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BEREISHIT

Why Leah Merited the Most Children

Why Leah Merited the Most Children

Part of Bereishit · 27:01

Covers etiquette around the Rebbe, the first melacha of plowing and sowing, a husband's obligation of marital intimacy, and why Leah's request earned her exceptional children.

Audio Transcript
Spitting Etiquette in Front of the Rebbe

Came up and then he spit in front of his פאַרבאָט. That's the Rebbe. What you should do is go away someplace else, swallow it, or the Gemara even says spit it into your into your coat, but not in front of the Rebbe. Okay, so go someplace else. In olden years into shuls, they used to have spittoons. What they call? Yeah, that's what they called. What is it called? Spittoons. Spittoons. In front of him when you went to the shul and you have to spit, there's a place everyone used to spit in. Yeah. Where? In shul you mean? Yeah. Otherwise, you can cover it up with your foot and walk. In front of your Rebbe now? Yeah, Reish Lakish. Yeah. אמר רמי בר אבא אמר רב אסי, Rami bar Abba says in the name of Rav Asi, אסור לאדם שיהלך על גבי עשבים בשבת. A person is not allowed to walk on grass on שבת. And the reason is because you might pull out the grass. And he quotes a pasuk, שנאמר, it says a pasuk, ואץ ברגלים חוטא. If you run or you go with your feet, you could sin. In other words, it's possible to do an aveirah with your feet. Where, what? The teitch is if you walk on grass on שבת and you will tear out the grass, you're not allowed to. So the Gemara asks, it's not so pashut. תניא חדא, one beraita says מותר לילך על גבי עשבים בשבת, you are allowed to walk on the grass on שבת. ותניא אידך, another beraita says asur. It's asur. So it's a contradiction: mutar or asur? So the Gemara has many, many terutzim. Okay,

Terutzim: Wet vs Dry Grass and Shoe Issues

one terutz is הא בלחים הא ביבשים. One is talking about wet, fresh, one is dried out. And the way Rashi explains, the לחים, this fresh ones, you're not allowed to because if you tear it out, you tore out something from the ground. Hold with that after we finish the whole thing, then you come with the she'eilot. A kushya on the first minute we learn, we'll see. I remember when I was a kid had a melamed, the kids used to always ask, so he said there's once a teacher who was teaching Gemara, and he started as a, אמר אביי, Abaye said, so a kid raises his hand. He says, \"What do you want to know? What did Abaye say?\" He said, \"Wait!\" We got to finish with it. So he said like this: בלחים, since it's fresh and you tear it out, means you tore it off the ground. ביבשים, if it's dry, since it's dried up, it's really not getting any nourishment from the ground anyway, so it's almost like it's torn off already. So even if you tear it off, no aveirah. So one's talking about לח, one יבש. איבעית אימא, another תירוץ, הא והא בלחים, they're both talking about fresh ones, כאן בימות החמה כאן בימות הגשמים. Summer time, it has like a certain, like it has a seed in it, and it's growing, and then when you tear it out, it's called your toles, you go to the ground. But winter time, when it's not growing, then it's not really called tearing out, okay? Ivaya eima, another תירוץ, הא והא בימות החמה, they're both talking about the winter, summer time I mean, v'lo kashya. הא דסיים מסאני הא דלא סיים מסאני. One is talking he's wearing shoes, one is without wearing shoes. Which wearing shoes is no problem, not going to tear out. If you're not wearing shoes, then you have the the the, it gets stuck between your toes, and when you walk, it'll get stuck and then it'll tear it out. So without shoes you're not allowed, with shoes you are allowed. Ivaya eima I could tell you both, הא והא דסיים מסאני, both are talking with shoes, v'lo kashya, no kushya. You can answer a different way: הא דאית ליה עוקצא הא דלית ליה עוקצא. One is talking the shoe has like little hooks, so it gets caught onto those hooks, and when you continue walking, it tears it. If it doesn't have any hooks, you will not tear out. Spikes. Spikes. Ivaya eima, I could tell you הא והא דאית ליה עוקצא, both are talking they have these little hooks, v'lo kashya. Yeah. And they both have, ולא קשיא, הא דאית ליה סרכא הא דלית ליה סרכא. Depends if it's long or not. If they're long piece grass, high grass, then you might tear it out. If it's very low grass, then you won't tear out. Then the Gemara says,

