Author: Rabbi Milder

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Torah Riddles Test #163

2.       Question: The Shulchan Aruch (Even HaEzer 6:1) says that if a kohen marries a safek chalutza he does not have to divorce her. Why is she any better than a woman who was only given a divorce paper as a chumra (acting strictly) though there was only a rumor that she was even married to a previous guy who she was arranged to marry, even though it is evident that she was not really married, she is still forbidden now to marry a kohen, one is an actual doubt where there might be rabbinic prohibition but still permitted and the other is totally permissible but is forbidden?!

Background:

a.       A safek chalutza is a woman who is in doubt whether she needs to perform the act of chalitza to her brother-in-law after her husband died and the child she gave birth to died within thirty days of birth so there is a doubt if he would have lived or not.

b.       A kohen cannot marry a divorced woman and is forbidden to a chalutza on a rabbinic level because it looks like a divorce, so when in doubt rabbinically we are lenient, however if nothing really happened and the divorce is just a chumra then certainly a kohen should be able to marry her?!

 Answer: It’s all based on rumors. People will say the kohen married a safek chalutza therefore it is permitted because we are lenient when in doubt. But by the get lichumra people will say she was really married previously and this is actually a real divorce so the kohen should not be marrying her in order not to look like he is doing something wrong. Similarly in the next si’if it says that a girl before the age of 12 who was married off by her mother or siblings because her father died and she annulled her marriage before she was 12, can still marry a kohen when she gets older because people will say she did mi’un not divorce even if he did divorce her and she did mi’un afterwards then people will say she did mi’un and the marriage and divorce never counted.

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Torah Riddles Test #162

1.       Question: Why does the Pnei Yehoshua say that a person who is a mamzer (illegitimate) based on a majority is permitted because he is still only considered a questionable mamzer but though we say that orlah (a tree grown within the past 4 years) outside of Israel is permitted if we are in doubt about how old it is but if there is a majority, we treat the tree as definite orlah?

Background:

a.       The power of majority neither has the ability to make something considered definite nor is it just a doubt in reality since it seems to clarify the matter one way or because the Torah just says we rely on the majority.

b.      The halacha is that only a definite mamzer is forbidden but by orlah the halacha is that anything in doubt is permitted because it is a halacha liMoshe miSinai.

  Answer: By mamzer since the halacha is that a definite mamzer is forbidden and since a majority is not definite, the Pnei Yehoshua holds he is not a definite mamzer and is automatically permitted. But by orlah the halacha is that outside of Israel a doubt is permitted for the halacha liMoshe miSinai says that a doubt is permitted and definite is forbidden, which implies from the language that for the most part orlah in doubt is permissible, therefore since this case is a majority and not a doubt then automatically it is forbidden.

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Sefer Chofetz Chaim chapter 7, halacha 2 continued

Even though there is compelling evidence that the lashon hara heard is definitely true you still can’t decide that it is for sure true without doing you own investigation even if the person being spoken about is right there in the room and stayed quiet. That is no indication whether what is said is true or not. Maybe the person decided it’s better to stay silent then to exacerbate a fight or he thought there is no point speaking up because no one will believe him anyway.

A proof to the ffact that silence is not an admission when it comes to lashon hara is from a halacha in Shulchan Aruch (Even HaEzer 178:9) that if one witness testifies in court that a woman was adulterous and the husband believes him as two witnesses then he should be concerned and divorce because he has a right to make himself forbidden to her. But we don’t absolutely believe this one witness to cause her to lose her kesuba even though a woman proven to be adulterous does lose her kesuba. Also, if he doesn’t trust what the one witness said he doesn’t have to divorce his wife, even if his wife was silent when the claims were laid out against her. Even according to the Maharshal brought down in the Beis Shmuel there who says her silence is an admission that’s only in this case where such a claim deserves an answer if not true since it has such severe repercussions but in general an insult or claim does not have to be answered, in fact the gemara in Chullin 89a says that the world is worth being in existence because of those who are quiet when an argument ensues.

So if a single person who testifies in court of such a serious matter as adultery, which if he is lying he is putting his whole integrity on the line, destroying the life of this woman, and having her husband divorce, and she was quiet but still the Shulchan Aruch says we can’t decisively believe what he said, all the more so anyone else who speaks lashon hara even if he has the Chutzpah to say it in front of the victim that still does not give the listeners a right to believe it. Why should you believe a bad person who does the sin if lashon hara over the assumed kosher status of the one spoken about?! Even if he had a right to speak to warn others of a possible threat still those listening must only be concerned and investigate.

