. We now serve ה' with a לב אבן- without פנמיות. We live in a generation of reverse Muranoism.
מהרש''א "בדרך שאדם רוצה לילך..."- someone who does a מצוה in this world gets a פרקליט. We know that "מצוה גוררת מצוה". How is this? The מלאך that you created helps you. The same applies for an עבירה.
בינה לעתים "תשובה ומעש''ט כתריס לפני הפורענות"- when you do a מצוה , you create a מלאך מליץ טוב in that specific area. When you do תשובה and מעש''ט, a person creates פרקליטים כללים to protect him.
כוכבי אור What is the difference between מצוות and מעש''ט? They aren’t equal. "מעש''ט אין כונתם לשמירת התורה בפשטות אלא חובות העומדות מעל לחובות הרגילות"- מעש''ט are the obligations which stand above usual obligations, for example:
1. "כמה גדולה מעשי חייא"- did the חיוב of teaching תורה, but he went above and beyond. So מעש''ט is our חובות. Doing them in a great way shows אהבה and a connection to ה'.
2. "שאני ר' יחזאקל דבעל מעשים הוא"- you do it in the best possible way, not just to get away with it. This shows that you love to do it.
Why does it say תשובה before מעש''ט? To show us, "גדולה תשובה ממעש''ט". חז''ל tell us, "במקום שבעלי תשובה עומדין...". Why? Because when you severe your connections with something, it is very hard, therefore תשובה is greater then מעש''ט.
"אמר ריש לקיש: גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כשגגות. גדולה תשובה שזדונות נעשות לו כזכויות. כן מיראה, כן מאהבה"- תשובה is so great that when you do it מיראה, your חטאים במזיד become חטאים בשוגג. When you do תשובה from אהבה, your חטאים במזיד turn into זכויות. יראה is a lower מדרגה because you do it because you’re scared, not because you have it in you and you want to do it. אהבה is a greater level because you feel the desire to keep the מצוות within you.
There were seven things created before the world. One of them was תורה, "הסתכל באוריתא וברא עלמא" and one of them was תשובה because:
1. It’s למעלה מן הטבע- above the concept of time and place.
2. The world needed תשובה before it was created, it can’t exist without it.
מדרש "שאלו לחכמה חוטא מהו ענשו אמרה להם חטאים תרדף שנאה"- when they asked intellect what the עונש of a חוטא is, it said that sinners should be chased by hate. Why? Because חטאים diminish טוב and are מרבה the רע, so they get רע.
"שאלו לנבואה (מדת הדין) חוטא מהו ענשו אמרה להם נפש החוטאת היא תמות"- נבואה said that he should die because your נפש is only here to be used למען ה'. So if you’re not using it למען ה', it must be taken away.
"שאלו לתורה חוטא מהו ענשו אמרה לו יביא אשם ויתכפר"- he should bring a קרבן. But what if you’re living in גלות or there’s no בהמ''ק?
"שאלו להקב''ה חוטא מהו ענשו אמרה לו עשה תשובה ויתכפר"- ה' said that he should do תשובה.
It says, "בראשית ברא אלוקים"- in the beginning ה' wanted to create the world במדת הדין. But ה' knew that the world couldn’t have a קיום that way. So he was מקדים the רחמים and set דין up as its partner as the פסוק says, "ביום עשה ה' אלוקים ארץ ושמים"- both מידות. תשובה is because there is רחמים that is כלו רחמים.
The פסוק in תהלים says, "טוב וישר ה' על כן יורה חטאים בדרך". יורהmeans teaches. He doesn’t just give, he also teaches about תשובה, He teaches us how to implement it into our lives.
מלאכי sheet ואשובה אליכם- מוסג of ס''ד. If you take the first few baby steps, ה' will pull you over the hump.
מדרש sheet Open up for me a small opening. It must be the size of the eye of a needle- pierces through and through. You must be sincere and then ה' will open up for you.
רמח''ל Surely the קיום העולם is רחמים. It wouldn’t exist without it. But you may say that there is punishment. There is no מדת הדין that exacts punishment on a person. If it was from מדת הדין:
1. It would happen immediately, without a waiting period.
2. It would be with full fledged potency as is appropriate for someone who has the audacity not to listen to what ה' says.
3. There would be no תקון for the חטא.
Really, how can it be that someone can undo something that was contorted? If a person murders or is עובר on זנות, how can he go back? Can you really remove something you did from reality? ע''פ טבע you can’t. But:
1. We are given a grace period, don’t get destroyed right away.
2. The עונש itself isn’t to a point of destruction.
3. תשובה was given to the sinner as a חסד. When you remove your רצון to do bad, it’s as if you are removing the מעשה.
It’s like a person who made a vow and regrets entirely that he made it. He longs that he had never done it. You must feel the צער and suffering for what you did. By uprooting the רצון, you are uprooting the מעשה and you are granted כפרה. It says in ישעי', "וסר עונך וחטאתך תכופר".
ר' יוחנן הסנדלר is also mentioned in this משנה. He speaks about כנסיות. He was one of the תלמידים of ר' עקיבא. He came from אלכסנדרי', מצרים and that’s why he was called סנדלר. Others say that he was a shoemaker, so he was called by his profession.
מדרש כנסי'= כנס קה- a gathering for ה'. So if it’s a כנס קה, doesn’t it for sure have to be לשם שמים? We see from here that even if it’s a כנס קה, for a דבר מצוה, it is possible for it not to be לש''ש. It is only לש''ש if people have the correct conduct. The הנהגות between the people should be ישרות, with no personal נגיעות or בקוש כבוד.
ר' יונה כנסי'- אסיפה. So what makes it לש''ש? למען תורה ומצוות. What isn’t לש''ש? If he’s motivated by recognition and prestige. If when you make a כנסי' you’re doing it for the sake of your own כבוד, it’s not good. If you’re doing it לש''ש, everyone is working towards one כלליותדיק goal. But it you’re doing it not לש''ש, everyone has his own personal goal in mind and it won’t have a קיום because you’re not working together. It says, "רבות מחשבות בלב איש ועצת ה' היא תקום"- everyone in his heart has a different מחשבה. But when you’re working למען ה', היא תקום.
ת''י It can still be לשם שמים even if the essence of the כנסי' was for חול, with no שיכות to קדושה:
1. If the people involved act properly with each other
2. If the מחשבות are pure.
Such a כנסי' will be סופה להתקיים, meaning that:
1. The people within the כנסי' remain connected.
2. The עצה they had set out to do is still being done.
ה' has נחת רוח from this.
ר' חיים עוזר This is a סיבה and מסובב- the cause is סופה להתקיים and the effect is כנסי' לש''ש. If it was מתקיים, then obviously it was לש''ש.
גר''א "ותקרבון אלי כל ראשי שבטיכם וזקניכם ותאמרו... את כבודו ואת גדלו"- this is a כנסי' that was לש''ש. This was by מעמד הר סיני. It was נתקיים because everyone had ד''א. "ותקרבון אלי כלכן ותאמרו נשלחה אנשים לפנינו"- this one wasn’t לש''ש. When they approached משה to request מרגלים, they approached בערבובי'- ילדים דוחפים את הזקנים, זקנים דוחפים את הראשים". From the beginning, there was a חסרון in ד''א, from the beginning it was doomed to fail. For the forty days that the מרגלים were in א''י, ב''י had to wander forty years in the מדבר until everyone from that generation died.
