2,711 pages of Talmud. A gem a day.

Our Mishna discusses how, instead of giving a half shekel, there were times that people would give half of other coins – coins that were the local currency and still had worth of greater to that of a shekel. This works if one has plenty of money, but what if you didn’t? What if you have to save up penny by penny?

GEMARA: It is taught in the mishna: One who gathers together coins and says: These are for my shekel, if he finds that he has more than a half-shekel, then according to the opinion of Beit Shammai, the remainder is designated for a free-will offering, and according to Beit Hillel the remainder is non-sacred property.

The debate is, if I am going to pay the equivalent of a half shekel in small coins, what if I bring more than I am supposed to? Do I get my change back? Or is it considered consecrated?

Rabbi Yosei said in the name of Rabbi Elazar: With regard to what do they disagree? With regard to one who gathers coin by coin [peroterot], adding small coins bit by bit until they amount to a large sum. It is assumed that he intended to contribute only a half-shekel but did not pay attention to the fact that a larger sum had accumulated. According to Beit Hillel, an item that was consecrated by mistake does not become consecrated, and thus the leftover money is non-sacred property. However, with regard to one who takes a stack of coins and says: These are for my shekel, everyone agrees that he must have intended to consecrate the entire sum. Therefore, the leftover coins are designated for a free-will offering.

What is the difference here? In the first case, I am imagining a poor man with a coin jar (remember those? remember when we had pocket change?) – each day, at the end of the day, he takes the coins from his pocket and adds them to the jar in hopes of saving up enough to give his half shekel along with his fellow Jews.

The other person is one who simply has wealth, and grabs stacks of coins to pay. The first person likely needs allt he change he can get, while the second might not miss it.

Which is perhaps why the gemara goes on to discuss that we should make sure to give charity at least 3 times a year, but try not to ask for charity more than three times a year. If this is how we want to hold, then we will likely need to be lenient, as Hillel discribes, for those who are saving every penny in order to do this mitzvah.

It fascinates me that while most prisoners lost everything in the Holocaust, some people managed to hold onto a small item – a photo hidden in a shoe, a piece of jewelry sown into a hemline.

It wasn’t just survivors who did this. Henry Winkler (Happy Days) shared how his father was creative in smuggling jewels out of Nazi Germany when they immigrated. “My father asked his mother for her jewelry and he bought a box of chocolates, melted the chocolate down and covered all of the pieces of jewelry in chocolate, put it in the box, put the box under his arm,” Winkler recalls. In that way he was able to bring the jewels to the United States, pawn them, and start a new life.

Today’s daf made me think of this – how something so small can be so precious.

MISHNA When people who live far from Jerusalem wish to send to Jerusalem the shekels that have been levied from their community, they may combine their shekels and exchange them for darics [darkonot], which are large gold coins, due to the burden of the way.

So, we see that we can exchange shekels for bigger coins. If so, the Gemara wonders, let them make them, i.e., exchange them with, gems [margaliot], which are more valuable than darics and much lighter to carry.

While the halakhah does not allow for them to be exchanged for gems “due to concern lest the price/value of the gems decrease, and the Temple treasury of consecrated property will lose” it does make me think about, if we had to suddenly go, what could we, would we take?

What is precious to us? What is small enough that it can be easily hidden?

Tomorrow we begin Passover. Our ancestors too had to take only a few items that they could carry with them as they left – and yet when it came time to build the mishkan, the traveling sanctuary, there was gold, silver, gems . . . may we never have reason to need to run with only what we can carry ever again.

Today’s gem – the Kalbon.

What is the Kalbon? Glad I asked. The kalban is a “bit extra.” On today’s daf, we see the kalbon being added to the half shekel tax. Why do we need extra? Well, there was no mint, and a shekel might be a little light now and then. So, we give a little extra in case in the process of collecting the Shekalim, some are worn down of damaged etc. This daf teaches us that when one gives a half-Shekel, one must add a little extra.

I love this as a lesson in life. When in doubt, do more.

I had a business school professor who asked us to do a presentation where we would market a product to a particular country. We had to include 3 fact about the product, 3 about the country, and then 3 reasons why the product is right for the country. Here’s the catch – those people who did exactly 3 for each category GOT A C!! They did just what was asked, no more, so why wouldn’t they get a C? A C means your work is sufficient. (Oh there were a LOT of freakouts when we got our grades, but it was a great life lesson.)