Furthermore, even if the victim being spoken about is a person who always speaks up and defends himself against any attack, like for example someone like President Trump, but this time he is quiet still that is not an indication that what was said was true because there can be any number of reasons of why he was quiet as stated earlier. The Rema (Even HaEzer 2:4) says that if A person was called a mamzer/bastard to his face and was quiet that is not an admission and even if he was called a mamzer/bastard and he defended himself then right afterwards was called a challal/illegitimate kohen and was silent that still isn’t an admission. It makes no difference whether it was claimed in a heated argument or not, and if it wasn’t during an argument then the best people can do is just be suspicious and do research if need like for shidduch purposes, etc.

The Chofetz Chaim concludes in his footnote that all this is obvious but he feels he spell it out so that people won’t people tricked by their yetzer hara/evil inclination to believe any slander no matter how compelling the initial evidence is, without an investigation.

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Vayechi – Ben Porat Yosef

This dvar Torah is dedicated in memory of my rebbe, HaGaon HaRav Avraham ben Tzvi Mordechai Kanarek, zecher tzadik kadosh livracha who passed away this past week on the 14th of Teves. Yehi zichro baruch!

In Vayechi, the last Torah portion of the Book of Breishis, Yaakov gives each of his sons a blessing which, if you read them carefully, you will find that Yaakov really highlighted the unique traits that each brother was born with and developed as he grew up, as well as providing a peek into the future with specific prophecies for each brother.

About Yosef, Yaakov began by saying (Breishis 49:22):

A charming son is Yoseph, a son charming to the eye; [of the] women, [each one] strode along to see him. כבבֵּ֤ן פֹּרָת֙ יוֹסֵ֔ף בֵּ֥ן פֹּרָ֖ת עֲלֵי־עָ֑יִן בָּנ֕וֹת צָֽעֲדָ֖ה עֲלֵי־שֽׁוּר:

The Medrish Rabba, as explained by the Matnas Kehuna, gives an eye opening  depiction behind the beginning of Yaakov’s blessing to Yosef. With a “play on words” of פֹּרָת֙  the Medrish says that this word describes 6 things about Yosef: (1) Yosef broke the brotherly pact he had with his brothers by telling his father bad news about them. (2)  The brothers violated their side of the deal by selling him to Yishmaelim (Arab merchants). (3) Yosef broke away from his master’s wife by not listening to her. (4) She betrayed Yosef by sending him to jail. Rebbe Abin said  that he acquired a great and exulted position through the dreams of the (5) fruit, i.e. grain, and the (6) cows that he interpreted for Pharaoh. About all these things it writes, “And the maidservants… drew near” (Breishis 33:6). This thing He said to him, ‘it is upon Me to pay you for that eye.’ “[Each one] strode along to see him.” It happened that when Yosef went out to rule over Egypt the princesses were staring at him from between the lattices and they threw rings, bracelets, and necklaces at him in order to get him to look up and stare at them, nevertheless, he did not stare at them. Hashem said to Yosef, ‘You did not lift your eyes and stare at them, I swear that I will give your daughters an amount in the Torah, referring to a measure of a parsha. The section that talked about the laws of a daughter inheriting where there is no son was said because of the daughters of Tzelaphchad, the son of Chefer, from the tribe of Yosef. (Click here for Hebrew text.)

The Medrish describes in brief all the trials and tribulations Yosef went through with the quarrels between him and his brothers, ultimately being sold into slavery and then being betrayed by his master’s wife and thrown in jail. He had every excuse to draw attention to himself in order to boost his confidence. Besides, he knew he was good looking as the pasuk and Rashi recounts, “’And Joseph had handsome features’: As soon as Joseph found himself [in the position of] ruler, he began eating and drinking and curling his hair” (Breishis 39:6). Still in all, he did not give in to the temptation of the Egyptian princesses who were trying to entice him to notice them.

But if you think about it, what was the big deal? Yosef was known as Yosef Hatzadik, the righteous one, for overcoming the temptations presented by Potiphar’s wife. He had his father’s face embedded in his mind to do no evil. He remembered all of his father’s teachings and lived by them day in and day out, never forgetting that Hashem runs the world. So what was the big deal about Yosef not looking up when these ladies were trying to get his attention?

We see from here how powerful the drive to be noticed is. The temptation to be seen and acknowledged is so great that even someone on the level of Yosef Hatzadik, could have fallen to temptation and therefore Hashem rewarded him measure for measure for ignoring the attention the princesses were trying to give him instead his great granddaughters got eternal attention from the Torah as a whole section of the Torah was learnt because of them, all in the merit of Yosef staying focused on task and not giving into the temptation of being noticed by the Egyptian princesses.

