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EIN YAAKOV

Eruvin 19a

Why Gehinnom Doesn't Burn Jewish Sinners the Same Way

Part of Ein Yaakov · 26:36

Aggada on the different treatment of gentile versus Jewish sinners in Gehinnom, its seven names and three entrances, and a geographic 'map' connecting Bavel to Gan Eden.

Audio Transcript
Difference in Punishment: Goyim vs. Jews

Gemara said that there's a difference between goyim and between צדיקים, רשעים. Gemara says like this, it says that a Yid, even when it comes, Hakadosh Baruch Hu punishes him, so goyim, der Eibershter punishes, not goyim, גשמיות, when a king punishes somebody, the person is very upset at the king, and they have to stop his mouth so he shouldn't speak against the king. By a Yid, by der Eibershter, with der Eibershter, it's not only they don't say anything, they praise him. When they come to Gehinnom, they full praises. So the Gemara asks the kashya, but it says in a different place that they come to Gehinnom and they don't praise Hashem, so the Gemara answered there's a difference between אידישע רשעים and גויישה רשעים, פושעים. That's where we're holding, the second line here: לא קשיא, כאן בפושעי ישראל, the second line from the top. Oh, you got the wrong page, I see. Yeah, but it's, I think it's the next page. In the middle of ו', here, here someplace. כאן בפושעי ישראל כאן בפושעי עובדי כוכבים. The other place, that says the difference, גויישה פושעים who go to Gehinnom, they don't do teshuvah even when they get to Gehinnom, they don't care. And אידישע do care. And the Gemara says, הכא נמי מסתברא, not only that that's the way we could have answered, we have to answer that type of chiluk, why? דאי כן, because if you're not going to give that answer, besides the problem with the פסוקים, קשיא דריש לקיש אדריש לקיש. We have a contradiction between two things Reish Lakish said. In one place he said one way, and one place the other way. What did he say? Till now we said that Reish Lakish was the one that said here, okay, let's first we see it here. He

Reish Lakish: Gehinnom’s Fire Doesn’t Affect Israel’s Sinners

said like this: פושעי ישראל אין אש של גיהנום שולטת בהן, that even the פושעי ישראל, the pashut means the rebellious Yidden, the Gehinnom can't control and can't get to them. Kal vachomer ממזבח הזהב, a kal vachomer from the golden מזבח. מה מזבח הזהב שאין עליו אלא כעובי דינר זהב, the מזבח הזהב was covered with gold. How thick was the gold? Thick of a coin. עומד כמה שנים ואין אש שולטת בו, you constantly every day, twice a day, they made a fire there. So after a while, the fire should burn through the gold and it should go through, make a fire, no. Years, hundreds of years, and it didn't affect it. פושעי ישראל שמלאין מצות כרמון, פושעי ישראל are better than a mizbe'ach. A mizbe'ach you do a mitzvah once a day, twice a day. פושעי ישראל, even the bad Yidden, are full of mitzvot. Where do we see it? שנאמר it says כפלח הרמון רקתך, ואמר רבי שמעון בן לקיש אל תקרי רקתך אלא ריקתיך. ריקתיך means the empty ones. And it says you're like a rimon, like a pomegranate, שאפילו ריקנין שבך מלאין מצות כרמון, that even the empty Yidden, which are bad, they're still full of mitzvot like a pomegranate is full of seeds. So if the mizbe'ach, which is only one mitzvah, the fire cannot control it, cannot get over it, Yidden, the worst Yidden, who belong in Gehinnom, but they still have a lot of mitzvot, certainly the Gehinnom can't touch them. Al achat kama vekama. Mimela, so here we see that they don't go to Gehinnom. Who's just to say they have more aveirot than mitzvot? They have more aveirot than mitzvot, but still, but they have, but they still have mitzvot. But they still have mitzvot, and the mitzvot, so the fire, Gehinnom can't touch them. So here we have, it seems like a contradiction, because before we mentioned on top, Reish Lakish said אפילו על פתחה של גיהנום אינם חוזרין בתשובה, that

