Torah Reading
9th of Av - Shacharit: Deuteronomy 4:25 “When you have had children and grandchildren, lived a long time in the land, become corrupt and made a carved image, a representation of something, and thus done what is evil in the sight of Adonai your God and provoked him; 26 I call on the sky and the earth to witness against you today that you will quickly disappear from the land that you are crossing the Yarden to possess. You will not prolong your days there but will be completely destroyed. 27 Adonai will scatter you among the peoples; and among the nations to which Adonai will lead you away, you will be left few in number. 28 There you will serve gods which are the product of human hands, made of wood and stone, which can’t see, hear, eat or smell. 29 However, from there you will seek Adonai your God; and you will find him if you search after him with all your heart and being. 30 In your distress, when all these things have come upon you, in the acharit-hayamim, you will return to Adonai your God and listen to what he says; 31 for Adonai your God is a merciful God. He will not fail you, destroy you, or forget the covenant with your ancestors which he swore to them.
32 “Indeed, inquire about the past, before you were born: since the day God created human beings on the earth, from one end of heaven to the other, has there ever been anything as wonderful as this? Has anyone heard anything like it? 33 Did any other people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and stay alive? 34 Or has God ever tried to go and take for himself a nation from the very bowels of another nation, by means of ordeals, signs, wonders, war, a mighty hand, an outstretched arm and great terrors — like all that Adonai your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 35 This was shown to you, so that you would know that Adonai is God, and there is no other beside him. 36 From heaven he caused you to hear his voice, in order to instruct you; and on earth he caused you to see his great fire; and you heard his very words coming out from the fire. 37 Because he loved your ancestors, chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt with his presence and great power, 38 in order to drive out ahead of you nations greater and stronger than you, so that he could bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance, as is the case today; 39 know today, and establish it in your heart, that Adonai is God in heaven above and on earth below — there is no other. 40 Therefore, you are to keep his laws and mitzvot which I am giving you today, so that it will go well with you and with your children after you, and so that you will prolong your days in the land Adonai your God is giving you forever.”
9th of Av - Shacharit: Jeremiah 8:13 “‘I will put an end to them,’ says Adonai.
‘There are no grapes on the vine,
and no figs on the fig tree;
the leaf has withered; and what I have given them
will pass from their possession.’”
14 “Why are we sitting still? Assemble!
Let’s enter the fortified cities
and meet our doom there!
For Adonai our God has doomed us;
he has given us bitter water to drink,
because we have sinned against Adonai.
15 When we look for peace, nothing good comes;
when we seek a time of healing, instead there is terror.”
16 From Dan can be heard the snorting of his horses;
when his stallions neigh, the whole land trembles.
For they come devouring the land and all in it,
the city and those who dwell there.
17 “Yes, now I am sending snakes among you,
vipers that no one can charm,
and they will bite you,” says Adonai.
18 My grief has no cure, I am sick at heart.
19 Listen to my people’s cry of distress
out of a distant land:
“Is Adonai no longer in Tziyon?
Is her king no longer there?”
“Why do they provoke me with their idols
and their futile foreign gods?”
20 “The harvest has passed, the summer is over,
and still we are not saved.”
21 The daughter of my people is broken,
and it’s tearing me to pieces;
everything looks dark to me,
horror seizes me.
22 Has Gil‘ad exhausted its healing resin?
Is no physician there?
If there is, then why is the daughter of my people
so slow to recover her health?
23 (9:1) I wish my head were made of water
and my eyes were a fountain of tears,
so that I could cry day and night
over the slain of the daughter of my people!
9:1 (2) I wish I were out in the desert,
in some travelers’ lodge —
then I could get away from my people
and distance myself from them!
“Indeed they are all adulterers,
a band of traitors is what they are.
2 (3) They bend their tongues, their ‘bow’ of falsehood,
and hold sway in the land, but not for truth.
For they go from evil to evil,
and me they do not know,”
says Adonai.
3 (4) Everyone, be on guard against your neighbor,
don’t trust even a brother;
for every brother is out to trick you,
and every neighbor goes around gossiping.
4 (5) Everyone deceives his neighbor,
no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongues to lie,
they wear themselves out with sinning.
5 (6) “You inhabit a world of deceit;
deceitfully they refuse to know me,”
says Adonai.
6 (7) “Therefore,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot,
“I will refine them and test them.
What else can I do with the daughter of my people?
7 (8) Their tongues are sharpened arrows;
with their mouths they speak deceit —
they say nice words to their neighbors,
while inwardly plotting against them.
8 (9) Should I not punish them for these things?” asks Adonai.
“Should I not take vengeance on such a nation?”
9 (10) I weep and wail for the mountains
and lament over the desert pastures,
because they have been burned up;
no one passes through;
they no longer hear the sound of cattle;
the birds and wild animals have fled, are gone.
10 (11) “I will make Yerushalayim a heap of ruins,
turn it into a lair for jackals,
and make the cities of Y’hudah desolate,
with no one living there.”
11 (12) Who is wise enough to understand this?
To whom has the mouth of Adonai spoken,
so that he can proclaim it?
Why has the land perished
and been laid waste like a desert,
so that no one passes through?
12 (13) Adonai answers:
“Because they abandoned my Torah,
which I set before them,
and neither listened to what I said
nor lived accordingly,
13 (14) but have lived by their own hearts’ stubbornness
and by the ba‘alim, as their ancestors taught them —
14 (15) therefore,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot,
the God of Isra’el:
“I will feed this people bitter wormwood
and give them poisonous water to drink.
15 (16) I will scatter them among nations
that neither they nor their ancestors have known.
I will send the sword after them
until I have wiped them out.”
16 (17) Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“Mark this, then summon the mourning women,
so that they will come;
send for those who are best [at mourning],
so that they will come:
17 (18) ‘Have them hurry and wail for us,
so our eyes will be wet from crying,
and our eyelids gush with tears.’
18 (19) For the sound of wailing is heard from Tziyon:
‘We are utterly ruined,
we are completely ashamed,
because we have left the land,
and our homes have been torn down!’”
19 (20) You women, hear the word of Adonai!
Let your ears receive the words from his mouth.
Teach your daughters how to wail,
have each teach her friend how to lament:
20 (21) “Death has come up through our windows,
it has entered our palaces,
it has cut down children in the streets
and young people in the public places.”
21 (22) Say: “Here is what Adonai says:
‘The corpses of people are scattered
like dung in an open field,
like sheaves left behind by the reaper
with no one to gather them.’”
22 (23) Here is what Adonai says:
“The wise man should not boast of his wisdom,
the powerful should not boast of his power,
the wealthy should not boast of his wealth;
23 (24) instead, let the boaster boast about this:
that he understands and knows me —
that I am Adonai, practicing grace,
justice and righteousness in the land;
for in these things I take pleasure,” says Adonai.
Today's Laws & Customs:
• The Fast of Tishah B'Av
Because of the holiness of Shabbat, the Fast of the Ninth of Av ("Tish'ah B'Av") is observed today, Av 10. The fast mourns the destruction of the Temple and the exile of Israel a--see "Today in Jewish History" for yesterday, Av 9.
For approximately 25 hours--from sundown on Saturday to nightfall Sunday evening--we abstain from eating and drinking, bathing, the wearing of leather footwear, and marital relations. It is customary to sit on the floor or a low seat until after mid-day. Torah study is restricted to laws of mourning, passages describing the destruction of the Temple, and the like. The tefillin are worn only during the afternoon Minchah prayers. (For more laws and customs see link below.)
Link: Laws of Tish'ah B'Av
• Omit Tachnun
Tachnun (confession of sins) and similar prayers are omitted.
• Sanctification of the Moon
Once a month, as the moon waxes in the sky, we recite a special blessing called Kiddush Levanah, "the sanctification of the moon," praising the Creator for His wondrous work we call astronomy.
Kiddush Levanah is recited after nightfall, usually on Saturday night. The blessing is concluded with songs and dancing, because our nation is likened to the moon—as it waxes and wanes, so have we throughout history. When we bless the moon, we renew our trust that very soon, the light of G‑d's presence will fill all the earth and our people will be redeemed from exile.
Though Kiddush Levanah can be recited as early as three days after the moon's rebirth, the kabbalah tells us it is best to wait a full week, till the seventh of the month. When sanctifying the moon of the month of Av, it is customary to wait till the night after Tishah B'Av.
Once 15 days have passed, the moon begins to wane once more and the season for saying the blessing has passed.
Links:
- Brief Guide to Kiddush Levanah: Thank G‑d for the Moon!
- More articles on Kiddush Levanah from our knowledgebase.
• Holy Temple Burns (69)
The Romans set the Temple aflame on the afternoon of Av 9 (see yesterday's Today in Jewish History and it continued to burn through Av 10. For this reasons, some of the mourning practices of the "Nine Days" are observed through the morning hours of Av 10 (see "Laws and Customs" below)
• AMIA Bombing (1994)
Arab terrorists exploded a bomb in the the Jewish community center (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 86 and wounding more than 300, in the most lethal attack against any diaspora Jewish community since the Holocaust.
Link: Terrorism
• Expulsion from Gaza (2005)
More than 8,500 Jewish residents were forcefully expelled from their homes in 25 towns and settlements in the Gaza Strip (including 16 settlements in the flourishing "Gush Katif" belt) and Northern Shomron in the summer of 2005, as part of the Israeli government's ill-fated "Disengagement Plan."
Av 10 was the deadline set by the governments for all Jews to leave their homes in these areas. Two days later, tens of thousands of soldiers and police officers began the forceful removal of the thousands who refused to leave willingly. The removal of all Jewish residents from Gush Katif and the Gaza Strip was completed by Av 17, and from Northern Samaria a day later. The army completed its withdrawal from these areas on the 8th of Elul, after bulldozing all the hundreds of homes and civic buildings in the settlements. The Jewish dead were disinterred and removed from the cemeteries. Only the synagogues were left standing.
The government's hopes that the "disengagement" would open "new opportunities" in relations with the Palestinian Arabs were bitterly disappointed. No sooner had the last Israeli soldiers departed from the Gaza Strip that Arab mobs began looting, desecrating and tourching the synagogues. The vacated settlements became the staging grounds for terrorist attacks against Israel, including the unremitting rocket fire on the nearby Israeli town of Sederot and the cities and settlements of the Western Negev.
Links: The Gaza "Disengagement"
Daily Quote:
I see it, but not now; I behold it, but it is not near. There shall shoot forth a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and rule all the children of Seth[Balaam, prophesying on Moshiach, Numbers 24:17]Daily Study:
Chitas and Rambam for today:
Chumash: Parshat Va'etchanan, 1st Portion Deuteronomy 3:23-4:4 with Rashi
• Deuteronomy Chapter 3
23I entreated the Lord at that time, saying, כגוָֽאֶתְחַנַּ֖ן אֶל־יְהֹוָ֑ה בָּעֵ֥ת הַהִ֖וא לֵאמֹֽר:
I entreated: Heb. וָאֶתְחַנַּן [The word] חִנּוּן [and its derivatives] in all cases is an expression signifying [requesting] a free gift. Even though the righteous may base a request on the merit of their good deeds, they request only a free gift of the Omnipresent. Because God had said to him [Moses],“and I will favor (וְחַנֹּתִי) when I wish to favor (אָחֹן)” (Exod. 33:19), he [Moses], he spoke to Him [God], using the expression וָאֶתְחַנַּן. Another explanation: This (חִנּוּן) is one of ten terms which denote prayer (Sifrei). ואתחנן: אין חנון בכל מקום אלא לשון מתנת חנם. אף על פי שיש להם לצדיקים לתלות במעשיהם הטובים, אין מבקשים מאת המקום אלא מתנת חנם. לפי שאמר לו (שמות לג יט) וחנותי את אשר אחון, אמר לו בלשון ואתחנן. דבר אחר זה אחד מעשרה לשונות שנקראת תפלה, כדאיתא בספרי:
at that time: After I had conquered the land of Sihon and Og, I thought that perhaps the vow [which God had made, that I should not enter the land] was nullified, [since the land I entered was part of the land of Canaan]. בעת ההיא: לאחר שכבשתי ארץ סיחון ועוג דמיתי שמא הותר הנדר:
saying: This is one of three occasions in which Moses said before the Omnipresent,“I will not let You go until You let me know whether or not You will grant my request” (Sifrei). לאמר: זה אחד משלש מקומות שאמר משה לפני המקום איני מניחך עד שתודיעני אם תעשה שאלתי אם לאו:
24"O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand, for who is [like] God in heaven or on earth who can do as Your deeds and Your might? כדאֲדֹנָ֣י יֱהֹוִ֗ה אַתָּ֤ה הַֽחִלּ֨וֹתָ֙ לְהַרְא֣וֹת אֶת־עַבְדְּךָ֔ אֶ֨ת־גָּדְלְךָ֔ וְאֶת־יָֽדְךָ֖ הַֽחֲזָקָ֑ה אֲשֶׁ֤ר מִי־אֵל֙ בַּשָּׁמַ֣יִם וּבָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁר־יַֽעֲשֶׂ֥ה כְמַֽעֲשֶׂ֖יךָ וְכִגְבֽוּרֹתֶֽךָ:
O Lord God: O You Who are merciful (ה׳) in judgment (אלהים) . ה' אלהים: רחום בדין:
You have begun to show Your servant: An opening for standing and offering prayer even though the decree has been fixed. He [Moses] said to Him: “I learned [this] from You. You said to me, 'And now leave Me alone’” (Exod. 32: 10). Was I holding You? However, You said this to open the door [as it were and to teach me] that it depended upon me [i.e., my choice whether] to pray for them [or to leave You alone]. So do I think to act now (Sifrei). אתה החלות להראות את עבדך: פתח להיות עומד ומתפלל, אף על פי שנגזרה גזירה. אמר לו ממך למדתי, שאמרת לי (שמות לב י) ועתה הניחה לי, וכי תופס הייתי בך, אלא לפתוח פתח, שבי תלוי להתפלל עליהם, כמו כן הייתי סבור לעשות עכשיו:
Your greatness: This is the attribute of Your goodness. Similarly, it states: “And now, pray, let the strength of my Lord be great” (Num. 14:17-18). את גדלך: זו מדת טובך וכן הוא אומר (במדבר יד יז) ועתה יגדל נא כח ה':
Your… hand: This is Your right hand which is extended to [accept the repentance of] all who come into the world. ואת ידך: זו ימינך, שהיא פשוטה לכל באי עולם:
strong [hand]: [The hand is called strong] because by Your mercy, You forcibly subdue the attribute of strict judgment. (Sifrei on Number 27:12) החזקה: שאתה כובש ברחמים את מדת הדין החזקה:
For who is [like] God [… who can do as Your deeds]: You cannot be compared to a king of flesh and blood who has advisors and associates who restrain him when he wishes to act with kindness and to forego his regulations. You, however, have no one to prevent you from forgiving me and annulling Your decree. The simple meaning of the verse is: You have begun to show Your servant the battle of Sihon and Og, as it is written:“Behold, I have begun to deliver [Sihon and his land] before you” (2:31). Show me [also] the war of the thirty-one kings [of Canaan]. [SeeJosh. 12:7-24.] אשר מי אל וגו': אינך דומה למלך בשר ודם, שיש לו יועצין וסנקתדרין הממחין בידו כשרוצה לעשות חסד ולעבור על מדותיו, אתה אין מי ימחה בידך אם תמחול לי נתבטל גזירתך. ולפי פשוטו אתה החלות להראות את עבדך מלחמת סיחון ועוג, כדכתיב (דברים ב לא) ראה החלותי תת לפניך, הראני מלחמת שלושים ואחד מלכים:
25Pray let me cross over and see the good land that is on the other side of the Jordan, this good mountain and the Lebanon." כהאֶעְבְּרָה־נָּ֗א וְאֶרְאֶה֙ אֶת־הָאָ֣רֶץ הַטּוֹבָ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֖ר בְּעֵ֣בֶר הַיַּרְדֵּ֑ן הָהָ֥ר הַטּ֛וֹב הַזֶּ֖ה וְהַלְּבָנֹֽן:
Pray let me cross over: Heb. אֶעְבְּרָה נָא. [The word] נָא is nothing but an expression of request. אעברה נא: אין נא אלא לשון בקשה:
this good mountain: This is Jerusalem. ההר הטוב הזה: זו ירושלים:
and the Lebanon: This is the Temple (Sifrei). והלבנון: זה בית המקדש:
26But the Lord was angry with me because of you, and He did not listen to me, and the Lord said to me, "It is enough for you; speak to Me no more regarding this matter. כווַיִּתְעַבֵּ֨ר יְהֹוָ֥ה בִּי֙ לְמַ֣עַנְכֶ֔ם וְלֹ֥א שָׁמַ֖ע אֵלָ֑י וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהֹוָ֤ה אֵלַי֙ רַב־לָ֔ךְ אַל־תּ֗וֹסֶף דַּבֵּ֥ר אֵלַ֛י ע֖וֹד בַּדָּבָ֥ר הַזֶּֽה:
But the Lord was angry: Heb. וַיִּתְעַבֵּר ה׳ [The hithpa’el conjugation denotes that] He became filled with wrath (Sifrei). ויתעבר ה': נתמלא חמה:
because of you: You caused it for me. Similarly, it states:“They provoked [God] by the waters of Meribah, and Moses suffered because of them” (Ps. 106:32). למענכם: בשבילכם, אתם גרמתם לי. וכן הוא אומר (תהלים קו לב) ויקציפו על מי מריבה וירע למשה בעבורם:
It is enough for you: Heb. רַב-לָךְ [interpreted as:“you have a master רַב.” I.e., pray no more], so that people should not say,“How hard is the Master, and how obstinate and pressing is the disciple!” (Sotah 13b) Another explanation of רַב-לָךְ [explained as “you have much”]: More than this is reserved for you: Much is the goodness that is kept for you. (Sifrei) רב לך: שלא יאמרו הרב כמה קשה והתלמיד כמה סרבן ומפציר. דבר אחר רב לך הרבה מזה שמור לך, רב טוב הצפון לך:
27Go up to the top of the hill and lift up your eyes westward and northward and southward and eastward and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross this Jordan. כזעֲלֵ֣ה | רֹ֣אשׁ הַפִּסְגָּ֗ה וְשָׂ֥א עֵינֶ֛יךָ יָ֧מָּה וְצָפֹ֛נָה וְתֵימָ֥נָה וּמִזְרָ֖חָה וּרְאֵ֣ה בְעֵינֶ֑יךָ כִּי־לֹ֥א תַֽעֲבֹ֖ר אֶת־הַיַּרְדֵּ֥ן הַזֶּֽה:
and see with your eyes: You requested of Me “Let me… see the good land” (verse 25). I am showing you all of it, as it says: “And the Lord showed him all the Land” (Deut. 34:1). וראה בעיניך: בקשת ממני (פסוק כה) ואראה את הארץ הטובה, אני מראה לך את כולה שנאמר (דברים לד, א) ויראהו ה' את כל הארץ:
28But command Joshua and strengthen him and encourage him, for he will cross over before this people, and he will make them inherit the land which you will see. כחוְצַ֥ו אֶת־יְהוֹשֻׁ֖עַ וְחַזְּקֵ֣הוּ וְאַמְּצֵ֑הוּ כִּי־ה֣וּא יַֽעֲבֹ֗ר לִפְנֵי֙ הָעָ֣ם הַזֶּ֔ה וְהוּא֙ יַנְחִ֣יל אוֹתָ֔ם אֶת־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר תִּרְאֶֽה:
But command Joshua: regarding the bother, the burdens and the quarrels [inherent in leadership]. וצו את יהושע: על הטרחות ועל המשאות ועל הריבות:
and strengthen him and encourage him: with your words, so that he will not be discouraged, saying, “Just as my teacher was punished, so will I be punished because of them.” I assure him [says God] that he will cross over [before this people] and he will make [them] inherit [the land]. (cf. Sifrei) וחזקהו ואמצהו: בדבריך, שלא ירך לבו לומר כשם שנענש רבי עליהם כך סופי ליענש עליהם, מבטיחו אני כי הוא יעבור והוא ינחיל:
for he will cross: If he crosses before them, they will inherit the land, and if not, they will not inherit [it]. So, indeed, we find that when Joshua sent some of the people against Ai and he remained behind,“the men of Ai smote of them” (Josh. 7:5). And when he fell on his face, God said to him, קוּם-לָךְ : written קֻם [without a “vav”, so that it may be read קָם], i.e., it is you standing in your place and sending My children out to war [that brought about this defeat]. Why do you fall on your face? Did I not tell this to your master, Moses, “If he [Joshua] crosses, they will cross, but if not, they will not cross”? (Sifrei) כי הוא יעבור: אם יעבור לפניהם ינחלו, ואם לאו לא ינחלו. וכן אתה מוצא כששלח מן העם אל העי והוא ישב (יהושע ז ה) ויכו מהם אנשי העי וגו' (שם ז, י), וכיון שנפל על פניו אמר לו קום לך. קם לך כתיב, אתה הוא העומד במקומך ומשלח את בני למלחמה, למה זה אתה נופל על פניך, לא כך אמרתי למשה רבך אם הוא עובר עוברין, ואם לאו אין עוברין:
29And we abided in the valley opposite Beth Peor. כטוַנֵּ֣שֶׁב בַּגָּ֔יְא מ֖וּל בֵּ֥ית פְּעֽוֹר:
And we abided in the valley: [opposite Beth Peor]-and you attached yourselves to idol worship. Nevertheless,“And now, O Israel, hearken to the statutes” (4:1), and you will be forgiven for everything. But I was not privileged to be forgiven (Sifrei). ונשב בגיא וגו': ונצמדתם לעבודה זרה ואף על פי כן (דברים ד, א) ועתה ישראל שמע אל החקים והכל מחול לך ואני לא זכיתי לימחל לי:
Deuteronomy Chapter 4
1And now, O Israel, hearken to the statutes and to the judgments which I teach you to do, in order that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord, God of your forefathers, is giving you. אוְעַתָּ֣ה יִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל שְׁמַ֤ע אֶל־הַֽחֻקִּים֙ וְאֶל־הַמִּשְׁפָּטִ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָֽנֹכִ֛י מְלַמֵּ֥ד אֶתְכֶ֖ם לַֽעֲשׂ֑וֹת לְמַ֣עַן תִּֽחְי֗וּ וּבָאתֶם֙ וִֽירִשְׁתֶּ֣ם אֶת־הָאָ֔רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֧ר יְהֹוָ֛ה אֱלֹהֵ֥י אֲבֹֽתֵיכֶ֖ם נֹתֵ֥ן לָכֶֽם:
2Do not add to the word which I command you, nor diminish from it, to observe the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. בלֹ֣א תֹסִ֗פוּ עַל־הַדָּבָר֙ אֲשֶׁ֤ר אָֽנֹכִי֙ מְצַוֶּ֣ה אֶתְכֶ֔ם וְלֹ֥א תִגְרְע֖וּ מִמֶּ֑נּוּ לִשְׁמֹ֗ר אֶת־מִצְוֹת֙ יְהֹוָ֣ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם אֲשֶׁ֥ר אָֽנֹכִ֖י מְצַוֶּ֥ה אֶתְכֶֽם:
Do not add: for instance, by inserting five sections into the tefillin [instead of four], by using five species for the [commandment of] lulav [on Succoth] instead of four], or by attaching five fringes [instead of four]. And so too, וְלֹא תִגְרְעוּ nor diminish [from it i.e., three instead of four]. לא תספו: כגון חמש פרשיות בתפילין חמשת מינין בלולב וחמש ציציות, וכן ולא תגרעו:
3Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal Peor, for every man who went after Baal Peor, the Lord your God has exterminated from your midst. געֵֽינֵיכֶם֙ הָֽרֹא֔וֹת אֵ֛ת אֲשֶׁר־עָשָׂ֥ה יְהֹוָ֖ה בְּבַ֣עַל פְּע֑וֹר כִּ֣י כָל־הָאִ֗ישׁ אֲשֶׁ֤ר הָלַךְ֙ אַֽחֲרֵ֣י בַֽעַל־פְּע֔וֹר הִשְׁמִיד֛וֹ יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ מִקִּרְבֶּֽךָ:
4But you who cleave to the Lord your God are alive, all of you, this day. דוְאַתֶּם֙ הַדְּבֵקִ֔ים בַּֽיהֹוָ֖ה אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֑ם חַיִּ֥ים כֻּלְּכֶ֖ם הַיּֽוֹם:
Daily Tehillim: Psalms Chapters 55 - 59
• Chapter 55
David composed this psalm upon escaping from Jerusalem in the face of the slanderers, Doeg and Achitofel, who had declared him deserving of death. David had considered Achitofel a friend and accorded him the utmost honor, but Achitofel betrayed him and breached their covenant. David curses all his enemies, so that all generations should "know, and sin no more."