Do a little extra. Put in a little more effort then is required. Push a little bit. It will make your contributions better, the community better, and you will feel better about yourself.

The pagination is throwing me off, so I will continue to break it down in my titles.

I might also name today’s daf: When good intentioned people unwittingly reward bad behavior. As a mom, I, sadly, do this all the time – like yesterday when I drove home because my son forgot his book, only to learn when I dropped off the book that he also forgot his ipad . . . well, apparently I follow in the footsteps of the Sages. The Gemara discusses the process of uprooting diverse kinds (remember how you can’t cross pollinate certain crops?) and how, what the Sages initially did to prevent people from violating the rule did not work:

Rabbi Yehuda said: At first the agents of the court would uproot the diverse kinds of crops and cast them in front of the owners, and those owners would doubly rejoice. One reason for their happiness was that others were weeding their fields for them, and the other reason was that they would derive benefit from these diverse kinds, which they would feed to their animals.

That’s me! They saw that the farmer did not do what they were supposed to do and, thinking they were punishing them, did it for them! And so the violators had Sages working their fields for free and they still got to use the forbidden plants to feed their animals! So, the Sages change their tactics:

The baraita continues: When the number of transgressors who maintained diverse kinds in their fields increased, they would cast the uprooted crops onto the roads, so that passersby should trample on them and render them unfit for any use. Even so, the owners still rejoiced that those agents were weeding their fields.

Ah! Still didn’t work – because they are still inadvertantly rewarding bad behavior. What to do?

Therefore, the Sages instituted that the entire field should be declared ownerless, which would deter people from maintaining diverse kinds in their fields.

They took their field away!

This is a good plan and one I am instituting with my son. The net time I have to drive home to get materials he has forgotten, he loses – not his field, or his school supplies, but something he wants – electronics. I love today’s daf and truly relate. Often, when we see something needs to be done we want to step in, but that may only end up enabling the lazy person/violator. Don’t reward bad behavior by stepping in – you may only end up increasing the amount of that bad behavior.

Now to watch as my son packs his bookbag . . .

Welcome to the Jerusalem Talmud, a different Talmud than we have been reading. Two centers of Jewish learning studied and interpreted the Mishna for hundreds of years, Babylonia and Jerusalem. Up to this point we have been reading the Babylonian Talmud – when people say “Talmud” without a qualifier, they are referring to the Babylonian. Today we begin a book from the Jerusalem Talmud: Shekalim. So, we are going from Babylon to Jerusalem, and from a discussion about Passover ot one about Purim. The structure is also different as each daf will really be covering one halakhah.

On today’s daf we begin with a Mishna that says that in the month of Adar we collect the half shekel tax and repair all public roadways, cisterns and all public goods including remarking gravesights. We are also introduced to some new rabbis. One makes an observation that I am including as my gem of the day:

§ Rabbi Yehuda bar Pazi said in the name of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi: Can we read the following verses and not be afraid? (When I read these sections of Torah I am ashamed of/scared for the character of our people.) When the Jewish people were asked to donate for good purposes, like of the construction of the Tabernacle, the verse states: “And they came, both men and women, as many as were willinghearted, and brought…an offering of gold to the Lord” (Exodus 35:22). what’s the problem? This indicates that only the generous among the people brought donations. On the other hand, when the Jews were asked to donate for the evil purpose of the Golden Calf, it states: “And all the people broke off the golden rings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron” (Exodus 32:3).

So, when asked to do good, only some come forward, but when asked to do evil all come forward (which is not technically true as women and Levites refrained, but let’s follow his argument).

When they initiated for good, at Sinai, it states: “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount” (Exodus 19:17). When it is for evil, the people took the initiative: “And you came near to me every one of you, and said: Let us send men before us, that they may search the land for us, and bring us back word of the way by which we must go up, and the cities unto which we shall come” (Deuteronomy 1:22).

So, when it was time to venture out to receive Torah, Moses had to invite them. When it was time to venture out and send the spies, something God did not want, they went of their own accord.

Another example: For good, with regard to the song at the Red Sea after the Israelites were rescued from the Egyptians, it is stated: “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spoke, saying: I will sing unto the Lord, for He is highly exalted; the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea” (Exodus 15:1). They did not start singing of their own accord, but merely followed Moses’ lead. Yet for evil, after the spies delivered their report upon their return from Eretz Yisrael, the verse states: “And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night” (Numbers 14:1).

So, here we have two times when the whole community cried out. When it was for good (in thanksgiving for our freedom) they had to repeat the words after Moses. When it was for evil, the words flowed freely from their hearts.

