Tumah & Taharah

[The Gemara for the rest of the mesechta reviews the laws pertaining to Tumah (Ritual Impurity) and Taharah (Ritual Purity)]

Rav Nachman said: Whoever rinses his hands for produce (not bread) he is from the Haughty of Sprit.

[This is because by Rabbinic decree, whoever eats bread is obligated to wash their hands before eating. (Netilas Yadayim) The fact that someone washes their hands when they are not eating bread, it is Rav Nachman describes as acting haughty since washing is not required -- The Gemara is talking about the spiritual washing of hands]

The Rabbis taught in a Baraisa: One who rinses his hands, if he had intention (for making his hands pure) his hands are Tahor (Pure). If he did not have intentions (for making his hands pure) his hands are Tamei (Contaminated by Tumanh, Ritual Impurity and capable of spreading the impurity). And so too one who immerses his hands (in a mikvah), if he had intention (for Purity) then his hands are Tahor (Pure). If he did not have intention, his hands remain Tamei (Impure).

[The Gemara now questions this ruling]

But it was taught in another Baraisa: Whether he had intentions or not, his hands are Tahor (Pure).

Rav Nachman explains: (that there is no contradiction between the two Baraisot as in the later Baraisa the hands are purified) For Chullin (Ordinary unsanctified foods, where as the first Baraisa is talking about) For Maaser (one 10th of a farmers crop, brought for an offering).

[By this Rav Nachman is eluding to the higher the level of Holiness, the stronger the intention must be

From the Shulchan Aruch:
For Washing before eating Bread one must wash with full handfuls of water (Liberal amounts) you hold the vessel containing the water in your left hand and wash the right hand first three times from wrist to finger tips. Then you hold the vessel in your right hand and wash the left hand three times from wrist to finger tips. After you wash both hands, rub them together and rasie them opposite your head as it is said in Psalms 134:2 "Lift up your hands" and recite the following blessing... Asher Kiddeshanu bemitzvosav vetzivanu al natilas yadayim (Who has sanctified us with the commandments and has commanded us regarding washing the hands)]

- Chagigah 18b/19a

50 Ways to Count the Omer

[One of the beautiful things about studying Gemara though the daily daf yomi cycle is sometimes discussions in the Gemara almost magically sync up with either ones studies, the weekly parsha or Holiday. Today's daf on page 17b is no excetion as the Gemara discusses briefly the counting of the Omer (which we are currently doing).]

Come learn a proof from a Baraisa that Rabbah bar Shmuel taught: The Torah said: Count 30 days and sanctify by bringing a mussaf offering. Count 50 days and santify the festival of Shavous by bringing a olas reiayh (burned offering of appearace at the temple) and chagigah offering (peace offering of celebration).

Rava said: Is it so that for Shavous we count days but we do not count weeks? But Abaye has said: There is a commandment to count days, for it is written: (leviticus 23:16) You shall count 50 days; and there is a commandment to count weeks, for it is written: (deuteronomy 16:9) You shall count seven weeks for yourself. And further more, the festival of weeks is written (i.e. Shavous)

[By Yeruchem Eilfort http://www.chabad.org

From the second night of Passover until the day before the holiday of Shavuot, the Jewish people engage in an unique mitzvah called sefirat ha'omer (counting of the omer). The Torah commands us during this time each year to count seven complete weeks for a total of 49 days. At the end of the seven-week period we celebrate Shavuot, which means "weeks."

This is considered a mitzvah, so the count, which takes place each night, is preceded by a blessing. However, we may only recite the blessing if we have not missed a single night of counting. If we have omitted the counting even one night during that stretch, we may no longer recite the blessing, but instead must listen as our friend says the blessing and then do the counting.

During the times of the Holy Temple, at the end of counting a special grain offering was brought. This offering was waved in different directions, similar to how the lulav is waved during the holiday of Sukkot, to demonstrate G-d Almighty's all-encompassing presence.

Why do we count these days? We learn several reasons. The foremost is that the count demonstrates our thrill for the impending occasion of receiving on the Torah, celebrated on Shavuot. Just as a child often counts the days until the end of school, or for an upcoming family vacation, we count the days to show our excitement at again receiving the Torah (as we do in fact receive the Torah in a renewed sense every year).

We also learn that this period is meant to spiritually prepare and refine ourselves. When the Jewish people were in Egypt nearly 3,400 years ago, they had assimilated many of the immoral ways of the Egyptian people. The Jews had sunk to an unprecedented level of spiritual defilement and were on the brink of destruction. At the last possible moment the Children of Israel were miraculously redeemed. They underwent a spiritual rebirth and quickly ascended to the holiest collective state they had ever reached. They were so holy, in fact, that they were compared to angels when they stood at the foot of Mt. Sinai to receive the Torah.

It was during that 49-day period that they underwent such a radical transformation. From the lowest lows to the highest heights in just seven weeks!