1. For the Conductor, with instrumental music, a maskil by David.
2. Listen to my prayer, O God, do not hide from my pleas.
3. Pay heed to me and answer me, as I lament in my distress and moan -
4. because of the shout of the enemy and the oppression of the wicked; for they accuse me of evil and hate me passionately.
5. My heart shudders within me, and the terrors of death have descended upon me.
6. Fear and trembling penetrate me, and I am enveloped with horror.
7. And I said, "If only I had wings like the dove! I would fly off and find rest.
8. Behold, I would wander afar, and lodge in the wilderness forever.
9. I would hurry to find shelter for myself from the stormy wind, from the tempest.”
10. Consume, O Lord, confuse their tongue; for I have seen violence and strife in the city.1
11. Day and night they encircle her upon her walls, and iniquity and vice are in her midst.
12. Treachery is within her; fraud and deceit never depart from her square.
13. For it is not the enemy who taunts me-that I could bear; nor my foe who raises himself against me, that I could hide from him.
14. But it is you, a man of my equal, my guide and my intimate.
15. Together we took sweet counsel; we walked with the throng to the house of God.
16. May He incite death upon them, let them descend to the pit alive; for there is evil in their dwelling, within them.
17. As for me, I call to God, and the Lord will save me.
18. Evening, morning and noon, I lament and moan-and He hears my voice.
19. He redeemed my soul in peace from battles against me, because of the many who were with me.
20. May God-He who is enthroned from the days of old, Selah-hear and humble those in whom there is no change, and who do not fear God.
21. He extended his hands against his allies, he profaned his covenant.
22. Smoother than butter are the words of his mouth, but war is in his heart; his words are softer than oil, yet they are curses.
23. Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous man falter.
24. And You, O God, will bring them down to the nethermost pit; bloodthirsty and treacherous men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in You.
FOOTNOTES
1.Jerusalem.
Chapter 56
David composed this psalm while in mortal danger at the palace of Achish, brother of Goliath. In his distress David accepts vows upon himself.
1. For the Conductor, of the mute dove1 far away. By David, a michtam, 2 when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
2. Favor me, O God, for man longs to swallow me; the warrior oppresses me every day.
3. My watchful enemies long to swallow me every day, for many battle me, O Most High!
4. On the day I am afraid, I trust in You.
5. [I trust] in God and praise His word; in God I trust, I do not fear-what can [man of] flesh do to me?
6. Every day they make my words sorrowful; all their thoughts about me are for evil.
7. They gather and hide, they watch my steps, when they hope [to capture] my soul.
8. Should escape be theirs in reward for their iniquity? Cast down the nations in anger, O God!
9. You have counted my wanderings; place my tears in Your flask-are they not in Your record?
10. When my enemies will retreat on the day I cry out, with this I will know that God is with me.
11. When God deals strictly, I praise His word; when the Lord deals mercifully, I praise His word.
12. In God I trust, I do not fear-what can man do to me?
13. My vows to You are upon me, O God; I will repay with thanksgiving offerings to You.
14. For You saved my soul from death-even my feet from stumbling-to walk before God in the light of life.
FOOTNOTES
1.David having fled from Jerusalem, is silenced by fear (Rashi/Metzudot).
2.A psalm that was especially precious to David
Chapter 57
David composed this psalm while hiding from Saul in a cave, facing grave danger. Like Jacob did when confronted with Esau, David prayed that he neither be killed nor be forced to kill. In the merit of his trust in God, God wrought wonders to save him.
1. For the Conductor, a plea to be spared destruction. By David, a michtam, when he fled from Saul in the cave.
2. Favor me, O God, favor me, for in You my soul took refuge, and in the shadow of Your wings I will take refuge until the disaster passes.
3. I will call to God the Most High; to the Almighty Who fulfills [His promise] to me.
4. He will send from heaven, and save me from the humiliation of those who long to swallow me, Selah; God will send forth His kindness and truth.
5. My soul is in the midst of lions, I lie among fiery men; their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongue a sharp sword.
6. Be exalted above the heavens, O God; let Your glory be upon all the earth.
7. They laid a trap for my steps, they bent down my soul; they dug a pit before me, [but] they themselves fell into it, Selah.
8. My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and chant praise.
9. Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I shall awaken the dawn.
10. I will thank You among the nations, my Lord; I will praise You among the peoples.
11. For Your kindness reaches till the heavens, Your truth till the skies.
12. Be exalted above the heavens, O God; let Your glory be over all the earth.
Chapter 58
David expresses the anguish caused him by Avner and his other enemies, who justified Saul's pursuit of him.
1. For the Conductor, a plea to be spared destruction; by David, a michtam.
2. Is it true that you are mute [instead of] speaking justice? [Instead of] judging men with fairness?
3. Even with your heart you wreak injustice upon the land; you justify the violence of your hands.
4. The wicked are estranged from the womb; from birth do the speakers of falsehood stray.
5. Their venom is like the venom of a snake; like the deaf viper that closes its ear
6. so as not to hear the voice of charmers, [even] the most skillful caster of spells.
7. O God, smash their teeth in their mouth; shatter the fangs of the young lions, O Lord.
8. Let them melt like water and disappear; when He aims His arrows, may they crumble.
9. Like the snail that melts as it goes along, like the stillbirth of a woman-they never see the sun.
10. Before your tender shoots know [to become] hardened thorns, He will blast them away, as one [uprooting] with vigor and wrath.
11. The righteous one will rejoice when he sees revenge; he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
12. And man will say, "There is indeed reward for the righteous; indeed there is a God Who judges in the land."
Chapter 59
This psalm speaks of the great miracle David experienced when he eluded danger by escaping through a window, unnoticed by the guards at the door. The prayers, supplications, and entreaties he offered then are recorded here.
1. For the Conductor, a plea to be spared destruction, By David, a michtam, when Saul dispatched [men], and they guarded the house in order to kill him.
2. Rescue me from my enemies, my God; raise me above those who rise against me.
3. Rescue me from evildoers, save me from men of bloodshed.
4. For behold they lie in ambush for my soul, mighty ones gather against me-not because of my sin nor my transgression, O Lord.
5. Without iniquity [on my part,] they run and prepare-awaken towards me and see!
6. And You, Lord, God of Hosts, God of Israel, wake up to remember all the nations; do not grant favor to any of the iniquitous traitors, Selah.
7. They return toward evening, they howl like the dog and circle the city.
8. Behold, they spew with their mouths, swords are in their lips, for [they say], "Who hears?”
9. But You, Lord, You laugh at them; You mock all nations.
10. [Because of] his might, I wait for You, for God is my stronghold.
11. The God of my kindness will anticipate my [need]; God will show me [the downfall] of my watchful foes.
12. Do not kill them, lest my nation forget; drive them about with Your might and impoverish them, O our Shield, my Master,
13. [for] the sin of their mouth, the word of their lips; let them be trapped by their arrogance. At the sight of their accursed state and deterioration, [people] will recount.
14. Consume them in wrath, consume them and they will be no more; and they will know that God rules in Jacob, to the ends of the earth, Selah.
15. And they will return toward evening, they will howl like the dog and circle the city.
16. They will wander about to eat; when they will not be sated they will groan.
17. As for me, I shall sing of Your might, and sing joyously of Your kindness toward morning, for You have been a stronghold to me, a refuge on the day of my distress.
18. [You are] my strength, to You I will sing, for God is my stronghold, the God of my kindness.
Tanya: Iggeret HaKodesh, Epistle 2
• Lessons in Tanya
• Today's Tanya Lesson
• Sunday, 10 AV , 5776 · 14 August 2016
• Iggeret HaKodesh, Epistle 2
• Upon his Arrival from Petersburg
The Alter Rebbe sent this pastoral letter to all his followers, upon his release from the imprisonment brought about by calumnies instigated by the opponents of Chassidism.1 This slander resulted from his selfless and tireless efforts to strengthen the chassidic movement and disseminate its teachings. His subsequent release (also) served as a nod of approval from the government for their continued dissemination.
The Rebbeim, the successive leaders of the ChaBaD chassidic school of thought, have taught that the Alter Rebbe’s arrest resulted from an indictment voiced in the Heavenly Court — against his doctrine of clothing the teachings of Chassidism in intellectual terms.2 (In fact the very word ChaBaD, naming the movement he founded and the teachings he first articulated, is an acronym for Chochmah, Binah and Daat — “wisdom”, “understanding”, and “knowledge”, respectively.) The same voice, moreover, disapproved of the fact that the Alter Rebbe beamed these teachings at the Jewish masses.
The Alter Rebbe wrote this epistle in order that it be clearly understood that his release from physical incarceration resulted directly from his being cleared of all spiritual charges. Indeed, a clear signal and an extra measure of strength was thereby given from Above that the teachings of Chassidism be promulgated according to the Alter Rebbe’s approach of making them intelligible and accessible to all.
With the Alter Rebbe’s release there thus began a second era in the dissemination of Chassidism. This is alluded to by this letter, which is numbered Iggeret HaKodesh, Epistle 2. It will be noted that the number 2 is mentioned only after the heading, “Upon his Arrival from Petersburg.” Now Epistle 27 also has a prefatory heading that explains why it was written. There, however, the number of the epistle appears first, and only then is it followed by the introductory heading. Here the order is inverted, because the second period (or, in chassidic terminology,3 “the second degree of greatness”), which is alluded to by the number 2, began with the Alter Rebbe’s arrival from Petersburg.
קטנתי מכל החסדים ומכל האמת
“I4 have become small from all the favors and from all [the truth].”
These words were uttered by Jacob as an introduction to his plea to G‑d that He save him from Esau. Although G‑d had previously5 assured him that He would accompany and protect him wherever he went, Jacob nonetheless feared that all the kindnesses that G‑d had already shown him had made him “small”, i.e., had reduced his merits. He thus feared that he was possibly in a state in which he would have to ask G‑d anew,6 “Save me.”
פירוש:
This means —
Rashi comments7 that “I have become small” is a result of “all the favors and all the truth”; i.e., “My merits have diminished because of the favors and truth You have done with me.” Ramban argues that this comment is inconsistent with the “language of the verse,” which states that “I have become small,” not that the speaker’s merits have become small; there is a diminution in quality rather than in quantity.8
Ramban therefore understands9 “I have become small” to mean: “I am unworthy of receiving all your kindness and truth.” Thus, according to Ramban, “I have become small” is not a result of G‑d’s “kindness and truth,” but rather an expression of the speaker’s being unworthy of receiving G‑d’s “kindness and truth.”
The Alter Rebbe, however, is going to explain this verse according to the commentary of Rashi: “from all the kindness” simply means that it was the kindness that made Jacob feel “small”. At the same time, though, the Alter Rebbe will understand “I have become small” as referring to the speaker himself: it is he himself who has become diminished as a result of G‑d’s many kindnesses and His truth. (Thus, not only have the particular person’s merits become lessened, which results in his diminishment,10 but he himself is directly affected as a result of the “kindness and truth.”)
Although it is the person himself (and not the tally of his merits) that has become diminished, nonetheless this diminution is a result of the “kindness and truth.” This, then, is what the Alter Rebbe intends by saying “This means” —
שבכל חסד וחסד שהקדוש ברוך הוא עושה לאדם, צריך להיות שפל רוח במאד
that with every single favor that G‑d bestows upon a man, he ought to become very humble.
כי חסד דרועא ימינא
For [the Supernal Sefirah of]11 “Chesed is the right arm,”
וימינו תחבקני
and, as Scripture states,12 “His right arm embraces me,”
שהיא בחינת קרבת אלקים ממש, ביתר שאת מלפנים
which refers to the state of G‑d actually bringing him close [to Himself], far more intensely than before.
Every Divine act of Chesed brings a man closer to G‑d.
וכל הקרוב אל ה׳ ביתר שאת, והגבה למעלה מעלה
And whoever is [brought] exceedingly close to G‑d, being raised aloft to great heights, 13
צריך להיות יותר שפל רוח, למטה מטה
ought to be ever more humble, to the lowliest plane,
כמו שכתוב: מרחוק ה׳ נראה לי
as it is written,14 “From afar has G‑d appeared to me.”