אבות רבי נתן כנסי' לש''ש- אכה''ג. Whatever they were פועל we still have today. When something endures, it is proof that it was done correctly. ושאינה לש''ש- כנסת אנשי דור הפלגה. They were אפיקורסים. How could you say that their entire wrongdoing was gathering שאינה לש''ש? "ויאמרו הבה נבנה לנו עיר ומגדל וראשו בשמים ונעשה לנו שם פן נפוץ על פני כל הארץ ונעשה לנו שם"- they did it because they wanted to be recognized for their act. They were on a quest for גאוה and כבוד so it poisoned their endeavors and they became a כנסי' שאינה לש''ש. Had they not had that מחשבה, it wouldn’t have turned out like that.
The תורה wasn’t given to the מלאכים, it was given to בני אדם and בני אדם are בעלי נגיעות- their judgment is tainted by personal מחשבות and inclinations. So even when a person wants to do something לש''ש, the יצר turns him toward bad. We must be cognizant towards this. Therefore, before every פעולה, a person should proclaim his goal and he should do it verbally. He should additionally daven a short תפילה that the יצה''ר shouldn’t stop you and lead you to become ensnared in the net of personal נגיעות.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
דינים- הפרשת חלה
הקדמה "וידבר..."- theמצוה of הפרשת חלה here.
There are many הפרשות which have to come off- תרומה, מעשר… There is an additional תרומה here that is given to the כהן. All the other הפרשות are to acknowledge the ברכה that ה' bestowed upon our land. הפרשת חלה is a different kind of הפרשה – it’s not a ברכת השדה, it’s a ברכת הבית. It may happen that you will have bounty, but there will be people with nothing to put on their table and vice versa. So my personal הצלחה is established through הפרשת חלה. When a person does הפרשת חלה, he brings הצלחה into his own home. The שיעור for הפרשה is an עומר because in the מדבר, every person got עומר לגלגולת. Everyone got a perfect עומר-ה' would check up on everyone to make sure they had what they’re supposed to. This is השגחה פרטית. So הפרשת חלה is acknowledging what I personally have.
There are two angles to this מצוה:
The כהן is supported through this.
What I personally gain.
There is no limit as to how much to give, but something has to remain to the one who made it. Both the כהן and the giver are vital to this מצוה.
א הפרשת חלה is a מצות עשה, a חיוב that we have. הפרשת חלה is very similar to the קדושה of תרומה. A זר may not eat it. Any זר who eats תרומה gets severely punished. Only the כהן and his household (including his עבד) can eat תרומה and from הפרשת חלה. If a ישראל is at a כהן’s house, he still can’t eat from it.
ב Only something made from the חמשת מיני דגן is considered a לחם. Something made of rice or corn flour isn’t included.
ג Two conditions which would make the מצוה of הפרשת חלה a דאוריתא:
"בבואם אל הארץ"- when רוב ב''י are in א''י.
"מלחם הארץ"- kneaded in א''י.
In חו''ל we have neither condition, but חז''ל gave us a חיוב in חו''ל as well. Nowadays in א''י, they don’t have the whole חיוב, but the מצוה is much more חמור than in חו''ל.
ד In חו''ל, if you forget to be מפריש, you may still eat from the חלה, but you must leave over for after שבת (because you can’t be מפריש on שבת). You leave over the שיעור for הפרשה plus some more. You can also be מפריש from something after something is baked, but in א''י, you can’t eat from something until you are מפריש. הפרשה also applies to cookies.
ה משה said to כ''י, "ראשית ערסתיכם"- they all got עומר לגלגולת, therefore חז''ל tell us that if you made a dough that fills up the volume of an עומר, you would have to be מפריש. How much is an עומר? The volume forty- three and a half eggs would displace, which is a tenth of an איפה. If you fill the same amount of space with flour (poured in a normal way) and level it, that would be how much you need to be מפריש. Some say this is eggs with their shells and others say it is just the interior. If I don’t have that amount of flour, there is no חיוב of הפרשה. If I don’t have that amount of flour, but after my dough rose it now has more volume, it doesn’t make a difference. You can’t cut down on your recipe so that you won’t have to do הפרשת חלה.
ו How does this translate for us? There are different sized eggs and חז''ל say that in the old days, eggs were possibly double what they are today, therefore there are חלוקי דעות. Up to a certain amount, you aren’t מחויב because it doesn’t fall under any דעות. Up to about two and a half pounds, eight cups, is definitely פטור from הפרשת חלה. The most widely accepted שיעור is the חזון איש’s- from five pounds and up, הפרשת חלה is required with a ברכה. From two and a half to five pounds, you do הפרשת חלה without a ברכה. For anything more than five pounds, you make a ברכה. The מנהג הישן in ירושלים was three and a half pounds for a ברכה.
ז Sometimes a recipe may call for multi grains. You may not have enough of anything individually, but together they equal a שיעור, so you do הפרשת חלה. In regard to חמשת מיני דגן mixed with קטניות, ask a שאלת חכם. For example, wheat and rice combined- if you can taste the wheat, it does combine for a שיעור. חז''ל recommend that if you could do something to be מחייב the עיסה, you should. If you are baking many things, they teach us how to combine dough so that you can do הפרשת חלה. Combining dough is called צירוף. When combining things, you must combine things that are שיך to each other, like two cookie doughs. You can’t combine a cookie dough with a bread dough. Once you do צירוף, the two doughs have already been joined and you can do the הפרשה when they are not physically together.
How do you do צירוף?
נשיכה- take two batches of dough. You put them close enough together that when you pull them apart, one will bite from the other.
צירוף כלי- make them within the sides of the same כלי. They don’t have to be touching, but it’s preferable that they should be. You can do this with a cloth or towel. If you have two doughs on a garbage bag and you can’t move them, take a tablecloth and drape it over so that they’re within the same closed space. If you have two bowls and you want to cover them, make sure that the cloth doesn’t sag in middle, making a separation.
A dough that became מחויב through צירוף must have הפרשה before you can eat from it, even in חו''ל. You can also be מצרף baked goods. צירוף can happen by mistake, but once it’s joined it’s מחויב for הפרשה and you can’t eat from it before you do הפרשה. Once something had הפרשה, it can never be joined to make something else ראוי for הפרשה.
Certain things by nature can’t be joined together:
Dough belonging to two different people. Since you are מקפיד על תערובתם- want two separate things, they can’t be joined. If you aren’t מקפיד על תערובתם, they can be joined.
When doughs are very different from each other, they can’t be joined.
If you have dough which you are going to bake at separate times and use on separate occasions, some say that you can’t be מצרף them. If you bake them all at one time and then put them away, you can do צירוף.
Sometimes, even if you make one large dough, you can’t be מפריש:
If it belongs to two different people who are מקפיד על תערובתם. If you make one large שיעור, but דעתו לחלק עיסה- you are dividing it up as dough into many portions, you can’t be מפריש.