Wicked Do Not Repent at Gehinnom’s Door

even when they come, the פושעים, the רשעים, when they come to the door of Gehinnom, they don't do teshuvah. And here he says that the Gehinnom doesn't affect them. So if we would not answer that there's a chiluk between Yidden and goyim, we'd have a contradiction. But the fact that we answered before is understood that when did he say that they don't even do teshuvah by the door of Gehinnom? That's the goyim. When he says by Yidden, Yidden doesn't affect them, Yidden don't go to Gehinnom. But there's a different problem that comes up now. Here we're saying that the Gehinnom doesn't get to them, והא כתיב, but it says, we quoted the Gemara yesterday we learned: עוברי בעמק הבכא מעין ישיתוהו. It says that they go into the עמק הבכא, they go into the גיהנום, אלא מאי, they cry there and they feel bad, but they do go into Gehinnom. And here we said that Reish Lakish says that the אש של גיהנום, the fire of Gehinnom, does not affect it. So they go to Gehinnom, it's just the fire is the thing that So then it is mashma that they do get, they get they're fired and then they feel bad about it. So the Gemara says ההוא דמחייבי דינייהו בגיהנם חד שעתא, that that refers takeh to those who do deserve Gehinnom, so they go into Gehinnom for a little bit, but they're not there for long. ואתי אברהם, אברהם comes, ומקבל להו, and takes them, ומסיק להו, takes them out. Avraham comes and he says the zechut of Avraham, the Eibershter gave him the right, he schlepps everyone out again, and לבר מישראל הבא על הכנענית. Could be according to the agreement they made with Hashem, no? Whether it was Gehinnom or Mitzrayim? No, that's legabei being in galut, those years, so we're talking about for the future, for always, even now. Even, yeah, even now. No, that's that was then. So he takes them out of Gehinnom, except הבא על הכנענית, someone has relations with a גויה, ומושך בערלתו, or somebody who pulls the orlah, means somebody who's circumcised, but if you pull the skin, you could make yourself back to become an arel again. So a person like that, there Avraham doesn't take him out, why? דלא מבשקר ליה, he doesn't recognize them. Avraham takes out those people who are גמלט, so he recognizes you that you're a איד, and the mitzvah of milah was given to him, and then to Avraham's zechut, so he pulls you out. But if he doesn't recognize you, so if you have relations with a goyah also, what's the reason? Not because that aveirah, there that's a terrible aveirah, but because if you have a connection to a goyah, the goyah will be מושך ערלתו, the גויה will make you, is upset that you're גמלט, so she'll make you look not גמלט, so that makes you look that Avraham Avinu shouldn't recognize you. This is definitely very different from what we always assume, that that the רשעים are there for for like a whole year. It's talking about many מדרגות. Always never have סתירות, it must be different מדרגות, different people, and this. Here it's mashma that even a regular rasha, that Avraham takes him out. Why does it say כנענית דוקא? No, that's for the צענזאר. It's like a No, that's for the צענזאר, when the צענזאר used to