BSD

Brochos 11a (2)

Tamuz 22, 5786 –  07/08/2026

Short notes.

Position while saying שמע – When one follows בית שמאי – A Sukkah on a fire escape –

The Ruzhiner’s eating habit – Head first into a Danish – Yevomos 1.01 צרת הבת – Purifying ממזרים

1 – We continued to discuss the מחלוקת of בית שמאי ובית הלל if the Torah instructs the position a person should be in, standing/leaning or any position, when saying קריאת שמע.

2 – We know the הלכה follows בית הלל and שמע can be said in any position.

But what if one wants to follow  בית שמאי ? Last week we spoke about how improper that is, to the extent that one is חייב מיתה! as explained by the Alter Rebbe.

This week the topic was if one does follow בית שמאי, other than the above…. is he יוצא? If one is standing during מעריב and for some reason decides to say קריאת שמע in a leaning position, does he need to say שמע again?

3 – This is a topic we spoke about in Sukkah 3a and the consensus of many ראשונים is that one is not יוצא if he follows בית שמאי.

4 – Our גמרא mentions the story of the elders of בית שמאי and בית הלל when they visited רבי יוחנן בו החורנית and found him sitting inside a Kosher Sukkah while his table with the food was inside his house (outside the Sukkah). Think of a Sukkah on a fire escape and the food on the window sill.

The opinion of בית שמאי is that one is not יוצא the מצווה of Sukkah. This is based on a גזירה  of the חכמים not to use such a Sukkah least one leans into the house to eat.

5 – We mentioned the צדיק, the Holy Rebbe of Ruzhin that would never move his head towards the food. When using a fork, he led the fork to his mouth and never tilted or moved his head towards it.

6 – Humorously, I heard that Rabbi Mentilk OH once saw a בחור digging and ravaging into Danish while sitting in a Suka. He went over to him and said “You should not have eaten the Danish. Why? You ate it outside the Suka. How? You were ורובו ראשו into the  Danish and not in the Suka” ……

7 – We spoke about the famous מחלוקת between the בית שמאי ובית הלל called צרת הבת.  Briefly it concerns a יבם that has an issue marrying his deceased brother’s wife. For example, if a person passes away and leaves a wife, but no children, his brother  needs to marry the אלמנה, the widow, or to give her חליצה.

https://matzav.com/first-chalitzah-ceremony-in-nearly-40-years-held-in-antwerp/

However, one cannot marry his brother’s widow if he is related to her. Like if his own wife is a sister of the אלמנה. One cannot marry two sisters. That’s simple enough.

Now, what  happens if the brother has two wives. One he cannot marry because he is related to her, but the other one, in theory, he could marry or give her חליצה. That is actually what בית שמאי’s opinion is – they instruct the surviving brother to marry the other, non-related wife.

Based on a פסוק, the opinion of בית הלל is that one is prohibited to marry any of the wives. If one does go ahead and the ‘permitted’ wife, their offspring are ממזרים.

This the famous צרת הבת topic.

8 – So here is an interesting question: If the followers of בית שמאי actually practiced their opinion, [that is debated in גמרא if this was an actual מחלוקת in practice or just theoretical] allowing the יבם to marry this צרת הבת,  that would mean that within our midst today there are ממזרים! The offspring of a ממזר continues to produce ממזרים forever.

How is that possible for us to accept such a phenomenon?

In passing we mentioned what Reb Dovid Parado (Hebrew) writes on this topic.

Based on on the ירושלמי, he says that הקב”ה ensures that such a case never happened!

8 – Other topics discussed:

• Is the method suggested by רבי טרפון on how to ‘purify’ ממזרים’s children by marrying a woman slave (a שפחה כנענית)  applicable today? Here, Here, here,
• רבי טרפון who is mentioned in our משנה as following בית שמאי. Was he a general follower of בית שמאי?
  • See לקוטי שיחות כח חג השבועות, הערה 8
• In the case above of צרת הבת, Reb Tarfon  (according to one version of the story) actually expressed that he wishes that a circumstance should occue tnad that he would be able to follow the opinion of  בית שמאי.
• יבמות דף י”ד, עמוד ב