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Sefer Chofetz Chaim chapter 7 halacha 1 and part of 2

We can’t be duped into believing that lashon hara is believable just because it was said in a group or in front of the victim’s face, or if a person claims he would say it in the victim’s face. This gain of trust is the trick of trust is the trick of the yetzer hara, evil inclination because why should the speaker of lashon hara be more trusted and believed just because it seems like it makes sense since why would he stick out his neck and claim something in a group or in the guy’s face if it is not true, but on the other hand this guy being talked about was assumed to be a good upstanding, trusted character until now so how can we decide he isn’t just based on word of mouth of someone else. Even testimony of one witness in court, which is a stronger reason to trust his word is only believable to cause the litigant to swear for some monetary matters, nothing more than that. You are only allowed to be concerned and investigate the matter there is no reason to believe what is heard no matter how believable it sounds and seems to be until you investigate and know for sure it is true. Even if the person who says it can make an excuse that of course what I am saying must be true because why would I say it to his face or in a crowd, even though that isn’t a good excuse to speak lashon hara but it is certainly not a good excuse to accept lashon hara because the people listening still don’t really know if it is true or not.

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Vayigash – Career of the Righteous


After Yosef revealed himself to his brothers, he brought them down with their father and rest of the family to sojourn in Egypt, specifically in the land of Goshen. “Yosef said to his brothers and to his father’s household, ‘I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and I will say to him, my brothers and my father’s household who were in the land of Canaan have come to me. The men are shepherds, for they were [always] owners of livestock, and their flocks and their cattle and all they have they have brought’” (Breishis 46:31, 32).

Why were the brothers shepherds and why does it seem that many of the major Jewish leaders throughout Tanach were shepherds at some point in time?

Rabbeinu Bachye enlightens us with a fascinating answer. He begins by saying that Yosef was emphasizing that the brothers were shepherds of their own flock so that it would not be misunderstood and thought that they tended others’ sheep, being in the business of investments. That is why Yosef added: “for they were [always] owners of livestock;” to inform everyone that the sheep did not belong to others, but were their own, for they were very wealthy. The reason why the brothers chose this profession, which was also the profession of their forefathers, was twofold:

  1. There was tremendous profit in wool, milk, and offspring. It also doesn’t require a lot of great toil, and is without sin. About this King Shlomo said, “Know well the condition of your flocks; give your attention to the herds” (Mishlei 27:23).
  2. The brothers knew that they and their offspring would be exiled to Egypt and because the Egyptians worshiped the form of a sheep, the brothers therefore took upon this profession so that their descendants would accustom themselves to it and the worshiping of sheep would be foreign to them.

We also find that most of the righteous and prophets were shepherds. We find by Hevel, “Behold Hevel was a shepherd of sheep” (Breishis 4:2). So too Moshe: “And Moshe was a shepherd” (Shemos 3:1). So was the prophet Shmuel, as well as King Shaul, and King Dovid; they were all shepherds. The reason they chose to be shepherds were in order to stay away from populated areas since many sins stem from being among people. For example: lashon hara and rechilus (slander and gossiping), swearing falsely, inappropriate relationships, stealing, and extortion. The more one stays away from people, the easier he escapes the trap of sin. (Click here for Hebrew text.)
It would seem that besides being an easy and affluent job, being a shepherd seems to be an honest job that can keep one out of trouble. The brothers had the impeccable idea and deep insight into human dynamic that by going into this profession they would create a habit inside their family of treating sheep as mere animals that can be controlled and manipulated for business purposes. By accustoming themselves to treating them as their own flock, which is guided by them, it created a sense of reality which made it virtually impossible for their descendants to be lured into the idolatrous tendencies of the Egyptians that viewed sheep as gods.

It would also seem that other righteous people and prophets used this profession to create a habit in order to distance oneself from sin, for it surely wasn’t something that they did their entire lives. For Moshe Rabbeinu, the prophet Shmuel, King Shaul, and King Dovid  weren’t shepherds, away from civilization, their entire lives since each of them was a leader in their generation! It would seem that by just going into this profession, it puts one in a position to avoid all these sins, as it will accustom a person to stay distant from those sins even when they are forced to go into public office and handle a wide array of people. Those years of being a shepherd built up the fortitude and habit in each one of them to appreciate and imbibe the sense to stay away from those sins so that when they came into the public spotlight, they were sensitive to these issues and knew how to act accordingly for the most part.

