Author: Rabbi Milder

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Sefer Chofetz Chaim conclusion of footnotes for chapter 6 halacha 5 finishing footnote 14 and 15 Conclusion of footnote 14

Continuing with what we have been discussing, off the topic of lashon hara, this time talking about gazing at women especially when they are immodest. The gemara in Bava Basra 57b says that one gaze at women as they are laundering their clothes in the river. And the gemara says if you could have taken a different route to where you want to go then you are wicked and the Rashbam adds that even if you were closing your eyes as you walked down the riverbank you are still wicked. The Chofetz Chaim asks why are they called wicked, how is it any different than walking by a place of idol worship where we poskined that if you aren’t planning on going there, just passing by to get to where you want to go, even if you could go some other way and you have no intent of benefiting from any sounds smells, or beautiful sights coming outvif the idolatrous place of worship then it’s permissible to pass by even if automatically you might get some pleasure which you are uninterested in getting. Even according to the Chochmas Adam quoted last week who says one should close his eyes, or at least squint, or close his ears, and or stuff is nostrils a bit so he cannot smell, then if he does that and walk by he is not considered wicked so why does the Rashbam consider him wicked in this case? The Chofetz Chaim answers that when it comes to stairing at women especially when dressed inappropriately one has to take extra precautions not to come to gaze at them because the yetzer hara, evil inclination is extra sneaky and strong to get you to sin. Tge lost for women is much stronger than any other lust, even if you say to yourself that you aren’t affected by it but the yetzer hara has his way of ensnaring any man and getting him to fall into a sinful trap. Therefore, extra precautions must be taken and if not then you are considered evil.

The Chofetz Chaim lends support to this concept from a gemara in Brachos 61a that says it’s better to walk behind a lion thatn in back of a woman and if you meet one on the road then quickly walk past her and move to the side. (Granted derech eretz kadma liTorah, and one must use proper manners to at least acknowledge any person, even a lady on the street with a greeting but then quickly walk past her and don’t linger, lest you might look upon her and begin to have inappropriate thoughts.)

There is a story about the Chofetz Chaim, in his late 90s a couple of years before he passed away he was in an inn overnight on his travels and at breakfast the waitress who was attending him and his accompaniment was wearing a shirt which was a above her elbows. When she left, he turned to his secretary and asked him if she thought he was an angel. He meant that even though he was at the ripe old age of upper 90s and he was a very righteous person, besides the fact it was only her elbows showing, still in all he was greatly concerned that maybe his evil inclinations will over power him and he’ll sin at least in his thoughts, so he wondered if she thought he was an angel who could not be effected by physical desires.

Footnote 15: Back to the laws of lashon hara, if a person cannot walk away from someone speaking lashon hara, neither can he rebuke him and it’s embarrassing to put his fingers into his ears then besides not believing a word spoken, and having no intent if enjoying what he is hearing, he should also sit there as a stone or as the Rabbeinu Yona says even should a look of disgust and if you don’t stay still as a stone then you are helping him commit the sin by somewhat giving credence and considered flattering a sinner which us a grave sin which makes one undeserving of having the Shechina, Hashem’s Holy Presence focus on him.

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Torah Riddles Test #139

 2.       Question: Why on Yom Kippur are you allowed to talk about what you are going to eat after the fast but one cannot talk about business on Shabbos?

Background:

A.      Both things are forbidden on that day. One cannot eat on Yom Kippur, and one cannot do business on Shabbos (or Yom Kippur).

B.      The Mishna Berura (307:1:1) says that the prohibition from the days of the Prophets against speaking about mundane things on Shabbos is that one is not allowed to speak on Shabbos about things he is forbidden to do on Shabbos since one has to feel as if all his work was completed by Shabbos, therefore the Rabbis enacted that one also cannot even talk about work which is forbidden to be done on Shabbos.

Answer: This prohibition just doesn’t apply to eating on Yom Kippur because one has no obligation to view himself as if he is satiated and has no need to eat on Yom Kippur, neither does fasting have anything to do with work, therefore there was no Rabbinic enactment on Yom Kippur prohibiting talking about eating after Yom Kippur (See Dirshu Mishna Berura 611:2:5:6, in back page 49).

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Torah Riddles Test #138

1.       Question: Why don’t we discontinue reading from the Torah or Megilas Koheles or Shir Hashirim on Shabbos just as we don’t blow shofar or read Megilas Esther on Shabbos?

Background:

A.      The reason why we don’t blow shofar or read megillah on Shabbos is because of a rabbinic enactment that if there is no eruv one might carry his shofar or megila four amos or more in the public domain in order to practice in front of a sage, who is an expert in the field.

