Stories, Mussar, Practical Halacha (Tractate "Sotah" Daf 45-
49) (Vol. 89) From the Sochatchov "Beis Medrash of Teachers
of the Daf HaYomi" Bnei Brak
Contents of this Issue of Meoros HaDaf HaYomi:
* Why do Rabbonim need semichah? * Why did the chain of
semichah stop? * The semichah of the "Beis Yosef" * Our
sugya's connection to heart transplants * A monkey without a
heart jumped for 12 hours * "Brain death" alone is not
considered life's end * How could Elisha have cursed
children? * The great power of words * The mitzvah of
escorting guests who are leaving * The way of Avrohom Ovinu
* The first kashrus organization in history * How we rely on
housewives to separate ma'aseros
Edited Excerpts
44b Three from the Beis Din Hagodol in Yerushalayim
Why Do Rabbonim Need Semichah?
The Mishnah explains the halachos of the eglah
arufah (Devorim 21:1-9): When a slain corpse is found in
a field and the murderer is unknown, the Beis Din Hagodol in
Yerushalayim would send three members of beis din to measure
which city is closer to where the corpse was found.
Afterwards the beis din of the closest city would bring an
eglah [young heifer] to a nachal eisan [harsh
wadi] that cannot be worked and cannot be sown. There in the
valley they would ax the back of the heifer's neck (see v.
4). In that way the eglah would atone for am Yisroel
for the shedding of innocent blood.
Today we do not have this mitzvah since only a Sanhedrin
whose members have received semichah in a continuous
chain from Moshe Rabbeinu have the authority to measure from
the corpse until the closest city. Since we have no
Sanhedrin today we cannot fulfill this mitzvah (see "Nachal
Eisan" 1:3).
How was semichah done? When beis din decided
it fitting to ordain a chochom to rule on dinei
haTorah, the dayanim would tell him: "You R. So-
and- so, are ordained and are permitted to rule dinim
of kenoso [fines] (Rambam Commentary on Mishnayos
Sanhedrin ch. 1). The source for the requirement of
semichah is Hashem's command to Moshe Rabbeinu to
ordain Yehoshua Bin Nun and the seventy Elders so that they,
like Moshe, could judge Yisroel. The Elders of that
generation ordained those who came after them (Rambam
Hilchos Sanhedrin 4:1) and in that way the
semichah was continued from one generation to the
next.
The existence of the chain of semichah was necessary
for many dinim of the Torah. For example, only those
who received semichah could make Kiddush
HaChodesh, Ibur Hashanah, and rule in capital offenses
and kenosos.
Why did the chain of semichah stop? The gemora
(Sanhedrin 14a) tells us that the wicked Roman Empire
decreed death on anyone that awarded or received
semichah. For this reason, the chachomim felt
compelled to stop ordaining their talmidim.
Nonetheless, the chain of semichah continued for
approximately two hundred more years -- in the merit of R.
Yehudah Ben Bovo who disobeyed the evil decree and awarded
semichah to five of his talmidim. Eventually, the chain of
semichah was broken because of decrees of shmad
(Responsa Mahari BeiRav Siman 63). Hillel [the son of R.
Yehudah Nesiah and the tenth generation to Hillel the Elder]
was the last person to receive semichah. When Hillel
saw that the chain of semichah would not continue, he
arranged the yearly calendar [in the year 4118 (357 CE),
1,643 years ago] making Kiddush HaChodesh for all the
coming months until we again have a Sanhedrin.
The semichah of Maran the Beis Yosef [author of the
Shulchan Aruch]: About four hundred and seventy years
ago R. Yaakov BeiRav [who at age 18 was appointed rav of the
city Fez, Morocco] made aliyah to Eretz Yisroel and
settled in Tzfas. There he awarded semichah to his
four talmidim. Among them were R. Yosef Karo [the Beis
Yosef] and R. Moshe Trani [the Mabit]. In giving
semichah, the Mahari BeiRav relied on the opinion of
the Rambam (Hilchos Sanhedrin 4:11) -- that although
only someone who received semichah in a continuous
chain from Moshe Rabbeinu is allowed to award semichah
to others, still, if all of the chachamim of
Eretz Yisroel convene they have the power to renew the
semichah. Accordingly, the chachomim of Tzfas -
- then the majority of talmidei chachamim in Eretz
Yisroel -- agreed to renew semichah and awarded it to
the Mahari BeiRav who afterwards awarded it to his four
talmidim.
