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Summary

We learned (23.6) “It’s like the case of a servant who wishes to pour a drink for his master and he pours the kettle of water on his face”.

Question: It’s like who pours a kettle on whose face?

Response: It is clarified in the beraisa: “It’s like the master pours a kettle on his servant’s face and says to the servant, I don’t want to be served by the likes of you” (so when it rains on sukkos, especially on the first night, we’re supposed to think that perhaps we’re being negligent in our national duties. Perhaps we should be doing more to bring our brethren back to Torah. The mishna spares its words and this lesson is in the mishna so it must be very important).

Now begins a discussion about different signs and omens in nature.

Beraisa: A solar eclipse is a bad omen for the world. It’s like a king who removes the lamp and leaves his servants in darkness (although it is possible to calculate these matters, it can still serve as an impetus for reflection and improvement. Yom Kippur can also be calculated).

Beraisa: Rabbi Meir: When the luminaries (the moon and stars; sometimes binary stars eclipse each other for short periods, or sometimes there’s an occlusion caused by the moon) are smitten it is a bad omen for enemies of Jews (it means Jews) because they’re accustomed to suffering. It’s like when the teacher comes into class with a big whip, it’s the kid who usually gets hit who worries most (because Hashem loves us he punishes for each infraction, no one tries to clean the city dump, only the nicest neighborhoods get cleaned). This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate