Archive for the ‘Tosfos’ Category

Women in Judaism, mitzvos, and counting Sefira

Tosfos explain that Sefiras Ha’Omer is a rabbinical law, in memory of the destruction of the Beis HaMikdash. The reason this is so is that the pasuk says: וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה שֶׁבַע שַׁבָּתוֹת תְּמִימֹת תִּהְיֶינָה – And you shall count for yourselves, from the morrow of the rest day, from the day you bring the omer as a wave offering seven weeks; they shall be complete. (23:15) – that is to say that we start counting from when the Korban Omer is brought.

The Rambam disagrees, and says it is a commandment directly from the Torah to count today. Looking at the above pasuk, it seems difficult to suggest this – so how can we say there is a mitzva today to count the Sefira?

R’ Yaakov Minkus explains that there are two reasons for counting Sefira.

Tosfos say that the Sefira marks the beginning of the harvest cycle. Pesach marks the beginning, and is called ראש הקציר – the head of the harvest. It was marked through the Korban Omer, and allowed the consumption of new grain within the Beis HaMikdash. Shavuos marks the end, and is called חג הקציר  – the celebration of the harvest. It was marked through the Shtei HaLechem, which allowed the consumption of all new produce, everywhere.

The Sefira is the process of enabling produce. We return the first of the harvest, the beginning, to Hashem. The Korban Omer exists to show our fealty and identity with Hashem. The Sefira results from this.

The Rambam explains that the pasuk’s instruction is to count מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת עֹמֶר – from the day, that is to say, not from the Korban. So what is it we are counting from today then?

The Sefer HaChinuch teaches that counting Sefira takes us to Har Sinai. It is easy to lose track, and think of Pesach as a standalone day where we celebrate our liberation – it is not so. Pesach was the sole means by which we could get to Shavuos and Har Sinai.

Shavuos, and as a result, Har Sinai, are annual occurrences. They occur without the Korban Omer – this is how it can still be a mitzva to count Sefira. We count מִמָּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת  – from after Pesach, not the Korban itself.

When a person makes a bracha, they say אשר קדשנו במצותיו, וצונו. Women have the first part, the אשר קדשנו במצותיו, but not the second, וצונו. Har Sinai gave us the Torah and it’s 613 commandments in a general sense. The women accepted the Torah in a general sense too. Although women are exempt from many mitzvos, which is to say they don’t have to, it does not mean they cannot grow from their performance –this is קדשנו. A non-Jew who performs a mitzva does not have either part of the bracha, and cannot grow from the performance of a mitzva.

This is the difference between Pesach and Shavuos. Pesach is full of mitzvos, instructions. The Korban Pesach, circumcision, the Seder we do nowadays. In performing Hashem’s instructions, we became His people, subjugated to Him. This is all וצונו. However, Sinai is Torah. This gave mitzvos a קדשנו – which women are also subject to. Sefira connects the אשר קדשנו במצותיו to the וצונו.

But the Sefira is not “just” to connect Pesach to Shavuos, the mitzvos to the Torah; but also, the other way around, Shavuos to Pesach. The first of the Ten Commandments is אָנֹכִי ה’ אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֲשֶׁר הוֹצֵאתִיךָ מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרַיִם מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים – (to know that) “I am the Lord, your God, Who took you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage”. How can the first (or any) commandment be faith?

The first command specifies that Hashem took us out of Egypt. Egpyt and faith are inextricably linked. We were not liberated from Egypt at all – we were transferred. In the same way we recognised that Hashem had taken us out of Egypt, that same Hashem was giving us the Torah, based on a belief in Him. Sinai’s eternity is based on having been taken out of Egypt, and in this way Sefira links Shavuos and Pesach, both backwards and forwards.

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Deserving Honor

ה. וַיְהִי בִישֻׁרוּן מֶלֶךְ בְּהִתְאַסֵּף רָאשֵׁי עָם יַחַד שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל

5. And He was King in Jeshurun, whenever the sum total of the people were gathered, and the tribes of Israel were together (Devarim 33:5)

This Pasuk teaches us that Moshe was appointed King of Yisroel, ‘בְּהִתְאַסֵּף רָאשֵׁי עָם’, after the Torah was given on Har Sinai.

In the Parsha this week, Yisro comes to Klal Yisroel in order to convert, slaughters a certain offering to Hashem, and makes a lavish feast. Rashi (18:12) says that Moshe didn’t sit and eat during the feast, rather he stood and served everyone.

The Meshech Chachmah asks, how was Moshe able to be forgo his honor by serving the guests? A Rav or Nassi can forgo their honor, but a King can never forgo their honor (see Kedushin 32b)? He answers that there is a Machlokes Tannaim in regards to when Yisro came to Klal Yisroel. One says before Matan Torah and one says after (could even be after the Hashkamas Hamishkan). If Yisro came before Matan Torah then we don’t even have a question because Moshe was only King after Matan Torah. But, if we say Yisro came after Matan Torah then our question stands and how was Moshe able to be Mochel his kovod? Thus the Meshech Chachmah has to answer that according to the one who holds Yisro came after Matan Torah, then the aforementioned Rashi doesn’t exist, that Moshe never served during the meal and he really sat and enjoyed like a King.

The Meam Loez gives a different answer. Gem. Sota 31b says that Agripas Hamelech used to read the Torah on Hakel standing up in the Bais Hamikdosh. Everyone knows that the King is allowed to sit, but Agripas would still stand. The Chachamim said that Agripas was absolutely right and righteous for standing in the Bais Hamikdosh. The Gemerah asks, but Agripas was a King, so how did he forgo his honor? The Gemarah answers that a Mitzvah is different. Meaning that since a Mitzvah was being done (Hakel) Agripas was able to forgo his honor for the sake of doing a mitzvah. Tosofos there asks that we know a King can’t be Mochel his Kovod from a Gem. in Kedushin 32b. There it retells the story how Rav Gamliel (a Nassi) served his guests at a certain Seudas Mitzvah. The Gemarah asks, how can he be Mochel? In which it answers a Nassi can be Mochel his Kovod and that only a King cannot be Mochel. There the Gemarah was dealing with serving his guests at a seudas mitzvah and the Gemarah says that a Nassi can be Mochel, but a King, even by a Seudas Mitzvah, isn’t allowed to be Mochel. So what is the Gemarah’s answer that a King can be Mochel his Kovod if he is doing a mitzvah if the Gemarah in Kiddushin clearly doesn’t hold that way? Tosofos answers that to accomplish a regular mitzvah the King wouldn’t be able to be Mochel his Kovod, whereas a mitzvah which involves the Shechina to come a King could be mochel. Therefore Agripas was able to stand up in the Bais Hamikdosh for the Shechina was there.

The very next Rashi in the aforementioned pasuk 18:12 says that when you eat at a meal with talmidei chachamim its as if you benefited from the ”Ziv Hashchina” (Maharsha says for Torah will be discussed at such a meal. For another reason see Gur Aryeh). Now we have a pashut answer. The meal Moshe was serving was a meal hosting many Talmidei Chachamim. Thus the Shechina was at the meal, (as Rashi pointed out) and even if we were to say that Yisro came after Matan Torah, Moshe could still be Mochel his Kovod for the sake of the Mitzvah which involves the Shechina. (Only question is, why wasn’t the Shechina by the meal of Rav Gamliel? There it was a Seudas Mitzvah with Talmidei  Chachamim and yet only a Nasi was able to be Mochel, but not a King? A bit of a Tzarich Iyun. This question could be why the Meshech Chachmah didn’t want to answer like the Meam Loez.)

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The Battle of Opinions

מקום הנחת נר חנוכה פתח הבית מבחוץ

(גמרה שבת כא:ב)

The Gemara says that the actual מצוה of lighting candles is to light them in the entrance of the house – the doorway.

Rashi says that even in a house with a courtyard one lights at the front door of his house, not the courtyard. Tosfos comments that a courtyard with two gates needs two menorahs. One at each gate – seemingly not at the ‘front doorway’ at all.

But the Gemara said ‘פתח’ – door, so although Tosfos say that the mitzva has nothing to do with a door, he also says that only in a house with no courtyard would one light at the door.

What’s is the basic logic that led Rashi and Tosfos to such opposite ideas?
They were arguing what the focal point of the statement in the Gemara was: Was itחוץ  (outside), to accomplish the mitzvah of publicising the miracle as the key goal or בית (the house) to accomplish להדליק as the key goal.