Not looking good. Another rabbis adds fuel to the fire.

Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba said: “. . . but they rose early and corrupted all their doings” (Zephaniah 3:7), which indicates that every act of corruption that the Jews would perform, they would perform it early in the day. In contrast, only the vigilant arise early to fulfill mitzvot.

So, if we are to believe our own Torah, we are a people who will come out in higher numbers, without needing an invitation, acting and speaking of our own free will – and will do so early and eagerly – when it comes to evil. Yet, when it comes to good we need to be invited, feel it in our hearts, and be told what to say and may not rush to fulfil the request.

Ouch.

So, why is this my gem? It reminds me that the Torah is a book about real people, not perfect people. It reminds me that sometimes going the right thing is not the easy thing. That sometimes we need to be invited, reminded, and even dragged along in doing justice and good. It also reminds me that, if we want to change and grow and do better, we need to have a realistic picture of ourselves and our community. If we think we’re perfect, or are busy pretending to be perfect, we can’t really see our growing edges.

Do all the rabbis agree with the above assessment of the Jewish people? No (see below), but I think we can still learn so much from noticing our faults, even if they embarrass us.

Rabbi Abba bar Aḥa said: You cannot discern the true nature of this people, as donations are requested for the Golden Calf and they give; and later, donations are requested for the Tabernacle, and they also give.

We did it! Last daf of Pesachim on the week of Passover!! Nice. Now we should know all we need to know for the Seder . . .

The last Mishna debates if one says a blessing over the Festival offering, if you also need to say a separate blessing over the Paschal lamb. Yishmael says that it depends on the order. If you do the festival first then he still needs to say the blessing for the Paschal lamb – but if he says the paschal blessing first, he does not need to say the blessing for the Festival. Rabbi Akiva disagrees and says you need to say both. What’s the law?

Enter Germara.

The Gemara compares this to another time when one might offer one blessing and then perhaps think that the priest can do the second blessing on your behalf – during a pidyon haben (a special ceremony for a first born child of a woman whose womb has never been opened before who is not of the Levite or Cohen tribes. This ceremony is performed on the 30th day of life).

Rabbi Simlai attended a redemption of the firstborn son. The celebrants raised a dilemma before him with regard to the blessings. First they noted that it is obvious that the blessing over the redemption of a firstborn son, which is: Who sanctified us with His mitzvot and commanded us over the redemption of the firstborn son, is certainly recited by the father of the son, as he is the one obligated to redeem his son. However, with regard to the second blessing: Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who has given us life [sheheḥeyanu], sustained us, and brought us to this time, does the priest recite this blessing, or does the father of the son recite it?

So, Rabbi goes to a pidyon haBen, as a guest I presume. And is asked a question that he does not know the answer to (my fellow clergy might be able to relate). The father says the blessing of redeeming his child, but who says the shehekiyanu? the priest of the dad?

The Gemara gives arguments for both sides. It can be suggested that the priest recites the blessing, as he benefits as it’s a tradition to give the priest money in exchange for the baby boys service to the Temple and the blessing of sheheḥiyanu is generally recited by the one who receives the benefit. Or, perhaps the father of the son recites sheheḥeyanu, as he is the one who performs the mitzva.

Rabbi Simlai did not have an answer readily available, and he went to ask this question in the study hall. The scholars said to him that the father of the son recites the two blessings: Over the redemption of the son and sheheḥeyanu. The Gemara concludes: And the halakha is that the father of the son recites two blessings.

The verdict is in – the father says the two blessings. This is retroactive evidence that Akiva is right and that we need to say two blessings over the festival and the paschal lamb, no matter the order.

And, this is the end of the chapter!

A lesson from the daf – rabbis don’t always know the answer, and sometimes just want to be a guest, but once there is a question in their heads – they will go and find the answer from colleagues they trust. A bigger lesson – look for every opportunity to offer blessings. One is not enough. If someone does a favor for you, say thank you, and then say thank you the next time they do something. Look for every individual good, every single blessing, and give it it’s own due.

That being said, here is the blessing for finishing the tractate Pesachim:

We will return to you, Tractate Pesachim, and you will return to us; our mind is on you, Tractate Pesachim, and your mind is on us; we will not forget you, Tractate Pesachim, and you will not forget us – not in this world and not in the world to come.