When G‑d appears to an individual through a particular manifestation of kindness, this should make him perceive himself as being — in relation to G‑d — “afar”, i.e., humbly distant from Him. Alternatively, the verse may be implying that perceiving oneself as being “afar” is the very means by which to attain a state in which “G‑d has appeared to me.”
וכנודע, דכולא קמיה דווקא כלא חשיב
And, as is known, “All that are before Him are esteemed as nothing.”
A being of even the highest conceivable spiritual level is of absolutely no account — indeed, it is nullified out of existence — when in G‑d’s presence, when it is “before Him,” for nothing exists before G‑d other than Himself.
ואם כן, כל שהוא קמיה יותר, הוא יותר כלא ואין ואפס
Hence, whoever is more “before Him” — whoever is closer to G‑d — is that much more like nothing, naught, and non-existent.
וזו היא בחינת ימין שבקדושה, וחסד לאברהם
This [self-effacing response to Divine favors] is the level of the “right side” of holiness, and of “Chesedunto Abraham” — the Divine lovingkindness that is bestowed upon Abraham, as in the verse,15 “You grant truth to Jacob, loving-kindness unto Abraham,”
שאמר: ואנכי עפר ואפר
who said,16 “And I am dust and ashes.”
The kindness that G‑d showed Abraham motivated him to attain the ultimate degree of humility that this statement expresses. Just as in the heavenly realms “the right arm of Divine Chesed” causes recipients of the Chesed to lose their independent identity in the identity of the Bestower of lovingkindness, so too does it affect mortals upon whom it is bestowed, making them likewise humble and self-effacing.
וזו היא גם כן מדתו של יעקב
This [humility born of kindness] is also the characteristic trait of Jacob,
ובזאת התנצל על יראתו מפני עשו, ולא די לו בהבטחתו: והנה אנכי עמך גו׳
and therewith he justified himself for his fear of Esau, and did not regard the [Divine] promise given to him as being sufficient:17 “And behold I am with you [and I shall protect you wherever you go].”
מפני היות קטן יעקב במאד מאד בעיניו, מחמת ריבוי החסדים
[This was so,] because Jacob regarded himself as utterly insignificant on account of the multitude of [G‑d’s] favors,
כי במקלי גו׳
[as he said,]18 “for [only] with my staff [did I cross the Jordan, and now I have [enough property for] two camps],”
ואינו ראוי וכדאי כלל להנצל כו׳
and he considered himself as being utterly unfit and unworthy to be saved, and so on.
וכמאמר רז״ל: שמא יגרום החטא
As our Sages, of blessed memory, expressed it,19 “[Jacob was apprehensive] lest sin would cause [him not to be saved],”
שנדמה בעיניו שחטא
for it appeared to him that he had sinned.
“I have become small” thus means that the multitude of kindnesses bestowed upon Jacob caused him to feel so small and insignificant that he feared that he had sinned, and hence needed once again to beseech G‑d that He save him from his brother Esau. And, indeed, every Jew would do well to follow in the footsteps of his father Jacob, becoming ever more humble with every successive act of kindness that G‑d shows him.
The Rebbe once explained why at the outset of this epistle the Alter Rebbe uses an expression in which the word Chesed is repeated: בכל חסד וחסד. (This is translated above, “with every single favor [that G‑d bestows upon man].”) In general, there are two modes of Divine kindness: (a) that which descends to man within the ordered framework of created worlds and becomes manifest in a natural manner; and (b) that which transcends the conventions of the created universe and whose manifestation is supernatural.
This is why the Alter Rebbe there goes on to say that (a) “Chesed is the right arm,” as well as (b) “His right arm embraces me.” The former phrase alludes to the Chesed of the Supernal Sefirot, a finite mode of Divine kindness that is analogous to the finite degree of life-force that is clothed in the human arm; the latter phrase alludes to the infinite mode of Divine kindness that is analogous to the infinite degree of life-force that transcends the limitation of being clothed in a particular organ, and is thus said to be “encompassing” (makkif) or “embracing”.
מה שאין כן בזה לעומת זה, הוא ישמעאל, חסד דקליפה
It is different, though, with the [unholy] counterpart [to the attribute of kindness that belongs to the holy “side” of the universe]; i.e., [it is different] with Ishmael, [who personifies] the attribute of Chesed that belongs to the kelipah.
The counterpart to Abraham, who personifies the attribute of “Chesed (kindness) that belongs to holiness,” is Ishmael, who personifies “kindness that belongs to unholiness”; the opposite of Isaac, who represents the attribute of “Gevurah (severity) that belongs to holiness,” is Esau, who represents the attribute of “Gevurah that belongs to unholiness.”
כל שהחסד גדול, הוא הולך וגדל בגובה וגסות הרוח ורוחב לבו
The more kindness [shown to Ishmael and to his ilk], the more he grows in pride, arrogance and self-satisfaction.
A Jew must thus be on guard against the “Chesed of kelipah,” and ensure that G‑d’s acts of kindness will lead him to cultivate the traits of Abraham and Jacob, the “Chesed of holiness,” so that his response will be humility rather than pride.
* * *
ולזאת באתי מן המודיעים מודעה רבה לכללות אנ״ש
Accordingly, I am now making a weighty announcement to all the men of our [chassidic] fraternity,
על ריבוי החסדים אשר הגדיל ה׳ לעשות עמנו
regarding the multitude of favors,20 “the great things that G‑d has done with us.”
The attribute of Chesed (kindness) is also known by the name Gedulah (greatness), as in the verse21 which enumerates the Divine attributes, and which begins, לך ה׳ הגדולה והגבורה. Indeed, the term Gedulah connotes an even greater manifestation of Divine kindness than does Chesed. The Alter Rebbe therefore adds the phrase regarding “the great things that G‑d has done for us,” thereby indicating the extraordinary kindness G‑d had shown chassidim by releasing him.
לאחוז במדותיו של יעקב
[As a result of all these favors:] Hold on to the attributes of Jacob,
שאר עמו ושארית ישראל
[for Jews are known as]22 “the remnant of His people” and23 “the remainder of Israel”; a Jew possesses within himself the attributes described here as “remnants” and “remainder”,
שמשים עצמו כשיריים ומותרות ממש, שאין בו שום צורך
regarding himself truly as mere remnants,24 as something truly superfluous and dispensable.
לבלתי רום לבבם מאחיהם כו׳
Let [the men of our fraternity] not become haughty in relation to their brethren, i.e., their opponents, who caused the arrest of the Alter Rebbe.
ולא להרחיב עליהם פה, או לשרוק עליהם, חס ושלום
Let them not jeer nor whistle derisively at them, heaven forfend.
הס מלהזכיר, באזהרה נוראה
A strict warning: Hold your peace! Mention nothing!
רק להשפיל רוחם ולבם, במדת אמת ליעקב, מפני כל אדם
Rather, [the men of our chassidic fraternity] are to subdue their spirit and heart before every man according to the attribute of “truth unto Jacob,”25
בנמיכת רוח, ומענה רך משיב חימה, ורוח נכאה כו׳
with humility, with26 “a soft answer [that] turns away anger,” and with a restrained spirit.
וכולי האי ואולי יתן ה׳ בלב אחיהם, כמים הפנים וגו׳
And through all that,27 perhaps G‑d will put [a conciliatory and loving response] into the heart of their brethren, [for]28 “as waters [reflect] one’s face, [so too does the heart of one man reflect the heart of another].”
——— ● ———
| FOOTNOTES | |
| 1. | See The Arrest and Liberation of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi by Rabbi Avraham Chanoch Glitzenstein, translated by Rabbi Jacob Immanuel Schochet (Kehot, N.Y., 1964). To this day, the Alter Rebbe’s release in 1798 is celebrated annually on 19-20 Kislev. |
| 2. | See Likkutei Sichot, Vol. I, p. 74. |
| 3. | See Or HaTorah, p. 367ff. |
| 4. | Bereishit 32:11. |
| 5. | Ibid. 28:15. |
| 6. | Ibid. 28:15. |
| 7. | “Based on Shabbat 32a.” ( — Note of the Rebbe.) |
| 8. | “See Chiddushei Aggadot, loc. cit.” ( — Note of the Rebbe.) |
| 9. | “Thus too in Bereishit Rabbah on this verse.” ( — Note of the Rebbe.) |
| 10. | “Cf. Chiddushei Aggadot, loc. cit.” ( — Note of the Rebbe.) |
| 11. | Tikkunei Zohar, Introduction II, s.v. Patach Eliyahu. |
| 12. | Shir HaShirim 2:6. |
| 13. | Cf. Yeshayauhu 7:11. The letters of the unusual Heb. verb והגבה are vocalized as follows: Shva, patach, shva, tzeirei, andpatach for the final mapik hei. |
| 14. | Yirmeyahu 31:2. |
| 15. | Michah 7:20; Abraham personifies the attribute of Chesed. |
| 16. | Bereishit 18:27. |
| 17. | Ibid. 28:15. |
| 18. | Ibid. 32:11. |
| 19. | Berachot 4a. |
| 20. | Tehillim 126:3. |
| 21. | I Divrei HaYamim 29:11. |
| 22. | Yeshayahu 11:11. |
| 23. | Yirmeyahu 6:9; 31:6. |
| 24. | Rosh HaShanah 17a-b. |
| 25. | For the comment of the Rebbe Maharash on this stipulation of the Alter Rebbe, see HaYom Yom, p. 77. |
| 26. | Cf. Mishlei 15:1. |
| 27. | This final sentence was added by the Alter Rebbe at a later date; see HaYom Yom, loc. cit. |
| 28. | Mishlei 27:19. |
• Sunday, 10 AV , 5776 · 14 August 2016
• Today's Mitzvah
A daily digest of Maimonides’ classic work "Sefer Hamitzvot"Important Message Regarding
Important Message Regarding This Lesson
The Daily Mitzvah schedule runs parallel to the daily study of 3 chapters of Maimonides' 14-volume code. There are instances when the Mitzvah is repeated a few days consecutively while the exploration of the same Mitzvah continues in the in-depth track.
Negative Commandment 253
Cheating a Convert
"Do not distress him"—Exodus 22:20.
It is forbidden to cheat a convert in the course of commerce [by deceptively overcharging or underpaying for merchandise]. Though it is forbidden to cheat anyone, one who cheats a convert transgresses this additional prohibition, too.
Full text of this Mitzvah »
• Cheating a Convert
Negative Commandment 253
Translated by Berel Bell
The 253rd prohibition is that we are forbidden from causing financial damage to a convert.
The source of this prohibition is G‑d's statement,1 "Do not oppress him."
In the words of the Mechilta: "The verse 'Do not oppress him' means to do so financially."
It has already been explained in tractate Bava Metzia2 that one who [verbally] causes distress to a convert transgresses the prohibitions "V'lo sonu one another"3 and "Do not wrong a convert."4 One who oppresses him [financially] transgresses the prohibition, "Do not oppress him," in addition to the general prohibition that includes all Jews, ona'as mamon.5
FOOTNOTES
1.Ex. 22:20.
2.59b.
3.N251.
4.N252.
5.N250.
• Rambam - 1 Chapter: Parah Adummah Parah Adummah - Chapter 4
• Parah Adummah - Chapter 4
1
Two red heifers should not be slaughtered at the same time, as Numbers 19:3 states: "And you shall slaughter it."
א
אין שוחטין שתי פרות אדומות כאחת שנאמר ושחט אותה:
2
If the red heifer did not desire to go out, a black one should not be taken out with it, so that it would not be said: "They slaughtered a black one." Nor is another red one taken out, so that it would not be said: "They slaughtered two at once."
ב
לא רצתה פרה לצאת אין מוציאין עמה שחורה שלא יאמרו שחורה שחטו ולא אדומה שלא יאמרו שתים שחטו:
3
When a red heifer was slaughtered with another intent in mind or its blood was received or sprinkled with another intent in mind, with the proper intent and another intent in mind, or with another intent and the proper intent in mind, it was offered by someone other than a priest, or it was offered by a priest lacking one or more of the priestly garments, while wearing the golden garments, or while wearing ordinary garments, it is unacceptable.
If it was slaughtered with the intent of partaking of its flesh or drinking its blood, it is acceptable. The rationale is that the expression "a pleasant fragrance" was not stated with regard to it.
