The Weekly Shtikle - Shofetim

There is a well-known precept in halachah that when faced with a safeik d'oraysa, an uncertainty regarding a Biblical decree, we are more stringent whereas with a safeik d'rabanan, an uncertainty regarding a rabbinic decree, we are lenient. There is a further discussion regarding safeik d'oraysa. The very fact that we lean on the stringent side - is that itself a Biblical decree or a later rabbinic institution? Rambam is of the opinion that it is a rabbinic decree but others argue that it is, in fact, Biblical. 

 

A pasuk in this week's parsha seems to shed some light on the issue. We are taught later in the parsha that it is forbidden to cut down fruit-bearing trees for the purposes of a siege. Rather, (20:20) "only a tree that you know for certain is not fruit-bearing you may destroy and cut down."  Apparently, if you were uncertain as to whether or not it was a fruit-bearing tree, you would not be permitted to cut it down. This seems, at first glance, to contradict Rambam's position. If the stringency were only rabbinic, as Rambam suggests, then by Biblical standards we would be permitted to be lenient. We seem to be taught here that this is not the case. 
 

However, points out Malbim, this pasuk is not as simple as it appears. The gemara (Bava Kamma 91b) interprets this pasuk not to be referring to a tree about which we know nothing. Rather, it refers to a tree which was known to have previously been a fruit-bearing tree. The uncertainty is whether or not it has since lost its status as a fruit-bearing tree. This is a classic case of chazakah, an original prevailing status. When the original status is prohibitive, even Rambam will agree that we are stringent in a case of uncertainty as a Biblical edict. Therefore, this pasuk does not contradict Rambam's stated position in a case where there is no previous status. 

 

Have a good Shabbos. 
 
Eliezer Bulka 
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com 
 
Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup: 

Weekly Shtikle: Additional Symbolism of the Shofar 

Dikdukian: Two of a Kind 

Dikdukian: Clean Blood 

  

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The Weekly Shtikle - Eikev

Just released: Hadoresh vehaMevakeish – a lavish commentary and compendium of notes on all of Talmud Bavli from my friend and avid Weekly Shtikle reader, David Farkas.

Get your copy now.

In this week's parsha, we find the second paragraph of keriyas shema. Once again, (11:18) the mitzvos of tefillin and mezuzah are mentioned. Rashi, on the words "vesamtem es devarai eileh," makes a rather startling comment. "Even after you are exiled, still be excellent in mitzvos. Put on tefillin and make mezuzos so that they are not new to you when you return to Eretz Yisrael." The implication is that tefillin and mezuzah are mitzvos that are not biblical obligations outside of Eretz Yisrael but are only performed so as not to be forgotten. However, the gemara (Kiddushin 36b) clearly states that all mitzvos that are not based on the land are practiced both in Eretz Yisrael and outside.

The GR"A raises this question and gives an answer in the name of Masa'as Moshe. He posits that the words in Rashi "hanichu tefillin va'asu mezuzos" are a mistake. The original text of Rashi had an abbreviation "heh-tuv, v'ayin-mem" which really stood for "hafrishu terumah v'isru ma'aser." Terumah and ma'aser are mitzvos which are land-based and apply only in Eretz Yisrael but were practiced while B'nei Yisrael were in exile as well, in order that they not be forgotten. Somewhere along the line, a printer made the error of thinking that Rashi's abbreviation stood for "hanichu tefillin vasu mezuzos." (I'm not sure what the relevance would be to this pasuk, based on this approach.)

Ramba"n, however, suggests that this midrash is actually hinting to a deep secret which he has previously referred to (Vayikra 18:25.) Gur Aryeh here explains based on Ramba"n's commentary in parshas Toledos on why the forefathers kept the mitzvos only in Eretz Yisrael, that the actual reason why the Torah commanded us to keep the mitzvos outside of Eretz Yisroel as the gemara teaches us, is because of the reason Rashi gives here. In other words, it is true that we have a full-fledged requirement to keep all of the mitzvos even outside of Eretz Yisrael. However, the ultimate reasoning behind it is to ensure that when we return to the Land where these mitzvos were meant to be performed, they are not forgotten. (I suggest, for a clearer understanding of the issue, going through the actual texts of the Gur Aryeh and the aforementioned Ramba"ns.)

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:
Dikdukian: To Afflict the Corrector

Dikdukian: To Make a Misnaged Cringe

Dikdukian: Those Bad Egyptians

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The Weekly Shtikle - Va'eschanan

Tomorrow, the 15th of Av, marks the 16^th yahrtzeit of my Opa, Mr. George Jakobovits. This week's shtikle is dedicated le'iluy nishmaso, Tovia Yehudah ben Yoel, a'h.

At the beginning of this week's parsha, after Moshe makes his plea to enter Eretz Yisrael, he is told (3:27) to go to the top of the mountain, to lift his eyes west, north, south and east and see with his eyes for he will not cross the Jordan River. Why is he told to see with his eyes? What other part of the body would he otherwise have seen with?

When Moshe delivers his plea, he begins by emphasizing that HaShem had begun to show him His Greatness and Powerful Hand. Surely, Moshe was not referring to having been shown these visually. We know that he was denied that privilege. Here, the term re'iah does not refer to physical seeing as it often does, but rather to an experience. Moshe had witnessed and experienced HaShem's greatness. He then asks to be allowed to cross over and "see" the good land, the good mountain and the Levanon. Surely, Moshe wanted more than to see the land. Here again, Moshe Rabbeinu is asking not to see the land but to live it and experience its greatness, to behold the Land of Israel. HaShem denies Moshe and grants him only to climb the mountain and see the land. That is why he is told to see with his eyes, indicating that he will not be granted the re'iah for which he yearned but rather, only a physical re'iah with his eyes.

Have a good Shabbos.

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Dikdukian: You were shown

Dikdukian: Raise the Valleys

Al Pi Cheshbon: Moshe's Pleas

Al Pi Cheshbon: Gemtrias off by 1

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The Weekly Shtikle - Devarim / Chazon / Tish'ah B'Av

In a shiur on the haggadah I heard an interesting perspective on vehi she'amdah. Part of the retribution meted out upon those who seek to destroy us is that they endure a legacy of association with evil more so than others who might be guilty of equally nefarious deeds. This is not a concrete rule but consider, as an example, the liberal use of the word Nazi in association with anything evil. Conversely, how much of the general population are even aware of more recent perpetrators of similar heinous crimes such as Pol Pot or Slobodan Milošević.

However, earlier on in our history, before many of our brutal persecutors came to be, there was a single paradigm of evil – Sedom and its neighbouring cities. Moshe Rabbeinu first references Sedom in the rebuke at the beginning of parshas Nitzavim. In this week's haftarah of chazon, the navi Yeshayahu makes a sharp comparison between the wickedness of the generation and that of Sedom. But in a passage we will read tomorrow night in Eichah, Yirmiyahu takes it one step further in exclaiming (4:6) that the crimes perpetrated by our nation were even greater than those of Sedom.

As related by R' Moshe Hauer on Tish'ah B'Av 5777, R' Yissachar Shlomo Teichtal, author of Eim HaBanim Semeichah, in his work on Tanach, addresses this shocking charge. Can it really be said that the generation at the end of the first Beis HaMikdash was more evil than Sedom? There were definitely significant sins which warranted the destruction, but it was still a nation of generally decent upstanding people. Sedom, on the other hand was pure evil through and through. Wickedness was the societal norm.

He explains that the continuation of the pasuk must be considered in order to understand what Yirmiyahu is trying to convey. The sin was greater than that of Sedom – which was overturned in an instant. The actual deeds of Sedom and its neighbours were surely far greater than that of the generation of the churban. But Sedom met its fate in the blink of an eye without any warning. There was no navi coming to proclaim (as Yonah did for Nineveh,) that their doom was impending. It is in this regard that the sins of the generation exceeded those of Sedom. For generation after generation, navi after navi, we were warned repeatedly to change our ways. We were given the opportunity to reverse course but to no avail.

In a related passage in Eim HaBanim Semeichah, R' Teichtal explains that it is difficult to forge a way forward and to know what we need to do in our time. However, he relates a parable of a man wandering the desert, searching for a way out until he happens upon another individual in the same predicament. The other man tells him that he doesn't know the way out but they should still stick together, because from what he has tried he knows what is not the way out. If we do not know the clear path to geulah, we must at least be able to learn from previous generations and failures what it is that gets us in trouble over and over again.

May we merit the ultimate geulah speedily in our day!

I highly recommend listening to the original audio – only 5½ minutes – available here.

Have a good Shabbos and a meaningful fast.

 

Eliezer Bulka
WeeklyShtikle@weeklyshtikle.com

Shtikle Blog Weekly Roundup:

Dikdukian: Don't you worry!

Dikdukian: Past and Future

Dikdukian: Yahtzah, what is your name?

AstroTorah: Like the Stars of the Heavens

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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