Ever doze off in class? I remember sitting in AP English one day and just not being able to hold my eyes open. But I could still hear everything that was being said, and when the teacher called my name – I heard it, I was still awake, but not awake.

Well, the rabbis know this feeling as well, especially when it comes to the late stages of the Seder, after a few glasses of wine and a large meal – it’s apparently not a rare thing to doze-off.

GEMARA: We learned in the mishna that Rabbi Yosei says: If they dozed they may eat from the Paschal lamb, but if they fell asleep they may not eat from it. The Gemara asks: What are the circumstances of dozing? Rav Ashi said: One is asleep but not asleep, awake but not awake, when, if they call him, he will answer, but he is unable to provide a reasonable answer. And when they later inform him of what happened, he remembers it.

Certainly different from being completely asleep. But, ifyou want an example, the Talmud does not disappoint:

Abaye was sitting before Rabba, and he saw that Rabba was dozing off. He said to him: Is the Master sleeping? Rabba said to him: I am dozing, and we learned in the mishna: If they dozed, they may eat from the Paschal lamb, but if they fell fast asleep they may not eat from it.

So, he is dozing off but when called on has the wherewithal to quote Mishnah. Not bad. I don’t think I did as well in my English class, nor did I have as good an excuse!

Saturday is night 1 of Passover. May it be stimulating enough, and short enough, that you don’t fall completely asleep at the table.

I grew up on Sesame street. It taught me so much. One song that I still find myself singing to myself from time to time is “Everyone Makes Mistakes So Why Can’t You.”

Anyone who spends a lot of time studying Torah knows this as well. Our “heros” in the Torah all make mistakes. And apparently, they know it. On today’s daf, a huge honor is to be bestowed – an ancestor is to say the blessing after the meal at a table for tzaddikim, righteous ones. But who is good enough, honorable enough, to be the one to say this blessing at a table full of righteous ancestors?

In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will prepare a feast for the righteous on the day that He extends [sheyigmol] His mercy to the descendants of Isaac. After they eat and drink, the celebrants will give Abraham our father a cup of blessing to recite the blessing, as he is the first of our forefathers. So, is Abraham going to take the honor?

And Abraham will say to them: I will not recite the blessing, as I am blemished, for the wicked Ishmael came from me. Abraham will say to Isaac: Take the cup and recite the blessing. Isaac will say to them: I will not recite the blessing, as the wicked Esau came from me. Isaac will say to Jacob: Take the cup and recite the blessing. Jacob will say to them: I will not recite the blessing, as I married two sisters, Rachel and Leah, in their lifetimes, and in the future the Torah forbade them to me.

Oh no! None of the patriarchs feel they are good enough for this honor! Who will step forward?

Jacob will say to Moses: Take the cup and recite the blessing. Moses will say to them: I will not recite the blessing, as I did not merit to enter Eretz Yisrael, neither in my life nor in my death. Moses will say to Joshua: Take the cup and recite the blessing. Joshua will say to them: I will not recite the blessing, as I did not merit to have a son.

Will no one step up? Does everyone only see their imperfections?

Joshua will say to David: Take the cup and recite the blessing. David will say to them: I will recite the blessing, and it is fitting for me to recite the blessing, as it is stated: “I will lift up the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord” (Psalms 116:13).

LOVE THIS!! David is the most obviously flawed of them all. David had blood on his hands and so God said he could not build the Temple; David is an adulterer . . . who has an innocent man killed – so you might think he would feel that, after hearing everyone else “pass” on this honor, that he would as well, but David does not mention this. He does the opposite of politely demure – he says, “It is fitting for me to recite the blessing.”

Everyone makes mistakes. But not everyone learns from them, even fewer grow from them, and even fewer learn how to let go of them.

It looks like the other leaders of our people are more humble, but humility is a balance of knowing when to lean back, and when to lean in. The mantra from Mussar Master Alan Morinis is, “No more than my place, no less than my space.” David is seeing leader after leader shrink from the honor, and so he steps in, he takes his place.

May we all learn from him. May we be aware of our imperfections, grow from them, and move on from them and not let fear of them hold us back from living into greatness.

Is it sad that, even growing up as an engaged Jewish kid, the first time I heard of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego was in a Beastie Boys song? The Book of Daniel, while part of the Hebrew bible, is not one that we regularly studied – but as an early teen, I learned of their stint in the fiery furnace from one of my favorite hip-hop groups (and I was always proud that the Beastie Boys were Jewish).