ג
פרה שנשחטה שלא לשמה או שקיבל או שהזה שלא לשמה או לשמה ושלא לשמה או שלא לשמה ולשמה או שנעשית שלא בכהן או במחוסר בגדים או שעשאה בבגדי זהב או בבגדי חול פסולה שחטה על מנת לאכול מבשרה או לשתות מדמה כשירה לפי שלא נאמר בה ריח ניחוח:
4
If its blood was received in a container, it is unacceptable, asNumbers 19:4 states: "And Elazar the priest will take the blood with his finger." The mitzvah is performed with the finger and not with a utensil.
ד
קיבל דמה בכלי פסולה שנאמר ולקח אלעזר הכהן מדמה באצבעו מצוותה מצות יד ולא מצות כלי:
5
If he sprinkled the blood, even one sprinkling with a utensil, the sprinkling is unacceptable. If he performed one sprinkling with his left hand, it is unacceptable. If seven priests sprinkled the blood at the same time, their sprinkling is unacceptable. If they did so one after the other, it is acceptable.
If he sprinkled the blood, but did not direct it to the Sanctuary, it is unacceptable, as ibid. states: "opposite the front of the Tent of Meeting." Implied is that he should direct it toward the Sanctuary and see the Sanctuary. Similarly, if he slaughtered it or burnt it not opposite the Sanctuary, it is unacceptable, as implied by Numbers 19:3: "He shall slaughter it before him."
ה
הזה בכלי אפילו אחת מהן הזאתו פסולה הזה אחת מהן בשמאלו פסולה הזו שבעה כהנים הזייתן כאחד הזייתן פסולה זה אחר זה כשירה הזה ולא כיון כנגד ההיכל פסולה שנאמר אל נכח פני אהל מועד עד שיכוין כנגד ההיכל ויהיה רואהו וכן אם שחטה או שרפה שלא כנגד ההיכל פסולה שנאמר ושחט אותה לפניו:
6
When does the above apply? When he sprinkled the blood or burnt or slaughtered the heifer southward or northward, or with his back to the Sanctuary. If, however, he stood between the east and the west and faced the Sanctuary, even if he did not direct himself toward the Sanctuary exactly, it is acceptable.
ו
במה דברים אמורים שהזה או שרף או שחט כנגד הדרום או כנגד צפון או שהיה אחוריו למקדש אבל אם עמד בין מזרח ומערב ופניו כנגד ההיכל אף על פי שלא כיון כנגד [ההיכל] בדקדוק כשירה:
7
If one of the sprinklings is lacking, it is unacceptable. If one dipped his finger in the blood twice and sprinkled once, the sprinkling is unacceptable. If he dipped his finger once and sprinkled twice, even if he did not count the second sprinkling and instead, dipped his finger and sprinkled a second time, it is unacceptable.
What is implied? He dipped his finger in the blood for the sixth time and performed the sixth and seventh sprinklings, it is unacceptable, even if he dipped his finger in the blood again and sprinkled it a seventh time. If, after dipping his finger into the blood for the seventh time, he performed a seventh and eighth sprinkling - even if he dipped his finger into the blood an eighth time and then sprinkled it an eighth time, it is acceptable, for any addition over the seven is of no consequence, provided it is another priest making the addition. If, however, the priest burning it made the additional sprinkling, it is unacceptable, because he involved himself in an unnecessary activity while burning it.
ז
חיסר אחת מן המתנות פסולה טבל שתים והזה אחת הזאתו פסולה טבל אחת והזה שתים אף על פי שלא חשב הזאה שניה אלא טבל והזה אחרת הזייתו פסולה כיצד טבל אצבעו טבילה ששית והזה ו' וז' אף ע"פ שחזר וטבל אצבעו והזה שבע הזייתו פסולה הזה מטבילה שביעית [שביעית] ושמינית אפילו חזר וטבל טבילה שמינית והזה שמינית כשירה שכל שמוסיף על השבע אינו כלום והוא שיהיה זה שהוסיף כהן אחר אבל הכהן השורף אותה אם הוסיף פסולה מפני שנתעסק בדבר שאינו צריך בשעת שריפתה:
8
If one removed the blood from its arrangement and then sprinkled it, it is invalid.
ח
הוציא את הדם חוץ ממערכתה והזה פסולה:
9
If one sprinkled its blood at night - even if one performed seven sprinklings during the day and one at night - it is unacceptable.
ט
הזה מדמה בלילה אפילו הזה שש הזיות ביום ואחת בלילה פסולה:
10
If one slaughtered it outside the place where it is burnt, even if one slaughtered it within the walls of Jerusalem, it is unacceptable.
י
שחטה חוץ ממקום שריפתה אפילו שחטה לפנים מן החומה פסולה:
11
If one burnt it outside the arrangement on which it was slaughtered, it was divided in two and burnt in two arrangements, or two heifers were burned on one arrangement, it is disqualified. If it was already reduced to ashes, one may bring another one and slaughter it over the ashes of the first without any qualms.
יא
שרפה חוץ ממערכה שנשחטה עליה או שחלקה לשנים ושרפה בשתי מערכות או ששרף שתים במערכה אחת פסולה ואם אחר שנעשית אפר מביא אחרת שורף על גבה ואינו חושש:
12
If one skinned it and cut it into pieces and then burnt it in its entirety, it is acceptable. If any slight part of its substance, even its dung, is lacking, it is unacceptable. If an olive-sized portion of its skin, meat, or even its hair flew off its pyre, it should be returned. If he did not return it, it is unacceptable.
If it flew outside its arrangement, one should place much wood over it and burn it in its place. If its horns, its hooves, or its dung flew off, they need not be returned to the pyre.
יב
הפשיטה ונתחה ואח"כ שרף כולה כשירה ואם חיסר ממנה כלום אפילו מפירשה פסולה פקע מעורה או מבשרה אפילו משערה כזית יחזיר ואם לא החזיר פסולה פקע חוץ למערכתה מרבה עליו ושורפו במקומו פקע מקרניה מטלפיה או מפירשה אינו צריך להחזיר:
13
The red heifer is not disqualified if it is left overnight without being burnt. Therefore if it was slaughtered on one day and its blood sprinkled as required and then it was burned on the following day, it is acceptable.
יג
הפרה אינה נפסלת בלינה לפיכך אם נשחטה היום והזה דמה כהלכתו ונשרפה למחר כשירה:
14
If the priest who burns it is in the acute state of oneinmourning or is lacking atonement, it is acceptable.
יד
שרפה אונן או מחוסר כפרה כשירה:
15
If one burnt it without sanctifying his hands and feet, it is invalid, because the process of offering the red heifer is comparable to sacrificial worship.
Where does he sanctify his hands and feet? From a consecrated vessel in the Temple Courtyard. If one consecrated them outside the Temple Courtyard with an ordinary vessel, even with a tiny earthenware cup, it is acceptable, because the entire process of offering the heifer is performed outside.
When the priest who burns the red heifer immerses himself after he is made impure, as we explained, he need not sanctify his hands and feet again, since the entire process of offering it is performed by those who immersed that day.
טו
שרפה שלא בקידוש ידים ורגלים פסולה מפני שמעשיה כעין עבודה והיכן מקדש ידיו ורגליו בכלי שרת בפנים ואם קידש בחוץ ומכלי חול אפילו במקידה של חרס כשר הואיל וכל מעשיה בחוץ וכן כשמטבילין את הכהן השורף אחר שמטמאין אותו כמו שביארנו אינו צריך לחזור ולקדש הואיל וכל מעשיה בטבולי יום:
16
If one burnt it without wood or with all types of wood, even with straw and stubble, it is acceptable, The optimum way of performing the mitzvah is not to reduce the wood less than is appropriate. On the contrary, one should add to it bundles of hyssop and Greek hyssop while it is burning to increase the amount of ashes. One may add to its conflagration until the heifer itself is reduced to ashes. Once it is reduced to ashes, if one added even one piece of wood to it, it is like one who mixed ashes from a range with the ashes of the red heifer.
טז
שרפה שלא בעצים או בכל עצים אפילו בקש או בגבבא כשירה ומצוותה שלא ימעט לה עצים מן הראוי לה אבל מרבה הוא לה חבילי אזוב ואזוב יון בזמן שרפה כדי להרבות את האפר ויש לו להרבות עצים בשריפתה עד שתעשה אפר אבל משתעשה אפר אם הוסיף בה אפילו עץ אחד הרי זה כמערב אפר מקלה באפר הפרה:
17
All of the activities performed with the red heifer from the beginning to the end must be performed only during the day and by male priests and the performance of work disqualifies it until it is reduced to ashes. Once it is reduced to ashes, it is acceptable even if its ashes were collected at night, by a woman, or one performed another task while collecting them.
What is the source that teaches that the collection of the ashes is acceptable if performed by any person with the exception of a deafmute, an intellectually or emotionally incapable person, or a minor? It is written Numbers 19:9: "And a pure man shall gather the ashes of the heifer." It can be derived that a priest is not required. Moreover, it is as if it said "a pure person," i.e., either a man or a woman.
What source teaches that the performance of work disqualifies it?Ibid.:3 states: "And he shall slaughter it." According to the Oral Tradition, we learned that this phrase comes solely to teach that if the priest becomes involved in another task at the time of slaughter, it is unacceptable. And ibid.:5 states: "And the heifer shall be burnt before his eyes," i.e., his eyes should be concentrated on it. This teaches that the performance of work causes it to be disqualified from the time of its slaughter until it is reduced to ashes. Anyone involved in burning it who performs another task disqualifies it until it is reduced to ashes.
יז
כל מעשה הפרה מתחלה ועד סוף אינו אלא ביום ובזכרי כהונה והמלאכה פוסלת בה עד שתעשה אפר אבל משתעשה אפר אם כנס אפרה בלילה או שכנסתו אשה או שעשה מלאכה אחרת בשעת כניסתו ה"ז כשירה ומנין שאסיפת האפר בכל אדם מישראל חוץ מחרש שוטה וקטן שנאמר ואסף איש טהור מכלל שאינה צריכה כהן וכאילו אמר אדם טהור בין איש בין אשה ומניין שהמלאכה פוסלת בה שנאמר ושחט אותה מפי השמועה למדו שלא בא הכתוב אלא ללמד שאם נתעסק בדבר אחר בשעת שחיטתה פסלה ונאמר ושרף את הפרה לעיניו שיהיו עיניו בה ללמד שהמלאכה פוסלת בה משעת שחיטה עד שתעשה אפר וכל העוסק בשריפתה ועשה מלאכה אחרת פסלה עד שתעשה אפר:
18
If one slaughtered the heifer and another animal was slaughtered with it or a gourd was cut with it, it is acceptable because he did not intend to perform work. This applies even though the animal that was slaughtered with it is acceptable to be eaten, for the slaughter of ordinary animals does not require concentrated intent. If, however, one had the intent of cutting the gourd and it was cut while he was slaughtering the red heifer, the heifer is disqualified, because work was performed during its slaughter.
יח
שחט את הפרה ונשחטה בהמה אחרת עמה או נחתכה דלעת עמה כשירה שהרי לא נתכוון למלאכה אף ע"פ שהבהמה שנשחטה עמה כשירה לאכילה שאין שחיטת החולין צריכה כוונה אבל אם נתכוון לחתוך הדלעת ונחתכה בשעת שחיטה פסולה שהרי עשה עמה מלאכה:
• Mechirah - Chapter Twenty Two
1
A person cannot transfer ownership over an article that has not yet come into existence. This applies with regard to a sale, with regard to a present or with regard to the disposition of an oral will.
What is implied? If a person states: "What my field will produce is sold to you," "What this tree will grow is given to you," "Give so and so the offspring that this animal bears," the recipient does not acquire anything. Similar principles apply in all analogous situations.
א
אין אדם מקנה דבר שלא בא לעולם בין במכר בין במתנה בין במתנת שכיב מרע כיצד מה שתוציא שדה זו מכור לך מה שיוציא אילן זה נתון לך תנו מה שתלד בהמה זו לפלוני לא קנה כלום וכן כל כיוצא בזה:
2
When a person sells the fruit of a date palm to a colleague, he may retract even after the fruits of the date palm have already come into existence. If the purchaser harvests the fruits, they are not expropriated from him. If either of them retracts, he is not required to receive the adjuration mi shepara.
ב
המוכר פירות דקל לחבירו יכול לחזור בו אף לאחר שבאו הפירות לעולם ואם שמט הלוקח ואכל אין מוציאין מידו וכל החוזר בו משניהם אין חייב לקבל מי שפרע:
3
When, however, a person sells produce at the market price, although the seller was not in possession of the type of produce, the seller is obligated to purchase the amount of produce he pledged, and give it to the purchaser. If he retracts, he must receive the adjuration mi shepara.