Let’s say you are making a large flakey dough and you want to make knishes and pastries out of it. This concept of דעתו לחלק עיסה, that you are going to divide it up, some as dough will be made into one thing and some as something else, so they are now very different. Some say that it may not need הפרשה.
If you make a large dough, but you only need some of it now, the rest you will put away and bake later- some say that you don’t have to be מפריש.
ח The תורה didn’t give a שיעור of how much you should be מפריש, but חז''ל gave a suggestion- "1" ⁄"24" , a חשוב enough שיעור to give to the כהן. A baker was given a different שיעור by חז''ל- "1" ⁄"48" .
ט Two reasons that we don’t give הפרשת חלה to the כהן today:
They are all טמא. הפרשת חלה דאוריתא would be אסור to be eaten if the חלה or the כהן is טמא. הפרשת חלה in חו''ל is less חמור, but we haven’t had טהרה in years so it doesn’t apply.
There are some people who think that they are כהנים, but really there is a mistake and they aren’t. So since we don’t know who is really a כהן, we don’t want to be מכשיל a זר to eat from הפרשת חלה. So we burn it so that no one should be מכשיל.
This is why you don’t have to give so much- because it’s not going to anyone. It would even be enough to pinch a drop off, but the מנהג is to be מפריש a כזית. A זר can’t have הנאה from הפרשת חלה. He can’t use it to feed a fire, he can’t even have הנאה from כילוי- burning the חלה. A כהן would be allowed to be נהנה from a fire fueled with הפרשת חלה. If you lit the fire when a כהן was present, then even if he leaves you wouldn’t have to put it out.
י- יב "לחם הארץ"- we learn out from here that:
It’s thick and not a loose batter
It’s baked, not cooked or deep fried
If it has either the first or second characteristic, it’s definitely bread. If it has neither characteristic, even if it has enough flour, it doesn’t require הפרשה, for example fried sesame chicken. If you would bake it though, it would require הפרשה. If you have the second characteristic, even without the first, it needs הפרשה. But if you have the first characteristic and not the second, for example a thick batter that’s fried, it’s יש אומרים. If you made a thick dough and had in mind to fry it, there’s a חלוקי דעות if it’s לחם or not, so according to some you would be מפריש without a ברכה. If you made a חלה dough, and you were going to bake it, but then you ended up making garlic knots and frying them, you still do הפרשה. If you make noodles out of a thick dough, since it doesn’t look like לחם, there is a חלוקי דעות- some say that you are מפריש without a ברכה and others say you don’t need הפרשה at all. Lukshen kugel does bring up a שאילה.
יג שבעת המשקין - category of liquids which come up, have specific הלכות.
Two הלכות regarding הפרשת חלה:
If a dough has as its liquid none of the שבעת המשקין whatsoever, it is questionable whether הפרשת חלה applies at all.
Additionally, it can’t be מקבל טומאה at all, and this lands you with a problem- you must give it to the כהן.
You can’t burn this and you can’t give it to the כהן, so what to do you do? You must mix in a drop of water or any other of the שבעת המשקין into the ingredients. You can’t wait until it’s dough to add it, because then it’s too late. Now, you can be מפריש and burn it.
יד Our batters and doughs today are מחייב בהפרשה. So even if it’s a cake batter you would be מפריש if it’s a big enough שיעור. But batter needs הפרשה after it’s baked, because until then it doesn’t have the צורה of לחם. Let’s say you don’t want to cut into something, you could put some batter in a separate כלי and bake it and you’ll be מפריש from that after it bakes.
טו Once it’s dough, it requires הפרשה, but you could be מפריש after it’s baked.
טז When you are מפריש, you precede it with a ברכה, "להפריש חלה ", and some say "להפריש חלה מן העיסה". Some say that it is preferable to stand when saying the ברכה . Don’t be מפריש until after the ברכה or at least if you cut it off, don’t have in mind that you’re being מפריש. First say the ברכה and then have in mind that you are being מפריש.
When you do your הפרשה, you make the ברכה, remove a piece of dough, put it down and then say "הרי זו חלה"- you can say this in any language. You could think this, but it is better to say it. You have to put it down before you say it so that the piece that you put down is for theהפרשה , but whatever is left on your hand or the knife isn’t part of the הפרשה . If you would say "הרי זו חלה" while the dough is still in your hand and you touch the rest of your dough, you are mixing הפרשה in with the rest of the dough and you have a problem.
In חו''ל, if you make a large enough dough that’s חיוב בהפרשה, you don’t need all the dough to be together בשעת הפרשה. There are some situations where חלה has to be taken בהיקף- when all of the dough is in the same parameters in front of you:
עיסת א''י
עיסה שנתחיבה בחלה ע''י צירוף
In order for it to be מן המוקף, the כלים must be touching each other, but not covered. Situation where you could to היקף, but you don’t have to: if you are making two sets of חלה. You have two bowls of five pounds in front of you. You could do הפרשה on each. But if they’re the same doughs, you could take one הפרשה. To do this, it has to be מן המוקף- put the two bowls touching.
After you say the ברכה and "הרי זו חלה", you say a "יהי רצון" (same as at the end of ש''ע) and other תחינות. One can be מבקש at the time of הפרשת חלה. There is a very nice יהי רצון for כפרה, פרנסה…
יז אדם was considered חלתו של העולם because he was made from עפר מן האדמה and חז''ל say that ה' was מפריש from the earth all over. חוה was מקלקל him, therefore the woman of כ''י were given the opportunity to be מתקן the חטא of חוה. The חיוב is on the owner of the חלה, but the husband usually gives it over to the wife. You should ask your mother one initial time if you have authorization to be מפריש when you bake. If you are afraid that the dough is going to be forgotten about or your mother won’t have time to do it, someone else can be מפריש.
יח If you buy bread from a גוי, it doesn’t ever have the חיוב of הפרשת חלה because it belonged to a גוי. But if you have a yiddishe bakery, the bread is מחויב בהפרשה. If you buy bread from a bakery where you have a חשש that they don’t do הפרשה, you must be מפריש from what you bought without a ברכה.
There are many הפרשות which have to come off- תרומה, מעשר… There is an additional תרומה here that is given to the כהן. All the other הפרשות are to acknowledge the ברכה that ה' bestowed upon our land. הפרשת חלה is a different kind of הפרשה – it’s not a ברכת השדה, it’s a ברכת הבית. It may happen that you will have bounty, but there will be people with nothing to put on their table and vice versa. So my personal הצלחה is established through הפרשת חלה. When a person does הפרשת חלה, he brings הצלחה into his own home. The שיעור for הפרשה is an עומר because in the מדבר, every person got עומר לגלגולת. Everyone got a perfect עומר-ה' would check up on everyone to make sure they had what they’re supposed to. This is השגחה פרטית. So הפרשת חלה is acknowledging what I personally have.
There are two angles to this מצוה:
The כהן is supported through this.
What I personally gain.
There is no limit as to how much to give, but something has to remain to the one who made it. Both the כהן and the giver are vital to this מצוה.
א הפרשת חלה is a מצות עשה, a חיוב that we have. הפרשת חלה is very similar to the קדושה of תרומה. A זר may not eat it. Any זר who eats תרומה gets severely punished. Only the כהן and his household (including his עבד) can eat תרומה and from הפרשת חלה. If a ישראל is at a כהן’s house, he still can’t eat from it.