Unintentional Acts: Rabbi Shimon vs Rabbi Yehuda

והשתא, but now דקיימא לן כרבי שמעון, now that we pas kan like Rabbi Shimon, Rabbi Shimon holds davar she'eino mitkaven is mutar, and we pas kan there's a machloket if you do something that is mutar, you're intending to do something that is mutar, but through doing the something that you're mutar, something that's asur might happen. So the machloket is Rabbi Yehuda says it's still asur, chayav. Davar she'eino mitkaven chayav, and Rabbi Shimon says it's mutar. So since Well, it's mutar, even mutar. Davar she'eino mitkaven is mutar. Mutar. So if we pas kan like Rabbi Shimon, כולה שרי, it's all mutar in all the cases because unless it's a pesik reisha. Sometimes you know for sure you're going to tear out, then even Rabbi Shimon is modeh that if it's a pesik reisha, it means it has to do the melachah. Even though you are not intending for it, you're mechaven to do something that's mutar, and it will definitely cause something that's assur, then everyone agrees it's assur. L'mashal, the classical example the Gemara, a person wants to schlepp a chair from one room to the one end of the room to the other, and it's a sand floor, and when you schlepp it, it might make a חריץ, groove, which is assur as חורש. So if it's a small chair, which it might make, it might not make, so there we don't care, even if it makes. But if it's a big chair, which it will have to make, even if R'' Shimon says assur. So, obviously here we're talking in a case where it doesn't have to, and it takeh doesn't have to. Every time you walk on the grass, it have, even where it has to tear, it doesn't have to tear, it could get caught, it could tear. You're not planting inside your house. Inside your house you have sand floors, inside the house, it'll make a furrow. You're not plowing. Right, but why would why would you not be over on חורש? Because you're No, חריש. No, nothing to do with planting. Nothing to do with planting. But why why would you make a furrow otherwise? Any digging, water, any digging you dig in sand is דאורייתא, חריש. Even even to That's also, that goes into another category of מלאכה שאינה צריכה לגופה. I'm saying if you have a nice nice, smooth dirt floor in your house, you don't want to have all of a sudden grooves in it. Okay. No, אינו מתכוון. What you're saying is there is a shita, the Aruch, that even if it's a pesik reisha, but if it's a פסיק רישא דלא ניחא ליה, if it's going to happen for sure, but you don't want it, there's two shitos. One shita is even דלא איכפת ליה, not only you don't want it, you don't care. See, if you are happy with it, in other words, you don't not interested in it, but if it happens, it's a gleykhe zach, then it's assur, that's pesik reisha. If it's, we don't care, yeah yeah, not not, then there's a shita that then it's mutar, then there's a shita no, that's still assur. When is it mutar? If it's a פסיק רישא דלא ניחא ליה, if you davka don't want. And then there's another inyan, מלאכה שאינה צריכה לגופה, that here it's not doing it for the purpose of the מלאכה, that's a different story. And הכא נמי, that goes into another machloket, it's also R'' Shimon and R'' Yehuda. Why didn't the Gemara answer then הא רבי יהודה הא רבי שמעון? Huh? Why didn't they answer, well they have to be... איבעית אימא הא רבי יהודה הא רבי שמעון? We only try to make a machloket when we have to. If we have no other teirutz, then we say oh, mistama they are arguing. But if we're able to give a teirutz, we don't have to say they're arguing. Ah, these things are That's why usually the Gemara does, a lot of times the Gemara answers it's a machloket, but we try not to. Now

