BSD

Brochos 4a

Elul 23, 5785. 09/16/2025

Short notes.

1- The 3 answers on why משה רבינו said כחצות הלילה and not the precise moment of חצות:

A – He didn’t know precisely when חצות was, down to the second.

(דוד המלך did know via a miracle when his harp began to play. )

B- He did know, but told the מצריים ‘approximately חצות’ because they were unable to figure out when חצות occurred.

C – משה רבינו heard this from Hashem at חצות on the night before מכת בכורות. What he told the מצריים was כחצות, meaning that ‘at this same time tomorrow night, the מכה will occur’. (so כחצות does not mean approximate at all. Rather ‘just as tonight’).

2- Our גמרא:

כָּךְ אָמַר דָּוִד לִפְנֵי הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא: רִבּוֹנוֹ שֶׁל עוֹלָם, לֹא חָסִיד אֲנִי? שֶׁכָּל מַלְכֵי מִזְרָח וּמַעֲרָב יְשֵׁנִים עַד שָׁלֹשׁ שָׁעוֹת, וַאֲנִי, ״חֲצוֹת לַיְלָה אָקוּם לְהוֹדוֹת לָךְ״ (תהלים קי״ט:ס״ב).

It is said: “A prayer of David…Keep my soul, for I am pious” (Psalms 86:1-2)……..

David’s declaration of piety referred to his awakening during the night to pray, and so said David before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, am I not pious? As all of the kings of the East and the West sleep until the third hour of the day, but although I am a king like them, “At midnight I rise to give thanks” (Psalms 119:62).

Mentioned the Maharsha that points out the expression ‘kings of the East and the West’ and not of the North and South.

ונקט מלכי מזרח ומערב כו׳ וכן בכמה מקומות נקט הכי לפי שיישוב עולם כולו מקצה מזרח עד קצה מערב אבל בקצה דרום ובקצה צפון אין שם ישוב מפני הקור והחום כמ״ש התוכניים:

East to West where the human race lives. As opposed to the North and South that are not populated due to cold and heat.

This was written about 400 years ago, so we’re not exactly sure what he meant. Heat? ארץ ישראל is located in one the hottest latitudes.

Comments?

3- Long discussion on the Urim v Tumim and other topics.

Yale University Coat of Arms. ‘Light and Truth’ 

Here.

• The various opinions on what exactly it was.
• Even Ezra, Rashi, Ramban, Rambam.
• When asking for direction, the stones would either light up or would move around to form a word. Is that called writing? Is it permitted to ask on Shabbos?
• Is performing a miracle considered ‘work’? Can one extinguish a fire using a miracle?

See these sites for interesting discussion – of unknown provenance.

https://www.berotbatayin.org/what-is-the-difference-between-the-urim-tumim-and-the-ouija-board/

https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-urim-vetumim

 4 – The saga of Achitophel.

Was it really revenge that caused him to join the rebellion against דוד המלך? Was אחיתופל a גואל הדם for his son in law?

(Batsheva was the daughter of  אליעם – Eliam, who was Achitophel’s son.)

“וישלח דוד וידרש לאשה ויאמר הלוא זאת בת שבע בת אליעם אשת אוריה החתי”

In conclusion, when news of קידוש החודש needed to be spread, but also kept secret, the symbol used was דוד מלך ישראל חי וקיים. Rosh Hashanah 25, a.

כתיבה וחתימה טוב לכולם.

 

 

BSD

Brochos 3b

Elul 16, 5785. 09/9/2025

1 –

The גמרא poses a question:

וְדָוִד, מִי הֲוָה יָדַע פַּלְגָּא דְּלֵילְיָא אֵימַת? הָשָׁתָא, מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ לָא הֲוָה יָדַע, דִּכְתִיב: ״כַּחֲצוֹת הַלַּיְלָה אֲנִי יוֹצֵא בְּתוֹךְ מִצְרַיִם״ (שמות י״א:ד׳).

When King David said: At midnight I rise, the assumption is that he rose precisely at midnight.

The Gemara asks: David knew exactly when it was midnight? Even משה רבינו did not know exactly when it was midnight.

How do we know this about Moses? As it is written that he said to Pharaoh: “Thus said Hashem: About midnight, I will go out into the midst of Egypt” (Exodus 11:4). The word about indicates that it was only an approximation.

מַאי כַּחֲצוֹת? אִילֵימָא דַּאֲמַר לֵיהּ קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא ״כַּחֲצוֹת״, מִי אִיכָּא סְפֵיקָא קַמֵּי שְׁמַיָּא? אֵלָּא דַּאֲמַר לֵיהּ: (לְמָחָר) ״בַּחֲצוֹת״ (כִּי הָשָׁתָא), וַאֲתָא אִיהוּ וַאֲמַר ״כַּחֲצוֹת״. אַלְמָא מְסַפְּקָא לֵיהּ, וְדָוִד הֲוָה יָדַע?

The Gemara clarifies: What is the meaning of the expression: About midnight? Did Moses say it or did God say it? If we say that Hashem said: About midnight, to Moses, is there doubt before God in heaven? Rather, this must be understood as follows: God told Moses: At midnight, exactly, but from the fact that when Moses came to Pharaoh he said: About midnight; apparently, Moses was uncertain about the exact moment of midnight. Moses, the greatest of all the prophets, was uncertain, and yet David knew?

