Jewish Audio on Chabad.org. Today's שיעור will be in מסכת בבא קמא דף צ״ב, and we will start from the beginning of the משנה towards the top of the עמוד. The משנה says, אף על פי שהוא נותן לו, even though he pays for the injury that he caused, אין נמחל לו עד שיבקש ממנו, he is not forgiven until he asks pardon from the person that he injured. שנאמר, as the פסוק says, ועתה, and now, השב אשת וגו׳, you should return the wife of the man. This is a פסוק in חומש concerning the story of אבימלך and אברהם. That when אברהם came with שרה to the country of אבימלך, and אבימלך asked, who is this woman? And he said, she is my sister. And אבימלך took her away, and that night, before he had the chance to do anything, השם revealed Himself to אבימלך in a dream, and He said to him that, how did you take this woman away? She is a married woman. And אבימלך answered, I didn't know because I was told she was only his sister. So השם said to אבימלך, and now return this wife of the man to the man, and he will pray for you, and you will be forgiven. So we see from here that השם wanted אבימלך to be the one to ask אברהם to pray for him. Because otherwise, השם Himself could have said to אברהם, now you pray for him, and you forgive him. And since השם said to אבימלך that you return the wife to the man and you see that he דאוונס for you, so that shows that a person is obligated to ask מחילה, to ask pardon from the one that he caused the harm. And it's not enough just to pay for the damage, as in this case where he just would have returned the wife of אברהם to אברהם, but he also was supposed to ask him to דאווען for him. So that shows that even after you pay, you still must ask for pardon. Then the

משנה continues, ומניין, and how do we know, שאם לא מחל לו, that if the person did not forgive him, שהוא אכזרי, but he is considered a cruel person? In other words, after the injured person asks for forgiveness, so the other person should forgive him, and if he doesn't, he is considered a cruel man, how do we know that? שנאמר, the פסוק says, ויתפלל אברהם אל האלקים, and אברהם דאווענט to השם, וירפא אלקים את אבימלך וגו׳, and השם cured אבימלך, and as the פסוק continues, his wife and his maids, וילדו, and they gave birth. So we see from here that if אברהם would not have forgiven him, and would have not have דאווענט for him, so then they wouldn't have been cured. So we see how cruel it is if a person doesn't forgive somebody else, because if he doesn't forgive, then that could cause that the other person should be sick. Then the משנה continues, האומר, if someone says to someone else, סמא עיני, blind my eye, קטע את ידי, knock off my hand, chop off my hand, שבר את רגלי, break my foot, and the person does it, חייב, he is still חייב to pay, and he can't claim, well, you told me to do it, because he still wasn't allowed to do it, and if he did it, he is obligated to pay. And this דין is even if he tells him על מנת לפטור. When the first man says to the second, blind my eye or chop off my hand or break my foot on condition that you will be פטור, still חייב, he is still obligated to pay. But if he says to him, קרע כסותי, tear my garment, שבר את כדי, break my jug, so then he is חייב. If he does it, he is obligated to pay. But if the

owner of these objects said to him, do it על מנת לפטור, on condition that you will be פטור, so then the דין is פטור. Because there is a difference between asking him to injure the body of the person or asking him to cause damage to the belongings of the person, and the גמרא will explain what is actually the difference. Then the משנה continues, if he says to him, עשה כן לאיש פלוני, do this to that man, in other words, ראובן would say to שמעון, do this to a third person, to לוי, על מנת לפטור, even if he says do it on condition that you will be פטור, in other words, I take responsibility that you will not be חייב, nevertheless, חייב, he is still חייב if he does it. And in this case it is בין בגופו, בין בממונו, whether he says do it to his body or he says do it to his belongings, he still is חייב. The difference between telling him to do it to the body or to the belongings, that in the case of the body he is חייב and in the case of the belongings he is פטור, as we said before, is only if he says do it to me. But if he says do it to somebody else, in all cases, he is חייב to pay. Now we

