Makkot, Daf Yud Alef
Big thank you to R' Aryeh Lebowitz (congrats on breaking 5000 shiurim on yutorah!) and Artscroll!
Amud Alef
Question: R' Chama bar Chanina asks, why does the
discussion of arei miklat in Sefer Yehoshua have such harsh language? Pasuk
uses the word "Vayidaber" instead of "Vayomer" which is
much Harsher.
Answer: (gemara) Because setting aside Arei Miklat is
d'Orayta.
Question: Does "Dibbur" always mean harsh
language?
Answer: Yes! As Yehuda responds to Yaakov that the
King of Egypt spoke harshly to them
Question: (contradiction), but in the braita, the
word "nidabru" is used?!
Answer: Here it's just mild speech (in this form)
Question: What about "yadber"
Answer: Daber=harsh, yadber= soft
3 Arguments R'
Yehuda had with other Tannaim:
1. R' Yehuda V. Rabanan: (why is there harsh language
written towards ari miklat in sefer Yehoshua?)
a) chad
omer: because Yehoshua delayed in building them
b) chad
omer: because it's a din d'orayta
2. R'Yehuda V. R'
Nechemia: What does this pasuk refer to?"Yehoshua wrote these words
in the sefer of G-d"
a) chad
omer: the last 8 pesukim that Yehoshua wrote
b)chad
omer: he wrote about the ari miklat
Question: I understand if you say it refers to 8 pesukim,
that its "the torah of G-d", but what does it mean if you think it
refers to the arei miklat?
Answer: It would mean that Yehoshua wrote these words in his
book that had been written previously in the torah
3. R' Yehuda V. R' Meir :If a torah is sewn together with
flax...
a) Chad omer: it's
kasher
b) Chad omer: it's
pasul
According to b, because the torah of HaShem should be in
your mouth and we say that torah is like tefillin- just like tefillin has
halacha moshe misinai that it should be sewn with sinues of an animal
According to a, yes we compare torah to tefillin but not for
sewing-- just that both tefillin and torah parchment have to come from kosher
animals.
Statement: Rav says-
I saw the tefillin of my uncle (R' Chiya), and his were sewn with flax,
but we don't follow him.
New Mishna:
Whether you have a Cohen Gadol who was annointed with oil or
by giving him vestments, or even a Cohen Gadol who has retired- once he dies,
the guy can leave the Ir Miklat. R' Yehuda says, even the guy who is the
anointed as the leader of battle (not even a cohen gadol) can send someone home
from Ir Miklat when he dies.
Therefore, the mother's of Cohanim Gedolim used to give food
and clothing to the men in ari miklat so that they wouldn't daven for the
Cohanim Gedolim to die.
Gemara:
Question: From where do we know this? (that these 3
or 4 people can send you out of Ir Miklat when they die)
Answer: There are 3 Pesukim to Prove it (all quoted) 3 pesukim = 3 people
Question: What about R' Yehuda (who says 4) ?
Answer: There is a 4th pasuk that R' Yehuda uses to
prove the 4th person (the non-cohen)
Question: What would the Tanna Kamma say about this
pasuk?
Answer: the pasuk writes cohen, not gadol, so it must
refer to one of the earlier mentioned cohanim.
Question on Mishna: If the mothers actually brought
provisions to the people in the arei mikalt so that they wouldn't daven for
their sons to die, does that really mean that if they did daven, the
cohanim would die? Aren't undeserved curses invalid?
Answer: An elder said in the name of Rava that the
Cohanim should've davened to HaShem for the people- that they shouldn't kill
and have to go to arei miklat but since they didn't, they would deserve the
curse.
Answer 2: The mothers did this so that they
would daven for the cohen to live!
Question:
So if they didn't daven, they wouldn't live?! It's not fair for the cohen to be
punished for someone else's sins! Like if Tuvia sinned and Zigud got makkot! Or
in the case of Shechem, when his whole city got destroyed for his sin!
Answer:
An elder said in the name of Rava that it was because the cohanim should have
davened HaShem for mercy on the people, but they didn't. (So they were
responsible).