The First Melacha: Understanding חורש and זריע

חרישה חרישה, melachah, the first melachah actually. The first one of the ל״ט melachot. The Mishnah in כלל גדול says that the ל״ט, ארבעים חסר אחת, החורש והזורע. It's a pele the חורש before זורע. Why is it a pele? That's how you do first, no? Yeah, the Gemara But the Gemara asks. How How else do you There's two חרישות. After you After you you plant, after you put in the seeds, you turn over the the Oh, so it's talking about the second חרישה. No, so the Gemara says it's talking about the first, ארעא דפסקוקי מפסקה the Gemara says it goes כסדר. קוצר קוצר, קוצר is certainly after חורש. But זרע, we're talking about זרע before that, חורש והזורע. That's a גזירת הכתוב? Huh? A גזירת הכתוב. It's a halachah, but it's interesting. I mean, walking on this, walking like that, walking in shoes, watches. You're also doing zeri'ah. How are you doing zeri'ah? Well, if you step on the the grass has seeds in it, if you step on it you put into the soil. You're not, okay, and then the seeds fall into the ground, but no, by knocking putting it on the floor then it goes back up, it doesn't seed. But listen, if there is a question of zeri'ah also, then it's also it's also zeri'ah. That was that was possibly a closer mashal. Here we're talking about the the way we're talking here is a melachah of קוצר, a melachah of tearing off something that's מחובר לקרקע. That's a different melachah. But whatever, this is this is just an example. Same thing, any melachah which has to happen, or even if not, אינו מתכוון according to ר' יהודה would be asur. You know, when I was a kid, there was a path through the grass grass. A shortcut for a path. And they said it was okay. We're saying now it's okay, too. Path? No, we said even not a path you're allowed to, we said, because we פסקן like ר' Shimon that since you're not intending to tear the grass out, it's mutar. Do you want that tested for Rabbi' Shimon? ואמר,

Forcing a Wife to Marital Duty: Halachic View

אמר רב חמא... רב אשי, אמר רב חמא אמר רב אסי, אסור לאדם שיכוף אשתו לדבר מצוה. You're not allowed to force your wife to the mitzvah means for תשמיש המטה, you're not allowed to force her. שנאמר it says, the remez from the פסוק, ואץ ברגלים חוטא. It's the same pasuk, but it's another taytsh. רגלים, the feet, is a remez for תשמיש המטה, and it says if you're אץ is means running and that, running, pressuring, חוטא, it's a chet. ואמר רבי יהושע בן לוי If someone make you to get... זה מצוה. בעל כרחה. Mitzvah, they call it דבר מצוה. Yeah. You understand the difference? Okay. You do? Okay. You better. You know it's better you do. ואמר רבי יהושע בן לוי, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, כל הכופה אשתו לדבר מצוה, if someone forces his wife to do this דבר מצוה, הויין לו בנים שאינם מהוגנים. The children will grow up, which can find in children, won't come out good children. אמר רב איקא בר חנינא, Rav Ika bar Chanina said, מאי קרא, where do we see this in the pasuk? The call pasuk says, גם בלא דעת נפש לא טוב. If you do it בלא דעת, בלא דעת not willing, not wanting, not שכל, it'll bring a נפש לא טוב, it'll bring a נפש that's no good. תניא נמי הכי, it says actually in the ברייתא, גם בלא דעת דעת נפש לא טוב, when it says in pasuk, this פסוק גם בלא דעת נפש לא טוב, זה הכופה אשתו לדבר מצוה, that if you force לדבר מצוה. The end of the pasuk is ואץ ברגלים חוטא. If you pressure with רגלים, the feet, is חוטא. זה goes on something else, הבועל ושונה, that's if you do ביאה and you do it again. If you do you have tashmish and then you have again. Fregt the גמרא, איני? What's wrong with that? והאמר רבא, didn't Rava say the opposite? הרוצה לעשות כל בניו זכרים, if you want to have children boys, יבעול וישנה, should do bi'ah and do again. And this is because it says like this: איש מזריע תחילה, if the זרע of the man comes first, then the child will be a נקבה. אשה מזרעת תחילה, then the child will be a זכר. So what you'd have to do is you have to get her to make her זרע come before yours. How are you going to do it? So first you're בועל, that is מעורר her to have this this this תאוה. If she has a תאוה, she now will have the זרע, and if she has the זרע then you'll be בועל again, now you're going to have a child as a Huh? Yeah, but lav davka you're going to have a child from the first ראיה. Talking about a child, yeah. But here we see that it's a good thing to have bi'ah and have bi'ah again. So the Gemara says לא קשיא, כאן לדעת כאן שלא לדעת. What do you mean? If you she's if she's מסכים, לדעת, then it's good, so then it's a ma'alah because of this inyan of זכרים. But if שלא לדעת, that's when we have a problem. Yeah, this is another part. So if you do שלא לדעת a second time, you're עובר on two things. You're עובר on on on the בלא דעת נפש לא טוב and you're עובר on ואץ ברגלים חוטא. It's like another חטא, פשע, חטא על פשע. The cherry on top. Huh? Okay.