will learn the גמרא. תנו רבנן, the רבנן learned, כל אלו שאמרו, all these amounts of money that we said in the previous משנה, דמי בושתו, that's only the value of his embarrassment. And this refers to the previous משנה where it said that if you give someone a slap, you have to give him 200 זוז. If you do it with the back of your hand, you have to give him 400 זוז. If you pull his ear, or pull out his hair, or spit and the spit reaches him, or you take off his garment, or you uncover the head of a woman, you have to give 400 זוז. So all this is only payment for the בושת, payment for the embarrassment. אבל צערו, but regarding the hurt that came to the feelings of the person, אפילו הביא כל אילי נביות שבעולם, so even if he would bring all the rams of נביות in the world, which are good rams, אין נמחל לו, it wouldn't be forgiven to him עד שיבקש ממנו, until he would actually ask him to forgive him. שנאמר, as the פסוק says, השב אשת האיש, that השם said to אבימלך, return the wife of the man כי נביא הוא, because he is a prophet, ויתפלל בעדך, and he will דאווען for you. So we see here that השם wanted אבימלך to see that אברהם should דאווען for him. In other words, אבימלך should be the one to ask him for his forgiveness. So we see that when you hurt somebody, in addition to paying, you must ask for his forgiveness. And then the

גמרא just explains the פסוק. He said, return the wife of the man because he is a נביא, he is a prophet. So the גמרא asks, דאשת נביא בעי אהדורי, because he's the wife of a prophet, that's why he's supposed to return, אשת אחר לא בעי אהדורי, if she would have been the wife of someone else, not of a prophet, he wouldn't have to give back? So what did השם mean, return the wife of the man because the man is a prophet? The גמרא answers, אמר רב שמואל בר נחמני אמר רבי יונתן, Reb Shmuel bar Nachmeni said in the name of Reb Yonasan, that first השם said השב אשת האיש מכל מקום, return the wife of the man on all conditions, it makes no difference who he is, you must return her. Then השם continued and said ודקאמרת, that you said, first אבימלך had excused himself to השם and he said that הגוי גם צדיק תהרוג, when השם said to אבימלך, what did you do? You really deserve to be put to death. So אבימלך had answered השם that will you kill a צדיק together with somebody who deserves to die? Because it's not my fault. הלא הוא אמר לי אחותי היא, didn't he say to me that she is his sister? והיא גם היא אמרה אחי הוא, and she also said on אברהם he is my brother. So you can't blame me for doing it. So for that excuse, השם said to him, נביא הוא, he is a נביא, וכבר לימד, he already taught, through his actions and through his words he already taught the world that אחסנאי שבא לעיר, that if a guest comes to a city, על עסקי אכילה ושתיה שואלים אותו, do you ask him concerning eating and drinking, או על עסקי אשתו שואלים אותו, or do you ask him concerning his wife, whether אשתך היא, is she your wife, אחותך היא, is she your sister? You don't do that. And אברהם taught the world already how to act. And that's what he meant when he said that אברהם is a נביא. In other words, your excuse is no excuse. Since he is a נביא, he's such a great man that taught the world how to act, so you should have learned from him and known that you have no right to ask him whether it's his wife or his sister. So what kind of excuse do you have that it's not your fault because he said that she is his sister? You had no right to ask him about that to begin with, as he already have taught the world because he is a נביא. And the גמרא says מכאן, from here we know לבן נח, concerning a גוי, שנהרג, that he would get killed in a case שהיה לו ללמוד ולא למד, where he should have learned and didn't learn. If a גוי does something wrong, he doesn't keep one of the seven מצות that he is obligated to keep, and his excuse is that he didn't learn, but if it's a case where he could have learned, so then it's no excuse, and he would be punished even in the case where he didn't know, because where he should have known, so ignorance of the law is no excuse. As we see here that his excuse was that he thought she was his sister because אברהם said that she