Contra Brisk, not every other Halacha relates to the Cheftza/Gavra distinction, and certainly not Aggados. Chazal use these terms only in reference to Nedarim and Nedavos. Even when the phrase fit and could be used, they prefer to speak like unpretentious human beings, see Megillah 15a, end:
ואמר רבי אלעזר אמר רבי חנינא צדיק אבד לדורו אבד משל לאדם שאבדה לו מרגלית כל מקום שהיא מרגלית שמה לא אבדה אלא לבעלה
As for yesterday’s riddle: not everyone knows what “keivan” means. Keivan is not only “because”, but often “when”. Again, the text is:
מגדף שחזר בו בתוך כדי דיבור אינו כלום אלא כיון שגידף בעדים נסקל
So to translate: A blasphemer who retracts immediately, his retraction is ineffective. Rather, once he has blasphemed before witnesses, he is stoned.
Maimonides is not saying witnesses are the reason he is punished. Once they hear the words, witnesses need not wait any longer to testify.
Any serious look at the history of human beings over the millennia shows that the species began in poverty. It is not poverty, but prosperity, that needs explaining…
Thomas Sowell, from here.
To recap: whom did the Maccabees battle, first and foremost? Not the non-Jews, but Jewish renegades.
I meant to add: Yeshayahu Leibowitz said, regarding the schism of observant and non-observant Jews in Israel, that civil war, like “Pilegesh Begiv’ah” (Shoftim chapter 19) is not an unthinkable eventuality.
Here’s a riddle. The Rambam (Avoda Zara 2:9) writes:
מגדף שחזר בו בתוך כדי דיבור אינו כלום אלא כיון שגידף בעדים נסקל
What could he mean? What does the first half of the sentence have to do with the other half?
Explain all the words. Then read our answer here.