ב Only something made from the חמשת מיני דגן is considered a לחם. Something made of rice or corn flour isn’t included.
ג Two conditions which would make the מצוה of הפרשת חלה a דאוריתא:
"בבואם אל הארץ"- when רוב ב''י are in א''י.
"מלחם הארץ"- kneaded in א''י.
In חו''ל we have neither condition, but חז''ל gave us a חיוב in חו''ל as well. Nowadays in א''י, they don’t have the whole חיוב, but the מצוה is much more חמור than in חו''ל.
ד In חו''ל, if you forget to be מפריש, you may still eat from the חלה, but you must leave over for after שבת (because you can’t be מפריש on שבת). You leave over the שיעור for הפרשה plus some more. You can also be מפריש from something after something is baked, but in א''י, you can’t eat from something until you are מפריש. הפרשה also applies to cookies.
ה משה said to כ''י, "ראשית ערסתיכם"- they all got עומר לגלגולת, therefore חז''ל tell us that if you made a dough that fills up the volume of an עומר, you would have to be מפריש. How much is an עומר? The volume forty- three and a half eggs would displace, which is a tenth of an איפה. If you fill the same amount of space with flour (poured in a normal way) and level it, that would be how much you need to be מפריש. Some say this is eggs with their shells and others say it is just the interior. If I don’t have that amount of flour, there is no חיוב of הפרשה. If I don’t have that amount of flour, but after my dough rose it now has more volume, it doesn’t make a difference. You can’t cut down on your recipe so that you won’t have to do הפרשת חלה.
ו How does this translate for us? There are different sized eggs and חז''ל say that in the old days, eggs were possibly double what they are today, therefore there are חלוקי דעות. Up to a certain amount, you aren’t מחויב because it doesn’t fall under any דעות. Up to about two and a half pounds, eight cups, is definitely פטור from הפרשת חלה. The most widely accepted שיעור is the חזון איש’s- from five pounds and up, הפרשת חלה is required with a ברכה. From two and a half to five pounds, you do הפרשת חלה without a ברכה. For anything more than five pounds, you make a ברכה. The מנהג הישן in ירושלים was three and a half pounds for a ברכה.
ז Sometimes a recipe may call for multi grains. You may not have enough of anything individually, but together they equal a שיעור, so you do הפרשת חלה. In regard to חמשת מיני דגן mixed with קטניות, ask a שאלת חכם. For example, wheat and rice combined- if you can taste the wheat, it does combine for a שיעור. חז''ל recommend that if you could do something to be מחייב the עיסה, you should. If you are baking many things, they teach us how to combine dough so that you can do הפרשת חלה. Combining dough is called צירוף. When combining things, you must combine things that are שיך to each other, like two cookie doughs. You can’t combine a cookie dough with a bread dough. Once you do צירוף, the two doughs have already been joined and you can do the הפרשה when they are not physically together.
How do you do צירוף?
נשיכה- take two batches of dough. You put them close enough together that when you pull them apart, one will bite from the other.
צירוף כלי- make them within the sides of the same כלי. They don’t have to be touching, but it’s preferable that they should be. You can do this with a cloth or towel. If you have two doughs on a garbage bag and you can’t move them, take a tablecloth and drape it over so that they’re within the same closed space. If you have two bowls and you want to cover them, make sure that the cloth doesn’t sag in middle, making a separation.
A dough that became מחויב through צירוף must have הפרשה before you can eat from it, even in חו''ל. You can also be מצרף baked goods. צירוף can happen by mistake, but once it’s joined it’s מחויב for הפרשה and you can’t eat from it before you do הפרשה. Once something had הפרשה, it can never be joined to make something else ראוי for הפרשה.
Certain things by nature can’t be joined together:
Dough belonging to two different people. Since you are מקפיד על תערובתם- want two separate things, they can’t be joined. If you aren’t מקפיד על תערובתם, they can be joined.
When doughs are very different from each other, they can’t be joined.
If you have dough which you are going to bake at separate times and use on separate occasions, some say that you can’t be מצרף them. If you bake them all at one time and then put them away, you can do צירוף.
Sometimes, even if you make one large dough, you can’t be מפריש:
If it belongs to two different people who are מקפיד על תערובתם. If you make one large שיעור, but דעתו לחלק עיסה- you are dividing it up as dough into many portions, you can’t be מפריש.
Let’s say you are making a large flakey dough and you want to make knishes and pastries out of it. This concept of דעתו לחלק עיסה, that you are going to divide it up, some as dough will be made into one thing and some as something else, so they are now very different. Some say that it may not need הפרשה.
If you make a large dough, but you only need some of it now, the rest you will put away and bake later- some say that you don’t have to be מפריש.
ח The תורה didn’t give a שיעור of how much you should be מפריש, but חז''ל gave a suggestion- "1" ⁄"24" , a חשוב enough שיעור to give to the כהן. A baker was given a different שיעור by חז''ל- "1" ⁄"48" .
ט Two reasons that we don’t give הפרשת חלה to the כהן today:
They are all טמא. הפרשת חלה דאוריתא would be אסור to be eaten if the חלה or the כהן is טמא. הפרשת חלה in חו''ל is less חמור, but we haven’t had טהרה in years so it doesn’t apply.
There are some people who think that they are כהנים, but really there is a mistake and they aren’t. So since we don’t know who is really a כהן, we don’t want to be מכשיל a זר to eat from הפרשת חלה. So we burn it so that no one should be מכשיל.
This is why you don’t have to give so much- because it’s not going to anyone. It would even be enough to pinch a drop off, but the מנהג is to be מפריש a כזית. A זר can’t have הנאה from הפרשת חלה. He can’t use it to feed a fire, he can’t even have הנאה from כילוי- burning the חלה. A כהן would be allowed to be נהנה from a fire fueled with הפרשת חלה. If you lit the fire when a כהן was present, then even if he leaves you wouldn’t have to put it out.
י- יב "לחם הארץ"- we learn out from here that:
It’s thick and not a loose batter
It’s baked, not cooked or deep fried
If it has either the first or second characteristic, it’s definitely bread. If it has neither characteristic, even if it has enough flour, it doesn’t require הפרשה, for example fried sesame chicken. If you would bake it though, it would require הפרשה. If you have the second characteristic, even without the first, it needs הפרשה. But if you have the first characteristic and not the second, for example a thick batter that’s fried, it’s יש אומרים. If you made a thick dough and had in mind to fry it, there’s a חלוקי דעות if it’s לחם or not, so according to some you would be מפריש without a ברכה. If you made a חלה dough, and you were going to bake it, but then you ended up making garlic knots and frying them, you still do הפרשה. If you make noodles out of a thick dough, since it doesn’t look like לחם, there is a חלוקי דעות- some say that you are מפריש without a ברכה and others say you don’t need הפרשה at all. Lukshen kugel does bring up a שאילה.
יג שבעת המשקין - category of liquids which come up, have specific הלכות.