So according to Rashi you should light inside a house as the primary mitzva, but lighting at the door satisfies the secondary mitzva of publicising the event.
Tosfos is of the opposite opinion in both aspects. The primary function of lighting a menora is to publicise the event – and as such Tosfos says that one should light as close to the public as possible, and the בית aspect is secondary.

The Beis Halevi asks: According to the respective views regarding the meaning of ‘פתח’ – do you light inside of door, or outside?
Again Rashi and Tosfos have opposite opinions:
Tosfos says that it means inside of the courtyard door while Rashi says it means outside of the front door.
Their reasoning being as follows:

Rashi says that lighting inside a house is not public at all, thereby serving a house’s primary function, but if so then there is no Pirsumei Nisa; to achieve this, lighting must be done outside.
Tosfos says that it needs to be inside the courtyard, as an outside courtyard is the public domain. It also needs to be connected in some way to the בית the Gemara referenced, and be lit on private property.

The Pri Chadash asks a new question: What if a house has a door and a window, and the house has no courtyard – where would one light their menora?
Yet again Rashi and Tosfos have converse opinions. According to Tosfos you do it at the window which is following the idea of Pirsumei Nisa as a window is more public than at the door. However, Rashi uses the idea of בית and says it should be by the door.

Next question: What would happen if one lit in the courtyard of their house? – Tosfos says that one has fulfilled the mitzva l’chatchila (the way it’s meant to be), whereas Rashi says one would not be fulfilling the mitzva at all.

There are 2 ברכות – להדליק נר (the Bracha on the mitzva to light), and שעשה ניסים לאבותינו (the Bracha commemorating the miracle).
In conclusion there are two concepts: First, lighting like they lit. With the lighting, we commemorate the chanukas habayis (re-inauguration event) of removing the impure foreign elements from the Beis Hamikdash, Second, is remembering the great miracle.
The miracle is a symbol of the Yom Tov’s historical re-inauguration event, but the main goal was lighting the Menora itself.

The question is asked: Was it, in fact, the lighting or was lighting the Menora special because of the miracle that occurred, demonstrating G-D’s valuation of our actions?

If we follow Rashi’s reasoning, the primary mitzva is commemorating the re-inauguration, and the main goal is ‘להדליק נר של חנוכה’ in your house and to light inside. Publicizing the miracle and the miracle itself is only a symbol of the main event of inauguration and as such Pirsumei Nisa is secondary to the mitzvah of actually lighting the Menorah.

If we follow Tosfos’s reasoning, the miracle was the main event of Chanuka – the re-inauguration – so publicising is essential, and done as closely as possible to the public domain. There was a secondary part that the miracle itself came about through the lighting of the menora, so we satisfy that aspect of it and light a menora too.

Geshmack!

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Quantifying Rewards

There is a Tosfos in Sota 11a that quotes a Tosefta. The discussion there is about G-d’s kindness and the opening chapters of Shemos. It explains that Hashem punishes for up to 4 generations and rewards up to 2,000, a factor of 500:1 ie G-d rewards 500 times more than he punishes.

Miriam spoke Lashon Hara about Moshe Rabbenu, and got Tzaraas (mis-translated as leprosy) so was sent out the camp, but the Jews waited in the desert for a whole week until she got better before they moved on. And this is not just because it takes a week for someone with Tzaraas to get better, as there is no requirement to wait for their recovery. So why did they wait then?

The Tosfos says that the waiting for a week was a reward for what she did in this week’s Sidra:

“וַתֵּתַצַּב אֲחֹתוֹ מֵרָחֹק לְדֵעָה מַה יֵּעָשֶׂה לוֹ - His sister stood from afar, to know what would be done to him.” (2:14) – Some commentators point out that there are 7 words in this Pasuk, corresponding to each of the seven days they waited for her.

This is fine, but the comparison is superficial at best, how long did she wait already that they waited a week?

We can quantify this. There are 168 hours in a week ie they waited that many hours for her, and we established that G-d does kindness by a factor of up to 500. 168 divided by 500 is 0.3something or other, or a third, of an hour ie 20 minutes.

Miriam watched Moshe for 20 minutes!

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ראש חודש ניסן

This Weeks Parsha

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