We see from here how important it is to choose a clean and honest profession because it can make such an impact on a person which will create habits and have ramifications on how he and even his future descendants will act, and G-D forbid the opposite could be true as well, that choosing a dishonest and sleezy profession might have a very negative impact on you and your family.

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Torah Riddles Test #161

2.       Question: Whether it is on a Torah level or Rabbinic level why is it absolutely permitted to nullify a prohibition by accident though on purpose it is forbidden since either way it is inevitable (psik reisha) that it is nullified and a psik reisha is forbidden even if done without intent?

Background:

A.      The issue with nullifying a prohibition is not taking the prohibition seriously.

 Answer: If not taking the prohibition seriously is the problem then if you nullify it by accident then the problem doesn’t apply even if the results are inevitable since the intent was never to make light of the prohibition.

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Torah Riddles Test #160

1.       Question: Why is it forbidden to stoke the coals under the fire of a pot of food that belongs to a non-Jew lest it might have meat and milk mixed in the walls of the pot which you would inadvertently be cooking but you are able to close a chest on Shabbos which might have flies in it and inadvertently trap them on Shabbos which is normally forbidden?

Background:

A.      Rebbe Akiva Aiger on the Rema in Yoreh Deah 87:6 says that though normally doing something without intent is permissible but that’s only if there is a doubt of whether something will go wrong in the future but in this case the doubt of whether there is meat and milk mixed in the walls of the pot is a question of what happened in the past so if the mixture of meat and milk is there then it is inevitable (psik reisha) that a prohibition of cooking meat and milk together would happen.

B.      However, the same holds true for the flies in the chest. If they are there, then it happened already, so it is inevitable that if you lock the chest on Shabbos you will be trapping them, though that is not your intent.

C.      Shabbos requires a meleches machsheves, and act of craftmanship, or thought put into it, in order for it to be prohibited.

Answer: If one does not know whether the flies are really in the chest or not then he is lacking meleches machsheves, so even if it is a psik reisha, inevitable, that if the flies would be there, they would be trapped but since you don’t know if they are there and all you are doing is locking the chest then you really aren’t trapping. But whether you intend to cook milk and meat or not by stoking the coals, it is a psik reisha that forbidden cooking would happen if the prohibition is therefore you can’t do it.

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Miketz – Unanimous Leadership

This year is very unique! It is rare that Shabbos Chanukah does not land on the Torah portion of Miketz and we don’t need to read the special haftorah for Chanukah. This week’s haftorah is taken from Melachim Alef and is the famous story of King Shlomo, the two women who laid claim to the baby and his advice to split the baby in half. This took place the next day after he woke up from his dream (which is a connection to the Torah portion where Pharaoh had his dreams of plenty and famine), where Hashem promised him He would grant him anything he asked for.  King Shlomo asked for wisdom in order to judge right from wrong. Hashem granted him intellect and wisdom to which there was no other, and there will never be another like it in the future.  

The next day  King Shlomo’s first test occurred when two ladies came into his court, each one claiming they were the mother of the living baby, and that the other’s baby had passed away. “And the king said, ‘Fetch me a sword.’ And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, ‘Divide the living child in two, and give half to  one, and half to the other.’ And the woman whose son (was) the live one, said to the king, for her compassion was aroused for her son, and she said, ‘O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means slay him.’ But the other said, ‘Let it be neither mine nor yours, divide (it).’ And the king answered and said, ‘Give her the living child, and by no means slay him: she (is) his mother.’ And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king; for they saw that the wisdom of God (was) in him to do judgment” (Melachim Alef 3:24-28).

The Yalkut Shimone says “in the name of Rebbe Shmuel bar Nachmani that King Shlomo’s lips started moving with wisdom and he said that Hashem really wanted this case to one day occur and that is why He created man in pairs, two eyes, two ears, two nostrils, two hands, and two legs. He began to decree that the child should be cut in half… when his advisors saw what was happening, they said, ‘Woe to you, O land whose king is a lad’ (Koheles 10:16), if he would not be a lad (between the age of 12-13 at the time) he would not have done this. When he said, ‘Give her the living child, and by no means slay him,’ they started to say, ‘Fortunate are you, O land, whose king is the son of nobles’ (Koheles 10:17).” (Click here for Hebrew text.)

