Podcast (shiurim): Download (Duration: 38:23 — 22.0MB)
Speaker: Rabbi Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld ז”ל. Topics: The Ten Curses Affecting Women; Never Give Bad News; Observing Good Conduct in Animals; Purity of a Kohen; Aliyah to Jerusalem; No Harm Results From a Mitzvah.
00:00 – Hashem gave thirty-nine curses in punishment for the sin of Adam and Chava: ten to the Snake, ten to Adam, ten to Chava, and nine to the earth. Enumeration and explanation of the ten curses affecting Chava and thereafter all women.
04:12 – Every Jewish woman is considered a princess or a queen.
08:13 – צניעות – modesty. Even if the Torah had not been given, good character traits could be learned through observing the behavior of certain animals. For example: an ant will not steal from another ant; a dove is faithful to its mate for life; a rooster displays courtesy to a hen.
12:05 – A kohen serving in the Temple cannot have any blemish or be impure. However, if no kohen with these specifications is available, an impure kohen can serve. Questions and response as to which is preferred for service – a kohen who is impure or a kohen with a blemish.
15:20 – Man’s superiority over the rest of the creation is his power of speech. To maintain this superiority, he needs to refrain from slander. Examples are given.
*19:44 – A person should never give bad news (Shulchan Aruch – Code of Jewish Law). A story about Rav and Rabbi Chiya through which we learn three Torah laws about אבלות – mourning. An additional incident from the Gemara emphasizing that a person should never give bad news.
28:35 – Every Jewish man is required to travel to Jerusalem three times a year, on the three festivals: Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot. Account concerning the execution of a non-Jew who tricked a kohen into giving him meat from a korban – sacrifice. Yehudah ben Betera did not travel to Jerusalem during the three holidays because he was debilitated by old age and because he did not own land in Eretz Yisrael.
28:45 – The prayer for rain is postponed for two weeks after Sukkot. Only Jews who owned their own land in Eretz Yisrael were required to go up to Jerusalem on the three holidays.
30:11 – No harm is caused by the performance of a mitzvah. For example, while Jews were away from their homes during the three festivals, their property was safe.
31:26 – Why was Jerusalem not blessed with special fruits or natural wonders, such as hot springs? So that traveling to Jerusalem would be for spiritual benefits only.
34:30 – Tzedakah given on condition of a beneficial outcome is still a legitimate mitzvah but it doesn’t protect the one performing it. Similarly, if a person endangers himself to do a mitzvah he is not protected by that mitzvah.
37:34 – Rav assured safety to students endangering themselves on their way to study Torah, but not on their way home.
To dedicate this shiur, click HERE.
