POINT BY POINT SUMMARY
by R. Nosson Slifkin Kollel Iyun Hadaf, Yerushalayim Rosh Kollel: Rabbi Mordecai Kornfeld
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Ta'anis 9
TA'ANIS 9 (4 Elul) - has been dedicated in honor of the Yarzeit of Chaim
Yissachar (ben Yaakov) Smulewitz by his daughter and son in law, Jeri & Eli
Turkel of Raanana, Israel
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1) R. YOCHANAN AND RESH LAKISH'S SON
(a) (R. Yochanan) The Pasuk of "Aser t'Aser" teaches us to
give Ma'aser so that we should grow wealthy (Ashir).
1. R. Yochanan asked Reish Lakish's son to tell him the
Pasuk that he had just learned, and he replied with
this Pasuk.
2. He asked R. Yochanan to explain it, and he gave this
explanation.
3. When asked to explain how he knew it, R. Yochanan told
him to test Hashem on it.
4. The boy challenged him with a Pasuk that we may not
test Hashem.
5. R. Yochanan cited R. Hoshaya that this case is an
exception, as seen in a Pasuk.
6. The boy replied that had he reached that Pasuk, he
wouldn't have needed R. Yochanan and R. Hoshaya's
explanation.
(b) R. Yochanan found Reish Lakish's son saying a Pasuk from
Mishlei about a person sinning, coming to harm, and not
acknowledging why it happened.
1. R. Yochanan mused that there must be a Pasuk in
Chumash alluding to this.
2. Reish Lakish's son replied that the episode of Yosef's
brothers in Egypt alludes to it.
3. R. Yochanan lifted up his eyelids to look at the
intelligent boy, whereupon his mother took him away,
so that R. Yochanan's look shouldn't kill him as it
did his father.
2) THE MERIT THAT BRINGS RAIN
(a) (R. Yochanan) Rain falls in the merit of an individual,
but general sustenance only comes in the merit of many.
(b) Question: We see that general sustenance comes in the
merit of an individual:
1. (R. Yosi b. R. Yehudah) Israel had three good
providers: Moshe, in whose benefit there was Man,
Aharon, in whose benefit were the Clouds of Glory,
and Miriam, in whose benefit there was the well.
2. When Miriam died, the well disappeared, but it
returned in the merit of Moshe and Aharon.
3. When Aharon died, the Clouds of Glory disappeared.
4. Canaan heard that Aharon had died and the Clouds of
Glory had disappeared, and presumed that he now had
a right to fight Israel.
5. Likewise, the Pasuk about Israel seeing that Aharon
died can also be read as them being exposed
*because* Aharon died.
6. This follows Reish Lakish's teaching that "Ki" can
mean if, perhaps, rather, and because.
7. The Clouds of Glory and the well returned in the merit
of Moshe.
8. When Moshe died, they all disappeared, as we see from
a Pasuk speaking about three shepherds being cut off
in a single month.
(c) Answer: Moshe is different because he was requesting
these things on behalf of many people.
(d) When Rava died, his students went to R. Papa. They would
signal to each other when he said something that they
disagreed with.
9b---------------------------------------9b
1. He was disheartened and dreamt of the Pasuk of three
shepherds being cut off.
2. The next day, he told them to go in peace, so that the
dream would be harmlessly fulfilled through the
farewell greeting.
(e) R. Shimi bar Ashi would ask R. Papa many questions. One
day he saw him lying down and praying to be saved from
the shame he was causing him, so he kept silent from then
on.
(f) Reish Lakish also held that rain falls in the merit of an
individual, even if he only needs it for a single field
or even a single plant, as learned from a Pasuk.
1. An example is R. Daniel bar Katina, who would tour his
garden daily and say which rows required water, and
it would rain on those rows.
2. Question: The Pasuk says that "Hashem makes Chazizim"
- what does this mean?
3. Answer: It teaches that Hashem makes a separate Chaziz
for each Tzadik.
i. Question: What are Chazizim?
ii. Answer: Porchos.; they signify approaching
rain.
iii. Question: What are Porchos?
iv. Answer: Light clouds beneath thick clouds.
4. Fine rain before regular rain means that the rains
will last a long time; fine rain after regular rain
means that the rains will stop.
i. The Siman for the former is a sieve; the Siman
for the latter is goat dung.
(g) Ula went to Bavel and saw Porchos clouds; he warned
people to clear away their goods, but it didn't rain.
1. He noted that just as Babylonians lie, so do their
clouds.
(h) Ula went to Bavel and saw a basket of dates for a fig; he
wondered why people weren't studying Torah if food was so
cheap.
1. But when he suffered ill effects from eating them, he
wondered that they were able to study at all,
considering the ill effects of abundant food.
3) THE BERAISA OF THE SOURCE OF RAIN
(a) (R. Eliezer) The world drinks from the ocean, as we see
from the Pasuk that "a mist went up and watered the
ground."
1. Question (R. Yehoshua): Surely seawater is salty?
2. Answer: It is sweetened in the clouds.
(b) (R. Yehoshua) The world drinks from the Upper Waters, as
we see from the Pasuk that it "drinks from the water of
the Heavens."
1. The Pasuk about a mist going up refers to the clouds
rising and accepting water from above
2. They then rain on the ground, a hairsbreadth between
each drop.
3. This teaches that the day of rainfall is as great as
the day that the Heavens and Earth were created (as
per Daf 2a).
(c) The Pasuk of "He waters the mountains from His upper
chambers," explained to refer to the chambers of Hashem,
goes according to R. Yehoshua.
1. R. Eliezer would counter that when the water rises up
their, it is referred to as the upper chambers.
2. We see that such an explanation exists from the Pasuk
about dust and ashes falling from the Heavens.
(d) The Pasuk of Hashem filling the storehouses with the
depths goes according to R. Eliezer.
1. R. Yehoshua would counter that that is referring to
the creation of the world.
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