Simply Deep

Two statements in the Gemara in Kiddushin 30b about the yetzer hara: (1) Even it's Creator calls it rah—evil; (2) it's always renewing, strengthening, and trying to kill you.

The Gemara in Kiddushin 30b likens the yetzer hara to a wound inflicted by a father and the Torah to a bandage the father provides to protect the son from damage due to the wound.

Aharon Fischbein asked why the order Tzaraas is presented in the Torah (person, clothes, house) is the opposite of the order that the Rambam (Tumaas Tzaraas 16:10) and the Midrash Vvayikra Rabba 17:4) say occurs to a sinner.

Rashi (Vayikra 14:36) says that when the Torah allows a person to remove his possessions from his house before the kohen declares it tamei with Tzaraas, this is merely to protect his (lowly) earthenware vessels from tumaah. On the surface, this seems extreme.

This episode addresses both of these questions.

Note: After I recorded, I noticed that the midrash (cited above) supports our explanation of the order that Tzaraas occurs.

Rashi (Vayikra 10:5) references Sanhedrin 52a which cites a machlokes whether Nadav and Avihu’s entire body was burnt or only their insides. The reverse machlokes applies to the adas Korach. This episode analyzes these two types of deaths.

Rashi tells us the rewards that Aharon and his sons received for their silence after Nadav and Avihu’s punishment with death—Parshos of the Torah were taught through them. This episode analyzes the greatness of this silence and the appropriateness of this reward.

At times, people incorrectly depict Chazal as being petty or small-minded—and they often cite stories from the Gemara that seem to support this perspective. One such Gemara is Brachos 27b which depicts Rabban Gamliel (the Nasi) putting Rabbi Yehoshua in place for arguing with him, the other Rabbanan demoting Rabban Gamliel for this mistreatment, and the ensuing events (like Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria miraculously growing a massive beard overnight). This pair of episodes analyzes this story in light of the fact these were great men.

The Torah (Shemos 2:23) tells us that Pharaoh died and the Jews cried out to Hashem from their work. Rashi cites a Midrash that says Pharaoh didn’t actually die but got Tzaraas and was trying to heal himself by washing in the blood of Jewish babies. What do we do we midrashim like this that seem to totally go against pshat? This episode provides a general methodology and applies it to this case.

This episode analyzes the part of the haggada that says we must view ourselves as if we left Egypt. How so? We derive two answers to this question from a careful reading of this paragraph. We also discuss some nice tidbits from the Rav.

At times, people incorrectly depict Chazal as being petty or small-minded—and they often cite stories from the Gemara that seem to support this perspective. One such Gemara is Brachos 27b which depicts Rabban Gamliel (the Nasi) putting Rabbi Yehoshua in place for arguing with him, the other Rabbanan demoting Rabban Gamliel for this mistreatment, and the ensuing events (like Rabbi Elazar ben Azaria miraculously growing a massive beard overnight). This pair of episodes analyzes this story in light of the fact these were great men.

This episode analyzes these parts of the haggada and their significance.