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.