A sharp and scathing controversy erupted between the
gedolim of that generation. Those who opposed the
renewal of semichah were headed by R. Levi Ben Chaviv [the
Maharlbach], the rav rashi of Yerushalayim, who
refused to accept a letter of semichah sent to him to
Yerushalayim by the rabbonim of Tzfas. His reason was that
the Rambam (ibid.) concludes that "this [ruling] needs to be
decided." In other words, the Rambam himself did not make a
final ruling about renewing semichah. Likewise, the
Maharlbach claimed that after the establishment of
Sanhedrin, Hillel's calendar would no longer be valid,
meaning that members of Sanhedrin would have to set the
months. Since today we are not sufficiently proficient in
setting months we cannot take such a step. Because of the
heated halachic dispute that erupted between the poskim,
the chachomim of Tzfas were not able to
reconstitute a Sanhedrin (Radbaz on the Rambam, ibid.), and
that chain of semichah lasted only three more
generations. Maran the Beis Yosef awarded semichah to
the Maharam Alshich, who in turn awarded semichah to
R. Chaim Vital.
Also lately some tried to bring up this topic, but
gedolei hador strongly opposed the initiative. The
Chazon Ish zt'l (Choshen Mishpat Likutim 1) quotes
what the Radbaz wrote about his period -- that no one is fit
to renew the Sanhedrin. All the more so today, writes the
Chazon Ish, no one is fit. So strong and resolved was the
stand of the Chazon Ish that he concluded that the entire
discussion about this topic in such an orphaned generation
such as ours is ludicrous.
46b We force escorting because the reward is limitless
The Mitzvah of Escorting Guests Who are Leaving
Our Daf discusses at length the mitzvah of someone to
accompany his visitor who is leaving.
The law of Avrohom Ovinu: The Rambam (Hilchos Aveilus
14:1) explains that the mitzvah of escorting others is
an enactment of Chazal in the spirit of the Torah command
(Vayikro 19:18), "You shall love your neighbor as
yourself" The one who first fulfilled this mitzvah and made
it a permanent custom was Avrohom Ovinu, as the Rambam
(ibid., 2) writes, "This is the law that Avrohom Ovinu
enacted and is the way of kindness that he chose. He would
feed travelers, give them to drink, and escort them on their
way."
How far to escort?: Our Daf deals with the requirements of
escorting--until what distance should we escort the
traveler. The gemara sets down two different measures
- - each of which has a different reason. 1) The host must
escort his guest until 2000 cubits outside the city. 2) The
host must escort his guest only four cubits within the
city.
Can the guest waive the host's obligation to escort him?
Eminent Acharonim delve deeply into why today we are not
very careful about this mitzvah. The Remoh (Darchei Moshe
Tur Choshen Mishpat Siman 426) writes that these days
guests waive their right to be escorted by their host.
Although such forgiving is sufficient so that the host does
not need to escort a guest to 2000 cubits outside the city,
the obligation to escort until the city's gate -- or at
least four cubits within the city -- remains. The Chofetz
Chaim ("Ahavas Chesed," "Hachnosas Orchim," ch. 2) explains
that the mitzvah of escorting someone 2000 cubits outside
the city is to honor the guest, so a guest can waive his
honor. However, the mitzvah to escort a person four cubits
is a segulah that guards the traveler from mishaps,
and this he cannot waive since his life could depend on
it.
From the Editor of Meoros HaDaf HaYomi:
The Hearts of Sons With The Hearts Of Their Fathers
Thousands of people throughout the world are now about to
finish studying maseches Sotah and happily begin
maseches Gittin.
Boruch Hashem, in the present cycle of Daf HaYomi, by making
great efforts and studying diligently, we have completed
many gemoras and have gained much Torah knowledge.
How fortunate is the lot of those who set aside fixed times
to toil over Hashem's Torah.
Maseches Gittin touches on subjects that relate to a very
large number of areas of Torah law. For this reason, the
study of this tractate particularly helps us realize that
all the different areas of Torah law are inextricably tied
together. We see how in sugya after sugya, a
point pertinent to divorce is also pertinent to several
other concepts and halachos, for the Divine Torah is one
cohesive and united system of law, every piece of it being
an essential part of the whole. This particular tractate
also has the power to create and strengthen "togetherness."
Gittin has great power to bring fathers and sons together,
and create an inseparable bond between the generations.