B.      The obligation of reading the Torah on every Shabbos, as well as reading the Megilla of Koheles on the Shabbos of Sukkos and Shir Hashirim on the Shabbos of Pesach is an obligation on the tzibur, the entire community.

C.      Reading Megillas Esther and blowing shofar is an obligation on the individual.

Answer: If the obligation is incumbent on the congregation then there was no decree to discontinue the mitzva on Shabbos since the person doing it is probably and expert or trained enough to be sure not to carry the items in the public domain to practice. But an obligation on an individual, even if most of the time is done for them in a group, might still have various individuals try to fulfill the mitzvah themselves and therefore might practice in front of a rabbi beforehand to be sure they know what they are doing and so might come o care in the public domain on Shabbos (See Dirshu Mishna Berura 588:5:13:17).

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Sefer Chofetz Chaim chapter 6 note on the footnote 14 on halacha 5

The Chofetz Chaim went on a complete tangent off of lashon hara, to discuss in more detail the concept of unintentionally doing a prohibition in cases where you seemingly have no choice in the matter. He focuses on idolatry. Specifically the prohibition of benefiting from seeing idols or even there temples and services as well as listening to music sung or played at there services and the sweet smells that come from  those services. The Chochmas Adam seems to say that if a person does not close his eyes or his ears or his nostrils when passing by a place of idol worship, even if he has no intent of benefiting and this was let say the only way to get to work, it is still prohibited to go that way if you don’t close your eyes, nose, and/or ears because there is an automatic guarantee that he will be doing something wrong.

 The Chofetz Chaim disagreed on his premise that a person walking that way will automatically do something wrong because since he can potentially close his eyes, or at least squint so he can see where he is going without easily seeing what’saroind him, or stop up his nostrils to the point he can still breathe but cannot smell well, or put his finger in his ear is enough to get rid of the automatic wrongdoing notion. Though he does actively walk to the area of problem but his walking doesn’t combine with the passive sense of smelling, seeing or hearing if he does not want to benefit from it and had no intention of wanting to benefit from it, since the potential to avoid the forbidden thing is there, that makes it not automatic. However the Chofetz Chaim did say that let say the music is blasting so loud, or the smell is overwhelmingly sweetly pungent or it is right in front of you and you cannot avoid it by even potentially putting you fingers in your ears or squinting, or stopping up your nose with cotton or the like, then it is automatic and forbidden.    Also if a person didn’t have any hands or finger so had no way of potentially using them then the prohibition is also automatic so it would be a problem. In summary if you can potentially avoid something wrong even if you don’t but you truly don’t want to get any benefit from the wrong thing and you have no intention to enjoy it, even if it just automatically comes your way it is still not a prohibition though it is always best to avoid and go around it if possible.

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Netzavim/Vayelech – Eternal Unity

For Food for Thought in Spanish: Haga clic aquí para leer en español. Please share this with your Jewish Spanish speaking family, friends, and associates.

The Beginning of this week’s double portion of Netzavim and Vayelech begins by stating, “You are all standing this day before the Lord, your God the leaders of your tribes, your elders and your officers, every man of Israel,” (Devarim 27:9).

At the end of the first paragraph of the Medrish Tanchuma on this Torah portion, the medrish gives another interpretation of the first few words of the portion, “You are standing this day.”  Just as the day sometimes is bright and sometimes dark, so too you, when it is dark for you, in the future you will have an eternal light, as it and the children of Judah together; etc.” (Yirmiyahu 50:4). When they are all says, “and Hashem will be for you an eternal light” (Yeshayahu 60:19). When will this be? When all of you will be a singular society, as it says, “are alive, all of you, this day” (Devarim 4:4). It is the way of the world that when a person picks up a bundle of reeds it is not possible for anyone to break them all at once. But if you would pick up one reed at a time, even a baby can break it. And so you will find that the Jews will not be redeemed until they are a singular society, as it says, “In those days and in that time, says the Lord, the children of Israel shall come, they grouped together then they will be able to accept Hashem’s Holy Presence. (Click here for Hebrew text.)

The Medrish is depicting a time when all the Jews will unify together, but it sounds like true unification cannot come about unless it is for an ultimately permanent cause, i.e. the redemption of the Jewish people from exile with the coming of Moshiach, may he come speedily in our days. This will result in the Shechinah, The Holy Presence of Hashem, being focused permanently amongst us in our midst.