censor the books, it used to say, be'emet it says הבא על הגויה, but if they write a גויה, you're insulting the goyim. So they say כנענית. So they changed to כנענית. Like times they עובדי עבודה זרה, עכו״ם, עכו״ם is עובדי עבודה זרה, it doesn't mean, it means a goy. So on those Gemarot that they fixed up, they changed it to גויה. By the Rambam also, supposed to say גויה, instead of כנענית. Okay, now the reason that he said before, right on top here, that Reish Lakish said that even when they go to Gehinnom they still don't regret what they did, because he quoted a pasuk where the pasuk says ויצאו וראו בפגרי האנשים הפושעים בי, he's talking about the Gehinnom, they'll see the פגרים, the dead bodies of the people who are rebelling against me. Now the Gemara says, it should have said, they're dead already, so they're not rebelling now, it should have said פשעו בי, in the past. It says in present tense, so that's a re'aya that even now when they're finished, and they're dead already, and they're going to Gehinnom, they still are פושע. כדמתקף לה רב כהנא, so Rav Kahana said, if that's going to be your diyuk, if you're going to medayek these words, השתא דאמרת, now that you said, הפושעים means דפשעי ואזלי, that since it says פושעים means that they are still being פושע, are still being bad, so if you're going to darshen that, so every time the Torah uses a present tense, it means it's still happening? I'll give you an example, מי כתיב it says המוציא והמעלה, it says המוציא אתכם מארץ מצרים. Now מוציא doesn't mean he took you out. המוציא means he's taking you out. המעלה אתכם, it says in a lot of places, he he's taking he's bringing you out of מצרים. So you're going to need the same דיוק, דמפיק ומסיק להו, what are you saying, he's taking you out now? Ela mai, ela mai, you could use a לשון of הוה, of of present, but you really mean the past. So why can't you say the same thing by the פושעים? When it says פושעים, you want to מדייק פושעים means that they're still פושע now, because it doesn't say פשעו in the in the past? You see that that's not the way. Here we see that it says a לשון of present, and it means the past. The Gemara says, אלא means דאפיק ואסיק, when it says מוציא מעלה it means that he did take us out, he did pick us out. הכא נמי דפשעו פשעו הוו, maybe here also it means that they were פושע before, and mimela he takeh slogs him up and he says it's no re'ayah from this פסוק, and he takeh argues on Reish Lakish. So the one that asked the קשיא, Rav Kahana, argues on Reish Lakish and says no, it's no re'ayah, and these people do teshuvah, it's no re'ayah that they don't teshuvah, they do teshuvah when they get to Gehinnom. Since we're talking about Gehinnom, so we're going to Cleansing, even if they don't do teshuvah, the Gehinnom will Eventually, but like this, that the other way the other one learns, so that as soon as they come to Gehinnom, right away they feel bad. If they do the right teshuvah, then they would leave the Gehinnom. No, if they're there already, it's a little bit too late, but you need it in a different way, if you regret. ואמר רבי ירמיה בן אלעזר, it's old things that רבי ירמיה בן אלעזר said,

