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Bava Basra 121
BAVA BASRA 121 (10 Av) - dedicated by Mrs. G. Kornfeld (Rabbi Kornfeld's
mother) to the memory of her father, Reb Yisrael Shimon ben Shlomo ha'Levi
Turkel. Reb Yisrael Turkel loved Torah and supported it with his last
breath. He passed away on 10 Av, 5740.
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1) [line 1] MO'ADEI HASH-M NE'EMRU; SHABBOS BEREISHIS LO NE'EMRAH - Moshe
only taught this law with regard to the holidays, and not with regard to
Shabbos (the Gemara will explain the meaning of this phrase shortly. The
seventh day of the week is called "Shabbos Bereishis" to distinguish it from
the other holidays, which are also referred to as "Shabbos" or "Shabbos
Shabboson")
2) [line 2] HAFARAS NEDARIM - that is, *Hataras* Nedarim (see Background to
Bava Basra 120:28)
3) [line 4] V'LO YADA LEI L'FERUSHAH - and he did not know how to interpret
it
4) [line 8] KIDUSH BEIS DIN (KIDUSH BEIS DIN / KIDUSH HA'CHODESH - the
declaration that Beis Din makes to proclaim the new month)
(a) The Hebrew calendar month, which determines the Jewish holidays, begins
with each new revolution of the moon, at the point after it wanes completely
and begins to wax anew.
(b) When the Sanhedrin of the Lishkas ha'Gazis (the Jewish "Supreme Court")
convened in Eretz Yisrael, the new month was fixed and sanctified according
to the testimony of witnesses. A person who sees the moon (as it begins to
grow and is just visible) traveled to the Sanhedrin, or to a Beis Din
appointed by the Sanhedrin, to testify. The place where the Beis Din
convened to accept testimony was known as the Beis ha'Va'ad. Beis Din
cross-examined the witnesses there, and when they were convinced of the
accuracy of the testimonies, they announced the beginning of the new month.
(c) Today, mathematical calculations are used to determine the beginning of
the new month. According to RAMBAM (Hilchos Kidush ha'Chodesh 5:2) it is a
Halachah l'Moshe mi'Sinai to determine the beginning of the month
mathematically when there is no Sanhedrin, and through testimony when there
is one.
(d) Rav Sheshes explains that the Beraisa means that the holidays depend
upon Kidush ha'Chodesh to determine when they will fall, since they have a
fixed Jewish date. Shabbos, however, is not subject to a similar
proclamation of Beis Din.
5) [line 10] HO'IL U'CHESIVEI GABEI MO'ADOS - since it is written together
with the holidays (see Vayikra 23:1-4 et seq.)
6) [line 13] TZERICHIN MUMCHIN - need experts, i.e. [three] judges of the
Sanhedrin or similar competent Halachic authorities of each generation
121b---------------------------------------121b
7) [line 5] PARDESI'OS - guards
8) [line 5] YERAV'AM
(a) Yerav'am Ben Nevat of the tribe of Efrayim was the first king of the ten
tribes of Yisrael after their secession from the kingdom of the Davidic
dynasty (subsequently known as Yehudah), as recorded in Melachim I
11:26-12:20. Upon the death of Shlomo ha'Melech, Rechav'am, his son, took
the counsel of his young advisors to increase the high tax and hard labor
that Shlomo had instituted (Melachim I 12:14). As a result, the people
rebelled under the leadership of Yerav'am ben Nevat.
(b) In order to prevent the people of the ten tribes from returning to the
leadership of the Davidic kings, Yerav'am outlawed the Mitzvah of Aliyah
l'Regel, forbidding his people to travel to the Beis ha'Mikdash for Pesach,
Shavu'os and Sukos. Instead, he built two other "Temples," one in Beis El
and one in Dan, where golden calves were worshipped (ibid. I 12:28). He set
up guards on the roads leading to Yerushalayim to prevent anyone from
serving HaSh-m by going to the Beis ha'Mikdash.