Leah’s Request and the Great Children of Yissachar

אמר רב שמואל בר נחמני אמר רבי יונתן, רב שמואל בר נחמני said in the name of רבי יונתן, כל אשה שתובעת בעלה לדבר מצוה, anybody, any woman who asks her husband, requests to have לדבר מצוה, to have תשמיש, הווין לה בנים, have such great children שאפילו בדורו של משה לא היו כמותם, even Moshe Rabbeinu's generation not. Don't let's not stop here because the Gemara says it's not true, but this is the first part of the Gemara, that you have such great children. Why? Where do we see greatness in the dor of Moshe? דאילו בדורו של משה כתיב בהם, משה רבינו'ס generation it says הבו לכם, he says that he was told bring to make dayanim, bring אנשים חכמים נבונים וידועים לשבטיכם, should be אנשים, people who are חכמים and ידועים and נבונים and ידועים, which basically means Chabadnikes. No, it says clearly חכמים נבונים וידועים, חכמה בינה דעת, נו? So it says you should have, and it says וכתיב it says ואקח את ראשי שבטיכם, so בפועל he found אנשים חכמים וידועים, חכמה and daat. ואילו נבונים לא אשכח, he didn't find נבונים. So Moshe Rabbeinu's time to get נבונים wasn't, in another place it says something else, he didn't find שונאי בצע. Right. That's by Yitro, he didn't find those that hate money. And then the velt says that if they came to America, you could get everything, even שונאי בצע. Far gelt ken men krign altz. Far gelt ken men krign afilu שונאי בצע also, correct? הא? Far gelt, richtik? Haynt ken men erkrign. Nisht far a far dolar, ober men ken. Anyway, so Moshe Rabbeinu's time the people were not נבונים. Now if נבונים is a very important thing, Rashi in Chumash says נבונים, says by by by Betzalel, חכמה בינה, so בינה Rashi says ruach hakodesh. So we could see. Also another place Rashi says נבונים, oh in Devarim on this pasuk, נבונים is מבין דבר מתוך דבר. Someone he understands one thing from another. חכם is whatever you tell him, he's smart enough to understand everything. נבון is after he understands what you said, he could from that understand something else. He could, you know, he could expand it, expand on it. And that's al pi chassidut that's what chochmah binah is. Chochmah is the nekudah, the first thing, and binah is when you expand it, it's when you develop it. Anyway, ואילו גבי לאה כתיב, by Leah it says ותצא לאה לקראתו when she she gave the the דודאים to Rachel, and she said because of that he will be with me tonight. So when Yaakov came home, she came across to him, ותאמר אליו and she said אלי תבוא, tonight come to me, כי שכור שכרתיך, I rented you. So she actually b'feh said tonight you're going to be with me. What kind of children did she have? From that bi'ah was born Yissachar. כתיב it says ומבני יששכר יודעי בינה לעתים, from Yissachar came the יודעי בינה, those that know, and it says בינה, יודעי בינה לעתים. Pashut it means that they were able to do קידוש החודש, so they had בינה, לדעת מה יעשה ישראל, they would know what the Yidden have to do, ראשיהם מאתים, they had heads, 200 heads, וכל אחיהם על פיהם, and all the brothers on them. So here we see that because she asked for it b'feh, she had a child that had child which comes from there comes binah, while by Moshe Rabbeinu he couldn't find, so you see that that even greater than the children, time of Moshe Rabbeinu. We're talking about Yissachar, Yissachar. Right. Yeah, I know this. She had, she actually begged for it. She begged with the flowers. With the flowers. With the דודאים. She gave Rachel, so she bought it off, rented a way through Rachel. Right, she bought it. She rented it from Rachel. But it's still her husband, so it was Right, right, but it wasn't her night, and she rented that night. Yissachar. And she verbally, huh? Yissachar. That's why he called Yissachar, yeah. Yeah. Huh? She verbally said She verbally That's what the Gemara says, so, what that she verbally say it, it's great. But but the the the Yissachar is because of the renting, because of the reward that she got? It's part of the reward. You know, chutzpah. פרעגט די גמרא: איני? It's not true! והא