The commandments of the Torah are not meant merely as our history, but instead represent on ongoing life-lesson for every Jew. We view the Torah as freshly received every day of our lives and approach it and its commandments with appropriate vigor.

So too must we digest the lesson of the counting of omer. It is specifically during this time that we strive to grow and mature in our spiritual state. The Torah does not allow us to become satisfied with our current level of spirituality. Instead it tells us to set high goals for ourselves and then methodically strive to reach that goal.

The growth that occurs during this time is akin to a marathon. We pace ourselves and seek to improve day by day until we reach the day that we again receive the Torah. In this process we look deep within ourselves and work on all of our negative attributes. If we are challenged in the realm of acts of kindness, we go out of our way to do more charitable works. If we are lacking in the area of justice, we hold ourselves to the highest possible standards and are exacting and demanding in our personal behavior and habits. And so it goes for all of our traits.

For more information on the mitzvah of counting the Omer please visit the following link on at Chabad.org]

- Chagigah 17b

Misconception - Women

(The Torah States in Leviticus 1:2) Speak to the sons of Israel, When a person among you shall bring an offering to Hashem, he shall lean his hands on the head of the olah offering. This teaches that the sons of Israel perform Semichah (Personal Sacrificial offering, where the owner of the animal places both hands on the animal and leans on the animal while confessing) but the Daughters of Israel do not perform Semicha on their sacrifices.

R'Yose and R'Simon say: The daughters of Israel have the option to perform Semichah if they wish.

Abba Elazar recounted the following incident: One time we had a calf that was a Shelamim offering, and we brought it to the women's section of the courtyard (of the temple). The Women performed semichah on it. Not because there is a Semicha requirement for women, but in order to give satisfaction to the women.

[the Gemara in Rosh Hashanah 33a discusses the fact that women may perform the mitzvah of blowing the shofar. Once again in Gemara we see a source where women are permitted to perform time bound mitzvahs normally reserved for men. It's a well know fact that Rashi's daughters use to put on tefillin daily. Why are women not required to perform "time bound mitzvahs" (aside from lighting candles on shabbat)? The answer can be found in a misconception of orthodox Judaism. Many think that in orthodox Judaism, Women are treated as second class citizens.

THIS CAN'T BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH!

Men need to perform time bound mitzvahs to come closer to Hashem. This is because, through out the Torah there is incident after incident where MEN are going against the word of Hashem and sinning. The closest incident we find in the Torah where a woman has sinned is when Miriam spoke lashon horah (gossip) against her brother Moses. Men have to perform physical mitzvahs to make up for the sins of their forefather. Women don't have that issue. A woman's soul is closer to G-D then a man's soul. Women are spiritually superior then men. A women can do one thing (with the help of Hashem) that a man can never do, and that is give birth. It is these reasons that a women's soul is much loftier then a mans, and therefore is not required to perform time bound mitzvahs.

There are people who wear orange jump suits and pick up trash on the side of the road. They do this because they have to perform community service as part of their punishment. That doesn't stop someone from picking up trash if they were so inclined. But they don't HAVE to... Same hold true for Women and Mitzvahs.

How did that old Harry Belafonte song go? "That's right... The women are smarter... that's right, the women are... insert: Spiritually Superior" ]

- Chagigah 16b

Two Paths

R'Meir said:
Whenever the Holy one, Blessed be he, created, he created something else corresponding to it: He created mountains, he created hills. He created oceans, he created rivers.

R'Akiva said:
G-D created righteous persons, and he created wicked persons. He created Gan Eden (Heaven) and he created Gehinnom (hell). Each and every person has two portions, one in Gan Eden, and one in Gehinnom. When a righteous person merits, he takes his portion and his peer's portion in Gan Eden. When a wicked person becomes guilty, he takes his portion and his peer's portion in Gehinnom.

[What the Gemara is saying is that a righteous person introduces virtue in this world, and thereby makes the world a better place for everyone in it. His good deeds entice others to do good as well. On the flip side, a wicked person bring evil into the world and entices others to do evil. He is held accountable for his sins and those that were enticed by him. A wicked man is only rewarded in this world for the good deeds he has done. He is not rewarded in the world to come. A righteous person, received his reward in the world to come.

G-D gives us free will, and created dual options for us. He sets before us two paths. It's up to us to follow the path of righteous. In doing so, our reward will be eternal]

- Chagigah 15a

Caution: Ezekiel

R'Ami said:
One may not transmit secrets of the Torah (Kaballah) except to someone with these five attributes:
1. Captain of 50
2. Respected Person
3. Adviser
4. Teacher of the Wise
5. Comprehender of the Mysteries.

[The Gemara sites another example where learning before you are really ready might be detrimental.]

The Rabbis taught in a Baraisa: An incident with one child, who was reading in school in the book of Ezekiel, and was contemplating Chashmal (Rashi translates Chashmal as "Grasping what it is"), and a fire emerged from Chashmal and burned him. In response, people sought to conceal the book of Ezekiel (so incidents like that would never happen again).