Three Openings to Gehinnom

ג' פתחים יש לגיהנם, there are three doors to Gehinnam, three openings to Gehinnam. Why, what's the purpose, or why are there three doors to Gehinnam? Most people trying to get in. So so it's No, there are two opposite pshatim. Some say that since there are three, so there's a far one. Wherever you are, there's always a far door, so the Eibershter wants to wait till he pushes you there, maybe you will regret, so he made a few doors. If there'd be one door, so those people who are close to that door, go right away. So he made it it's always there, there, there, so wherever you are, he's going to take you to the furthest one, so you have time to do teshuvah. And the other one say punkt farkert, because The Eibershter wants to push you right away in, don't wait. So as soon as you're there, so it should be three doors, like it says by, I'm just giving my own example, ערי מקלט there were six, and they had to be just the same space, why? So you should be able to get there faster, so these guys get there faster. Now, where are the three doors to Gehinnam? Why does the Gemara tell us? So we should know to stay away from it! אחד במדבר, one in the desert, ואחד בים, one in the ים, ואחד בירושלים. Where do we see it? במדבר, דכתיב it says, וירדו הם וכל אשר להם חיים שאולה, said by קרח. He went in with all of them alive into the Gehinnam. So, obviously there's an opening to Gehinnam there, in the מדבר. בים, where do we see בים? דכתיב it says by יונה, when he was swallowed by the fish, and he daven to the Eibershter, what did he say? מבטן שאול שועתי שמעת קולי, I daven from the stomach of the Sheol. Now Sheol is Gehinnam, and it was under he was underwater, so obviously there's an opening to Gehinnam underwater. Which ים was that? Huh? Which ים was that? All head straight. They're all connected. Mediterranean. Next to Nineveh. No, next to Tarshish. Next to Tarshish. He ran away from Nineveh, next to Tarshish. Somewhere on the way. I don't know where Tarshish is. Tarshish is Sri Lanka they say. Where? In India, Sri Lanka some. Yeah? Okay. And where do we see בירושלים? דכתיב it says, אשר אור לו בציון, there's or, there is fire in Tzion, and Zion here doesn't mean like we say Jerusalem and Zion. ציון means in a set place. ותנור לו בירושלים, and there's the oven in Jerusalem. So, it means that there is a place in Jerusalem where you can go straight to Gehinnom. Okay? דתני דבי רבי ישמעאל, right, תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל said, אשר אור לו בציון, זו גיהנם. When it says אור לו בציון, that's Gehinnom. ותנור לו בירושלים, זה פתחה של גיהנם. When it says there's a tanur, that's the openings. So, there is a gate, an opening to Gehinnom by Jerusalem. פרעגט די גמרא, ותו ליכא? There's no more? Only three, three doors to Gehinnom? ואמר רב מריון, ואמרי לה ואמר רבי יהושע בן לוי, ואמרי לה some say תני רבה בר מריון, פתח דבי רבי יוחנן בן זכאי, ב' תמרים יש, there are two תמרים, a תמר is a is date trees, יש בגיא בן הינם, in the plain, in the valley of Gehinnom, that בגיא בן הינם, ועולה עשן מביניהם, between those two things goes the smoke. וזו היא ששנינו, that's what we learned, ציני הר הברזל כשרות. It speaks about lulavim, where you could take a lulav from. So, it mentions in the Mishnah that from the mountains, צינים hard mountains of הר הברזל, you could take from that, it's kasher. And that's the area where you know you have these two date trees, and those between the two date trees, that's where you have the smoke, וזו היא פתחה של גיהנם. So, it says in the baraita that there is a place there, and this happens to be some other, in Bavel or something, I don't know, a place there, and there's an opening to Gehinnom. So, obviously besides these three, we have another one. Is there a remez for you're not supposed to walk between two three date palms? Yeah. I don't know how close they are. Doesn't mean they're across the street, you know? They're close to each other. But maybe so the Gemara says, דילמא היינו דירושלים, maybe this is this is an area in Jerusalem. So, when he says these places, it's Jerusalem, so that's the one of the three, so it's not a fourth one. So, tanur, yeah. Okay.