Eve’s Ten Curses Explained

אמר רב יצחק, and Rav Yitzchak said, עשר קללות נתקללה חוה, חוה was given 10 curses. שנאמר, it says after the חטא עץ הדעת, השם said to her like this: הרבה ארבה עצבונך והרונך, I will multiply multiply your sadness and your pregnancy. So, he taytsh(t) like this: הרבה ארבה, they are twice הרבה, אלו שתי טיפי דמים. Those are the curse of having two drops of blood, two types of blood. אחד דם נדה, ואחד דם בתולים. דם נדה, if not for the חטא it wouldn't be דם נדה. דם נדה, and this is דם בתולים, when it's the first ביאה she has דם בתולים. עצבונך, your sadness, זה צער גידול בנים, that's the tzaar of raising children, when she has to raise children. והרונך, your pregnancy, זה צער עיבור, that's the tzaar of pregnancy. בעצב תלדי בנים, it said with sadness you will give birth to... That's k'mashma'o, that's pashut. When you give birth it hurts, it's it's it's it's pain. Then it says, ואל אישך תשוקתך, and to your husband you will always have your desire, מלמד, it teaches us, שהאשה משתוקקת על בעלה בשעה שיוצא לדרך, it's a nature that when a man leaves home, goes on a trip, that's when she really has the תשוקה, the desire, לתשמיש. And that's and then she can't get it, so. Then it says, והוא ימשול בך, he's going to control you, מלמד, from here we know, שהאשה תובעת בלב, the woman who's תובע, she wants, she always keeps it in her heart, והאיש תובע בפה, and the man could say it with the mouth. וזו היא מדה יפה בנשים, it's a good middah by נשים. It's still a punishment, the mefarshim say. We're saying it's a punishment. Even though it's a good middah, it's a צניעותדיקע מדה, for the פועל, it's a punishment for her. But before we get to as the kashya answered, the Gemara asks so, we said before 10 things, הני שבע הויין! The final we only had seven here. So the Gemara says, כי אתא

Women’s Punishments and Praises: Hair Covering and More

רב דימי, רב דימי came, he said like this, another thing, עטופה כאבל, she always has to cover her hair. So, she's covered like an avel. An avel, nowadays not, an avel used to be עטיפת הראש, an אבל had to have his head covered. So, she's always covered her head. חבושה בבית האסורים, she's locked in jail. A woman shouldn't go outside. כל כבודה בת מלך פנימה, she should stay inside, so she's like locked in jail. ומנודה מכל אדם, and she's מנודה, like חרם, from everyone else. from everyone else. So the Gemara asks, מאי מנודה מכל אדם? What does it mean she's from everyone else? אילימא דאסירה ליחוד בהדי גברא, if we're saying she's פשוט not allowed to have יחוד with a man, דלאו בדידיה, if it's not her husband, איהו נמי אסור ביחוד בהדי אשה דלאו דידיה. A man also the same! That's a curse for a woman? A man is not allowed to have יחוד with a woman that's not his wife! אלא דאסירא לבי תרי. No, he meant פשוט she cannot marry two husbands. She is limited to one. And why? A woman could marry A man, I mean, could marry two wives. מתניתא תנא, in the Beraita we learned, a different three, מגדלת שער כלילית, A woman has long hair. A man cuts his hair, a woman has long hair, like Lilith. Lilith is a שד, and by שדים, she has long hair. ויושבת ומשתנת מים כבהמה, and when she has to go to the bathroom she sits down like a בהמה, ונעשית כר לבעלה, and she becomes a cushion to her husband, cuz she's under, so for the husband she's like a cushion. These are the three. So the Gemara asks, ואידך? How come the first ones who counted the other three didn't count these? What's wrong? Why isn't this considered to be a punishment? He said, הני שבחא הוא, these are this a shevach, this is a praise, farkert, the fact that she's יושבת ומשתנת מים, that she has to sit, that's not a punishment, that's farkert, that's tzniut, that's it's it's it's more covered. And the third thing, נעשית כר לבעלה, nisht geferlach,

