Year: 2018

ויקרא כ”ה ל”ה – ל”ח:

וכי ימוך אחיך ומטה ידו עמך והחזקת בו גר ותושב וחי עמך. אל תקח מאתו נשך ותרבית ויראת מאלהיך וחי אחיך עמך. את כספך לא תתן לו בנשך ובמרבית לא תתן אכלך. אני ה’ אלהיכם אשר הוצאתי אתכם מארץ מצרים לתת לכם את ארץ כנען להיות לכם לאלהים.

רש”י שם ל”ח:

אשר הוצאתי וגו’, והבחנתי בין בכור לשאינו בכור אף אני יודע ונפרע מן המלוה מעות לישראל ברבית ואומר של נכרי הם. (בבא מציעא ס”א)

ד”א, אשר הוצאתי אתכם מארץ מצרים על מנת שתקבלו עליכם מצותי ואפילו הן כבדות עליכם. (תורת כהנים כ”ה ע”ז)

יש קשר בין שני הפירושים…

The high and divine beauty which can be loved without effeminacy, is that which is found in combination with the human will. Beauty is the mark God sets upon virtue.

• R. W. Emerson

Yes, it’s more complicated, and, no, this isn’t to comment on the transcendental idealism school in art criticism.

Answer: “Pattur” (exempt). This means the individual in question is legally insane (so to speak), and is therefore exempt from all mitzvos! (The word is conducive to expressing annoyance because the consonants sound like spitting).

By the way, there is a similar Teshuvah in the Tashbetz (I think), where he ridicules an ignoramus who attempts to explain the ruling of the Geonim to burn a third of the fields of a libeler, labeling him “Pattur”, as well. In subsequent teshuvos, the object himself is told of this (yes, Rechilus), assumes this means he is a woman (exempt from time-bound mitzvos) and is highly insulted, and the rabbi tries to explain he meant all he wrote in a favorable sense…

Hilarious.

I hope to find it in a few days, and update the exact source.

Another gem from Toras Aba:

Recipe for Knaidlach calls for four eggs

The maid came to the Bais Halevi on Yom Tov and said  “My Bal Habusta sent me to the Rov with this שאלה. She told me to make Knaidlach using three eggs and I made it with four eggs. May we eat the Knaidlach?”

The Bais Halevi answered not to eat it in the meantime, but to come back again the following day with the same שאלה.

The onlookers found the question and the answer puzzling.

The Bais Halevi explained: The maid must have been nervous when asking the שאלה and left out part of the story.

The Bal Habusta probably told her to use three eggs because that’s all the eggs they had in the house.The maid knowing the recipe calls for four eggs picked up another egg from the chicken coop.

The egg was laid on Yom Tov (ביצה שנולדה ביו”ט). He told her to come back the following day because the fourth egg is not בטל being it is a דבר שיש לו מתירין After Yom Tov, it’s not Muktza anymore, therefore ביטול doesn’t apply and one must wait to eat the knaidlach till after Yom Tov.

A Rav, not only needs to know the answer but also needs to know and understand the question ( שאלה )

A: Because book summaries inform me the books are unclean.

If I saw an excerpt, I might highlight it, but I am under no obligation to read every popular libertarian anarchist fiction book.