What constitutes deserving of redemption according to this medrish is unification, but the parable given to visualize the level of unification required is a lot different then what one would think should be. One would think that a better parable describing unification would be melding together myriads of particles of sand into one piece of glass, where everything is fused together as one. That is true unification! But it is not so, on the contrary glass is very fragile and easily breakable, meaning a utopia where everyone is exactly the same, all molded together in one melting pot is very fragile and unsustainable.  The message of the bundle of reeds is that Hashem wants every individual to remain unique, but with one purpose, to serve Hashem to the highest degree, which is beneficial to all of mankind. But only when each individual comes together with their own unique strengths and character for this one purpose will they be strong and unstoppable. Each individual alone is too weak to create this ultimate purpose, and it would seem that many individuals together are not strong enough to be able to create this unbreakable society, which is deserving of the eternal state of perfection. Only when we are all in it together will we be ultimately deserving of the final redemption, to constantly bask in Hashem’s Holy Presence, may we see the fruits of our yearning and labor speedily in our days!

We can take this message to heart as we enter into Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur when we say in our Shemone Esray at this time, “Let them all become a single society (aguda achas) to do Your will wholeheartedly.” An aguda, literally a bundle, is composed of several items bound together, like a lulav with the hadasim and aravos tied to it. In a humanistic sense, an aguda or society is made up of various diverse personalities, each of whom contributes his and her own best efforts to the common cause. Thus, we do not suggest that all human beings will be of identical stature, but that all will follow the lead of the Jewish people’s finest products in doing Hashem’s will.

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Torah Riddles Test #137

  Question: Why does the Machatzis Hashekel hold one can medicinally wash out his eye on Shabbos to prevent his whole body from aching but cannot do so on Yom Kippur?

Background:

A.      One may do something for severe medical purposes on Shabbos as long as it does not look like it is being done medically. For example, sucking on a hard candy if you have a sore throat.

B.      One of the prohibitions on Yom Kippur besides eating and drinking is washing or anointing for pleasure.

C.      In regards to melacha things aren’t prohibited on Yom Kippur any more than on Shabbos for the most part.

Answer: Since one cannot washout out his eye on Yom Kippur then even though it is permitted on Shabbos even for medicinal purposes in certain circumstances because it looks like it’s not for healing, nevertheless since you can’t do it for pleasure on Yom Kippur then it looks like you are doing it for healing, therefore it is prohibited (See Dirshu Mishna Berura 614:1:2:4).

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Torah Riddles Test #136

1.       Question: According to Rav Shlomo Zalman Aurbach, why can one say Shehecheyanu for himself and for others when blowing shofar or if everyone is eating the same new fruit, however when a group of people are putting on a new tallis on themselves, though one can make the blessing on the tallis for everyone, each one has to make their own shehecheyanu, so too, if people are sitting around the table eating different new fruits each one has to make their own shehecheyanu. What’s the difference?

Background:

A.      The Shehecheyanu on the shofar and tallis is on the joy of the mitzvah.

B.      The Shehecheyanu for the new fruits are for the joy upon reaching the time where they can eat that type of a fruit.

Answer: Everyone is equal when it comes to the joy of performing the mitzvah of listening to the shofar where as everyone who got a new tallis has his own personal joy of getting a new tallis so he has to make his own shehecheyanu blessing. Similarly, if a group of people are sitting around the table eating the same new fruit then they are getting the same enjoyment out of the new fruit where as if there was more than one new fruit on the table then each type would need its own shechecheyanu blessing to be said on it so one cannot say it for the other (See Dirshu Mishna Berura 585:2:5:13).

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Ki Savo – A Positive Look at Negativity

For Food for Thought in Spanish: Haga clic aquí para leer en español. Please share this with your Jewish Spanish speaking family, friends, and associates.