ג
אבל הפוסק על שער שבשוק ולא היה אותו המין שפסק עליו ברשות מוכר חייב לקנות וליתן ללוקח מה שפסק ואם חזר מקבל מי שפרע:
4
The following rules apply when a person sells produce at the market price, promising to give four se'ah for a sela. Even if the grain was in stalks, the transaction is completed, and if he retracts, the seller is liable to receive the adjuration mi shepara,provided either of the following stipulations is met:"
a) the seller shows the purchaser that he possesses grain in his storehouse, or
b) the purchaser tells the seller in the market place: "I am relying on you." If the purchaser did not tell the seller: "I am relying on you," the seller does not consider this to be a firm agreement, and he is not required to receive the adjuration mi shepara if he retracts. For he says to himself: "Perhaps the purchaser also made such an agreement with another individual and he does not actually require this wheat."
ד
מי שפסק על שער שבשוק שיתן ארבע סאין בסלע אם היו שבלים הרי זה קנה לקבל מי שפרע והוא שיראה לו בגורן או שיאמר לו בשוק הריני סומך עליך אבל אם לא נראה בגורן ולא אמר לו הריני סומך עליך לא סמכה דעתו של מוכר ואינו מקבל מי שפרע שהרי הוא אומר שמא פסק עם אחר ואין צריך לחטים אלו:
5
An entity that is not in the possession of the seller cannot be acquired; it is like an entity that has not come into existence.
What is implied? When a seller says: "What I will inherit from my father is sold to you," "What my net will bring up from the sea is sold to you," or "When I purchase this field, it is sold to you," the purchaser does not acquire anything. Similar principles apply in all analogous situations.
ה
דבר שאין ברשותו של מקנה אינו נקנה והרי הוא כדבר שלא בא לעולם כיצד מה שאירש מאבא מכור לך מה שתעלה מצודתי מן הים נתון לך שדה זו לכשאקחנה קנויה לך לא קנה כלום וכן כל כיוצא בזה:
6
When a person was on his deathbed and the heir desired to sell some of the dying person's property to spend the money for the sake of the burial, our Sages ordained that if the heir says: "What I will inherit from my father today is sold to you," the sale is binding. The rationale is that since the son is poor, if he is forced to wait until his father dies to sell the property, the corpse will remain unburied and be disgraced.
Similarly, provisions were made for a poor fisherman who has nothing to eat. If he says: "What my net brings in today from the sea is sold to you," the sale is binding. This was ordained to provide for his livelihood.
ו
מי שהיה מורישו גוסס ונטוי למות ורצה למכור מנכסיו מעט כדי להוציא הדמים בצרכי קבורה הואיל והבן עני ואם ימתין עד שימות וימכור ישתהא המת ויתבזה תקנו חכמים שאם מכר ואמר מה שאירש מאבי היום מכור לך ממכרו קיים וכן צייד עני שאין לו מה שיאכל שאמר מה שתעלה מן הים מצודתי היום מכור לך ממכרו קיים משום כדי חייו:
7
If a son sold property belonging to his father during his father's lifetime, but the son died in his father's lifetime, the son's son may expropriate the property from the purchasers. The rationale is that his father sold something that had not entered his domain. Thus, the property remained in the domain of the grand father, and the grandson inherited the estate of his grandfather. Similar principles apply in all analogous situations.
ז
הבן שמכר בנכסי אביו בחיי אביו ומת הבן בחיי האב ואח"כ מת האב בן הבן מוציא מיד הלקוחות שהרי אביו מכר דבר שלא בא עדיין לרשותו ונמצאו הנכסים ברשות האב וזה יורש אבי אביו וכן כל כיוצא בזה:
8
The following rules apply when a person gave a colleague landed property as a present, and together with it gave him 100 dinarim through a kinyan agav. If the dinarim existed in his domain at the time he gave the present, when the recipient acquired the field, he also acquired the dinarim. If. however, the giver does not have a dinar, we do not obligate the giver to give the recipient 100 dinarim until the recipient brings proof that the giver possessed dinarim at the time the recipient acquired the present.
The same principles apply to other movable property that a person desires to transfer together with landed property through a kinyan agav. If the movable property is not in the domain of the seller or the giver at the time the recipient acquires the present, he does not acquire it. For a person may not transfer ownership over an article that is not in his domain.
ח
מי שנתן קרקע מתנה לחבירו ונתן לו על גבה מאה דינרין אם היו הדינרין מצויין ברשותו כיון שזכה בשדה זכה בדינרין ואם אין לו דינר אין מחייבין את הנותן ליתן לו מאה דינרין עד שיביא הזוכה ראיה שהיה לזה דינרין בעת המתנה והוא הדין לשאר מטלטלין שמקנה אדם אותם על קרקע אם אינם ברשות המוכר או הנותן לא קנה שאין אדם מקנה דבר שאינו ברשותו:
9
When a person has entrusted an object to a colleague for safekeeping, he may transfer ownership over it, either through a sale or through a gift. The rationale is that an entrusted object is in the domain of its owner, and we operate under the presumption that the entrusted object continues to exists
If, however, the person to whom the article was entrusted denies receiving it, the owner may not transfer ownership of it. It is as if the article were lost; it is not in his domain.
Different rules apply with regard to a loan. Since a loan is given with the intent that it be spent, it cannot be transferred except through a ma'amad sh'loshtam, a convention that is not based on a motivating reason, as we have explained.
If the loan was supported by a promissory note, the creditor may transfer ownership of the promissory note with a written authorization and the transfer of the note, for there is an entity that can be transferred through which one can acquire the encumbrance it contains.
ט
מי שהיה לו פקדון ביד אחר הרי זה מקנהו בין במכר בין במתנה לפי שהפקדון ברשות בעליו הוא והרי הוא בחזקת שהוא קיים ואם כפר בו זה שהופקד אצלו אינו יכול להקנותו שזה כמי שאבד שאינו ברשותו אבל המלוה הואיל ולהוצאה ניתנה אינה בעולם ואין אדם יכול להקנותה אלא במעמד שלשתן והוא דבר שאין לו טעם כמו שביארנו ואם היתה מלוה בשטר מקנה את השטר בכתיבה ומסירה שהרי יש כאן דבר הנמסר לקנות שעבוד שבו:
10
Just as a person may not transfer ownership of an article that has not yet come into existence, so too, he may not transfer ownership of an article to someone who has not come into existence. Even a fetus is considered to be someone who has not come into existence, and thus, when a person wishes to endow a fetus with an article, the transaction is not binding.
If, however, the fetus is the person's son, the transaction is binding. The rationale is that a person feels great closeness to his son.
י
כשם שאין אדם מקנה דבר שלא בא לעולם כך אין אדם מקנה למי שלא בא לעולם ואפילו עובר הרי הוא כמי שלא בא לעולם והמזכה לעובר לא קנה ואם היה בנו הואיל ודעתו של אדם קרובה אצל בנו קנה:
11
When, however, a person tells his wife: "I will give my property to the children that you will bear," the children do not acquire anything. Since the woman was not pregnant at the time the present was given, the children had not yet reached a stage at which it could be said that a person feels great closeness for them.
יא
האומר לאשתו נכסי לבנים שתלדי ממני הרי אלו לא יקנו כלום שכיון שלא נתעברה בהן בשעת המתנה עדיין לא באו כדי להיות דעתו קרובה להם:
12
When a person desires to transfer ownership of property to an animal, the transfer is not effective at all. If a person attempted to transfer part of his property to an animal or to a person who did not exist, and afterwards told a colleague: "Acquire a share of my property as this animal does," or "... as this fetus does," [the colleague does not acquire anything.
If he tells him: "You and this animal shall acquire my property," or "You and this fetus ... ," the person acquires half of the property.
יב
המקנה למין ממיני חיה לא הקנה כלום הקנה קצת נכסיו לבהמה או למי שלא בא לעולם וחזר ואמר לחבירו קנה כבהמה זו או כעובר זה לא קנה כלום אמר לו קנה את ובהמה זו או את ועובר זה קנה מחצה:
13
A person cannot transfer ownership - neither through a sale nor through a present - over an object unless it has substance. If it has no substance, ownership of it cannot be transferred.
יג
אין אדם מקנה לא במכר ולא במתנה אלא דבר שיש בו ממש אבל דבר שאין בו ממש אינו נקנה:
14
What is implied? A person cannot transfer ownership over the fragrance of an apple, the taste of honey, the color of crystal or the like. Therefore, when a person desires to transfer ownership of the right to partake of the fruits of this date palm or to dwell in this home, the recipient does not acquire anything. For the transaction to be effective, the owner must transfer the house itself for the sake of dwelling in it, or the tree itself for the purpose of eating its fruit, as will be explained.
יד
כיצד אין אדם מקנה ריח התפוח הזה או טעם הדבש הזה או עין הבדולח הזה וכן כל כיוצא בזה לפיכך המקנה לחבירו אכילת פירות דקל זה או דירת בית זה לא קנה עד שיקנה לו גוף הבית לדור בו וגוף האילן לאכול פירותיו כמו שיתבאר:
15
The laws applying to transactions involving property consecrated to the Temple, the poor, and vows are not the same as those involving ordinary people. If a person says: "All the offspring of my animal will be consecrated to the Temple treasury," "... will be forbidden to me," or "... will be given to charity," although the offspring does not become consecrated - because it does not yet exist - the person making the statement is obligated to keep his word,, as Numbers 30:3 states: "He must act according to the statements that he utters."
טו
דין ההקדש ודין העניים ודין הנדרים אינו כדין ההדיוט בקנייתו שאילו אמר אדם כל מה שתלד בהמתי יהיה הקדש לבדק הבית או יהיה אסור עלי או אתננו לצדקה אע"פ שאינו מתקדש לפי שאינו בעולם הרי זה חייב לקיים דברו שנאמר ככל היוצא מפיו יעשה:
16
Since this is so, if a person on his death bed says: "Whatever this tree produces should be given to the poor," or "The rent from this house should be given to the poor," the poor acquire these objects.
טז
והואיל והדבר כן אם צוה אדם כשהוא שכיב מרע ואמר כל מה שיוציא אילן זה לעניים או כל שכר בית זה לעניים זכו בהן העניים:
17
There are Geonim who differ with this principle and hold that the poor acquire only in a similar matter to that of an ordinary person. Therefore, they do not acquire an entity that has not come into existence. I do not accept these principles. My rationale is that a person is not commanded to transfer ownership of property. He is, however, commanded to fulfill his pledges to charity or to consecrate property, as he is commanded to fulfill other vows, as we have explained in Hilchot Arachin.
יז
יש גאונים שחולקין על דבר זה ואומרים שאין העניים זוכין אלא בדברים שהדיוט קונה בהן ולפיכך לא יזכו בדבר שלא בא לעולם ואין דעתי נוטה לדברים אלו שאין אדם מצווה להקנות והוא מצווה לקיים דבריו בצדקה או בהקדש כמו שהוא מצווה לקיים הנדר כמו שביארנו בערכין:
Mechirah - Chapter Twenty Three
1
A person can transfer ownership over a property itself with regard to the produce it yields. This applies with regard to a sale, with regard to a present or with regard to an oral will. This is not considered to be transferring ownership of an entity that has not come into existence. For the article itself exists, and the person is transferring ownership over its produce. To what can the matter be compared? To a person who rents a house or a field to a colleague, in which instance he did not transfer ownership over the property in its entirety, but rather merely the right to derive benefit from it.
א
מקנה אדם הגוף לפירותיו בין במכר בין במתנה בין במתנת שכיב מרע ואין זה מקנה דבר שלא בא לעולם שהרי הגוף מצוי ומקנה לפירות הא למה זה דומה לשוכר בית או שדה לחבירו שלא הקנה לו הגוף אלא הנאת הגוף:
2
What is implied? A person sold or gave away a field with regard to its produce for a limited time, or for the entire lifetime of the seller or of the purchaser.
Similar rules apply to a person who sells or gives away a tree for its fruit, a sheep for its shearings, an animal or a maid-servant for her offspring or a servant for his work. In all such instances, the sale or the present is binding.
