Hi,



A difficult area for me is when I'm kinda just bored and sitting around. I end up just surfing the internet and end up in areas I don't want to be.

What I'm going to try to do instead is when I feel things are difficult I am going to try to write up a shtickel torah instead of wasting time on a slippery slope.

I will try to post the dvar torah here every time, as a public commitment.

Here's the first one, fresh from today. Definitely didn't come up with any chiddush, but just sitting and writing something is such a mchayiv to pay attention and not get distracted with other stuff.

The Rama in orech chaim (s' taf kuf yud s'k zayin) brings a machlokes if you can salt many pieces of radish on yom tov. The mishnah berurah brings (from the Taz) that the reason of those who assur is because it is possible to salt one by one.
This din is hard to understand. Salting radishes is only a gezairah that it looks like bishul. How can we assur something-even something that doesn't need to be done--when the root issur is muttar on yom tov?
It must be that just like bishul shelo ltzorach is assur, we assur even things that look like bishul when there is no tzorach for it to look like bishul. The ossrim hold that that there is no tzorech here since you can do it in a way that doesn't look like bishul, while the mattirim hold that since you want to eat it this way it's muttar (just like actual bishul is).
It just seems interesting how far we take this gezairah of looking like bishul.

That's all for now. No deep thoughts, but it really takes my mind away from distractions when I write down what I'm learning. Iy''h I'll be able to keep this up.

Chooseurname wrote on 30 Jun 2022 23:57:

Sounds like a great idea!! Looking forward to hearing your torah thoughts and you should have hatzlacha in your journey!!

Yup. Can't wait for more. You'll really do us a favor by sharing a nice vort with us whenever you can.
that was an interesting thought.

Well, here we are again. Had a little slip up yesterday and feeling tempted to continue at work today. So here's a short thought and then hopefully I'll be able to focus on work.
There's a famous gemara in brachos 28b that says when R' Yochana ben Zakai got sick his talmidim went to visit him. He began crying and explained that if he was going to be judged before a mortal king he would cry, so now that he is dying and going to be judged before Hashem of course he is going to cry.
אִילּוּ לִפְנֵי מֶלֶךְ בָּשָׂר וָדָם הָיוּ מוֹלִיכִין אוֹתִי, שֶׁהַיּוֹם כָּאן וּמָחָר בַּקֶּבֶר, שֶׁאִם כּוֹעֵס עָלַי אֵין כַּעֲסוֹ כַּעַס עוֹלָם, וְאִם אוֹסְרֵנִי — אֵין אִיסּוּרוֹ אִיסּוּר עוֹלָם, וְאִם מְמִיתֵנִי — אֵין מִיתָתוֹ מִיתַת עוֹלָם, וַאֲנִי יָכוֹל לְפַיְּיסוֹ בִּדְבָרִים וּלְשַׁחֲדוֹ בְּמָמוֹן, אַף עַל פִּי כֵן הָיִיתִי בּוֹכֶה, וְעַכְשָׁיו שֶׁמּוֹלִיכִים אוֹתִי לִפְנֵי מֶלֶךְ מַלְכֵי הַמְּלָכִים הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, שֶׁהוּא חַי וְקַיָּים לְעוֹלָם וּלְעוֹלְמֵי עוֹלָמִים, שֶׁאִם כּוֹעֵס עָלַי — כַּעֲסוֹ כַּעַס עוֹלָם, וְאִם אוֹסְרֵנִי — אִיסּוּרוֹ אִיסּוּר עוֹלָם, וְאִם מְמִיתֵנִי — מִיתָתוֹ מִיתַת עוֹלָם, וְאֵינִי יָכוֹל לְפַיְּיסוֹ בִּדְבָרִים וְלֹא לְשַׁחֲדוֹ בְּמָמוֹן

In his kal v'chomer RYB"Z says that a human king could be appeased with words or bribed with money, but Hashem cannot. The meforshim question this statement because aren't we able to appease Hashem with tefillah and "bribe him" with tzedekah? There appears to be a machlokes between the maharsha and the ben yehoyada here. [Writing from memory here since I don't have them in front of me].
The Maharsha learns that tefillah and tzedekah could affect his judgment, but RYB"Z was referring to the time after his death when he could no longer daven or give tzedekah. [But perhaps his students could have davened and given tzedekah on his behalf?].
The Ben Yehoyadah takes a different approach. He learns that davening and tzedekah cannot change a din without teshuva as well. Obviously, those actions are meritious and it's difficult to understand why they would have no effect on his judgment. It could be that RYB"Z was concerned if he would have to go through gehinom at all, and while tefillah and tzedekah could increase his reward or lessen his punishment, it could not patur him from gehinom completely without teshuva as well.

This was helpful for me.