was his sister, and השם said that's no excuse, because you already should have learned that this is not the way to act, you don't ask somebody whether she is his sister or his wife. Then the גמרא continues to דרשן the פסוקים that the תורה says concerning אבימלך and אברהם. And the פסוק says there, after it says that השם cured אבימלך and his wife and his maids, וילדו, and they gave birth, so the פסוק says, why did השם have to cure, because they were sick. What was their sickness? But the פסוק says כי עצר עצר השם, that closed, closed השם, and the פסוק continues בעד כל רחם לבית אבימלך, all the wombs in the household of אבימלך. So the פסוק says here twice the word עצר, meaning he closed, he closed all the wombs. So אמר רבי אלעזר, Rebbe Elazar said, שתי עצירות הללו למה, why does the תורה have to mention two times closing? The answer is אחת, one is באיש, concerning a man, שכבת זרע, that השם closed up the man that he couldn't give out שכבת זרע, the semen. שתים, there were two closings באשה concerning a woman: שכבת זרע, the semen that went into her couldn't go out, ולידה, also birth, it was closed that she couldn't give birth. במתניתא תנא, but in the ברייתא we learned: שתים באיש, that in the man there were two closings: שכבת זרע, the זרע couldn't come, וקטנים, and he couldn't urinate; ושלשה באשה, and three closings in the woman: שכבת זרע, the זרע that came into her wouldn't come out, וקטנים, and the urination, and ולידה, and the giving of birth. רבינא אמר, רבינא says: שלש באיש, three closings in the man: שכבת זרע, the זרע wouldn't come, וקטנים, and to urinate, ופי טבעת, they couldn't give it out their waste; וארבע באשה, and four closings by a woman: שכבת זרע, the זרע wouldn't come out, ולידה, she couldn't give birth, וקטנים, and she couldn't urinate, ופי טבעת, she couldn't give out the waste that's supposed to come out. And when אברהם was מתפלל, davened for them, השם opened up all these closed things and then they were able to act normally again. Then the גמרא explains the words of the פסוק, בעד כל רחם, that השם closed up every womb, אמרו דבי רבי ינאי, so they said in the ישיבה of רבי ינאי, that it means every womb, אפילו תרנגולת של בית אבימלך, even the chicken of the house of אבימלך לא הטילה ביצתה, didn't give their eggs. אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי: מנא הא מילתא דאמרי רבנן, from where do we know this that the רבנן said, what is the source of this statement of the רבנן that כל המבקש רחמים על חבירו והוא צריך לאותו דבר, anybody who asks for mercy by השם for a friend and he himself, the one that's asking, also needs the same thing, הוא נענה תחלה, he will be answered first. That when he davens for his friend that השם should help him in a certain thing, if he is in need of the same thing, השם will answer him first. And the פשטות the reason is because he expresses his אהבת ישראל, that even though he needs it, nevertheless he cares about his friend more than about himself, so that itself is a reason that השם should help him first because of he is expression of the מצוה of אהבת ישראל. אמר ליה, so he said: Where do we know this from? דכתיב, it says: וה׳ שב את שבות איוב, that השם returned the returning of איוב, meaning השם changed the fortune of איוב, בהתפללו בעד רעהו, when he davened for his friend. So we see that when he davened for his friend, he got it first. And how do we know that it came to him first? Because it says וה׳ שב, שב is past tense, that He already had returned to him, in other words that it has already changed to him before השם listened to his תפלה to change the fortune of his friend. אמר ליה, so he said to him: את אמרת מהתם, you say that you know it from there, ואנא אמינא מהכא, I say that I know it from here, from a different פסוק. It says ויתפלל אברהם אל האלקים, that אברהם davened to השם, וירפא אלקים את אבימלך ואת אשתו ואמהותיו וגו׳, and השם cured אבימלך and his wife and his maids, etc., וכתיב, and right after it it says: וה׳ פקד את שרה כאשר אמר וגו׳, and השם remembered שרה as He said, and השם made שרה give birth to a son. So the פשוט פשט is כאשר אמר, as He said, as השם said, that השם had originally promised that שרה would have a son, so now השם remembered שרה and He did to her as He had said previously. But the גמרא here דרש'ס כאשר אמר