 The גמרא offers 3 explanations of how דוד המלך knew when חצות was.

 2 – We spoke about the explanation of our גמרא by Reb Heshel of Krakaow (grandfather of the Pnei Yehoshua).

3 – Mentioned the two stories told as to why Reb Heshel never merited that his תורה should be published, all we have is this.

1 – As a result of his attempt to answer a question of רבי יוחנן.

2- A resolution he made when he didn’t fully understand a מהרש”א.

[The latter one is related by the חיד”א in his מעגל טוב]

4 – The explanation of Reb Yonason Eibshytz as to why משה רבינו said כחצות לילה when he heard from Hashem  חצות exactly.

In 1884 at the The International Meridian Conference humans adopted ‘ international time zones’.

See here.

Meaning that the earth was divided into 24 defined time zones with the entire area within a particular time zone observing the same time.

However, in reality, there is a difference within a time zone that varies up to one hour. Thus, Licht Bentchen will vary from location to location by close to an hour despite both locations being in the same time zone.

GMT -5.

To be more exact, every millimeter on earth has its ‘real time’ that is different from the millimeter to the East or West of it.

See here some strange time zones. Some loactions vary by 30 minutes (India for example, GMT +5.30) and some by 45 minutes (Nepal GMT +5:45).

So in reality, חצות occurs differently at every location. Therefore, when Hashem said that מכת בכורות will occur at חצות, this particular plague began at the East of מצרים and worked its way across going West, as it says ‘I will pass through the land of ‘מצרים. Every  בכור  died when he was in his particular and individual חצות. The  בכור  a block away died a few seconds later!

To someone that views an entire time zone it seemed that the  בכורים were not all killed at the same time.

שמות יב, יב.

וְעָבַרְתִּ֣י בְאֶֽרֶץ־מִצְרַ֘יִם֮ בַּלַּ֣יְלָה הַזֶּה֒ וְהִכֵּיתִ֤י כׇל־בְּכוֹר֙ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרַ֔יִם מֵאָדָ֖ם וְעַד־בְּהֵמָ֑ה וּבְכׇל־אֱלֹהֵ֥י מִצְרַ֛יִם אֶֽעֱשֶׂ֥ה שְׁפָטִ֖ים אֲנִ֥י יְהֹוָֽה׃

I shall pass through the land of Egypt on that night and strike all the firstborns in the land of Egypt, from man to animal; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments. I am Hashem.

So, משה רבינו didn’t want to repeat what he heard – חצות, least they think הקב”ה was inaccurate, so he modified it from חצות to כחצות.

There was more but this will suffice for now.

כתיבה וחתימה טובה.

 

BSD

Brochos 3a (3) – 3b

Elul 9, 5785. 09/02/2025

Brief notes.

1- In a roundabout way we spoke about a Golem and if he/she/it…. can be counted for a Minyan.

Story of the Rogatchover and Reb Chaim Eliyahu Althaus (and here) regarding creating a Golem for a 10th for a Minyan!

R’ Elye Chaim Althaus, seated, 2nd from left

“He did not understand what Said. I spoke regarding his question of whether the Golem could join a Minyan or similar, and I answered that the Golem was not considered reality… and could not be joined to anything… was only made through הרכבה שכיבית. When one is created through ספר יצירה, he has no categorical existence.”

צפנת פענח חלק ב, סימן ז

The point of the Rogatchover:

When two items combine, mix or fuse, it can occur in two ways with different results.

Fusion happens either thru הרכבה שכוניית. Meaning that the fusion is primarily due to the fact two items are adjacent. But it is not a thorough fuse, as each still retains (some of) its character.

הרכבה מזגית means that the fusion creates a new מציאות. A singular entity formed by the total ‘mix’ of the two ingredients.

A living human, comprised of a body and soul, is a result of a הרכבה מזגית. An entity that is called a ‘living person’ is a result of the total fusing of his גוף ונשמה.

A Golem however, the שם  (or thru ספר יצירה)  that gives him animation is like a battery in the sense that it does not really fuse with his clay body. He is therefore not a human or even an animal.

Thus, a Golem does not have the designation of a מציאות אדם and cannot be counted in a Minyan.

(Though this does seem to happen often at various minyanim. Ed.)

2- The story of the חורבה….

Discussed the idea of חשד and מראית עין, which we dealt with in שקלים.

The גמרא in Shabbos 23b – the reason for leaving פאה at the edge of a field and not in the middle.

The  ש”ך  that derives from our גמרא that wherever there is a concern of a חשד, if two people are present, the חשד disappears.

Such as creating a 2 or 3D sculpture of the sun or moon.

Singularly that is something that is prohibited, however if two people create it it would be allowed.

יו”ד קמא” שך כז.

3- The expression in our גמרא that ‘a משמורה and a half of a משמורה’ is considered as two.

1.5=2?

Lets round it up to 2.

Spoke about despite the rule of רובו ככולו, this does not apply to שיעורים. Such as with a שיעור ארבעים סאה  of a מקוה. Obviously one cannot say רובו ככולו  and use a מקוה that has only 30 סאה.

This is a big topic and BL”N we will continue next week.

This idea of 1+1.5=2 was used by some to consider one whole loaf of bread plus another that is missing a bit as לחם משנה.

 

 

או”ח רעד מחצית השקל.