Two הלכות regarding הפרשת חלה:
If a dough has as its liquid none of the שבעת המשקין whatsoever, it is questionable whether הפרשת חלה applies at all.
Additionally, it can’t be מקבל טומאה at all, and this lands you with a problem- you must give it to the כהן.
You can’t burn this and you can’t give it to the כהן, so what to do you do? You must mix in a drop of water or any other of the שבעת המשקין into the ingredients. You can’t wait until it’s dough to add it, because then it’s too late. Now, you can be מפריש and burn it.
יד Our batters and doughs today are מחייב בהפרשה. So even if it’s a cake batter you would be מפריש if it’s a big enough שיעור. But batter needs הפרשה after it’s baked, because until then it doesn’t have the צורה of לחם. Let’s say you don’t want to cut into something, you could put some batter in a separate כלי and bake it and you’ll be מפריש from that after it bakes.
טו Once it’s dough, it requires הפרשה, but you could be מפריש after it’s baked.
טז When you are מפריש, you precede it with a ברכה, "להפריש חלה ", and some say "להפריש חלה מן העיסה". Some say that it is preferable to stand when saying the ברכה . Don’t be מפריש until after the ברכה or at least if you cut it off, don’t have in mind that you’re being מפריש. First say the ברכה and then have in mind that you are being מפריש.
When you do your הפרשה, you make the ברכה, remove a piece of dough, put it down and then say "הרי זו חלה"- you can say this in any language. You could think this, but it is better to say it. You have to put it down before you say it so that the piece that you put down is for theהפרשה , but whatever is left on your hand or the knife isn’t part of the הפרשה . If you would say "הרי זו חלה" while the dough is still in your hand and you touch the rest of your dough, you are mixing הפרשה in with the rest of the dough and you have a problem.
In חו''ל, if you make a large enough dough that’s חיוב בהפרשה, you don’t need all the dough to be together בשעת הפרשה. There are some situations where חלה has to be taken בהיקף- when all of the dough is in the same parameters in front of you:
עיסת א''י
עיסה שנתחיבה בחלה ע''י צירוף
In order for it to be מן המוקף, the כלים must be touching each other, but not covered. Situation where you could to היקף, but you don’t have to: if you are making two sets of חלה. You have two bowls of five pounds in front of you. You could do הפרשה on each. But if they’re the same doughs, you could take one הפרשה. To do this, it has to be מן המוקף- put the two bowls touching.
After you say the ברכה and "הרי זו חלה", you say a "יהי רצון" (same as at the end of ש''ע) and other תחינות. One can be מבקש at the time of הפרשת חלה. There is a very nice יהי רצון for כפרה, פרנסה…
יז אדם was considered חלתו של העולם because he was made from עפר מן האדמה and חז''ל say that ה' was מפריש from the earth all over. חוה was מקלקל him, therefore the woman of כ''י were given the opportunity to be מתקן the חטא of חוה. The חיוב is on the owner of the חלה, but the husband usually gives it over to the wife. You should ask your mother one initial time if you have authorization to be מפריש when you bake. If you are afraid that the dough is going to be forgotten about or your mother won’t have time to do it, someone else can be מפריש.
יח If you buy bread from a גוי, it doesn’t ever have the חיוב of הפרשת חלה because it belonged to a גוי. But if you have a yiddishe bakery, the bread is מחויב בהפרשה. If you buy bread from a bakery where you have a חשש that they don’t do הפרשה, you must be מפריש from what you bought without a ברכה.
דינים- טבילת כלים
א If you have a כלי אוכל which belonged to a גוי, it has טומאת נכרי. When a ישראל buys it, he must get rid of the טומאת נכרי and bring it into קדושת ישראל, just like a גר must go to the מקוה to get rid of his טומאה. The הלכות of טומאה and טהרה are חוקים. This is what it is referring to in the תורה- after מלחמת מדין, they got a lot of metal. There are six metals which could be taken as שלל and there are different ways to purify them.
ב ב''י couldn’t use them for any of these three reasons:
1. This was because if the מדינים used the כלים for מאכלות אסורות, the כלי absorbed it and when you use it again, it will give off treif. Therefore, you must כשר it.
2. Maybe there’s טומאת מת and it will be מטמא the food and anyone who touches it.
3. Any כלי נכרי that is reposed by a ישראל, you must remove the טומאת נכרי.
ג Anything that became treif through בליעה, the way it became treif is the way you כשר it. So if something became treif through fire, you must כשר it with אש. It says in the פסוק, "וטהר"- you must additionally dip it in water. It also says, "אך במי נידה יתחטא"- if it became treif through טומאת מת, you must כשר it with the אפר of the פרה אדומה. רבותינו darshen from here that the size of a מקוה for טבילת כלים is forty סאה.
ד Even though we learn טבילת כלים from הכשרת כלים, anyכלי from a גוי must be טובלed.
ה There is a מחלקת if this is a חיוב דאוריתא or just a דרבנן learned out from a פסוק. Most פוסקים hold that it’s a דאוריתא.
ו You can’t use a כלי before it’s טובלed, even temporarily. The אסור to use a כלי without טובלing it is an אסור דרבנן. So if you would use a כלי without טובלing it first, it wouldn’t make the food אסור and חז''ל don’t make it אסור to keep non- טובלed כלים in your home. Something that is for one usage only, you don’t have to טובל it.
ז A כלי that is hard to טובל must still be טובלed. Something which you have used many times and thought was טובלed and it later find out that it wasn’t, you must טובל it before you use it again.
ח A כלי must have all four requirements to require טבילה. Sometimes, people טובל without a ברכה because there is a ספק if one of the requirements is there or not. The four factors are:
1. What the כלי is made of.
2. What the כלי is used for- your intended use.
3. If it was bought from a גוי.
4. If it actually belongs to a ישראל now.
ט What the כלי is made of:
1. זהב
2. כסף
3. נחשת
4. ברזל
5. בדיל
6. עפרת
These are definitely מחויב to be טובלed.
There is a חלוקי דעות for other metals which aren’t mentioned. An aluminum pot, for example:
1. Some hold that it’s דאוריתא.
2. Others say that it isn’t דאוריתא since it’s not mentioned in the פסוק.
3. Some hold that it’s a דרבנן.
4. It might not require טבילה at all.
Because of this, many people טובל without a ברכה. ר' משה holds that it is a דרבנן. If you have a mixture of different metals, you go according to the רוב, so you must check out the proportions. כלי חרס, עץ, אבן and rubber don’t require טבילה at all.
י Glass isn’t in the פסוק, it can be formed and welded just like metal through אש (they can both be melted down). So glass requires טבילה דרבנן and you make a ברכה. Crystal and Pyrex are also a type of glass, so they also require a טבילה דרבנן and you do make a ברכה.
יא כלים made of plastic can also be melted, therefore some hold that plastic should be טובלed without a ברכה. The more widely accepted מנהג is not to טובל plastic.
יב There are some כלים where you can’t tell it they are חרס or זכוכית, so you טובל them without a ברכה.
