Category: Torah Riddles

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Torah Riddles Test #154

1.       Question: How can Tosfos (Kiddushin 16a “Leima Ley”) say that a Jewish slave can go free by his master just declaring him ownerless just like a non-Jewish slave?

Background:

A.      Shmuel holds a non-Jewish slave goes free even by his master just declaring him ownerless. Even according to the opinion that the slave needs a document of freedom that is only to remove his prohibition of marrying a Jewish girl but a Jewish slave can be married to a Jewish girl.

B.      The Pnei Yehoshua’s question on Tosfos is that the way a declaration of ownerless works is that anyone whether rich or poor, man, woman, etc. is able to acquire the ownerless object. Potentially by the non-Jewish slave anyone can really pick him up once ownerless, but practically speaking he acquires himself for freedom, but potentially if he did not want to do so then he can become  slave of someone else. However that does not work by a Jewish slave, once he is free, automatically only he has rights to himself, so he never could potentially be owned by someone else and therefore the rules of hefker, making things ownerless should not work by a Jewish slave?

C.      The Torah doesn’t allow the laws of acquisition, zechiah, to work on a Jewish slave. The temporary owner cannot even sell him to another master.

 Answer: Granted the Torah just doesn’t allow him to be acquired by anyone but that’s just a technicality, the slave himself and the owner potentially had in mind for anyone to take him when the owner declares him ownerless so the laws of hefker can work. Only if the owner limits who is allowed to take what he declares ownerless will the laws of hefker not work.

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Torah Riddles Test #153

2. Question: Why does the Tur hold that Yochanan Ochel Challos did not have to divulge as part of his story that his father took him out of yeshiva?

Background:
A. Rebbe Yehuda HaNasi poskined that this person is a kohen based on the innocent story he gave of his childhood when he remembers his father carrying him on his shoulders and dipping him in the mikvah and then going to the threshing floor to collect teruma/tithes from the owners to eat in the evening, and hi friends would stay away from him and call me Yochanan Ochel Challos.
2. Tosfos holds that part of the story in Kesubos 56b was specifically that the father took him out of yeshiva and this was important so that it will rule out the possibility that he wasn’t a non-Jewish slave who can eat Teruma if his master is a kohen, but a non-Jewish slave cannot learn Torah so he wouldn’t be in Yeshiva. The Tur holds that the fact he was taken out of yeshiva was just part of the story but had no significance so he left it out.
C. Female non-slaves don’t get married so any children are out of wedlock and are automatically slaves to her master.

Answer: The Taz (Even HaEzer 2:1:1) says that we probably won’t know who the father is and even if we do the child should be with his master at all times so if he says his father carried him on his shoulders it must be the person talking is Jewish and according to his account that makes him a kohen.


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Torah Riddles Test #152

1.       Question: Why can a blind person say Kiddush Levana with others outside but a sick person stuck in bed cannot say Kiddush Levana if he only sees the shine from the moon through his window according to the Responsa Zera Emes (volume 3 chapter 43)?

 Background:

 A. If the sick person can see the moon itself from his window he can technically make Kiddush Levana because being outside is only better because it’s like going out to greet the king (Hashem) which shows more respect.

B. In the Mishna Berura (426:1) the Rema says one should not say Kiddush Levana unless it is night and he can benefit from the moon’s light. This means that this blessing is a blessing over getting satisfaction like by food, not a blessing over a mitzvah.

Answer: The blind person got as much benefit from the moon as he can get by the person next to him informing him that the moon is out but the sick person has the ability to get the full benefit of the moon he is just incapacitated at the moment so he cannot make the blessing if he does not actually get the full benefit of seeing the moon.

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Torah Riddles Test #151

 2. Question: Why are you allowed to say Shalom to someone in an unclean area nowadays?

Background:
A. Shalom is one of G-d’s names and also means peace.
B. The Mishna Berura (84:1:6) says saying Shalom to a person before davening shouldn’t be done because Shalom is one of G-d’s names as it says “They called Hashem, Shalom”, so to it is forbidden to give Shalom to a friend in the alley way and other dirty places.

 Answer: Nowadays a person’s intent when saying shalom aleichem is only to say “may be peace be upon you,” not “may Hashem be with you”.

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Torah Riddles test #150

1.    Question: Why doesn’t a marriage work if the man has in mind to divorce her soon after the marriage?

Background:

A. The Shulchan Aruch (Even HaEzer 2:10) says a person shouldn’t marry a woman with the thought to divorce her but if you inform her in the beginning that he is going to marry her for only some set amount of time, it is permitted.

B. The Chochmas Shlomo says that definitely when you inform her and she agrees, there is no prohibition in the matter. But even if you don’t inform her she fully agrees to marrying you right now and you fully agree to marry her right now so why is it forbidden to marry her without her knowing you are going to divorce her?

Answer: If she would know your intent it is assumed she would never agree to get married so really aren’t married and the relations you have with her is illicit. (See also the Taz.)

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Torah Riddles Test #149

2. Question: Why can we wear tefillin during a bris but not on Shabbos or yom tov? Background:

A. There are 3 things that are called signs and they can’t actively overlap with each other besides bris, the 3 are bris, tefillin, and shabbos/yom tov.