Seven Names for Gehinnom

אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי, ז' שמות יש לו לגיהנם. Gehinnom has seven names. Okay. ואלו הן: שאול, ואבדון, ובאר שחת, ובור שאון, וטיט היון, וצלמות, וארץ תחתית. Seven: שאול, אבדון, באר שחת, בור שאון, טיט היון, צלמות, ארץ תחתית. And quotes Pesukim where we see these, these are names for Gehinnam. שאול, דכתיב it says, מבטן שאול שועתי שמעת קולי. They quote the Pasuk by Yonah. When he cried out, he says, from the stomach of the שאול, so we see, and that's Gehinnam. אבדון, אבדון, דכתיב it says, היסופר בקבר חסדך אמונתך באבדון? It's a Pasuk in Tehillim saying, in a קבר, if you're in your grave can you talk about the Eibershter's חסד? Can you talk about the Eibershter's אמונה in אבדון? What's אבדון? When you go down there and you get lost in Gehinnam. Where do we see it's called באר שחת? Comes from איבוד? Yeah, yeah. From the word אבד, so that's lost. That's a place where you get lost. Annihilation. Yeah. באר שחת, דכתיב it says With an א, not with an ע. אבדון, לשון lost, like an אבידה. באר שחת, דכתיב it says, כי לא תעזוב נפשי לשאול לא תתן חסידך לראות שחת. Says, do not let my נפש go to שאול and do not let your חסיד, your to go to see the שחת. What's the שחת? That's Gehinnam. Why is that better? On the first one you have a better Oh. So, דעיקרא שחת then. Of course, when it's שאול, why does it bring from Yonah and not from Chumash? fine She'eilah. Anyway, בור שאון וטיט היון, where do we see these two names? You see that it says ויעלני מבור שאון מטיט היון. It took me out from בור שאון מטיט היון. This is Gehinnam. Tehillim Our Tehillim. צלמות You see that it says יושבי חושך וצלמות, sit in the darkness and צלמות. צלמות Really, the word צלמות means צל מות, the shadow of death. ארץ תחתיות, where do we see that it's called ארץ תחתיות? There is no pasuk. Gemara הו. It's a kabbalah that we have, the tradition that it's called ארץ תחתיות. Underground. Yeah, that's what it is, underground. Unterwelt The אונטערוועלט, yeah. It's underground. פרעגט די גמרא: ותו ליכא? There's no other name? Oh, you got Gehinnom. Yeah, the name Gehinnom itself is also a name. So, the Gemara says, no, גיא שעמוקה כגיהנם, it's not a name. It's a descript description, שהכל יורדים בה על עסקי חינם. הינם, and חינם, the ה and the ח a lot of times change. Now, חינם means for this, but here it doesn't mean that. חינם also comes from the word חן. חן is so what what חן means To my allegory. grace. And this is talking when a person does the עבירות of עריות, of adultery, obviously the person you have חן in your eyes. And that's עבירה, so חינם means their חן. And even though it say the word is הינם not, Gehinnom not חינם, but the ה and the ח a lot of time interchange. חן is with a ן, though. Huh? חן is with a ן. Yeah. Not with a ם. No, חינם. Oh, no. it's their chen. Ah, חינם. חינם, their chen. And it's גיא is like a valley, גיא, which is comes because of So, it's the word Gehinnom not really a name of the place, but it's really a description of what happens there, why you go there. So, that's not called a name, even though the common name that we always use is Gehinnom. Like we say in davenen every morning in ברכות השחר. Hashem should protect us from מדינה של גיהנם. Like my rebbe used to say that that it's a מדינת ישראל is a מדינה של גיהנם. ארץ תחתיות is also Huh? ארץ תחתיות is also a description, not real. Well, I guess it became a name, and Gehinnom not. The Gemara says it didn't There's an אויר של גיהנם all over. Huh? There's an אויר של גיהנם all over. When you think about Shabbos Teshuvah, you have the אויר of Gehinnom. That means Gan Eden all over you. There's all types Gehinnom it's evident Gehinnom all over? Gan Eden, that's what you can bring. By Esav, when Esav walks in to Yitzchak and wants the ברכות, it says he saw that the whole the גיהנם פתוחה תחתיו. There's Gan Eden too. Gan Eden it says if you do a mitzvah Gan Eden, you can come to ארץ ישראל. אויר גן עדן אויר ארץ ישראל is אויר גן עדן. Does a mitzvah? Every mitzvah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you get to that. The people take even Shabbos Teshuvah Shabbos Teshuvah brings you connects to Gan Eden, yeah. Then the Gemara asks, so, איכא there's another name: תפתה. You see if it says: כי ערוך מאתמול תפתה. It says there that it's a place, Rashi brings it the end of the Pasuk, it says מדורתה אש, full of fire, so it's Gehinnom. So, it's another name. So, he says, again, it's not a name. ההוא שכל המתפתה ביצרו נופל שם. מתפתה is is is the name מתפתה means conv- convinced, sed- seduced. If you're seduced by your yetzer hara, that's where you go. Gan Eden no We spoke about Gehinnom, where the opening for Gehinnom is. What about the opening to Gan Eden? How come we didn't speak about that? So, he says, oh, Gan Eden. Where's אמר ריש לקיש, says,