יג A thin aluminum pan made for one use:
1. It wasn’t made to be used permanently, so it’s not a כלי סעודה and it doesn’t require טבילה.
2. If you intend to reuse pans, you must טובל them without a ברכה.
3. Since they can often be reused, טובל all disposable pans.
יד Something that doesn’t require טבילה and is coated in a material that does require טבילה- if the coating comes into contact with the food, it needs to be טובלed. If it comes into contact with the food but has no purpose, it doesn’t require טבילה.
טו Something coated on the inside probably requires טבילה. If the coating is on the outside, it definitely doesn’t require טבילה. According to some, if only the inside is coated, you טובל it without a ברכה. However, if the inside and outside are coated, it’s מחויב טבילה with a ברכה.
טז However, since some do question this, we טובל porcelain without a ברכה.
יז Sometimes you have a metal כלי with a coating so that the food shouldn’t come in contact with the metal. For example:
1. Enamel pots- made of metal and has a substantial coat of enamel.
2. Teflon pots- substantial coating so that the food shouldn’t come in contact with the metal.
You טובל these kinds of כלים without a ברכה because of the ספק. Sometimes you may have a כלי painted for decorative purposes, but it’s not a substantial coat. This paint is בטול to the כלי, so it gets regular טבילה with a ברכה.
יח If the main part of the כלי is made out of something that requires טבילה, you must טובל it. But if most of the כלי is made of plastic, it would still be מחייב טבילה with the following two conditions:
1. The כלי isn’t functional without the metal.
2. It must come in contact with the food.
יט A knife with a plastic or wood handle needs טבילה with a ברכה. A peppermill made of wood with a metal grater also needs טבילה with a ברכה.
כ Sometimes you have כלים made of two components that can be put together and taken apart- you would only have to טובל the metal part.
כא Things which you mash and grind with, you only need to be טובל the metal blade. But a metal part not used for chopping doesn’t require טבילה.
כב Only something considered a כלי סעודה requires טבילה.
כג What are כלי סעודה?
1. Something you eat or drink from.
2. Something you cook, bake, roast or boil either in or on.
3. Things you use to prepare the food with.
כד If you have a כלי that holds another כלי which comes into contact with the food, it doesn’t require טבילה. The grates over your flames don’t require טבילה and neither do your oven racks. If you do put food directly onto your oven racks, ask a שאלת חכם. If you have a metal כלי that holds only wrapped items, you don’t have to טובל it. But if you have a כלי that you always spread a napkin on it (for example a metal breadbasket), it still requires טבילה.
כה Covers that come in contact with food do require טבילה. This is because when you cook, often steam rises up and comes into contact with the cover.
כו There are certain things which aren’t considered חיוב בטבילה even though they may come in contact with the food:
1. Can opener
2. Bottle opener
3. Corkscrew
כז There are certain כלים which are debatable among the חכמים since they are needed for preparation, but aren’t the final step. So they are questionable:
1. חליף- the knife of a שוחט. It gets טבילה without a ברכה.
2. Needle used to sew stuffed meat- you טובל it without a ברכה because you use it for preparation of the food, but it’s not the final step.
3. Meat/ fish grinder
4. Coffee grinder
5. Kneading כלים
6. Vegetable chopper
7. Peeler
Sometimes, however, graters or peelers can be used as the last step in the הכנה of fruits and vegetables, so they would require טבילה.
כח Something used for the storage of food, something you don’t bring to the table to serve from and something you don’t cook from, you טובל it without a ברכה.
כט Something becomes a כלי סעודה according to what you are going to use it for, not what it was manufactured for. Examples:
1. Kitchen knife used for crafts.
2. Scissors that you use for food.
ל If something was never owned by a גוי, it doesn’t require טבילה.
לא If a ישראל buys a כלי made in a yiddishe factory without a middleman, he doesn’t have to טובל it, even if all of the worker are גוים. If you bought something in a yiddishe store, you must check back to make sure that it was never owned by a גוי, otherwise it will require טבילה.
לב If you don’t know whether the factory owner was a גוי or a yid:
1. If you don’t know and there’s a chance either way, even if the area it came from has mostly yiddishe factory owners, you have to be טובל it without a ברכה because of the ספק.
2. If it comes from an area where all of the factory owners are גויים, you need to be טובל it with a ברכה.
3. If it comes from an area where most of the factory owners are גויים, you need to טובל it with a ברכה, whether there is a goyish middleman or not.
לג If the כלי doesn’t belong to you, you don’t have to be טובל it. So if you rent a כלי from a גוי, you don’t have to be טובל it. But if you borrow a כלי from a Jew and he didn’t טובל it yet, it does require טבילה before you use it because it was already מחויב בטבילה.
לד If you are a guest at someone’s house and they weren’t טובל their כלים, it is אסור for you to eat from it, and you must ask a שאלת חכם about what to do.
לה If you buy food in a כלי that hasn’t been טובלed, you may eat the food. Some won’t eat it straight from the כלי, though. And some won’t put the food back into the כלי , though some will if the כלי is glass.
לו How do you טובל a כלי? It needs to be a spring or מקוה that has a שיעור of at least forty סאה. You can use an ocean too.
לז The entire surface must be covered at once in the water at some point. So make sure there is no חציצה- blockage and that it’s clean. What do you do if after you are טובל it, you find some dirt? If the חציצה is something you would want to get rid of and you would’ve wanted to pull off, you should טובל it again. But if you don’t care, then בדיעוד it’s fine. Let’s say before you were טובל it you took off rust and it left a mark, or you tried to get off some rust but it didn’t come off, לכתחילה it’s ok.
לח You must remove stickers and adhesive first. But some stickers are meant to stay on so that’s ok.
לט You must טובל the whole thing at once, you can’t do half and half.
מ If you have a כלי with a long neck, you must make sure that the water will get into it and fill up so that all the surfaces are covered. Also, don’t put in a cup upside down because the water won’t reach the top edges. A כלי that folds up, you must open it entirely before טבילה.
מא You need to טובל the entire כלי, even if it’s not completely made of a material which requires טבילה.
מב It’s better to טובל a disassembleable כלי assembled, but you could do it disassembled too.
מג When you hold it, hold it loosely so that water can get in on all the surfaces. Or you fouls wet your hand with the מי מקוה so that when you touch the כלי, it will be wet from the מי מקוה. It’s best to switch hands while you are holding it so that the water can get in.
מד It is ok to put it in a basket with holes so that the water can get in but be careful that you don’t have something heavy or pack it tightly because then it won’t rise up or get water in between. You could put a כלי into the מקוה by tying a rope around the handle and fishing it out. But don’t tie the rope too tightly so the water can get in.
מה If a כלי needs to be kashered and טובלed, first kasher it and then טובל it. If you טובלed it first, it’s a ספק if it’s ok, so you must kasher it and then re- טובל it without a ברכה.
מו Generally, the ברכת המצוה is said before you do the מצוה. So you make the ברכה before you are טובל. You say "על טבילת כלי" for one thing and "על טבילת כלים" for more than one. If you reversed the ברכות, it’s ok. If you forgot the ברכה and were already טובל, you don’t say it again because then it would be a ברכה לבטלה.
מז When you are טובלing something which doesn’t require a ברכה, it is better to wait until you have to טובל something else which does need a ברכה, and you would say "על טבילת כלים". If you can’t wait, you should make a ברכה without the שם ה'- just think it.
