This week, as our daf yomi group completed tractate Yoma, we encountered tragic stories from the Talmud of rabbis who had broken relationships that they were unsuccessfully trying to repair.
In one story, even though Rav was the wronged party, he set out to make it easier for the offending person to ask him for forgiveness:
Rav had a complaint against a certain butcher who insulted him.The butcher did not come before him to apologize. On Yom Kippur eve, Rav said: I will go and appease him. He met his student Rav Huna, who said to him: Where is my Master going? He said to him: I am going to appease so-and-so. Rav Huna called Rav by his name and said: Abba is going to kill a person, for surely that person’s end will not be good. Rav went and stood by him. He found the butcher sitting and splitting the head of an animal. The butcher raised his eyes and saw him. He said to him: Are you Abba? Go, I have nothing to say to you. While he was splitting the head, one of the bones of the head flew out and struck him in the throat and killed him, thereby fulfilling Rav Huna’s prediction (Yoma, 87a).
Rav was once reciting the Torah portion before Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. Rabbi Ḥiyya, Rav’s uncle and teacher, came in, whereupon Rav returned to the beginning of the portion and began to read it again. Afterward, bar Kappara came in, and Rav returned to the beginning of the portion out of respect for bar Kappara. Then Rabbi Shimon, son of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, came in, and he returned again to the beginning of the portion. Then, Rabbi Ḥanina bar Ḥama came in, and Rav said to himself: Shall I go back and read so many times? He did not return but continued from where he was. Rabbi Ḥanina was offended because Rav showed that he was less important than the others. Rav went before Rabbi Ḥanina on Yom Kippur eve every year for thirteen years to appease him, but he would not be appeased. The Gemara asks: How could Rav act this way? Didn’t Rabbi Yosei bar Ḥanina say: Anyone who requests forgiveness from another should not ask more than three times? The Gemara answers: Rav is different, since he was very pious and forced himself to act beyond the letter of the law. The Gemara asks: And how could Rabbi Ḥanina act this way and refuse to forgive Rav, though he asked many times? Didn’t Rava say: With regard to anyone who suppresses his honor and forgives someone for hurting him, God pardons all his sins? The Gemara explains: Rather, this is what happened: Rabbi Ḥanina saw in a dream that Rav was being hung on a palm tree, and he learned as a tradition that anyone about whom there is a dream in which he was being hung on a palm tree will become the head of a yeshiva. He said: Learn from this that providence has decreed that he must eventually become the head of the yeshiva. Therefore, I will not be appeased, so that he will have to go and study Torah in Babylonia. He was conscious of the principle that one kingdom cannot overlap with another, and he knew that once Rav was appointed leader, he, Rabbi Ḥanina, would have to abdicate his own position or die. Therefore, he delayed being appeased, so that Rav would go to Babylonia and be appointed there as head of the yeshiva. In this way, the dream would be fulfilled, as Rav would indeed be appointed as head of a yeshiva, but since he would be in Babylonia, Rabbi Ḥanina would not lose his own position. (Yoma, 87b).
Schlepping
Background:
Matot-Masei is the longest double parsha in the Torah. Wowza! Masei opens with a long list of all of the 42 places that the Israelites traveled to in the desert. Whenever the Torah devotes a lot of space to something we have to ask why - especially when it seems that the information is redundant. So why does the Torah take 49 pesukim to list the 42 journeys in the desert? What purpose does this list serve?
Rashi and Seforno each provide an answer to this question. Rashi answers that the purpose of this list is to show everyone Hashem’s chesed towards the Israelites. If a person didn’t see this list they would think that Hashem punished the Israelites with having to spend an extra 38 years schlepping around the desert without a chance to rest. So, this list teaches us that Hashem showed chesed to the Israelites by only making them travel 20 times in 38 years (the rest of the 42 trips were before the sin of the spies, which caused them to have to be punished by spending 40 years in the desert.) They got to spend most of their time resting.
Like Rashi, Seforno says that this list comes to teach us something positive. However, it is a positive lesson about the Israelites, not about Hashem. Hashem listed all 42 journeys to praise the Israelites, because they were willing to follow Hashem on these travels throughout a barren desert land.
Questions:
- Rashi and Seforno both recognize that the 40 year journey through the desert was stressful for the Israelites. What was the source of stress according to each opinion?
- Why does Rashi think that Hashem’s kindness to the people is the most important feature? Why does the Seforno think that the people’s kindness to Hashem is the most important? What is the significance of each of these positions?
- Think about the relationships that you have with other people in your life. In which of these relationships are you like Hashem? In which are you like the Israelites? How do you show kindness to the other person?
Download a printable version here.
Matos-Masei, the parshas so nice, we gotta read em twice...or something like that. Anyways, the Jews’ journey is coming to an end, and oh what a journey it’s been. They complained, complained, and complained some more. God threatened to kill them, to kill them, to kill them. And now, we’re knocking on Israel’s door. But first, the Torah recounts the Jews’ journey through the desert, all 42 stops. With the kiddos, we’re going to review the 42 stops along the way, and relive a few of the highlights in Kivros HaTa’avah, Chatzeiros, and Mei Merivah. Finally, we’ll reach the land of Israel, where we’ll have the fourth installment of our ongoing series, Not My Job to Explain My Job to Three Year Olds. This time, Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer will speak to the kids about what makes Israel special. That’s right: Ambassador. Daniel. Kurtzer. The S Daniel Abraham Professor of Middle East Policy Studies at Princeton University, former ambassador to Israel and Egypt, staffer for George Schultz, James Baker, and Warren Christopher. Speaking to three year olds. #OnlyAtOhev
Yoni Friedman.
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