This week’s Torah portion of Ki Savo opens with the mitzvah of Bikkurim, the ceremony of bringing the first fruits of one’s crops up to Yerushalayim to the Kohen in the Beis Hamikdash. There is an elaborate ceremony and declaration which is made by the owner of the first fruit. Included in the pronouncement he states: “And you shall call out and say before the Lord, your God, ‘An Aramean [sought to] destroy my forefather, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there with a small number of people, and there, he became a great, mighty, and numerous nation. And the Egyptians treated us cruelly and afflicted us, and they imposed hard labor upon us…” (Devarim 26:5, 6). We mention these verses in the haggada on Pesach, and there is a well-known question: why is the history of our servitude in Egypt and it’s redemption mentioned here, when the first fruits are brought to the Beis HaMikdash? What is the correlation?
Rabbeinu Bachye answers that the intent of the figure of speech for this particular portion is to charge a person to focus in his heart, at his time of loftiness and tranquility, about the time of his lowliness and the abjection he had. So too it says in Koheles, “On a day of good, be among the good, and on a day of adversity, ponder” (Koheles 7:14). Meaning, on a good day, ponder a bad day. This is to intensely focus on what you have now, and then give gratitude to Hashem, The Good, that gives good. (Click here for Hebrew text.)
There are many ways in which people deal with their ancestor’s plights in history. Some people used it as a means of survival… “Never forget!” Others used the cruelty and suffering unleashed on their ancestors as an excuse for entitlement. However Rabbeinu Bachye is teaching us a lesson from the declaration by the mitzvah of bikkurim, where we mention our plight in Egypt during which we were slaves and tortured at the hands of our taskmasters; this was before we were saved by Hashem and brought into the Promise Land, and that should be an inspiration for us to appreciate what we have right now and to intensify our gratitude for His giving us such fortune as a fine crop and a means to live.

What an incredible lesson!!! Not only should we not suppress the dark parts of our history, but neither should we take advantage of them; rather we should focus on them and use them as a means to thank Hashem for the bright parts of our lives which we come to appreciate. Specifically, by focusing on our previous plights and comparing them to the good fortunate one currently has will actually intensify the gratitude which one should feel and express to Hashem, for all the good He has done.

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Sefer ChofetzChaim Chapter 6, halacha 5, footnote 14

We began footnote 14 today. It is very long and might last us 3 weeks, but very important. It deals with the second condition of what you must do if you cannot  just walk away from a group speaking lashon hara, neither can you rebuke them or for whatever reason you can’t put your fingers in your ears. Condition #1 was that you cannot believe one iota of what is being said, once you start you automatically transgress the sin of listening to lashon hara. Condition #2 was that you have to feel totally out of place or disgusted by what you are listening to. The footnote says this is based on a gemara in Pesachim 25b which deals with the issue of whether it is permissible to get benefit from a forbidden thing if you can’t escape it and you have no intention of benefiting, for example if you start smelling sweet incense sacrificed to an idol. In that case everyone agrees if you cannot escape the smell and you have no intention of smelling it, you have not committed a sin. If you could escape it but you had no intent of smelling it there is an argument between Rebbe Yehuda and Rebbe Shimon if unintentional benefit is permitted and the Rosh as well as the Rif poskin it is. But if you could not escape and you decided since I can’t do anything about it I might as well enjoy it then that’s a sin and certainly if you could get away and still intend to enjoy it it is a sin. The Ra”n adds that this doesn’t only apply to smelling and idolatry but to any of the senses which you are forced to do like hearing or seeing and it also applies to any sin. Therefore in our case when one sat down in a group let say to eat, at a wedding for example, and there was no intent to listen or speak loshon hara, and he cannot just walk away then he is not committing any sin. Even though we also posking that if a sin is guaranteed to happen, a psik reisha, even if it is unintentional he still transgresses on a Torah level, so if he doesn’t stick his fingers in his ears then listening will automatically happen, that is only an issue if one is actively doing something which will automatically lead to a sin but just listening is passive and he has no intent of listening and he cannot escape so there is no sin on his part. Even if you want to combine his action of walking to the group with his listening, since walking to the group didn’t guarantee he would be listening to lashon hara, then that isn’t considered a psik reisha.

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Torah Riddles Class #135

2.    Question: Why can you not fulfill the mitzvah of esrog with an esrog/lemon hybrid. But there is still a mitzvah of not eating a mother and child on the same day for a deer/sheep hybrid, according to the Magen Avraham? Both are mitzvos if a mixture invalidates a mitzvah why does one mitzvah still apply, and the other doesn’t?

Background:

 A. The Magen Avraham holds the reason why a hybrid esrog does not work is because it’s not an esrog. If that’s the case then the same should be true about a hybrid animal, it’s not an animal so you shouldn’t transgress the prohibition of slaughtering a mother and child on the same day since the child shouldn’t be considered a real animal.

B. The Maharam Shik begins his answer by saying there is a difference between a mitzvah the Torah commands you to do and something which the Torah prohibited.

 Answer: If the Torah tells you to perform a mitzvah with a certain item like an esrog it has to clearly be that item without any mixture, therefore you need a full-fledged esrog not a hybrid. But when the Torah prohibits something then if that something is there in any shape or form in a substantive way then it’s prohibited therefore even a hybrid is a problem for slaughtering a mother and it’s child in the same day.