ב
כיצד כגון שמכר או שנתן שדה לפירותיה בין לזמן קצוב בין כל ימי חייו של מוכר או של לוקח והוא הדין למוכר ולנותן אילן לפירותיו או רחל לגיזתה או בהמה ושפחה לולדותיהם או עבד למעשה ידיו בכל ממכרו או מתנותיו קיימין:
3
There is an unresolved question if a sale is binding when a person sells his servant with regard to his fine - i.e., whether the fine which is imposed if the servant is gored by an ox and killed should be given to the purchaser or not. Therefore, the purchaser does not acquire the money; if he seizes it from the servant's owner, it is not expropriated from him.
ג
מכר עבדו לקנס שאם יונח וימות יהיה קנס של לוקח הרי זה ספק לפיכך לא קנה ואם תפש הקנס אין מוציאין מידו:
4
When a person sells a tree to one person and its fruit to another, when making the first sale he did not leave over the rights to the fruit. Therefore the second purchaser does not acquire anything.
If, however, a person sells a tree and leaves its fruit to himself, it is considered as if he retained the branches, the place where fruit grows, even if he did not explicitly say so. The rationale is that when a person retains property for himself, he acts generously.
ד
מכר אילן לזה ופירותיו לאחר לא שייר מקום הפירות ואין לאחר כלום אבל אם מכר אילן ושייר פירותיו לעצמו הרי שייר מקום הפירות אף על פי שלא פירש לגבי עצמו בעין יפה משייר:
5
When a person sells landed property for a specific time, the sale is binding. The purchaser may use the body of the land as he desires and derive benefit from it throughout the duration of the sale. At the end of the specified time period, the property returns to its original owner.
ה
המוכר גוף הקרקע לזמן קצוב הרי זה מכירה ומשתמש הלוקח בגוף כחפצו ואוכל הפירות כל זמן המכירה ובסוף תחזור לבעליה:
6
What is the difference between a person who sells landed property for a specific time and one who transfers ownership of it with regard to its produce? A person who purchases land with regard to its produce may not change the form of the land. He may not build, nor may he destroy. When, by contrast, a person purchases land for a specific time, he may build and destroy. During that specific time, he may act in the same manner as does one who purchases the land forever.
ו
ומה הפרש יש בין המוכר קרקע לזמן קצוב ובין המקנה אותה לפירותיה שהקונה לפירות אינו יכול לשנות צורת הקרקע ולא יבנה ולא יהרוס אבל הקונה לזמן קצוב הוא בונה והורס ועושה בכל זמנו הקצוב כמו שעושה הקונה קניין עולם לעולם:
7
What is the difference between a person who sells a field with regard to the produce it yields, and a person who sells a colleague the produce of a particular field?
When a person sells the produce of a particular field, the purchaser has no right to use this field at all. He is forbidden even to enter, except to take out his produce. The owner of the field, by contrast, may do whatever he desires within.
When, by contrast, a person sells a field with regard to the produce it yields, the owner of the field may not enter the field without the consent of the purchaser, and the purchaser may use the field as he desires.
זז
ומה הפרש יש בין המוכר שדה זו לפירותיה ובין המוכר פירות שדה זו לחבירו שהמוכר פירות השדה אין ללוקח להשתמש בשדה זו כלל אפילו להכנס אלא בשעת הוצאת הפירות ויש לבעל השדה להשתמש בה כחפצו אבל המוכר שדה לפירותיה אין בעל השדה יכול להכנס בה אלא מדעת הלוקח ויש ללוקח להשתמש בה כחפצו:
8
What is the difference between a person who purchases a field with regard to the produce it yields, and a person who rents a field from a colleague?
A person who purchases a field with regard to the produce it yields may plant trees or seeds within it whenever he desires or leave it fallow. A renter does not have this right, as will be explained with regard to rentals.
A renter does not have the right to sublet the property. One who buys the property may, however, sell the rights he purchased to another person.
ח
ומה הפרש יש בין הקונה שדה זו לפירותיה ובין השוכר שדה מחבירו שהקונה שדה לפירותיה יש לו לנטעה או לזרעה כל זמן שירצה או להובירה והשוכר אינן כן כמו שיתבאר בענין שכירות ואין השוכר רשאי להשכיר אבל הקונה מקנה לאחרים כל מה שקנה:
9
When a person sells the benefit to be obtained from a dovecote or the benefit to be obtained from a beehive to a colleague, the sale is binding. He is not considered to have sold an entity that has not come into existence. For he is not selling the doves that will be born or the honey that will be produced in the beehive. Instead, he is selling the dovecote with regard to the benefit it produces, and the beehive for its honey.
The seller can be compared to a person who rents a stream of water to a colleague, in which instance the renter may derive benefit from everything he catches within. Similarly, when a person sells a dovecote with regard to its benefit, it is as if he sells a tree with regard to its fruit. And the laws applying to both of them are like those applying to a person who rents a house, as we have explained in Halachah 1. Such a person may derive all the possible benefits from the property. Similar laws apply in all analogous situations.
ט
המוכר פירות שובך ופירות כוורת לחבירו קנה ואין זה מוכר דבר שלא בא לעולם לפי שאינו מוכר יונים שיולדו או דבש שיבוא לכוורת אלא הוא מוכר שובך לפירותיו או כוורת לדבשה שהרי הוא כשוכר אמת המים לחבירו שהוא נהנה בכל מה שיצוד בה כך זה הקנה שובך זה לפירותיו כמו שמוכר אילן לפירותיו ודין כולם כדין השוכר בית מחבירו כמו שאמרנו שהוא נהנה בכל הניות שיש בו וכן כל כיוצא בזה:
10
The owner of the dovecote does not acquire the eggs and the fledgling sin the dovecote until they fly. This is a Rabbinic decree, enacted as a safeguard to the prohibition,Deuteronomy 22:6: "Do not take the mother with the young."
Therefore, if a person wants to transfer the ownership of these eggs or these fledglings to a colleague, he should rap on the dovecote so that the mothers will fly away, lifting themselves up from the ground. He should then transfer ownership of the dovecote to his colleague via a kinyan chalifin, by virtue of the transfer of landed property, or via another means of acquiring movable property.
י
הביצים והאפרוחין עצמן שיש בשובך לא קנה אותם בעל שובך כל זמן שלא פרחו ודבר זה גזרת חכמים היא ומשום לא תקח האם על הבנים נגעו בה לפיכך הרוצה להקנות אפרוחים וביצים אלו לחבירו מטפח על השובך שיפרחו האמהות ויגבהו מעל הארץ ואחר כך יקנה אותן לחבירו בקנין או על גבי קרקע או בשאר דברים שהמטלטלין נקנין בהן:
11
When a person purchases the benefit to be derived from a dovecote from a colleague, he is not entitled to take all the fledglings that will be born from the time of the purchase onward. If he did that, the mothers would fly away and he would destroy the dovecote entirely. Instead, he should leave enough of the fledglings so that the dovecote will remain populated.
יא
הלוקח פירות שובך מחבירו אינו יכול ליטול כל הגוזלות שיולדו בו מעתה מפני שהאמהות בורחות נמצא שהחריב כל השובך אלא מניח מהן כדי ליישב השובך:
12
How many of the fledglings must he leave? If there were mother doves and female fledglings at the time he sold the benefit from the dovecote, he should leave the first pair of offspring that the mothers will bear, so that the mothers will be able to establish rapport with the first pair and with the female fledglings that were with them from the time of the sale. He should also leave two pairs of fledglings from those that the daughters who were in the dovecote from the time of the sale bear, so that the daughters will be able to establish rapport with these two pair that they bore. Whatever offspring are born after the first two pair from the daughters and the first pair of the mother belong to the purchaser.
יב
וכמה מניח אם היו בו אמהות ובנות בעת מכירת הפירות מניח בריכה ראשונה שיולידו האמהות כדי שיצטוותו האמהות עם הבריכה הראשונה ועם הבנות שעמהם ומניח ממה שיולידו הבנות שתי בריכות כדי שיצטוותו הבנות עם שתי הבריכות שהולידו וכל הנולד מאחר שתי בריכות של בנות והבריכה הראשונה של אמהות הרי אלו שלו:
13
When a person purchases the benefit to be gained from a beehive from a colleague, he may take three swarms of bees - one after the other. After that, he should take a swarm and leave a swarm to populate the beehive.
יג
הלוקח פירות כוורת מחבירו נוטל שלשה נחילים זה אחר זה מכאן ואילך נוטל נחיל ומניח נחיל כדי ליישב את הכוורת:
14
When a person purchases blocks of a beehive from a colleague, he should leave at least two blocks in the beehive, so that the bees do not fly away and abandon the hive.
יד
הלוקח חלות דבש מחבירו מניח בכוורת שתי חלות כדי שלא יפרחו הדבורים וילכו להן:
15
When a person purchases olive trees from a colleague to cut down as lumber, he must leave two fistfuls of the tree above the ground before cutting. If he purchases a wild fig tree that was never cut down, he must leave three handbreadths before cutting. If he purchases a wild fig tree that was cut down previously, he must leave two handbreadths. For other trees, one handbreadth must be left before cutting.
For reeds and vines, he must leave the lowest knot above the ground. With regard to palm trees and cedar trees, the purchaser should dig out its roots, for it will not grow again.
טו
הלוקח זיתים מחבירו לקוץ מניח האילן סמוך לארץ שתי גרופיות וקוצץ לקח בתולת שקמה מגביה שלשה טפחים וקוצץ סדן של שקמה שני טפחים ובשאר אילנות טפח וקוצץ בקנים ובגפנים מן הפקק ולמעלה בדקלים וארזים חופר ומשרש לפי שאין גזעו מחליף:
Mechirah - Chapter Twenty Four
1
When a person sells three trees within his field, even three small newly planted trees, or three growths of one tree, the purchaser also acquires the land necessary to nurture them. Even if the trees dry up or are chopped down, he still owns the land necessary to nurture them. The purchaser also acquires all the other trees between them.
א
המוכר שלשה אילנות בתוך שדהו ואפילו היו שלש נטיעות קטנות או שלשה בדי אילן הרי יש ללוקח קרקע הראוי להם ואפילו יבשו האילנות או נקצצו יש לו קרקע הראוי להם וקנה כל האילנות שביניהם:
2
How much land is necessary to nurture them? The land beneath them, between them and beyond them, in which a person picking fruit can stand together with his basket.
This place - the place in which a person picking fruit can stand together with his basket - may not be sown by either the buyer or the seller unless the other agrees.
ב
וכמה היא הקרקע הראוי להם תחתיהם וביניהם וחוצה להם כמלא האורה וסלו וזה המקום שהוא מלא האורה וסלו אין אחד משניהם יכול לזרעו אלא מדעת חבירו:
3
When does the above apply? When the three trees that he purchases are positioned like the three feet of a range on which a pot is placed - i.e., two parallel to each other and the third equidistant between them, but not on the line connecting them. There must be at least four cubits between each tree, and no more than sixteen cubits.
ג
במה דברים אמורים כשהיו שלשה האילנות עומדין כמו שלשה פטפוטי כירה ששופתין עליהן את הקדרה שהרי הן שנים זה כנגד זה והשלישי מכוון ביניהן ומרוחק מהן והוא שיהיו בין כל אילן ואילן מארבע אמות ועד שש עשרה:
4
From where does one measure? From the wide portion of the trunk of the tree.
In the following situations, by contrast, the purchaser does not acquire land: the trees were not standing in such a position, they were closer together than four cubits or more distant than sixteen cubits; he purchased one after the other; he sold him two trees in the midst of his field and the third on the boundary line; the purchaser bought two trees in one person's field and one in a field belonging to a colleague; or a cistern, an irrigation ditch or the public domain was interposed between the purchaser's three trees.
Therefore, the purchaser does not acquire the trees between the trees he purchased. If his trees dry up or are cut down, he has no further rights.
ד
ומהיכן הוא מודד מן העיקר הרחב של אילנות אבל אם לא היו עומדין כצורה הזאת או שהיו מקורבים פחות מארבע אמות או מרוחקין יותר משש עשרה אמה או שלקחן זה אחר זה או שמכר לו שנים בתוך שדהו ואחד על המצר או שנים בתוך שלו ואחד בתוך של חבירו או שהפסיק בור או אמת המים או רשות הרבים ביניהם הרי זה אין לו קרקע לפיכך לא קנה האילנות שביניהם ואם יבש האילן או נקצץ ילך לו:
5
The following rules apply whenever a person purchases three trees and therefore acquires land: If the trees grow and a new branch emerges outward from the trunk, it should be cut off, so as not to limit the passage of the owner of the field.