מח טבילה doesn’t require כונה. So if something falls in by mistake, it’s a valid טבילה.
מט A קטן can’t do טבילה unless an adult is watching, and the קטן should say the ברכה. If an adult isn’t watching, it requires another טבילה.
נ A גוי can’t be טובל for you unless an adult is watching. But even if you are watching, this isn’t לכתחילה because you can’t say a ברכה on his טבילה. So in the case where you can’t do it alone, do a few and say the ברכה and then he can do the rest. It’s worthwhile to get the מצוה.
נא Even if you have used a כלי in the past by mistake without טבילה, once you are aware of it, you can’t use it without טבילה.
נב An electrical כלי needs טבילה even if you are worried about ruining the mechanism. If the appliance doesn’t come in contact with the food, for example a toaster where you place the food on a tray, you would only have to טובל the part that comes in contact with the food. Even if by accident the food may touch a different part of the toaster, it’s ok.
נג Some appliances need to be completely immersed. So you may protect the electrical part by lightly covering the electrical vents without it being a חציצה. How?
1. You could wet your fingers with the מי מקוה and lightly stuff them up the holes.
2. Take a cloth which you wet with the מי מקוה and lightly stuff them up the holes.
3. You can tape up the holes- this is not לכתחילה.
If you can’t be טובל the כלי in any of these ways, don’t be טובל.
נד Hot water urns, electric griddles, waffle makers and popcorn machines all require טבילה. If you let them dry out for a few days, they will usually be fine.
נה Some מתיר pop- up toasters because the food is ראוי for אכילה even before it is toasted.
נו If you need a certain כלי, but it is impossible to טובל it, you can either sell it or give it as a מתנה to a גוי and then you can borrow it, even on a permanent basis. You should ask a רב how to go about this. Or, you can break the כלי in a way that it isn’t usable as the כלי and then get a ישראל to repair it- now it’s a new כלי made by a ישראל so it doesn’t require טבילה.
ב ב''י couldn’t use them for any of these three reasons:
1. This was because if the מדינים used the כלים for מאכלות אסורות, the כלי absorbed it and when you use it again, it will give off treif. Therefore, you must כשר it.
2. Maybe there’s טומאת מת and it will be מטמא the food and anyone who touches it.
3. Any כלי נכרי that is reposed by a ישראל, you must remove the טומאת נכרי.
ג Anything that became treif through בליעה, the way it became treif is the way you כשר it. So if something became treif through fire, you must כשר it with אש. It says in the פסוק, "וטהר"- you must additionally dip it in water. It also says, "אך במי נידה יתחטא"- if it became treif through טומאת מת, you must כשר it with the אפר of the פרה אדומה. רבותינו darshen from here that the size of a מקוה for טבילת כלים is forty סאה.
ד Even though we learn טבילת כלים from הכשרת כלים, anyכלי from a גוי must be טובלed.
ה There is a מחלקת if this is a חיוב דאוריתא or just a דרבנן learned out from a פסוק. Most פוסקים hold that it’s a דאוריתא.
ו You can’t use a כלי before it’s טובלed, even temporarily. The אסור to use a כלי without טובלing it is an אסור דרבנן. So if you would use a כלי without טובלing it first, it wouldn’t make the food אסור and חז''ל don’t make it אסור to keep non- טובלed כלים in your home. Something that is for one usage only, you don’t have to טובל it.
ז A כלי that is hard to טובל must still be טובלed. Something which you have used many times and thought was טובלed and it later find out that it wasn’t, you must טובל it before you use it again.
ח A כלי must have all four requirements to require טבילה. Sometimes, people טובל without a ברכה because there is a ספק if one of the requirements is there or not. The four factors are:
1. What the כלי is made of.
2. What the כלי is used for- your intended use.
3. If it was bought from a גוי.
4. If it actually belongs to a ישראל now.
ט What the כלי is made of:
1. זהב
2. כסף
3. נחשת
4. ברזל
5. בדיל
6. עפרת
These are definitely מחויב to be טובלed.
There is a חלוקי דעות for other metals which aren’t mentioned. An aluminum pot, for example:
1. Some hold that it’s דאוריתא.
2. Others say that it isn’t דאוריתא since it’s not mentioned in the פסוק.
3. Some hold that it’s a דרבנן.
4. It might not require טבילה at all.
Because of this, many people טובל without a ברכה. ר' משה holds that it is a דרבנן. If you have a mixture of different metals, you go according to the רוב, so you must check out the proportions. כלי חרס, עץ, אבן and rubber don’t require טבילה at all.
י Glass isn’t in the פסוק, it can be formed and welded just like metal through אש (they can both be melted down). So glass requires טבילה דרבנן and you make a ברכה. Crystal and Pyrex are also a type of glass, so they also require a טבילה דרבנן and you do make a ברכה.
יא כלים made of plastic can also be melted, therefore some hold that plastic should be טובלed without a ברכה. The more widely accepted מנהג is not to טובל plastic.
יב There are some כלים where you can’t tell it they are חרס or זכוכית, so you טובל them without a ברכה.
יג A thin aluminum pan made for one use:
1. It wasn’t made to be used permanently, so it’s not a כלי סעודה and it doesn’t require טבילה.
2. If you intend to reuse pans, you must טובל them without a ברכה.
3. Since they can often be reused, טובל all disposable pans.
יד Something that doesn’t require טבילה and is coated in a material that does require טבילה- if the coating comes into contact with the food, it needs to be טובלed. If it comes into contact with the food but has no purpose, it doesn’t require טבילה.
טו Something coated on the inside probably requires טבילה. If the coating is on the outside, it definitely doesn’t require טבילה. According to some, if only the inside is coated, you טובל it without a ברכה. However, if the inside and outside are coated, it’s מחויב טבילה with a ברכה.
טז However, since some do question this, we טובל porcelain without a ברכה.
יז Sometimes you have a metal כלי with a coating so that the food shouldn’t come in contact with the metal. For example:
1. Enamel pots- made of metal and has a substantial coat of enamel.
2. Teflon pots- substantial coating so that the food shouldn’t come in contact with the metal.
You טובל these kinds of כלים without a ברכה because of the ספק. Sometimes you may have a כלי painted for decorative purposes, but it’s not a substantial coat. This paint is בטול to the כלי, so it gets regular טבילה with a ברכה.
יח If the main part of the כלי is made out of something that requires טבילה, you must טובל it. But if most of the כלי is made of plastic, it would still be מחייב טבילה with the following two conditions:
1. The כלי isn’t functional without the metal.
2. It must come in contact with the food.
יט A knife with a plastic or wood handle needs טבילה with a ברכה. A peppermill made of wood with a metal grater also needs טבילה with a ברכה.
כ Sometimes you have כלים made of two components that can be put together and taken apart- you would only have to טובל the metal part.
כא Things which you mash and grind with, you only need to be טובל the metal blade. But a metal part not used for chopping doesn’t require טבילה.
כב Only something considered a כלי סעודה requires טבילה.
כג What are כלי סעודה?