Hair, Pillow Metaphor and Rashi’s Interpretation

Rashi says, כר לבעלה, הוא למעלה, ד... Nisht geferlach, שבחא לה, and מה כר, אין לה טורח כל כך. That's nothing. טורח מרובה, טורחים מרובים שלו. Okay, so she's the pillow, but he has a bigger torach in what he's doing than her, so it's not like it's a curse on her, the fact that It's nice, but it looks nice for a woman to have long hair. I said about the hair. Yeah, well, that's why שער באשה ערוה. Right. Cuz it's nice. But didn't answer the question of Leah. Oh, in a second. So, you didn't, so, obviously, it wasn't a question, it was showing that it's not what we said before. Sometimes איני is a קשיא, sometimes איני Not like that. But, another she'eilah here, what about Wait a second, what why why didn't they answer the first one? She has long hair, we said that. The second opinion was that she has long hair like Lilith, and she, the way she's משתנת כבהמה, and she's a כר, pillow. So the other two he said is a shevach. What about the first one? So Rashi says it's included, it's not and then in the first one, what was the three, the first opinion? That she has to cover her hair like an avel. That's connected to the same thing. She covers her hair like an avel because her, why does she have to cover her hair? So poshuter pshat you have to cover your hair because the hair is nice, and שיער באישה ערוה, you know. And this is פשט פארקערט, she wants to cover her hair which looks like Lilith, so she covers her hair so not to be, which Lilith? Just cut it. A shed, the devil, the women devil, the queen of all the devils. What were you saying? The kashya that I

Leah’s Reward and Underlying Reasons

want to ask on this sugya is that Leah לכאורה should know, she herself should know why, how she got her reward. So when she got the reward that Yissachar was born, she didn't say, she didn't say because I gave the דודאים, because I was I could say when Yaakov, instead of אלי תבוא, I gave the דודאים and I told him tonight, I hired you you have to come to me. She didn't say that. She said נתן אלוקים שכרי אשר נתתי שפחתי לאישי. She said the reason why I got Yissachar is because I gave away Zilpah to Yaakov, not because of this. So how could the Gemara dray it around and say since she bought him off and then when she went out she was tove'a? You're saying must be the maskana. You're saying must be the maskana, that takeh we see that that's not the reason. It's an open pasuk, it's right there, she said it: נתן אלוקים שכרי אשר נתתי שפחתי לאישי. But she said this also. She said She said this Yes, of course, she told Yaakov you got to come to me. But she didn't say that's why she got a berachah to get Yissachar. And the word Yissachar probably has to do with that too, in other words this is must be also a reason. But she didn't say that. Doesn't matter. She said the ikar reason is נתן אלוקים שכרי אשר נתתי שפחתי לאישי. We

Multiple Explanations Behind Names Reuven and Yissachar

find, it's not the only one, it's not the only one that we find that even though the Torah gives a reason, there must have been a reason before that. Why? By who do we see? By Reuven. No, that was a previous ikar reason. Oh! No, when did she when she said it then, ראו. The pasuk says why she called him Reuven: ראה ה' בעניי, ה' saw my suffering. Rashi says, why did you say Reuven? ראו מה בין בני לבין בן חמי, look at my son. So we see from here that sometimes the way the pasuk is put, that the pasuk says a certain lashon that Rashi takes it from, that there must be, besides what she said, there must be another reason before. The same thing here, when the Torah says שכור שכרתיך, and then it says she called him Yissachar, must be that שכור שכרתיך has to do with Yissachar also. M'meila that's why there's a connection. Yeah. That's, someone say, some say the pshat here. The reason that she gave is because I In Chumash by Reuven also, the reason she gave is ראה ה' בעניי, and Rashi said a different reason in her words, puts it in her words even though she didn't say it. In Chumash, I mean, she obviously did say it, but in Chumash, in Torah Shebichtav, it doesn't say it. So there sometimes we have an hechrech that there is another reason given before, and that's why the Torah doesn't say it. Yeah. So the Gemara went back.