All the twigs and small branches that emerge from the trees - even those that emerge from the roots - belong to the owner of the trees, for he has acquired the land.
ה
כל מי שקונה שלשה אילנות ויש לו קרקע אם הגדילו והוציאו חוטר יקוץ כדי שלא ימעט הדרך על בעל השדה וכל השריגין והאמירים היוצאים מהם ואפילו מן השרשים הרי הן של בעל האילנות שהרי יש לו קרקע:
6
When a person purchases two trees in a field belonging to a colleague, the purchaser does not acquire any land. Therefore, if one of his trees dies or is cut down, he has no further right to the land.
If his two trees grow and produce twigs and small branches, they should be cut off, lest they grow into the earth and appear as a third tree. Then the purchaser would tell the seller: "You sold me three trees and I have a right to the land."
ו
הקונה שני אילנות בתוך שדה חבירו אין לו קרקע לפיכך אם מת האילן או נקצץ אין לו כלום הגדילו שני אילנות והוציאו שריגים ואמירים יקוץ שמא יצמחו בארץ ויאמר למוכר שלשה אילנות מכרת לי ויש לי קרקע:
7
The following laws apply to all the branches that the owner of the trees trims from them. Any branches that grow from the portion of the trunk that sees the sun belong to the owner of the trees. The branches that grow from the roots and do not see the sun belong to the owner of the field. With regard to palm trees, the owner of the tree does not acquire any of the branches, for they do not grow from the trunk.
ז
כל העצים שקוצץ בעל שני האילנות מהן העולה מן הגזעים והוא הרואה פני החמה הרי הוא של בעל האילנות והעולה מן השרשים והוא שאינו רואה פני החמה הרי הוא של בעל השדה ובדקלים אין לבעל הדקל מן העולה כלום לפי שאין לו גזע:
8
When a person sells landed property but retains the rights to the trees, he also retains possession of half of the land. For if he did not retain possession of the land, the purchaser would tell him: "Uproot your trees."
Similarly, if he retains the rights to two trees, he also retains possession of the land appropriate for them. For if he did not retain possession of the land, the purchaser would tell him: "Uproot your trees."
ח
המוכר קרקע ושייר אילנות הרי יש לו חצי הקרקע כולה שאילו לא שייר בקרקע הרי אומר לו הלוקח עקור אילנך וכן אם שייר שני האילנות בלבד יש לו קרקע הראוי להם שאילו לא שייר הקרקע היה הלוקח אומר לו עקור אילנך ולך:
9
When a person sells trees, but retains possession of the land, the owner of the trees acquires possession of the land necessary for them, as we have explained.
If a person sold the land to one person and the trees to another, and the purchaser of the trees manifested his ownership over the trees, and the purchaser of the land manifested his ownership over the land, the purchaser of the trees acquires the trees and half the land, while the purchaser of the land acquires only half the land.
ט
המוכר את האילנות ושייר את הקרקע יש לבעל האילנות קרקע הראוי להם כמו שביארנו מכר את הקרקע לאחד ואת האילנות לאחר והחזיק זה באילנות והחזיק זה בקרקע זה קנה האילנות עם חצי הקרקע וזה שהחזיק בקרקע קנה חצי הקרקע בלבד:
10
When brothers divide an inheritance, one taking an orchard and one taking a field of grain, the owner of the orchard receives four cubits in the field of grain next to the orchard. He is granted this land because we assume that they divided the land with this stipulation in mind. It need not be stated explicitly, because it is something that is well known.
י
האחין שחלקו אחד נטל פרדס ואחד נטל שדה לבן יש לבעל הפרדס ארבע אמות בתוך שדה לבן סמוכות לסוף האילנות של פרדס שעל מנת כן חלקו ואין צריך לפרש דבר זה מפני שהוא דבר ידוע:
11
The following rules apply when a person sells a field containing date palms to a colleague and specifies that he is selling him the field with the exception of one specific tree. If it is a valuable and high-quality tree, we assume that he retained ownership of that one date palm alone; the remainder belong to the purchaser. If the date palm that he specified that he was retaining is inferior, we assume that he surely retained ownership over the others, and the purchaser does not acquire any of the date palms at all.
יא
המוכר שדה לחבירו והיו בה דקלים ואמר לו חוץ מדקל פלוני אם דקל טוב ומשובח הוא אותו הדקל לבדו הוא ששייר והשאר ללוקח ואם דקל רע הוא ששייר [כל שכן ששייר השאר] לא קנה מן הדקלים כלום:
12
The following rules apply when a person sells a field to a colleague and tells him that he is selling it to him with the exception of the trees. If it contains only date palms, the seller retains ownership over the date palms. If it contains only vines, the seller retains ownership over the vines. Similar rules apply if it contains only one other type of tree.
If the field contains vines and date palms, the seller retains ownership over the vines alone. If it contains other trees and vines, the seller retains ownership over the other trees alone. Similarly, if it contains other trees and date palms, he retains the other trees alone. The rationale is that whoever sells, sells generously,
If the seller retains ownership over date palms, he retains ownership over only those date palms that are tall and that one must ascend by means of a rope. The others belong to the purchaser. If he retains ownership over trees, he retains ownership over only those trees that will not be bent over by a yoke. Those that can be bent over by a yoke belong to the purchaser and are considered to be part of the field.
יב
מכר לו שדה ואמר לו חוץ מן האילנות אם יש בו דקלים בלבד שייר הדקלים ואם יש בו גפנים בלבד שייר הגפנים וכן שאר האילנות היו בה גפנים ודקלים לא שייר אלא הגפנים אילנות וגפנים לא שייר אלא אילנות וכן אילנות ודקלים שייר אילנות שהמוכר בעין יפה הוא מוכר ואם הדקלים שייר לא שייר אלא כל דקל גבוה שעולים לו בחבל והשאר הרי הוא של לוקח ואם שאר האילנות הוא ששייר לא שייר בהם אלא כל שאין העול כובשו וכל שהעול כובשו הרי הוא של לוקח ובכלל השדה נחשב:
13
The following rules apply when a person tells a colleague, "I am selling you land and date palms." Even if there are no date palms on the land that he was intending to sell, if he desires to transfer ownership of two other date palms, the transaction is binding. The purchaser does not have the option of saying: "I am purchasing only land that has date palms growing on it."
If, however, the seller tells him: "I am selling you land with date palms," the sale is binding only when there are at least two date palms on the land. If not, it is considered a transaction entered into under false premises, and it is nullified. If the seller tells the purchaser: "I am selling you land for date palms," it need not have date palms. This expression indicates merely that the land is fit to grow date palms.
יג
האומר לחבירו קרקע ודקלים אני מוכר לך אפילו לא היו לו דקלים אם רצה לקנות לו שני דקלים הרי זה נקנה המקח ואין הלוקח יכול לומר לו איני לוקח אלא קרקע שיש בו דקלים ואם אמר קרקע בדקלים אני מוכר לך אם היו בו שני דקלים קנה ואם לאו מקח טעות הוא וחוזר ואם אמר לו קרקע של דקלים אני מוכר לך אין לו דקלים שאין בלשון הזה אלא קרקע הראוי לדקלים:
14
When a person sells an orchard to a colleague, he must write: "Acquire the date palms, the dates and the palm branches." Although the purchaser acquires all of these entities even when they are not explicitly mentioned in the deed of sale, mentioning them makes the wording of the document articulate.
Similarly, when a person sells landed property to a colleague, he must write: "I have not retained ownership over anything in this sale," to prevent judgments and claims from arising.
יד
המוכר פרדס לחבירו צריך שיכתוב לו קנה לך דקלים ותמרים והוצין ואע"פ שקנה כל אלו אף על פי שלא פירש אותם נויי השטר הם וכן המוכר קרקע לחבירו צריך לכתוב לו ולא הנחתי לפני במכר זה כלום כדי להסתלק מן הדינין והטענות:
15
The following rules apply when a person sells a house to a colleague: Even though he writes in the deed of sale: "I have transferred ownership of its depths and its heights," he must write to him:"Acquire from the ground of the earth's depths to the heights of the sky." For the heights and the depths of the property are not transferred when no specification is made.
If he said that he was transferring ownership of the heights and the depths, the purchaser would acquire the height - i.e., the atmosphere alone- and the depths, what is under the ground. He does not acquire what is in their midst. When, however, he writes: "From the ground of the earth's depths to the heights of the sky," he acquires a water receptacle and a cistern that are in the midst of the earth and the pathways that are in between the ceiling and the top of the building.
טו
המוכר בית לחבירו אע"פשכתב לו והקניתי לך עמקו ורומו צריך לכתוב לו קנה לך מהקרקע התהום עד רום רקיע שהעומק והרום אינו נקנה בסתם וכיון שקנה העומק והרום קנה הרום שהוא האויר בלבד והעומק שהוא עובי הארץ אבל לא קנה הבינונית שבמעמקים ושבאויר וכיון שכתב לו מקרקע התהום עד רום הרקיע קנה הבור והדות שבעובי הקרקע והמעזיבות והמחילות שבין המעזיבות למעלה:
16
When a person sells a home on the condition that the upper storeyremains his, he retains possession of that portion of the building. If he desires to extend projections from it, he has the right. If it falls, he may rebuild it. And if there was a third storey built on top of the second and it fell, if he desires to rebuild it, he may build it as it was before it fell.
טז
המוכר בית לחבירו על מנת שדיוטא עליונה שלי הרי זו שלו ואם רצה להוציא בה זיזין מוציא ואם נפלה חוזר ובונה אותה ואם רצה לבנות על גבה בונה כשהיה מקודם:
17
Although a person sells his grave, the path to his grave, the place where the funeral procession stands in honor of the departed, or the place where eulogies are recited, the family may come and bury the deceased there or perform any of the other rites against the will of the purchaser.
This privilege was granted lest the failure to do so blemish the honor of the family. They must pay the purchaser for the grave in which the deceased was buried. This provision is granted even though it was not stated explicitly in the original deed of sale.
יז
המוכר קברו או דרך קברו או מקום מעמדו או בית הספדו באין בני משפחה וקוברים שם בעל כרחו משום פגם משפחה ונותנין דמי הקבר שקברו בו ללוקח אע"פ שלא פירש:
• Sunday, 10 AV , 5776 · 14 August 2016
• "Today's Day"
• Wednesday, Menachem Av 10, 5703
Torah lessons: Chumash: Va'etchanan, Revi'i with Rashi.
Tehillim: 55-59.
Tanya: Upon his arrival (p. 395) ...the face..." (p. 397).
From what my grandfather related:
a) Originally the epistle Katonti1 ended with the words "restrained spirit etc." Later, our Great Rabbi (the Alter Rebbe) delivered the maamar "As water reflects the face etc." three times in Lyozna, following the interpretation of Rashi2 and not of Targum.3 After that he made an addition to the epistle Katonti as follows: And maybe, through all that, G-d will give it into the heart of their brethren that "as water (reflects) the face" etc. With this he implanted fine character traits in the chassidim.
b) Had the Rebbe not inserted the three words b'midat emet leYaakov ("according to the attribute of Truth unto Yaakov")4, he would have attracted fifty thousand more chassidim. But the Rebbe demands the trait of truth.
FOOTNOTES
1."I have become small..."; second letter in Igeret Hakodesh, written by the Alter Rebbe on his return from his arrest in Petersburg (in 5559).
2.Mishlei 27:19. As water reflects the face so one's heart reflects the feelings of the other's heart.
3.Ibid. As waters differ so do men's hearts.
4.Following the exhortation to the chassidim that "they are to subdue their spirit and heart before everyone."
• Daily Thought:
Unnecessary Evil
There are times when a stern word is necessary, when a child needs a firm reminder, when social justice demands harsh measures.
Of their own, these acts are unwholesome—only their context redeems them.
Think of them as toxic medicines, to be administered with great care. Once they are no longer necessary or can be replaced with more wholesome means, they are no longer medicine, but poison.[Likkutei Sichot, vol. 15, p. 390.]
-------
There are times when a stern word is necessary, when a child needs a firm reminder, when social justice demands harsh measures.
Of their own, these acts are unwholesome—only their context redeems them.
Think of them as toxic medicines, to be administered with great care. Once they are no longer necessary or can be replaced with more wholesome means, they are no longer medicine, but poison.[Likkutei Sichot, vol. 15, p. 390.]
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