1. Something you eat or drink from.
2. Something you cook, bake, roast or boil either in or on.
3. Things you use to prepare the food with.
כד If you have a כלי that holds another כלי which comes into contact with the food, it doesn’t require טבילה. The grates over your flames don’t require טבילה and neither do your oven racks. If you do put food directly onto your oven racks, ask a שאלת חכם. If you have a metal כלי that holds only wrapped items, you don’t have to טובל it. But if you have a כלי that you always spread a napkin on it (for example a metal breadbasket), it still requires טבילה.
כה Covers that come in contact with food do require טבילה. This is because when you cook, often steam rises up and comes into contact with the cover.
כו There are certain things which aren’t considered חיוב בטבילה even though they may come in contact with the food:
1. Can opener
2. Bottle opener
3. Corkscrew
כז There are certain כלים which are debatable among the חכמים since they are needed for preparation, but aren’t the final step. So they are questionable:
1. חליף- the knife of a שוחט. It gets טבילה without a ברכה.
2. Needle used to sew stuffed meat- you טובל it without a ברכה because you use it for preparation of the food, but it’s not the final step.
3. Meat/ fish grinder
4. Coffee grinder
5. Kneading כלים
6. Vegetable chopper
7. Peeler
Sometimes, however, graters or peelers can be used as the last step in the הכנה of fruits and vegetables, so they would require טבילה.
כח Something used for the storage of food, something you don’t bring to the table to serve from and something you don’t cook from, you טובל it without a ברכה.
כט Something becomes a כלי סעודה according to what you are going to use it for, not what it was manufactured for. Examples:
1. Kitchen knife used for crafts.
2. Scissors that you use for food.
ל If something was never owned by a גוי, it doesn’t require טבילה.
לא If a ישראל buys a כלי made in a yiddishe factory without a middleman, he doesn’t have to טובל it, even if all of the worker are גוים. If you bought something in a yiddishe store, you must check back to make sure that it was never owned by a גוי, otherwise it will require טבילה.
לב If you don’t know whether the factory owner was a גוי or a yid:
1. If you don’t know and there’s a chance either way, even if the area it came from has mostly yiddishe factory owners, you have to be טובל it without a ברכה because of the ספק.
2. If it comes from an area where all of the factory owners are גויים, you need to be טובל it with a ברכה.
3. If it comes from an area where most of the factory owners are גויים, you need to טובל it with a ברכה, whether there is a goyish middleman or not.
לג If the כלי doesn’t belong to you, you don’t have to be טובל it. So if you rent a כלי from a גוי, you don’t have to be טובל it. But if you borrow a כלי from a Jew and he didn’t טובל it yet, it does require טבילה before you use it because it was already מחויב בטבילה.
לד If you are a guest at someone’s house and they weren’t טובל their כלים, it is אסור for you to eat from it, and you must ask a שאלת חכם about what to do.
לה If you buy food in a כלי that hasn’t been טובלed, you may eat the food. Some won’t eat it straight from the כלי, though. And some won’t put the food back into the כלי , though some will if the כלי is glass.
לו How do you טובל a כלי? It needs to be a spring or מקוה that has a שיעור of at least forty סאה. You can use an ocean too.
לז The entire surface must be covered at once in the water at some point. So make sure there is no חציצה- blockage and that it’s clean. What do you do if after you are טובל it, you find some dirt? If the חציצה is something you would want to get rid of and you would’ve wanted to pull off, you should טובל it again. But if you don’t care, then בדיעוד it’s fine. Let’s say before you were טובל it you took off rust and it left a mark, or you tried to get off some rust but it didn’t come off, לכתחילה it’s ok.
לח You must remove stickers and adhesive first. But some stickers are meant to stay on so that’s ok.
לט You must טובל the whole thing at once, you can’t do half and half.
מ If you have a כלי with a long neck, you must make sure that the water will get into it and fill up so that all the surfaces are covered. Also, don’t put in a cup upside down because the water won’t reach the top edges. A כלי that folds up, you must open it entirely before טבילה.
מא You need to טובל the entire כלי, even if it’s not completely made of a material which requires טבילה.
מב It’s better to טובל a disassembleable כלי assembled, but you could do it disassembled too.
מג When you hold it, hold it loosely so that water can get in on all the surfaces. Or you fouls wet your hand with the מי מקוה so that when you touch the כלי, it will be wet from the מי מקוה. It’s best to switch hands while you are holding it so that the water can get in.
מד It is ok to put it in a basket with holes so that the water can get in but be careful that you don’t have something heavy or pack it tightly because then it won’t rise up or get water in between. You could put a כלי into the מקוה by tying a rope around the handle and fishing it out. But don’t tie the rope too tightly so the water can get in.
מה If a כלי needs to be kashered and טובלed, first kasher it and then טובל it. If you טובלed it first, it’s a ספק if it’s ok, so you must kasher it and then re- טובל it without a ברכה.
מו Generally, the ברכת המצוה is said before you do the מצוה. So you make the ברכה before you are טובל. You say "על טבילת כלי" for one thing and "על טבילת כלים" for more than one. If you reversed the ברכות, it’s ok. If you forgot the ברכה and were already טובל, you don’t say it again because then it would be a ברכה לבטלה.
מז When you are טובלing something which doesn’t require a ברכה, it is better to wait until you have to טובל something else which does need a ברכה, and you would say "על טבילת כלים". If you can’t wait, you should make a ברכה without the שם ה'- just think it.
מח טבילה doesn’t require כונה. So if something falls in by mistake, it’s a valid טבילה.
מט A קטן can’t do טבילה unless an adult is watching, and the קטן should say the ברכה. If an adult isn’t watching, it requires another טבילה.
נ A גוי can’t be טובל for you unless an adult is watching. But even if you are watching, this isn’t לכתחילה because you can’t say a ברכה on his טבילה. So in the case where you can’t do it alone, do a few and say the ברכה and then he can do the rest. It’s worthwhile to get the מצוה.
נא Even if you have used a כלי in the past by mistake without טבילה, once you are aware of it, you can’t use it without טבילה.
נב An electrical כלי needs טבילה even if you are worried about ruining the mechanism. If the appliance doesn’t come in contact with the food, for example a toaster where you place the food on a tray, you would only have to טובל the part that comes in contact with the food. Even if by accident the food may touch a different part of the toaster, it’s ok.
נג Some appliances need to be completely immersed. So you may protect the electrical part by lightly covering the electrical vents without it being a חציצה. How?
1. You could wet your fingers with the מי מקוה and lightly stuff them up the holes.
2. Take a cloth which you wet with the מי מקוה and lightly stuff them up the holes.
3. You can tape up the holes- this is not לכתחילה.
If you can’t be טובל the כלי in any of these ways, don’t be טובל.
נד Hot water urns, electric griddles, waffle makers and popcorn machines all require טבילה. If you let them dry out for a few days, they will usually be fine.
נה Some מתיר pop- up toasters because the food is ראוי for אכילה even before it is toasted.
נו If you need a certain כלי, but it is impossible to טובל it, you can either sell it or give it as a מתנה to a גוי and then you can borrow it, even on a permanent basis. You should ask a רב how to go about this. Or, you can break the כלי in a way that it isn’t usable as the כלי and then get a ישראל to repair it- now it’s a new כלי made by a ישראל so it doesn’t require טבילה.
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