Opening to Gan Eden in Israel’s Fruitful Regions

אם בארץ ישראל הוא, If it's in ארץ ישראל, בית שאן פתחה. The opening to Gan Eden must be in Beit She'an. Why Beit She'an? Because בית שאן, Rashi says, has a lot of fruit trees that are very tasty, and must be, and we always say, a ta'am Gan Eden. Gan Eden has a very geshmake taste. So, if you have fruits that grow, and they grow with such a geshmake taste, must be the opening to Gan Eden is there so it gets from it. ואם בערביא, if it's in ערביא, בית גרם פתחה. The area of Beit Gram is is is place. Why? Because you have a lot of nice fruit there, geshmake fruit there. ואם בין הנהרות הוא, If it's in between the rivers, דומסקנין פתחה. דומסקנין. Why? Because I guess that also has fruit that grow which is something special. בבבל, In Bavel, so like this, there also have places where we have good fruits which might be the petach of Gan Eden. אביי משתבח בפירי דעבר ימינא. Abaye praised the fruit of the area called Ever Yamina, and רבא משתבח בפירי דהרפניא. He said the peirot in Harpania are the best. So, whichever place is the best, that's probably the place where you have the opening to Gan Eden. A גבורה כאן. And in the in the in the in the Pardes, that is it, the שער, it's right to me, and that is

Map to Gan Eden from Babylon to Ein Gedi

one of his in one of his שאלות ותשובות, interestingly, an exact description of how you get to the door of Gan Eden in Bavel. A map, a map. He was in Bavel? Yeah, but he gives you a map. Okay. Literally, and he named In Eretz Yisrael, in Ein Gedi, there's in one place there's a sign that here Here is the פתח לגן עדן. Huh? The פתח לגן עדן. Up there, years ago, it says it. Who decided it? But there's always connection with gashmiyut. I know, but there's some There is גן עדן העליון, גן עדן התחתון. So pashut pshat means גן עדן העליון is למעלה, גן עדן התחתון means in gashmiyut, in Olam Hazeh. When Adam Harishon was in Gan Eden, where was he? In the Gan Eden down here. In Chassidus, we learn that even גן עדן התחתון, תחתון זה עולם היצירה, גן עדן העליון זה עולם הבריאה. But there is some inyanim connected to Gan Eden down here, something, because in Chumash it describes where Gan Eden is. By the Euphrates, by this, by the שם it goes נהר יוצא מעדן להשקות את הגן, and so and that's all that area. Whatever it should mean, these are things which is סתרי תורה, רזי, סתרי סתרים של תורה גנוזים בו. This is the hidden secrets of the Torah. זאגט די Gemara ווייטער, אמר רב חסדא, Rav Chisda said, דריש מרי בר מר, מרי בר מר דרש, מאי דכתיב, what's the pshat in the pasuk where it says, לכל תכלה ראיתי קץ, for everything that has a limit I there's always an end, but רחבה מצותך מאד. Mitzvot are very

The Unexplained Breadth of Mitzvot in Scripture

wide. It's very wide. Now, how wide? So דבר זה אמר דוד ולא פירשו. David said רחבה מצותך, he didn't explain how wide. אמריה איוב, Iyov said in a different lashon, he also said a פסוק, ולא פירשו, he didn't explain how wide. אמריה יחזקאל, Yechezkel ולא פירשו, he didn't explain it. עד שבא זכריה בן עדו, זכריה בן עדו came, ופירשו, he explained it. And he brings the pesukim. אמריה דוד ולא פירשו, David said and didn't explain. Which pasuk? This pasuk. דכתיב, לכל תכלה ראיתי קץ, everything has an end, רחבה מצותך מאד, your mitzvot are very wide, and he didn't explain. אמריה איוב ולא פירשו, איוב said and didn't explain, דכתיב, ארוכה מארץ מדה ורחבה מני ים. The the Torah is bigger than ארץ and wider than the ים. How much wider? What's wider? We don't know. אמריה יחזקאל ולא פירשו, יחזקאל said and didn't explain it. כתיב it says, ויפרוש אותה, יחזקאל saw the the the megillah and it was spread out, והיא כתובה פנים ואחור. It was written front and back. וכתוב אליה קינים והגה והי. And there it was written these three things: קינים and and והגה and והי.