9) [line 7] HARUGEI BEITAR (BEITAR: BEN KOZIVA / BAR KOCHVA)
(a) At the time of the Churban Beis ha'Mikdash (70 CE), Yerushalayim was
destroyed and razed to the ground. The Roman Tenth Legion was garrisoned
there following its destruction. Emperor Hadrian (who reigned from 117 - 138
CE) founded a new pagan city on the site of Yerushalayim, naming it Aelia
Capitolina; Aelia in honor of his own name Publius Aelius Hadrianus, and
Capitolina in honor of Jupiter, whose temple in Rome was on the Capitolene
hill. At the site of the Beis ha'Mikdash, he erected a new temple to
Jupiter. According to the Roman historian Dio Cassius, this was the cause of
the revolt of Bar Kochva (132 - 135 CE). However, this could have not been
the *main* cause of the revolt, since no reference to it is made in the
Jewish sources. There are references to a number of commandments whose
observance was prohibited by the Romans; e.g. Shabbos, circumcision, family
purity and Keri'as Shema. All of these decrees brought on the revolt of Bar
Kochva (in about 3883/123 CE), which lasted for nine years.
(b) At first the revolt began by Jews who refused to yield to the decrees.
They hid in caves and other secret places. (The Chazan Caves, one of these
hideouts, can be visited today.) When discovered and raided by the Romans
they would resist with great courage and often with great success. Before
long, the attacked became attackers, striking out at the Roman troops. At
this time, a leader appeared who was a military genius, Shimon bar Koziva.
Rebbi Akiva felt that he was great enough to be Mashiach and called him Bar
Kochva, "son of the star," an allusion to the verse, "Darach Kochav
mi'Yakov," "A star shall go forth from Yakov" (Bamidbar 24:17). The "star"
of the verse is an allusion to the Mashiach.
(c) Bar Kochva succeeded in organizing nets of resistance into an army and
gradually pushed the Roman troops out of one position after another. The
Tenth Legion was evacuated and withdrew to Caesarea. At this point a period
of independent Jewish sovereignty began in Eretz Yisrael, which the Gemara
refers to as the Kingdom of Bar Koziva, which lasted for two and a half
years (Sanhedrin 97b). Jews all over the world, and other nations, too, were
showing evidence of great hostility to the Romans.
(d) Sixty years earlier, at the time of the Churban, the Romans required
three legions for the conquest of Yerushalayim. At the time of Bar Kochva,
the Romans brought in six legions, besides the legions that were already
there, and further detachments of cavalry and infantry. [It seems that one
of the reasons for this greater need of military strength was that the Jews
were unified, in contrast to the times of the Churban when the Jews were
fragmented into opposing groups and sects - Editors note.]
(e) Despite the enormous size of their army, the Romans were unwilling to
face Bar Kochva's troops in full battle. They proceeded slowly, attacking
isolated localities and interfering with food supplies. When the
Twenty-second Legion advanced too deeply and too quickly into Jewish
territory, it was totally destroyed. It was never reconstituted, and forever
after was omitted from the list of units in the Roman army.
(f) After approximately twelve months of warfare, the Romans started to
advance on the Jewish positions. Bar Kochva and his troops withdrew to
Beitar, a large city to the southwest of Yerushalayim, where the fighting
continued for some three and a half years. Eventually, Bar Kochva accepted a
slanderous accusation against his uncle, the sage Rebbi Elazar ha'Moda'i,
who had been praying all along for the salvation of Beitar, and killed him
in a fit of rage. Afterwards, Beitar fell to the Romans, and Bar Kochva was
slain. (YERUSHALMI Ta'anis 4:5)
(g) The blood of the men, women and children killed is said to have flowed
into the Mediterranean Sea, which was a distance of one Mil away (Gitin 57a;
according to Eichah Rabah 2:4 four Mil; alt. 40 Mil). The Gemara (ibid.)
records that the non-Jews in the neighboring towns did not need to fertilize
their vineyards for seven years due to the quantity of blood that flowed
into the ground.
(h) At first, the Roman Government did not let the Jews bury the bodies. One
emperor is said to have fenced in his vineyard with the dead bodies (Eichah
Raba 2:4). After quite some time, the next emperor allowed the bodies to be
buried. It was seen as a sign of favor from HaSh-m that the Romans changed
their minds, and that the bodies did not decompose before they were buried.
The Chachamim established the Berachah of ha'Tov veha'Metiv to commemorate
the miracles.
