The Weekly Daf #86 Shavuos 35-41 Week of 3-9 Tishrei 5756 / 27 Sept.-3 Oct. 1995 By Rabbi Mendel Weinbach, Dean, Ohr Somayach Institutions =========================================================================== World Shaking Words When the court administers an oath in a financial case the judges impress upon the party about to take the oath the gravity of swearing falsely. "Be aware," they tell him, "that the entire universe trembled when Hashem said at Sinai: `You shall not take the Name of Hashem your G-d in vain.'" The gravity of this sin, points out the Talmud, lies in the fact that the Torah says that Hashem does not absolve the one who swears falsely with His Name. For all other sins repentance alone can achieve Heavenly absolution, but taking Hashem's name in vain must receive some sort of punishment even with repentance. The trembling of the universe, explains Maharsha, was based on the fact that Hashem created the world by uttering His sacred Name. One who defiles that Name by swearing falsely with it is therefore guilty of shaking the very foundation of existence. Shavuos 39a =========================================================================== Heavenly Hospitality Hospitality towards guests is greater even than receiving the Divine Presence. This is deduced from the Torah account of Avraham Avinu welcoming three guests to his home. Although the Divine Presence had come to pay a sick call to him while he was recovering from his Bris Milah, Avraham excused himself with the plea "Hashem if I have found favor in Your eyes please do not leave Your servant" (Bereishis 18:3) in order to attend to his guests. Shavuos 35b =========================================================================== SUBSCRIBE! to one of the many weekly "lists" published by Ohr Somayach Institutions: weekly - Summary of the weekly Torah portion dafyomi - Rav Mendel Weinbach's insights into the Daf Yomi ask - The Rabbi answers YOUR questions on Judaism parasha-qa - Challenging questions on the weekly Torah portion os-special - All the SPECIAL publications produced by Ohr Somayach os-alum - "B'Yachad" - the Ohr Somayach Electronic Alumni Newsletter judaismo - Spanish-Language newsletter on the Parsha & Judaism month - Seasons of the Moon - The Jewish Year through its months There is NEVER a charge for any of the above lists (though your local information provider, such as AOL, Prodigy or CompuServe, might charge a nominal fee). To subscribe to any of these lists, send the message: subscribe {listname} {your full name} to: listproc@jer1.co.il =========================================================================== Dedication opportunities are available for The Weekly Daf. Please contact us for details. =========================================================================== Jewish L EEEEEEEE Prepared by the Jewish Learning Exchange of J L E Ohr Somayach International J L E 22 Shimon Hatzadik Street, POB 18103 J L Exchange Jerusalem 91180, Israel J L E Tel: 972-2-810315 Fax: 972-2-812890 J J L E Internet: ohr@jer1.co.il JJJJ Learning EEEEEEEE WWW: http://jer1.co.il/orgs/ohr =========================================================================== (C) 1995 Ohr Somayach International - All rights reserved. This publication may be distributed to another person intact without prior permission. We also encourage you to include this material in other publications, such as synagogue newsletters. However, we ask that you contact us beforehand for permission, and then send us a sample issue.