WEEKLY DAFootnotes #37
Bava Batra 16-22; Issue #37
24-30 Nissan / 6-12 April 2002
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GIVE ME FRIENDSHIP OR GIVE ME DEATH
When the righteous Iyov was tested by Hashem through the death of his children, the destruction of his fortune and the affliction of his body, he was visited by his three loyal friends, Elifaz, Bildad and Tzofar. "They came, each from his place they gathered together to comfort and console him." (Iyov 2:11)
A distance of 300 parsa (about 800 miles) separated each friend from the other and yet they all gathered together and entered Iyov's gate at the exact same moment. How was it possible that people so far apart from each other should hear about their friend's tragedy at the very same moment and thus arrive together?
Two solutions are proposed by the gemara. One version is that each of this close- knit company, Iyov and his three friends, had a crown on which were engraved three faces, each bearing the name of the friend it represented. If any of the friends became ill his face on that crown would reflect his poor state. Another version is that each had in his garden trees representing each of the three friends and the one representing the ill one would wither as a signal of his condition.
Commenting on this extraordinary demonstration of friendship, the Sage Rava quoted the folk saying "Either friendship like the friends of Iyov, or death!"
Maharsha points out that this same point was made by Rava in regard to the loneliness which made life unbearable for the great sage Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa when he awoke after a seventy-year slumber and found that no one would believe he was still alive and did not associate with him. He literally chose death by praying for a release from his loneliness which he considered worse than death. (Mesechta Ta'anit 23a)
In our gemara Rava adds a dimension to this folk saying by stating that friendship alone is not sufficient as a reason for living, only a friendship like that of Iyov's friends.
Bava Batra 16b
TORAH FROM OUT OF ZION
" from out of Zion shall come Torah and the Word of Hashem from Yerushalayim." (Yeshayahu 2:3)
Does this fragment of a passage, so familiar to us from the prayers said at the time when the Sefer Torah is taken from the Holy Ark, refer to the days of Mashiach only or to a Yerushalayim of an earlier period as well?
If we analyze this phrase in its context it appears to be part of the prophecy about what will take place in the end of days when all the nations will stream towards a rebuilt Yerushalayim and Beit Hamikdash. As Metzudat David explains it, these nations will suggest to each other to go up to the mountain of Hashem - Temple Mount - where they will be able to learn from the Jews who know Torah what it is that Hashem wants from them, because they will finally realize that the only true Torah is the one coming out of Yerushalayim.
In our gemara, however, we find this phrase applied to the Yerushalayim of the Second Beit Hamikdash period. Before the Kohen Gadol Yehoshua ben Gamla instituted local Talmud Torah schools for the general public it was customary for children to be taught only by their fathers. This left those without fathers with no opportunity to learn. The first solution which was attempted was the establishment of such schools in Yerushalayim to serve these unfortunate ones. It was only after this and a subsequent solution failed to solve the problem that the institution of public education was initiated by the aforementioned Kohen Godol who is praised as the one who ensured that Torah would not be forgotten by Jews.
But why was Yerushalayim chosen for the first solution? Rabbi Yehuda in the name of Rav says it was because of the prophetic phrase about Torah coming out of this city. Tosefot explains that the youngster who studied in Yerushalayim saw great holiness and kohanim performing the service in the Beit Hamikdash was inspired with respect for Hashem and a desire to learn Torah.
What Jews sensed about Yerushalayim of the present will only be appreciated in the future by an entire world.
Bava Batra 21a
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