(i) After the revolt was crushed, no Jews were allowed to live in
Yerushalayim for 500 years. The rulers killed any Jew who set foot in the
city. The fall of the Beis ha'Mikdash sixty-three years earlier triggered
the destruction of Yerushalayim; the fall of Beitar triggered the
destruction of Eretz Yisrael. Nevertheless, Jews always remained in Eretz
Yisrael.
(from History of the Jewish People/From Yavneh to Pumbedisa, Artscroll
Publishers, Brooklyn, New York, 1986, by Meir Holder)
10) [line 8] YAVNEH
Yavneh was the seat of the Sanhedrin immediately after the destruction of
the Beis ha'Mikdash. It was known as "Kerem b'Yavneh" since the students sat
in rows resembling grapevines in a vineyard.
11) [line 10] MA'ARACHAH - the wood-pile on the Mizbe'ach on which the
sacrifices were burned
12) [line 11] TASHASH KOCHAH SHEL CHAMAH - the strength (heat) of the sun
becomes weak (and cannot properly dry out the cut wood)
13) [line 12] YOM TEVAR MAGAL - the Day of the Breaking of the Axe (a Magal,
usually translated as a scythe or sickle, may also be a type of axe used for
cutting down trees) (RASHI to Ta'anis 31a)
14a) [line 12] D'MOSIF YOSIF - the one who adds hours of learning from the
night to his daytime learning, will add time to his life
b) [line 12] SHE'EINO MOSIF YASEIF - and the one who does not add hours of
learning will die early
15) [line 13] TIKBEREI IMEI - his mother will bury him
16) [line 13] KIPLU ES KOL HA'OLAM KULO - wrapped, spanned the entire
[history of the] world
17) [line 15] ACHIYAH HA'SHILONI - Achiyah ha'Shiloni was one of the great
prophets of Yisrael, the teacher of Eliyahu ha'Navi. He was probably at
least 61 years old at the time of the Exodus from Egypt (RASHBAM). He
prophesied that the kingdom of Yisrael under Rechav'am the son of Shlomo
would be divided, and that Yerav'am would become the king of the ten tribes
that seceded (see above, entry #8). After the grave sins of Yerav'am, he
prophesied that Yerav'am's house would be totally destroyed and that the
Jews would be exiled as an end result of the worship of Avodah Zarah and
other transgressions (Melachim I 14:1-18).
18) [line 19] PEKUDAV - the count [of their tribe]
19) [line 24] SHE'SHAKUL K'RUBAH SHEL SANHENDRIN - who is equal [in
importance] to [36 judges,] the majority of the Sanhedrin (which consists of
71 judges)
20) [line 27] GAMAR "VA'MA'LAH" "VA'MA'LAH" ME'ERCHIN - it is learned
through a Gezeirah Shavah between the words "va'Ma'lah" from the Parshah of
Erchin (ERCHIN)
(a) Erech (= endowment valuation) refers to a special form of vow. If a
person declares, "Erech Ploni Alay" ("I accept upon myself to give the
endowment value of so-and-so [to Hekdesh]"), he must give the specific value
that the Torah designates for the person's gender and age group as stated in
Vayikra 27:1-8 (see below, (b)). It makes no difference at all whether the
person is healthy or sick, strong or weak.
(b) The Erech that the Torah specifies for children between the ages of 1
month and 5 years is 5 Shekalim for males and 3 Shekalim for females
(Vayikra 27:6). For youths and young adults between the ages of 5 years and
20 years, the Erech that the Torah specifies is 20 Shekalim for males and 10
Shekalim for females (Vayikra 27:5). For adults between the ages of 20 years
and 60 years, the Erech that the Torah specifies is 50 Shekalim for males
and 30 Shekalim for females (Vayikra 27:3-4). For adults over 60 years of
age, the Erech that the Torah specifies is 15 Shekalim for males and 10
Shekalim for females (Vayikra 27:7).
21a) [last line] LI'SHEVATIM IFLUG - it was divided according to the number
of tribes, i.e. into 12 equal parts
b) [last line] L'KARKAF GAVREI IFLUG - it was divided according to the
number of people (either those who left Mitzrayim according toor those who entered Eretz Yisrael according to Rebbi Yonasan)
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