Here’s the story, according to the summary on Wikipedia (and I approve):

King Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden image in the plain of Dura and commanded that all his officials bow down before it. All who failed to do so would be thrown into a blazing furnace. Certain officials informed the king that the three Jewish youths Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who bore the Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and whom the king had appointed to high office in Babylon, were refusing to worship the golden statue. The three were brought before Nebuchadnezzar, where they informed the king that God would be with them. Nebuchadnezzar commanded that they be thrown into the fiery furnace, heated seven times hotter than normal, but when the king looked he saw four figures walking unharmed in the flames, the fourth “like a son of God.” Seeing this, Nebuchadnezzar brought the youths out of the flames and promoted them to high office, decreeing that anyone who spoke against God should be torn limb from limb.

Now, Christians and Jews interpret this 4th presence quite differently. We get a taste of how Jews interpret the 4th figure in the furnace from today’s daf:

When the evil Nimrod threw our father, Abraham, into the fiery furnace, Gabriel said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, I will descend and cool the furnace, and I will thereby save the righteous Abraham from the fiery furnace. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him: I am unique in my world and Abraham is still unique in his world. It is fitting for the unique to save the unique. Therefore, God Himself went down and saved him. And as the Holy One, Blessed be He, does not withhold reward from any creature who sought to perform a good deed, He said to Gabriel: You will merit the rescue of three of his descendants under similar circumstances.

Rabbi Shimon HaShiloni taught: When the evil Nebuchadnezzar threw Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah into the fiery furnace, Yurkamo, the ministering angel of hail, stood before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and said before Him: Master of the Universe, I will go down and cool the fiery furnace, and I will save these righteous ones from the fiery furnace. Gabriel said to him: The strength of the Holy One, Blessed be He, will not be evident in this manner, as you are the minister of hail, and everyone knows that water extinguishes fire. Your action would not be regarded as a great miracle. Rather, I, the ministering angel of fire, will descend, and I will cool the furnace from within, and I will burn it from the outside, to consume those who threw the three righteous men into the furnace; and I will thereby perform a miracle within a miracle. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to him: Descend. At that time Gabriel began praising God and recited: “And the truth of the Lord endures forever” (Psalms 117:2), as God fulfilled His promise to him from more than a thousand years earlier.

So, who was that figure in the fiery furnace? The angel Gabriel. Why is the Gemara talking about this? It is explaining where verses of Hallel come from. And one source are these three almost martyrs of Beastie Boy fame: ard us, and the truth of the Lord endures forever, halleluya” (Psalms 117). Hananiah recited: “Praise the Lord, all you nations,” for the overt miracle performed for them before the nations. Mishael recited: “Laud Him all you peoples.” Azariah recited: “For His mercy is great toward us.” They all recited together: “And the truth of the Lord endures forever, halleluya.” And that 4th being that was with them added to Hallal as well: And some say that the angel Gabriel recited: “And the truth of the Lord endures forever.”

While I am not proud that I learned of these three from a hip-hop song, I do find it fitting that a song taught me about these 3 who in turn offer lyrics to songs of praise that we sing today.

There is something to habit. How many times have I not wanted to workout, but made myself, and them was so grateful I did! The same can happen in regular prayer. Most of us don’t wake up and want to pray (barring either something really bad or really good happening as a catalyst) – and yet we are supposed to pray daily . . . three times daily. Why? Do we really expect to have a meaningful experience if we are constantly praying?

Well, perhaps when we pray so often, we don’t encounter the Divine each and every time. However, it happens sometimes. And here’s the thing, when we don’t pray, we don’t give ourselves the opportunity for encounter. I know I know – rabbi, sometimes things in life move us to pray – sometimes I see something, or someone and I feel God’s presence. Yes. Me too. Yet, why wait for God to come to us? Can’t we come to God?

I was thinking about this as I read this passage on today’s daf:

If a psalm begins: Of David a psalm, this teaches that the Divine Presence rested upon him first and afterward he recited the song. However, if a psalm opens with: A psalm of David, this teaches that he first recited the song, and afterward the Divine Presence rested upon him.

Sometimes God came to David – he was so moved by the Divine encounter, that he would sing and write psalms that we continue to sing today. And, sometimes David went to God. He was notorious for being a bad sleeper. He also was lonely (and that got him into trouble – Bathsheba anyone?). So, he would go to God. He would poor out his heart, sing, pray – and sometimes the Divine would come to him.

Let’s try and meet God halfway and go to God sometimes instead of always waiting for God to come to us.