The Haftorah concludes with the very next pasuk, “And King Shlomo was king over all Israel” (Melachim Alef 4:1). The Radak says that when the nation heard the judgement the king had judged they were afraid to do anything wrong even in secret for they saw that with all his wisdom justice will come out just as what happened in this case. The reason why this pasuk states the obvious that King Shlomo was king over all of Israel is because Dovid, his father, did not rule over all of Israel at the beginning of his reign, therefore the pasuk says here that Shlomo ruled over all of Israel, no one questioned his reign since they saw the wisdom of Elokim (G-D) within him to exact proper judgement. (Click here for Hebrew text.)

What made King Shlomo more convincing than his father, King Dovid, to be accepted by all from the onset of his reign? King Dovid was appointed by Hashem through the prophet Shmuel, and surely he had Divine Revelation, Ruach HaKodesh, for Chaza”l say King Dovid’s whole work of Tehillim (Psalms) was written with Ruach HaKodesh. Furthermore, King Dovid proved to be a brave and powerful ruler who  defended his country against the onslaught of any enemy like when he killed the giant, Goliath, and victoriously battling the Plishtim. So why wasn’t he instantaneously accepted as king over Israel but his son, Shlomo, who was perceived, at least from the outside, as being appointed king by his father, not directly by Hashem, though it was in fact by Divine appointment, he was still pretty much immediately accepted by the entire nation?

The Radak is telling us that though G-D sent the prophet Shmuel to anoint King Dovid as king, King Dovid was a mighty warrior, who protected the nation from the enemy, and he even had Ruach HaKodesh, Divine Revelation. But even so, to be immediately accepted by everyone, the nation expects the king to rule by Divine wisdom, and because King Shlomo was able to prove that he could lead the people and enforce proper judgement using what people could perceive as being wisdom directly from Hashem, he was therefore unanimously accepted as the king of Israel.

In a similar vein we find in this week’s Torah portion that Yosef was accepted by Pharaoh and all of Egypt as Second in Command over the entire country because he proved he had Divine wisdom by interpreting Pharaohs dreams in a way which seemed palpable, to the degree that the Ramban says that Pharaoh and his advisors felt as if the dreams were already fulfilled. The Radak there says that Yosef suggested to Pharaoh that he should appoint a wise and insightful person over Egypt, and Pharaoh appointed him because his wisdom was greater than all of the magicians and advisor. This must have been, as Pharaoh attested, because of the Spirit of the Lord, Ruach Elokim, which Yosef possessed. Pharaoh therefore gave Yosef the leadership in order to lead according to his intellect. (Click here for Hebrew text.)

We see from here that people are able to detect when a person has Divine Wisdom that he uses for the betterment of the country.  Everyone will be completely accepting to immediately subjugate themselves and trust the person who possesses and uses this type of intellect as their leader with unwavering awe and dedication. This defines a leader with unanimous leadership!

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Sefer Chofetz Chaim chapter 6, halacha 11 cont. and halacha 12

The Chofetz Chaim says in halacha 11 that the extent of not accepting lashon hara is that you can’t hate them in your heart even if you hear one witness testify in court. That can only enforce a vow in court but no one can believe the claim against someone even in court. Certainly, to no pay up any obligation because of the rumors you heard is absolutely forbidden, for example if there are rumors that a bodyguard for an important person stole thousands of dollars that does not mean he should stop getting a salary. He must be paid until an investigation proves he’s guilty. It doesn’t make a difference how small or big of a sin the rumors speak about whether it’s incest, murder or anything else, you can only be concerned and investigate to seek out the truth while taking proper defensive action but you can’t hold anything in your heart against the person. The Chofetz Chaim in a footnote point out a prevalent problem that occurred in his day and might even continue even today where there are people in the community who are known to be poor and are supported by tzedaka. If someone spreads rumors that they are really doing this as an act just to shnoor from others but they don’t really need the money that does not mean anyone can just give less them what they normally give until it’s proven that the allegations are correct. Until then he has an assumption of being poor and just as we don’t require any stranger who asks for money to prove he needs it so to this person who we assumed until now need financial help should not be denied just based on rumors.

The Chofetz Chaim concludes the 6th chapter in halacha 12 by saying that if anyone did accept lashon hara as truth then he must put in all his effort to change his mind and once he does that then it’s as if he never sinned, just as when a thief returns what he stole it’s as if he didn’t steal. Of course he must admit his wrong doing, video, and accept upon himself to never do it again like any other sin that require the proper repentance process. This is all that has to be done if he just accepted what he hears and didn’t tell anyone but if he told others then he must either ask forgiveness from whom he spoke about or (which might be a better choice, according to Rav Yisrael Salanter in order to not make the person feel bad when he finds out lashon hara was spoken about him) he should convince those he spoke to that what he said was false.