Chanayah ben Chizkiyah said to them, "If this child was a prodigy, are they all prodigies?"

[In other words this child was a prodigy in that he could comprehend and fully understand the book of Ezekiel. For an adult, the danger is not the same as if an adult would understand the text, they would probably be mature enough to understand without harm.

With that being said, you can close your browser now or continue below with an excerpt from Ezekiel that the Gemara covers (if you dare :-)

The Gemara previously noting the differences between Ezekiel and Isaiah's vision, expounds upon Ezekiel vision of the 4 faces of the Chayot in the Chariot (the thrown chariot of G-d. ]

As for the likeness of their faces: There was a human face; and a lion's face to the right for the four of them; and an ox's face to the left for the four of them, and an eagle's face for the four of them. Each one had four faces; the one face, the face of the keruv; the second face, the face of the human, the third face of a lion, and the fourth face of an eagle. However the ox is not listed.

Reish Lakish said: Ezekiel beseeched for mercy regarding the ox, and G-d transformed it into a Keruv (face of a child). Ezekiel said before him, "master of the universe, can a prosecutor act as a defender?" (since the ox recalls the sin of the Golden Calf, and would be inappropriate to be included among the faces of the Chariot)

- Chagigah 13a/b

[The Gemara goes on to record a dispute as to how the angels were created]

R'Shimon the saintly said: Each day ministering angels are created from the stream of fire, and they utter song and cease to exist, as it says: They are new every morning great is your praise upon them (Lamentations 3:23)

R'Shmuel bar Nachmani said in the name of R'Yonasan: From each and every word the emerges from the mouth of the Holy One, Blessed is He, a single angel is created as it says: By the Word of Hashem the heavens were made and by the breath of his mouth all their host (Psalms 33:6)

- Chagigah 14a

List Mania

Rav Yehuda said in the name of Rav: Ten things were created on the first day (of creation) and they are:
1. Heaven
2. Earth
3. Tohu
4. Bohu
5. Light
6. Darkness
7. Breath
8. Water
9. Length of Day
10. Length of Night

A Baraisa Taught: Tohu is a green line that encircles the entire world. It is from that line that darkness emerges, as it says (in Psalm 18:12) "He made Darkness his concealment around it". Bohu refers to the damp stone sunk in the deep, from these stones that water emerges, as it says (in Isaiah 34:11) "And he shall extend upon it the line of Tohu and the Stones of Bohu.

(Rashi defines Tohu as astonishment and Bafflement. He defines Bohu as Emptiness and Desolation)

The Baraisa continues:
And was light created on the first day? Because it is written: (in Genesis 1:17) "And G-D set the sun and moon in the firament of the heaven to give light on the earth. And it was written: and it was evening and it was morning, the fourth day".

R'Elazar said: The light that the Holy One Blessed is He, created on the first day: Man could use it to survey everything from on end of the world to the other end of the world. Once the Holy One, Blessed is he looked at the generation of the Flood and the generation of the dispersion, and he saw that their deeds were perverse, he proceeded to hid it from them as it says (in Job 38:15) "And the light was withheld from the wicked."

The sages say that the Luminaries themselves which were created on the first day, but not suspended until the fourth day!

Rav Zutra bar Toviya said in the name of Rav: The World was created with ten things:
1. Wisdom
2. Insight
3. Understanding
4. Strength
5. Rebuke
6. Might
7. Righteousness
8. Justice
9. Kindness
10. Compassion


[What was that I posted yesterday about peeking behind "The Curtain"? ]

- Chagigah 12a


Reish Lakish said: Whoever engages in Torah study at night, The Holy one, Blessed is he, endows him with charm during the day.

[I'll have to ask my co-workers if I come in smiling each morning after I'm up until 1:30am studying. (This is normally the case for me, as I reserve my study time until after the kids are in Bed.) On second thought, maybe not. I'll take the Talmud's word that I'm Charming :-)]

- Chagigah 12b

Behind the Curtain

Chapter 2 - Ein Dorshin

First Mishnah:
The laws of Forbidden unions may not be taught among three people,(Teacher, 2 students) Nor Maaseh Bereishis (Wisdom of the natural world) be taught between two people (Teacher & Student) Nor Merkavah (Wisdom of metaphysical world) be studies by one person unless that person was a scholar who could arrive at an understanding on his own.

Whoever scrutinizes these four things would have better for him had he never come into the world:
1. What is above
2. What is below
3. What is before
4. What is after

And whoever has no heed for the creator, it would have been better for him had he never come into the world.

[I have visions of the line from the Wizard of OZ... "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." The mishnah (and later expounded in the gemara)clearly maintains that the study of the "workings of what goes on behind the curtain" should be taught in a precise way, and should not be undertaken until one has studied the "prerequisites".]

- Chagigah 11b