WEEKLY DAFootnotes #34-36
Bava Metzia 114 - Bava Batra 2; Issue #34
Bava Batra 3 - 9; Issue #35
Bava Batra 10 - 16; Issue #36
3 - 23 Nissan 5762 / 16 March - 5 April 2002
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A LIGHT FOR A LIGHT
"For a mitzvah is like a candle and Torah is like the light of day." (Mishlei 6:23)
The comparison made by King Solomon is interpreted elsewhere (Mesechta Sotah 21a) in terms of the relative protection against suffering provided by the merit of performing a mitzvah and studying Torah. Just as a candle offers light for a limited period of time, says Rabbi Menachem bar Yossi, so does a mitzvah provide protection while it is being done. In contrast to this, the bright light of the sun is constant, and so too does the merit of learning Torah offer protection even when one is not studying.
In our gemara the Sage Bava ben Bata cited this passage's comparison of Torah study to light in order to convey an important lesson to Herodos. This slave of the Hasmonean rulers had rebelled against his master, seized the throne and put to death all the Torah sages for fear that they would challenge the legitimacy of his reign based on their interpretation of the Torah's requirements for a Jewish king. He even blinded the lone survivor, Bava ben Bata, and engaged him, disguised as a stranger, in a dialogue to test his loyalty. When he saw how careful this sage was in respecting the power of authority, this usurper of the throne expressed regret at having slaughtered the other sages and asked for a suggestion on how to atone for his sin.
"You extinguished the light of the world," was the reply, "so you must do something constructive concerning the light of the world."
The light Herodus had extinguished was the light of Torah embodied by the Torah sages he had slain. While he could not restore this light, there was another light, that of the Beit Hamikdash, which he could give greater power to by renovating that building from which that light emanated.
The passage (Yeshayahu 2:12) cited for referring to the Beit Hamikdash as light uses the term "venaharu" in regard to the flow of nations in the end of days to the rebuilt Temple in Jeruaslem but makes no specific mention of light. Maharsha writes that the reference is actually to the next passage which speaks of Torah emanating from Zion which indicates that the Beit Hamikdash is the source of Torah light. Rashash, on the other hand, directs us to a passage in Iyov (3:4) in which the world "nehorah" means light in line with the Aramaic translation of light which is "nehorah".
Bava Batra 4a
A LIGHT FOR A LIGHT
"For a mitzvah is like a candle and Torah is like the light of day." (Mishlei 6:23)
The comparison made by King Solomon is interpreted elsewhere (Mesechta Sotah 21a) in terms of the relative protection against suffering provided by the merit of performing a mitzvah and studying Torah. Just as a candle offers light for a limited period of time, says Rabbi Menachem bar Yossi, so does a mitzvah provide protection while it is being done. In contrast to this, the bright light of the sun is constant, and so too does the merit of learning Torah offer protection even when one is not studying.
In our gemara the Sage Bava ben Bata cited this passage's comparison of Torah study to light in order to convey an important lesson to Herodos. This slave of the Hasmonean rulers had rebelled against his master, seized the throne and put to death all the Torah sages for fear that they would challenge the legitimacy of his reign based on their interpretation of the Torah's requirements for a Jewish king. He even blinded the lone survivor, Bava ben Bata, and engaged him, disguised as a stranger, in a dialogue to test his loyalty. When he saw how careful this sage was in respecting the power of authority, this usurper of the throne expressed regret at having slaughtered the other sages and asked for a suggestion on how to atone for his sin.
"You extinguished the light of the world," was the reply, "so you must do something constructive concerning the light of the world."
The light Herodus had extinguished was the light of Torah embodied by the Torah sages he had slain. While he could not restore this light, there was another light, that of the Beit Hamikdash, which he could give greater power to by renovating that building from which that light emanated.
The passage (Yeshayahu 2:12) cited for referring to the Beit Hamikdash as light uses the term "venaharu" in regard to the flow of nations in the end of days to the rebuilt Temple in Jeruaslem but makes no specific mention of light. Maharsha writes that the reference is actually to the next passage which speaks of Torah emanating from Zion which indicates that the Beit Hamikdash is the source of Torah light. Rashash, on the other hand, directs us to a passage in Iyov (3:4) in which the world "nehorah" means light in line with the Aramaic translation of light which is "nehorah".
Bava Batra 4a
A LIGHT FOR A LIGHT
"For a mitzvah is like a candle and Torah is like the light of day." (Mishlei 6:23)
The comparison made by King Solomon is interpreted elsewhere (Mesechta Sotah 21a) in terms of the relative protection against suffering provided by the merit of performing a mitzvah and studying Torah. Just as a candle offers light for a limited period of time, says Rabbi Menachem bar Yossi, so does a mitzvah provide protection while it is being done. In contrast to this, the bright light of the sun is constant, and so too does the merit of learning Torah offer protection even when one is not studying.
In our gemara the Sage Bava ben Bata cited this passage's comparison of Torah study to light in order to convey an important lesson to Herodos. This slave of the Hasmonean rulers had rebelled against his master, seized the throne and put to death all the Torah sages for fear that they would challenge the legitimacy of his reign based on their interpretation of the Torah's requirements for a Jewish king. He even blinded the lone survivor, Bava ben Bata, and engaged him, disguised as a stranger, in a dialogue to test his loyalty. When he saw how careful this sage was in respecting the power of authority, this usurper of the throne expressed regret at having slaughtered the other sages and asked for a suggestion on how to atone for his sin.
"You extinguished the light of the world," was the reply, "so you must do something constructive concerning the light of the world."
The light Herodus had extinguished was the light of Torah embodied by the Torah sages he had slain. While he could not restore this light, there was another light, that of the Beit Hamikdash, which he could give greater power to by renovating that building from which that light emanated.
