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Friday, April 27

The Weekly Shtikle - Tazria / Metzora

    In this week's parsha we are taught about the laws concerning tzora'as that is found on the walls of one's house. There is an intriguing difficulty found in pasuk 14:37, "Vera'a es hanega vehineh hanega b`kiros habayis sheka'aruros yerakrakos o adamdamos umar'eihen shafal min hakir." First, the nega is referred to in the singular. However, in the rest of the pasuk it is described in the plural.
 
    R' Kulefsky, zt"l, gives a fascinating, yet somewhat complicated answer in the name of R' Netta Grunblatt (of Memphis, Tennessee). We are taught in the gemara (Sanhedrin 71a) that the required size of the tzora'as on the house is the size of two beans whereas other "negaim" require only one bean. One may deliberate on the following point: Is it that the required size of "nig'ei batim" is twice that of other negaim or that "nig'ei batim" requires two negaim? The difference between the two is illustrated with the precise language used by the Rambam. He writes, in regular cases of tzora'as, that a nega smaller than a bean is "not a nega." However, in the laws of "nig'ei batim," he writes that if the spot is less than two beans, it is "tahor." The implication is that it is still considered a nega, but that it is tahor. [The halachic ramifications of this specification arise in connection with the gemara in Shabbos that states that the prohibition of cutting tzora'as out of one's skin applies even to a "nega tahor."]
 
    It seems from the Rambam that the proper interpretation would be the second, that "nig'ei batim" require two nega'im of total size two beans. Therefore, if the spot is less than two beans, it is still a nega, only it is tahor. This, suggests R' Grunblatt, is the explanation for the change in the pasuk from singular to plural. In the beginning, we are referring to the spot as a whole. However, since in essence we are dealing with two negaim, the pasuk describes them in the plural.


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Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:
Dikdukian: White Hair
Dikdukian: Meaining of "kibus" by Eliyahu Levin
Dikdukian: Various Dikduk Observations by Eliyahu Levin

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Friday, April 20

The Weekly Shtikle - Shemini

    The beginning of this week's parsha recounts the proceedings on the eighth day of the consecration of the Mishkon. After preparing a series of korbanos, Aharon raises his hands, blesses the nation and then steps down from preparing the chatas, olah and shelamim sacrifices (9:22). Rashi writes that the blessing that Aharon gave to the nation was the traditional Birkas Kohanim (Bemidbar 6:24-26).

    Ba'al HaTurim offers a concise, yet interesting insight into the relevance of Birkas Kohanim to this specific occasion. Aharon HaKohein had just completed the preparation of three korbanos and the three blessings of Birkas Kohanim each correspond to one of the sacrifices. The first blessing, "Yevarechecha HaShem veyishmerecha," is the berachah of shemirah, watching over. We find the theme of watching over in connection with prevention of sin, as in the song of Chanah (Shemuel I 2:9) "Raglei chasidav yishmor," He guards the ways of the pious. This is traditionally interpreted as HaShem guarding the righteous from unintentional sin. This blessing, therefore, corresponds to the korban chatas, brought for inadvertent transgressions.

    The second blessing is connected to the korban olah by means of the pasuk referring to the trek to Yerushalayim for the shalosh regalim, (Shemos 34:24) "Ba'alosecha leiraos," when you go up to be seen. The going up to Yerushalayim facilitates our "being seen" before HaShem. The olah, all of which goes up to the Heavens, warrants the second blessing that HaShem will illuminate His countenance towards us.

    The final blessing of Birkas Kohanim, "veyaseim lecha shalom," is the bestowing of peace. The root of the word shelamim is shalom, peace, as Rashi (3:1) explains. The shelamim brings peace to the world and peace to all the parties involved in the korban because each one gets a portion. This establishes the most obvious connection of the three between the shelamim and the final blessing. Aharon invoked Birkas Kohanim not as an arbitrary series of blessings but one that was specifically related to the service he was performing.

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:
Al Pi Cheshbon: Omer Counting in Different Bases
Dikdukian: Lehavdil
AstroTorah: No Compasses in the Midbar by R' Ari Storch
AstroTorah: High Noon in the Mikdash? by R' Ari Storch

Please visit the new portal for all Shtikle-related sites, www.weeklyshtikle.com
The Weekly Shtikle and related content are now featured on BaltimoreJewishLife.com

Thursday, April 5

The Weekly Shtikle - Pesach / Leil Seder

Comedian Steven Wright once said "Right now I'm having amnesia and déjà vu at the same time. I think I've forgotten this before." I am not sure if the following thought is original. I seem to remember having heard it somewhere but I don't remember where.

 

We have discussed on a number of occasions the dominance of the theme of praise and thanks in the procedures of seder night. As well, the recurrence of the number 4 - 4 cups, 4 questions, 4 sons, etc -  is also well known. The gemara (Berachos 54b) states that there are four individuals whose situations demand that they give thanks to HaShem: Those who travel by sea and reach their destination, those who traverse a desert safely, those who emerge from captivity and those who survive an illness. In the times of the Beis HaMikdash, this thanks would be expressed in a Korban Todah which was just discussed in last week's parsha. Today, one makes Brikas HaGomel in the presence of a minyan. The Shulchan Aruch (OC 219:1) provides a mnemonic for this foursome: "vehcol hachayim yoducha selah." The word חיים stands for חבושיסוריםיםמדבר.

 

If we examine the Yetzias Mitzrayim experience as a whole, from the very beginning to its ultimate culmination with the entry into Eretz Yisrael and building the Beis HaMikdash, we find that HaShem's great salvation covered all four of these situations. First, we broke free from centuries-long captivity in Mitzrayim. We were led through the Yam Suf to safety. We were protected through decades of travel in the desert. Although we were not stricken with serious illness (unless you consider the magaifos in the desert,) we certainly find that the Egyptians were inflicted with possibly hundreds of maladies from which we were spared. With this perspective, our feelings of gratitude and thanks on seder night are all the more intensified. 


Have a good Shabbos and Chag Kasher ve'Sameiach!

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:
Dikdukian: Hagieinu vs Yagieinu
Dikdukian: Chad Gadya

Please visit the new portal for all Shtikle-related sites, www.weeklyshtikle.com
The Weekly Shtikle and related content are now featured on BaltimoreJewishLife.com

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