Rabbi Chiya on Lessons from Animals

אמר רבי חייא, רבי חייא says, מאי דכתיב, what's the pshat it says מלפנו מבהמות ארץ? פנו לשון learning, יאלף. You learn out from בהמות ארץ, ומעוף השמים יחכמנו. And from the birds, you could also become smart. What does that mean? מלפנו מבהמות ארץ, we can learn from the בהמות of the land, זו פרידה, you learn from a פרידה. A פרידה is a female mule, שכרעה ומשתנת מים. That when she has to go make, she bends down. Different other, because then it's more tzniusdik, so you should learn from them. ומעוף השמים יחכמנו, we can learn from the birds Other animals don't? Ah, Rashi says, not, yeah, like a dog. Dogs don't do this? No. Standing, dog not at all? No, dog is Pick up their feet. Female dog, I don't know. Stam, I don't know. Stam this does it more, I don't know. That's what the Gemara says, that's what the Gemara says, I guess that's what it is. It doesn't say there is no other animal Right, right, but there's something as a maalah, I'm saying this must be more, because otherwise every animal doing it, wouldn't say זו, it would say זו בהמה that do it. But Rashi says there is something in פרידה. ומעוף השמים יחכמנו, זה תרנגול, chicken, שמפייס ואחר כך בועל. Before he has relations, he first is mefayes, first appeases her. The Gemara will say how.

Rabbi Yochanan on Moral Lessons from Creatures

אמר רבי יוחנן, רבי יוחנן said, אלמלא לא ניתנה תורה לישראל, if Torah wouldn't be given to the יידן, למדנו צניעות מחתול. We learn out to be have tzniut from a cat. Cat also, they, when they have their relations, they hidden, and when she makes, cat digs and covers it, so we learn tzniut. וגזל מנמלה, from an ant, we learn not to steal. The ants don't steal. Actually, when the Rabbi Rashab used to quote this Gemara, he used to say אלמלא לא ניתנה תורה לישראל חס ושלום. He used to add the word chas veshalom. If the Torah wouldn't be given to the יידן, חס ושלום. The Gemara says a lashon, the Torah wouldn't be given to the Yidden, we'd learn anyway this, so he would use that Gemara, he would say אלמלא לא ניתנה תורה לישראל חס ושלום. אלמלא לא ניתנה חס ושלום תורה. So ועריות, we would learn out עריות מיונה, not to have relations with others from a dove, cuz they only stick to their מין. And דרך ארץ מתרנגול, we'd learn the derech eretz, that doesn't mean derech eretz like this. They only stick to their what? To their מין. To their kind. Their kind. Who is it, a יונה? Yeah. To its mate, no? No, Rashi says, לבת זוגה, its partner, yeah, not just למינה, that's what Rashi says, למינה, בת זוגה. And ועריות, we yeah, and דרך ארץ מתרנגול, שמפייס ואחר כך בועל. That's a question I asked you one time we were sitting right here. I asked, how could he how could the the the what's you call it the יונה go away, if the בת זוגה was still in the תיבה? I remember we talked about that here. Can't remember what we answered. Yeah, because it was better to have it was still worth to get the the the מתת from שמים, the Oibershter, the Oibershter, to get food not from the אדם. She came back with this with the with the leaf. I think that's what I answered you then. Even that kedai.

Rooster Courtship: Appeasing Then Mating

What does a תרנגול do? שמפייס ואחר כך בועל. First he appeases and then he's bo'el. מאי, מאי אמר לה? What does he say to the What does the תרנגול say to the תרנגולת? אמר רב יהודה אמר רב, הכי קאמר לה, he says, זגא דזבינא ליך, I'll buy you a coat, דמטיא ליך עד ארעא, all the way to the ground. Words to cuz it cuz before he does it, they say he spreads his his feathers. So it's as if he's saying to her, you know, he makes her feel good, you know, I promise you a present, I'll buy a coat that'll go all the way to the ground. ובתר הכי אמר לה, when he finishes, what does he say? לישתלף ליה כרבלא דהאי תרנגולא אי אית ליה ולא זבינא ליך. He says, sorry, I can't do it. I don't have any money to buy it. And and he the lashon he says is, my my my crown should fall off, like a curse on himself, if I would have the money not to buy it. The reason I'm not buying is cuz I don't have. That's what That's what he does. Why? Because the way the way the nature is, that's what it is, that afterwards he bends his head down, as if showing, you see, I I promised you, see, and this if I I would give this up if if I only had money I'd buy it. So he bluff her, tells her I'll buy you, and then, fine. Yeah, but he's mefayes her.

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