The Ohr Samei’ach on ‘Tikkun Ha’umah’

the uniqueness of the 10 takanos of Ezra: tikun ha’umah vs tikun ha’dat

Wednesday, December 22, 2021

 Bava Kama 82 quotes 10 takanos that Ezra made:

עשרה תקנות תיקן עזרא שקורין במנחה בשבת וקורין בשני ובחמישי ודנין בשני ובחמישי ומכבסים בחמישי בשבת ואוכלין שום בערב שבת ושתהא אשה משכמת ואופה ושתהא אשה חוגרת בסינר ושתהא אשה חופפת וטובלת ושיהו רוכלין מחזירין בעיירות ותיקן טבילה לבעלי קריין

The Ohr Sameiach (Issurei Biah 4:8 last paragraph) makes an interesting observation.  He writes that the gemara has many takanos, many dinim derabbanan, but these were primarily instituted for “tikun ha’dat.”  They preserve and protect the rules of the religion, the halachot d’oraysa.  For example, Chazal made a takanah not to swim on shabbos lest you come to make a raft and violate a melacha.  The takanos of Ezra are different.  They were primarily instituted for the sake of “tikun ha’umah.”  The purpose of the takanos was not to prevent a person from a religious failing, but rather the purpose was to strengthen the social and family structure of the nation.

One of the challenges that Ezra had to deal with when the Jews returned to Eretz Yisrael was the high intermarriage rate.  To put it crudely, marrying a shiksa was the norm.  Ezra responded by trying to strengthen marriage to Jewish women and make it more appealing and attractive.  That’s why he instituted selling perfume to the women, that’s why there is a takana to eat garlic for the sake of onah on shabbos, counterintuitively, that’s why he made the takana of tevilas Ezra, as the gemara writes, so that “talmidei chachamim should not always be with their wives.”  Too much familiarity is not always a good thing; a little seperation preserved the desire to be together when allowed.

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From Divrei Chaim, here.

Why Do We Have To Believe in the Redemption Long Before It Arrives?

Posted on December 23, 2021 (5782) By Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein | Series:  | Level: 

Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and say to them, “…I have surely remembered you, and what is being done to you in Egypt.”[2]

Welcome news, to be sure. But perhaps a bit dramatic, and more than a bit premature? Given the state of mind of the people, why did this message come now, while the nation was still in the full grip of the shibud, before Moshe could provide any indication at all that anything had changed?

You could argue, with justification, that a show of emunah by the Bnei Yisrael was a necessary precursor to thegeulah. (Chazal[3] point specifically to the verses, “And they will hearken to your voice,”[4] and “The people believed”[5] as important contributions towards their redemption.) Yet, that confidence in Hashem could have awaited the beginning of the long process of the makos. Why was it necessary to tell them about ageulahthat was still many months away?

Here is the explanation. The Torah makes it quite clear that the exodus from Egypt played an outsize role in forging the emunah of our people. This is the reason why Hashem began the Aseres HaDibros with a reference to His redeeming us from slavery. It is the reason why remembering yetzias Mitzrayim returns again and again as an explicit element in so many of the mitzvos of the Torah. It is the reason why so many miracles and signs attended the redemption.

It is also a truism that Hashem does not grant anything to us without some kind of preparatory action on our part. To ready ourselves for an infusion of emunah, we had to act on its imminent arrival. It was necessary for us to hear about Hashem’s pending intervention on our behalf, and for us to anticipate it, dwell on it, savor it in advance. The Yalkut mentioned above does not mean that we had to accept the news rather than scoff at it. It means that we had to delight in that news. We had to picture different scenarios of redemption in our minds in advance of any display on Hashem’s part. We had to believe with intensity before we had anything to show for it.

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From Torah.org – Project Genesis, here.

הראל שרביט הי”ד

“אבא להתראות, נקמה בקרוב”

קידש את המדים: הוא לא שתק על הוראות הפתיחה באש וסרטון שהפיץ זכה ל”גינוי” מדובר צה”ל. הראל שרביט הי”ד הפך עולמות כדי להילחם במקום “הכי מסוכן” והקפיד לטבול במקווה לפני היציאה לקרב

  • אלחנן גרונר, הקול היהודי
  • י”ח טבת תשפ”ד – 21:48 30/12/2023

למאמר באנגלית >>

שעות בודדות לפני כניסת שבת פרשת “ויחי”, ליוו אלפים למנוחת עולמים את הראל שרביט הי”ד, קצין צה”ל שנהרג בצפון רצועת עזה. מעל קברו, בבכי וזעקות, שרו בני המשפחה והחברים את הפיוט “ארץ הקדושה” שהיה שר בכל הזדמנות.

המשך לקרוא…

מאתר הקול היהודי, כאן.