-This is like the
story of the guy who was eaten by a lion 4 parsaot from R' Yehoshua ben Levi,
and Eliyahu HaNavi didn't speak to him for 3 days because of it ( because R'
Yehoshua ben levi should have davened for the man!)
Statement: R' Yehuda says in the name of Rav- the
curse of a talmid chacham, even if it is for no reason, it will come true.
Question: From where do we know this?
Answer: From the story of Achitofel
That when David Hamelech dug for the Beit Hamikdash in
Shitin, water started coming up from the ground and it was going to flood the
world! So he asked, can I write shem HaShem on a piece of pottery and throw it
in so that the waters will calm down? No one responded. So he exclaimed, if
anyone knows the answer and is just not answering me, they should choke to
death! Achitofel said, to make peace between just one man and wife we put shem
HaShem on paper for sota, so kal v'chomer to save the whole world we should be
able to do the same! So David did it, and the waters calmed. But after that, Achitofel
choked to death because David Hamelech had made that curse on him
Statement: R' Abahu says- the curse of a Chacham,
even if it is made on a condition, comes true.
Question: From where do we know this?
Answer: From the story of Eili. When HaShem came to
Shmuel in dreams about Eili's family, Eili said to Shmuel you should tell me
everything, or these things will happen to you! And even though Shmuel told
Eili the dreams right after- the same came true for Shmuel- that his sons
turned away from him.
Amud Bet
Statement: R' Yehuda says in the name of Rav- If
someone is banned on a condition, you still have to annul it (does not go away
on its own).
Question: From where do we know this?
Answer: From Yehuda- as the pasuk says "I guarantee I'm
going to bring back Binyamin"... and I'll suffer whatever I have to if I
don't bring him back.
Question: R' Shimon Bar Nachmeini says in the name of R'
Yochanan- What is the meaning of the Moshe's bracha- "May Reuven
live...and this is for Yehuda"
Answer: All of the 40 years that bnai yisrael were in the
midbar, the bones of Yehuda were rattling in the box, until Moshe davened that
Yehuda should be forgiven. Moshe asked, who set the example for Reuven to admit
he was doing wrong? Yehuda! From the story with Tamar-- so HaShem listened to
Moshe, and Yehuda's limbs settled down. But still, Yehuda wasn't being let in
to the yeshiva in shamayim, ,so Moshe davened more, and he got there. But
Yehuda still wasn't able to learn with the rabanim up there. Moshe davened
more, and so the pasuk says "yadav rav lo". But he still couldn't
answer questions, so he davened, and the pasuk of "v'ezer mitzarav"
proves that he got there.
Question: Do you get out of the Ir Miklat when all of them
die, or just one?
Answer: If someone has their final judgement between cohanim
gedolim, you're there forever. But if you only need one, let him go out with
one of the other guys.
Question: No, but what if there aren't any of those either?
Mishna:
If one gets a gmar din but before he gets to galut the cohen
gadol dies, he is exempt from galut. If the cohen gadol dies before he gets a
gmar din, they appoint a new cohen gadol in his place, and after the gmar din,
he can only return from galut once the second cohen gadol dies. If one gets a
gmar din during a time that there's no cohen gadol, or one who inadvertently
killed a cohen gadol, or a cohen gadol who inadvertently killed, the killer can
never leave galut.
He can never leave the Ir Miklat- not to testify for a
mitzvah, nor to testify for a monetary case, nor to testify in a capital crime
case. Even if Yisrael needs him to save them or even if he is the chief general
like Yoav ben Tzeruya, he can never leave galut- As the pasuk uses the word
"shama", teaching that there he will live and die and be buried.
Just as the city gives refuge to the killer, so does it's
techum, surrounding the city for 2000 feet.
If a killer leaves the techum and the goel hadam finds him,
R' Yosi HaGlili says that it's a mitzvah for the goel hadam to kill him, and
mutar for anyone else to kill him. R' Akiva says that it's permitted (not
mitzvah) for the goel hadam to kill him, but any other person who kills him is
liable for death for doing so..
Gemara:
Question: What's the reason? (That a person is exempt
from galut if the cohen gadol dies after his sentence)
Answer: Abaye says it's a kal v'chomer-- If someone
who is in galut when a cohen gadol dies gets to leave, then for someone who
hasn't gone to galut yet, all the more so he should not go into galut!
Question: But perhaps the person who has been in
galut already has received atonement for his sins there, and so when the cohen
gadol dies he can be freed! But for someone who has not gone to galut yet at
all?
Attack: Is it really the galut that atones? It's the
death of the cohen gadol that atones!
Case of gmar din when there's no cohen gadol:
Question: From where is this derived?
Answer: R' Kahana says, the pasuk writes that the
inadvertent killer should stay in the Ir Miklat until the cohen gadol dies who
was annointed. Its not the killer that anoints the cohen gadol, rather it
refers to the cohen gadol who was anointed in the killer's days (once he became
a killer).
Question: What should the cohen gadol have done?
Answer: He should've davened that you shouldn';t have
to go to Ir Miklat.
Statement: Abaya says, We hold that if someone dies
right after they get their gmar din to go into galut, they bury his bones in
the Ir Miklat, as the pasuk says he dwells "in the land"= burial. If
he dies before cohen gadol dies, we bury him with his ancestors because pasuk
says he dwells in the land of his inheritance, meaning- he needs to be buried
there.
Statement: If you find out after someone's gmar din that the
cohen gadol was a ben grusha or ben chalutza (invalid),
R' Ami V.
R' Yitzchak Nafka
a) chad
amar: it's like the cohen died-- go free
b) chad
amer: No, he was never a cohen gadol, so there was never a cohen gadol so you can never go free!
This is the same argument as R' Eliezer V. R' Yehoshua, as
stated in the mishna- if a cohhen was serving in the beit hamikdash and during
the avoda he finds out he is a ben grusha or chalutza,
a) R'
Eliezer says all of his karbanot are pasul-- he was never a cohen
b) R'
Yehoshua says, the karbanos are fine.
Therefore, a1=b2, b1=a2
________________________________________________________________________
Question to consider:
The gemara on amud
alef discusses the cohen gadol's responsibility for the sins of the people of his generation . The gemara refutes the suggestion that the Cohen Gadol shouldn't
have to deal with inadvertent deaths during his service, but rather that he is
obligated to plea on behalf the people. Is this rule unique to a cohen gadol? Given that we do not have cohanim gedolim today, does some variation of this rule apply to our community leaders? Many of
us are familiar with the ma'amar chazal: "כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה". To what extent does this apply to an ordinary Jew? How much responsibility do we have over our fellow
Jews and how much are we expected to daven for their well-being?
Particularly because we no longer have one central Jewish figure, I think that is of utmost importance that each Jew take responsibility for each other. Davening is a way to try to help people without too much effort. In school, we say Tehillim everyday. We daven for the State of Israel and its soldiers, and for people who are sick. However, in addition to that, we say two prakim of Tehillim with no particular focus. I think that by saying this every day, we are davening for all of Am Yisrael.
ReplyDeleteTo add onto what Shana is saying, not only do we add teffilot, but our every day teffilot are for Am Yisrael. The entire davening, give or take a few teffilot, is written in the plural. Teffilah is also done betzibur, because we are a community(shoutout to Ellie Blanchard), and we are not about personal gains, but the betterment of the Jewish people as a whole.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shana. Since we don't have one person who is "assigned" to be responsible for the generation, we all need to step up and feel our individual responsibility for each and every person in Klal Yisrael. We have to act on this feeling by davening for people's well being, and we need to strengthen this feeling in any way possible, through saying tehillim or doing cheesed. We each have the responsibility to feel the connection to klal Yisrael and to keep everyone in mind whenever we do anything.
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with the three comments above, I do think that there is still a distinction between our davening for others and the Kohen Gadol's. While he was held liable if something happpened, as it was seen as his not putting enough effort and kavana into his davening, I think (though I am not HaShem and I can't know)that we are not held liable if our tefilot do not "work." We must, however, do our hishtadlut and still try to daven for others, even if we don't see our tefilot answered in the way that we had hoped would occur.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shana, I think that we don’t have someone nowadays that is like a Kohen Gadol so we need to take on that responsibility and be one community for each other. We must daven for not only ourselves, but all Jews as a whole like when we daven for Israel, which was mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that this concept applies only to a kohein gadol. In fact, the Gemara continues with a story about a man who was killed by a lion very close to Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi's house, and R' Yehoshua is held somewhat responsible for that death, because he was a tzaddik and should have davened to prevent that from happening. I agree with what has been said above that we all have a responsibility to daven for each other, as the power of a tefillah on behalf of another Jew is immeasurable. However, I do think that the concept of being held responsible for tragedies because one didn't daven hard enough is a responsibility and expectation that falls specifically on the great tzaddikim in each generation.
ReplyDeleteI think that pleaing on behalf of the people is still happening today, although not as much as the times in the Beis HaMikdash because we do not have a direct connection to God via karbanot. Today, for example, the chazan during Yom Kippur and Kohanim during Bircat Kohanim involve us becoming closer to God and being forgiven by him. When we say kiddush, the person saying it has to keep in mind for all of us to be Yotzei in the mitzvah. These instances are times when other people are davening for us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all the comments above, but I think Chana raises a good point. I do think that we are all responsible for each other, and a lot of our tefilot are written as "forgive us", as opposed to "forgive me"'s to teach this point. It is essential that we all daven for each other, and help each other. However, I think that as much as we daven for each other, a lot of what we are saying is for ourselves, to teach us to be a part of a community, and to care for other people, but, if we do not have kavana in what we say, it does not have the same effect as the Kohen Gadol. Even just the fact that his tefilah is compared to all of klal yisroel's tefilot now, shows the power of his tefilah and how much of an effect it had. He is one person, and if one person in klal yisroel does not daven as it does not have the same effect, so while I think it is important, and helpful in different ways to daven to Hashem (even if it is just for us to understand that we must all care for each other, and has no real effect, which I don't believe is true,) it is still different then the effect of the Kohen Gadol's tefilah.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important for each and every Jew to daven for one another. This is emphasized by the fact that the shemonah esrei is in the plural. I always wondered why such a seemingly personal prayer is in the plural? Isn't it our own time to just focus on Hashem and me? I think that the shemonah esrei's being in the plural teaches us the importance of davening for others. Even in our personal tefillot we should always be thinking of the whole Jewish people. Tefillah is meant, according to some opinions, for growth and not to change Hashem's opinion, as it is written “The Eternal of Israel will
ReplyDeletenot lie or change his mind, for He is not a man that changes his mind” (I
Samuel 15:29) Praying for others is essential because it helps us grow into a stronger and more united nation. We are responsible for helping strengthen out nation and growing spiritually.
I believe that כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה applies to every single Jew, but in a different way than how it applies to our leaders or Cohanim, and Cohanim Gedolim. As Jews, we are part of a nation, and we must look out for each other if we ever find a situation where another Jew needs help. But, I think that for leaders, their responsibility is to look out for their community/nation constantly, so they should be davening for them more often. Therefore, if someone is sent to exile, a Cohen Gadol is slightly responsible because he did not daven for them enough.
ReplyDeleteIn last week's daf, it said that a Rabbi is punished and exiled if one of his students is exiled. This implies that כל ישראל ערבים זה לזה applies not only to Cohen Gadol's, but to all leaders. For ordinary Jews, we have the concept of first giving tzedakah to people in our own community, and then other Jews before we look outside for needy causes to doante to. This shows that Jews are responsible for eachother.
ReplyDeleteThere is a difference between davening for others and the Kohen Gadol's requirement to daven for others since we are most likely not being punished in the typical fashion for others actions. Yet, I feel as though through having communities, there is a greater potential for us to be influenced to sin as well, which is our punishment. I view this in a similiar fashion as the "reasoning" for the commandment of lo tachmod. Many commentators say that we should not be jealous since it would lead us to kill or steal. So too here, we are responsible for the actions of others in our community since it might lead us to think thats okay and sin as well. There must be some sort of responsibility.
ReplyDelete