The passage (Yeshayahu 2:12) cited for referring to the Beit Hamikdash as light uses the term "venaharu" in regard to the flow of nations in the end of days to the rebuilt Temple in Jeruaslem but makes no specific mention of light. Maharsha writes that the reference is actually to the next passage which speaks of Torah emanating from Zion which indicates that the Beit Hamikdash is the source of Torah light. Rashash, on the other hand, directs us to a passage in Iyov (3:4) in which the world "nehorah" means light in line with the Aramaic translation of light which is "nehorah".
Bava Batra 4a
LIKE STARS FOREVER
Those who teach Torah to Jewish children are compared by our Sages to the stars. This is based on a passage in Daniel (12:3) which speaks of "those who cause the many to be righteous are like stars forever."
The model for such teaching cited in our gemara is Rabbi Shmuel bar Shilat. One day the Sage Rav encountered him standing in a park away from his pupils. "What happened to your faithfulness?" he asked him since Rabbi Shmuel had a long record of faithfully teaching his pupils and always being together with them." It is thirteen years since the last time I have been to this spot," explained the model teacher and then allayed Rav's fears by assuring him "that even now I am minding my people."
Stars, explains Maharsha, serve the world both by day and by night, even though they are not always visible to the human eye. In similar fashion the dedicated teacher has his mind on his pupils even when they do not see him as exemplified by Rabbi Shmuel bar Shilat.
Another opinion in our gemara contents that the stars are a reference to charity wardens who provide the many with tzedakah. (In this approach the word "matzidekei" is not translated as causing righteousness but as dispensing "tzedakah".) Here, too, the comparison to stars is that the dedicated charity wardens concern themselves by day and night with the needs of the poor, just as the stars serve the world by day and night. But just as the stars are not visible by day so will thoughtful dispensers of charity not embarrass the recipients by handing out money to them in public where everyone can see them, and will make every effort to provide their assistance with the discretion which is symbolized by the concealing darkness of night.
Bava Batra 8b
SONS OR SLAVES?
"If your G-d loves the poor," asked the wicked Roman ruler Turnus Rufus of Rabbi Akiva, "why does He not provide for them?"
Rabbi Akiva replied that the pangs of poverty served as an atonement for his sins and his dependence on other Jews provided them with an opportunity to give charity which saved them from the after life retribution of gehinom. The Roman challenged him by comparing Jews condemned by Hashem to Roman suppression for not doing His will to a slave who incurred the anger of a mortal king who then imprisoned him and prohibited anyone to provide him with food and drink. Will not the king be furious, he asked, at anyone who does provide him? Rabbi Akiva's attempt to rather compare Jews to an imprisoned son whose royal father will reward the one who supplies his wayward son with food and drink was rebuffed by Turnus Rufus. Jews are called both sons (Devarim 14.11) and slaves (Vayikra 25.58) of Hashem, he argued, so it follows that only when they do the will of Hashem are they called sons. Otherwise they are called slaves, and their current situation indicates that this is indeed their status and it is therefore improper for charity to be given to them.
This dialogue between the great sage and his Roman protagonist sounds very much like the debate between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Meir (Mesechta Kiddushin 36a) as to whether Jews who do not do the will of Hashem are still called sons. Are we to assume that Rabbi Yehuda who contends that they are not called sons in their sinful stage is echoing the position of this wicked Roman? And why did Rabbi Akiva not cite the many Scriptural proofs put forth by his disciple Rabbi Meir to prove that we are still considered sons even after sinning?
The answer to these questions can be found in the answer finally given by Rabbi Akiva to the Roman. The Prophet Yeshayahu (48:7) conveys Hashem's wish for Jews to give charity at a time when they are being oppressed, indicating that even if we accept the Roman's thesis that Jews are not considered sons at such a time, they are not like the slave in his parable but like one whom the king wants supported. Rabbi Yehuda, who held that disobedient Jews lose their status as sons, will nevertheless agree with the position of his teacher, Rabbi Akiva, that they are not slaves to be spurned but as legitimate objects of charity.
Bava Batra 10a
THE FIRST WORDS OF TORAH
When a boy learns how to speak, say our Sages (Mesechta Succah 42a), his father is obligated to teach him Torah. The words of Torah which constitute this first lesson are those of this passage which Moshe taught to the Children of Israel just before blessing them before his passing.
"Moshe commanded us the Torah which is an inheritance for the Congregation of Yaakov." (Devarim 32.4)
This passage is such an important statement about the lasting relationship between Torah and the Jewish people that it qualifies to be called an entity of Torah which a father transmits to a son as soon as he can mouth those words. Thus we understand what Rabbi Hamenuna meant when he responded to the report of his colleagues about Rabbi Ami writing 400 Torah scrolls, that since this is impossible to accomplish in a single lifetime he probably wrote the aforementioned passage 400 times.
Although it was Moshe himself speaking he referred to himself in third person. The commentaries explain that this passage is a continuation of the previous one which concludes with a phrase about what Jews will lift their voices and proclaim. Their proud proclamation will be that the Torah they received through Moshe will never be abandoned nor forgotten because it is the eternal inheritance of the "Congregation of Yaakov".
Ramban cites a Midrash (Tehillim) which calls attention to the fact that this passage does not refer to the Jewish people as the "House of Yaakov" or the "Seed of Yaakov" but rather as the "Congregation of Yaakov". This is to be understood as a subtle prophecy that many people from other nations will attach themselves to the Jews and that the Torah commanded by Moshe to the Jews will be an everlasting inheritance for them and all those who congregated together with them - the sincere proselytes who joined Hashem and His people and deserve to be called His congregation.
Bava Batra 14a
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