 B. The problem with overlapping signs is that you are degrading one sign when having the other that is why one does not wear tefillin on Shabbos and yom tov but if so then he shouldn’t wear it when a bris is being performed?

Answer: Rav Moshe Feinstein answers (Igros Moshe Orach Chaim volume 4 question 101) the sign isn’t the act of giving the bris but the fact that one has a bris therefore the father can give his son a bris with tefillin on (to give a reason for the act of the bris, and to show that it’s an action of giving over the sign.) Where as Shabbos and Yom tov is the sign itself so to wear the tefillin during that day cheapens the day. [/exapnd]

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Torah Riddles Test 148

1.       Question: Why does the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 426:2) hold we should wait until Shabbos to say Kiddush Levana in order to beautify the mitzvah but one should not wait to get his tallis if he only has his tefillin even though wearing the tefillin with the tallis beautifies the mitzvah?

Background:

A. There is a debate whether you should do a mitzvah sooner than later without pushing it off or if you delay and you do it in a better way than it is worth pushing it off. The Mishna Berura (25:1:7) by this tefillin case says a mitzvah done in a timely fashion is more beloved.

B. The reason to push off saying Kiddush Levana from the earliest possible moment, assuming you will have a good chance to do it later, is to say it while feeling fresh and nicely clothed.

Answer: By Kiddush Levana delaying to right after shabbos gives praise to the mitzvah of Kiddush Levana itself. But by tefillin, wearing it with the tallis doesn’t bring praise to the mitzvah itself of tefillin.

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Torah Riddles Test #147

2.       Question: Why did Rabbeinu Tam just walk up to the bima for the third aliyah even though he was not called up for it on Shabbos when he was in the middle of shiva?

Background:

A. Learning Torah is one of the things forbidden to be done while mourning during shiva.

B. On Shabbos private mourning is observed, like no Torah learning.

C. Torah reading at minyan is considered learning Torah, hence a mourner should not get an aliya during shiva.

D. Rabbeinu Tam used to get the third aliyah every Shabbos.

 Answer: To not get an aliyah for Rabbeinu Tam would be observance of public mourning since he normally got one every Shabbos so he just went up on his own though the gabbai did not call him up so that he would not be publicly mourning on Shabbos which transgresses the honor of Shabbos. (See Yoreh Deah 400:1and the Rema says that for this reason if there are no other kohanim the mourner should be called up for the aliyah and also the Pischei Teshuva Yoreh Deah 399:1 says that a mourner can get an aliyah on Simchas Torah when every single person gets an aliyah for the same reason, that if he doesn’t then it will be obvious that he is in mourning and it will become public mourning which can’t be done on yom tov.)

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Torah Riddles Test #146

1.    Question: Why does pesach or sukkos cancel the rest of Shiva and shloshim for a mourner even if he first hears about the burial on Shabbos and yom tov starts the next day?

Background:

A. The Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 399:1) says that one who buries the dead before yom tov and is able to go through the process of mourning at least one hour before the yom tov has the rest of the week canceled by the yom tov. However if by accident or on purpose he does not mourn during that hour, and definitely if he was unaware of the death until after yom tov, then he has to mourn for 7 days after yom tov.

 B. Basic laws of mourning include no working, no showering or laundering.

 C. There is a prohibition of working and laundering during Shabbos, yom tov even on chol hamoed for the most part.

Answer: Since one is practicing acts of mourning during the yom tov by not laundering or working then it counts for both the yom tov and mourning and that is why mourning is canceled because it was fulfilled to an extent during the actual yom tov.

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Torah Riddles Test #145

2.    Question: Why are you allowed to put yourself into a position where you would have to make a blessing for washing but shouldn’t put yourself into a position where you would have to say a blessing for tzitzis?

 Background:

A. There is a general rule that one should not make a blessing if he does not have to for it is saying Hashem’s name in vain.

 B. Tzitzis scenario: If one wore his tzitzis overnight the Mishna Berura (8:16:42) brings an argument of whether one has to make a blessing on them in the morning and when in doubt by blessings one should be lenient and not say it. However, the Mishna Berura says if he took off the tzitzis in the morning with in mind not to put them back on immediately then everyone agrees he should make a blessing upon putting it back on but ideally it is not right to take this advice because he will be saying an unneeded blessing according to those who say you do fulfill the mitzvah of tzitzis at night.

C. The washing hands scenario is where one is unsure whether he said the blessing upon washing in the morning or if he washed his hands unintentionally before a meal with bread, the Mishna Berura (4:30, 33) says one should ideally put himself in a position where he would definitely have to make a blessing. In the Be’ur Halacha (159:12 “lichatchila”) he says about someone who unintentionally washed for a meal, that though according to most Rishonim he doesn’t have to wash again but if he can get more water he should wash again and it is better to sully his hands so that he will be obliged to say a blessing according to everyone.

 Answer: In the Be’ur Halacha (25:5 “vitov”) the Chofetz Chaim explains by washing that since it must be done because of the doubt then it is not considered an unneeded blessing but by the tzitzis just don’t take them off and it won’t prompt a need to say another blessing. Anyway, it is better to exempt the tzitzis with the blessing over a tallis either you put on or if someone else puts on with their blessing.