Understanding קינים, הגה, and הי – Punishments and Rewards

What are they? קינים, אלו פורעניות של צדיקים בעולם הזה. קינים, he saw what kind of punishment the צדיקים will get in this world, because the Eibershter punishes them for the little bit in order for them to be cure pure in olam haba. Not with a קוף. Like rooms, like it says קנים תעשה את התיבה. Lamentations. And קינים also from לשון קינה, but yeah, also קינה, yeah. And and הגה is also and הי is also לשון crying. כן הוא אומר, it says, קינה היא וקוננוה. It says this קינה and they will cry for it. והגה, זה מתן שכרם של צדיקים לעתיד לבא. הגה, what is the שכר will they will get. כן הוא אומר, like it says, עלי עשור ועלי נבל עלי הגיון בכנור. It's all musical things. והי, זו פורענותם של רשעים לעתיד לבא. That's the punishment of the רשעים לעתיד לבא. כן הוא אומר, it says, הוה על הוה תבוא, and so on. That goes on on the רשעים. So lemaaseh, he is mentioning here that he saw the מתן שכרם של צדיקים, and he saw, no, he saw the the the מגילה כתובה פנים ואחור, and it doesn't say how big it was. And this all these things, and it's also refers to the Torah, and he didn't see how wide it was, how big it was. Didn't didn't show, didn't say.

Zechariah ben Ado’s Vision of the Megillah Dimensions

עד שבא זכריה בן עדו ופירש, and Zechariah explained it. דכתיב, it says, this has to be a חשבון here. ויאמר אלי, he said to me, מה אתה רואה? The malach says to him, what do you see? Zechariah was in the last nevi'im. ואומר, and I said, אני רואה מגילה עפה. I see a megillah, a a a a, huh? Folded. Flying. No, but afah is flying, which also the meaning of of double. But megillah is a is a parchment, a a document. ארכה, it was long, עשרים באמה, ורחבה עשר באמה, long 20 amah, wide 10 amah. Now, afah means folded also. So if you unfold it, וכי פשטת לה, so if you open it up, הויא לה עשרין בעשרין. So it's 20 by 20. Like it's 20 by 10, and now it becomes 20 by 20. Katav, and it says by Yechezkel on the same thing, כתובה פנים ואחור. It's open, it's written front and back. וכי קלפת לה, כמה הויא? So when you take, when you have written front and back and you split it in half and you make it all into one long thing, it'll be ארבעין בעשרין, it'll be 20 by 40. Vekatav, it says, מי מדד בשעלו מים? Now, how many 20 by 40 amah? 20 by 40, how much is it? It's if you go how many זרת it is. And it

Calculating the Megillah Size and the Z’rat Measurements

says, מי מדד בשעלו מים ושמים בזרת תכן. The shamayim is considered like a זרת, the earth is considered like a זרת, and this is 20 20 by 40 amah. How many זרתs is it? ונמצא כל העולם כולו אחד שלשת אלפים ומאתים בתורה. That's 300, no, 3,200 זרת in 20 by, in 40 by 20, whatever the cheshbon comes out. So, since the whole world is called a זרת, and the Torah is, כדנפקא לן מכל הני חשבונות, according to all these cheshbonot that comes out that this is 3,000 and 200 times the earth. So the universe. How many זרת in an amah? Rashi says, chatzi amah. Chatzi amah. הזרת חצי אמה, ובחצי אמה יש במגילה, תימצי שתמצא 3,200. כיצד? He makes a cheshbon. If you take 20 amot and you make them into רצועות of half an אמה into line, that's how they used to do math of old, into half an אמות, so you'll have 40 רצועות and each one is 40. Anyway it comes out that 1,600 אמות, which is 3,200 זרת. 1,600 אמה is 3,200 זרת.

רוחניות: The Meaning of רחבה in the Torah

What's written there? That's רחבה. It means רוחניות. The Torah. Fine, obvious. How come they didn't mention heaven? They said גן עדן. What does it say? As it says, 3,200 times the size of the universe. Universe. It is pretty big. Whatever does it mean, I don't know. ש״י עולמות. ש״י עולמות is 310. 32 is a number.

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