אברהם על אבימלך, it means as אברהם said, not as השם said, but as אברהם said. As אברהם said concerning אבימלך, that's what happened to שרה. In other words, since אברהם davened for אבימלך that השם should open up the wombs of the family of אבימלך, so השם listened to him concerning אברהם himself, that השם opened שרה's womb and she gave birth to a child. אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי: מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, from where do we know this thing that people say: בהדי הוצא לקי כרבא, that together with the thorns, the cabbage is hurt. If you have thorns and cabbage growing together, so when you try to pull out the thorns to get rid of them, sometimes you get rid of some of the cabbage, too. In other words, that when the bad are hurt, so along with them sometimes the good are also hurt. אמר ליה, so he said to him: דכתיב, there's a פסוק that says: למה תריבו אלי כולכם פשעתם בי נאם ה׳. Why do you all argue with Me? You all sinned against Me, השם says. And when He said that, it seemed as if He was saying it to the נביא, too. So He included the נביא together with the people who sinned, or as the מהרש״א explains, that He didn't actually mean the נביא, but He included the good people together with the bad people. So we see that together with the bad, sometimes the good also suffer. אמר ליה, so he said To him, את אמרת מהתם, you say you know it from there, ואנא אמינא מהכא, I say I know it from an earlier פסוק, a פסוק in חומש. It says, עד אנה מאנתם לשמור מצותי ותורותי, that how long won't you want to listen to my מצות and my תורה? השם said this to משה and אהרן concerning the מן. When השם gave them the מן in the desert, he said that they shouldn't leave anything over for the next day, and there were a few bad people who did, so השם said to משה and אהרן, how long will it be that you don't want to listen and keep my מצות and my תורה? So it's as if he included משה and אהרן amongst those that didn't want to listen to השם. So here too we see that when things are done to the bad, the good sometimes are included also. Or as the מהרש"א says that it doesn't mean משה and אהרן, it means the צדיקים amongst the אידן, because only a few people were bad concerning the מן, and nevertheless השם said it in a very general way that all of you don't want to listen to me, including the צדיקים. So we see that the צדיקים sometimes are punished together with the רשעים. אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי, כתיב, the פסוק says, ומקצה אחיו לקח חמשה אנשים, that some of his brothers he took five people. This is when the brothers of יוסף came down to מצרים in the time of the hunger, so יעקב and his sons moved to מצרים. So יוסף took some of his brothers and brought them in front of פרעה to show them who his brothers are. So it says some of his brothers he took, only five people. מאן נינהו חמשה, which are the five that he took? אמר ליה, so he said to him, הכי אמר רבי יוחנן, this is what רבי יוחנן said, אותן שהוכפלו בשמות, those that were repeated in their names in the ברכה of משה. משה רבינו blessed all the שבטים as we find it in פרשת ברכה, so we find six שבטים that their names were repeated. And the reason they were repeated because they were the weakest of them all, and therefore he had to give them חיזוק, he had to strengthen them, so he mentioned their name twice. So those five that their names were repeated, meaning those five that were the weakest, those were the ones that יוסף brought in front of פרעה. And the reason why he דוקא took these is because if he would take the strong ones, he was afraid that פרעה would want to use them for officers in his own army being that they were so strong, so he took the weakest so פרעה shouldn't do that. And these five were דן, and זבולון, גד, אשר, and נפתלי. And the sixth one that was also mentioned twice in the ברכה of משה was יהודה. But יהודה definitely wasn't taken because he definitely wasn't from the weakest, as we all know that יהודה was from the strongest. So the גמרא asks, יהודה נמי יכפולי מיכפל, isn't יהודה's name also mentioned twice, but he definitely wasn't from the weakest? אמר ליה, so he said to him, למיליה הוא דיכפל, for his own reason, for his own thing his name was repeated. דאמר רבי שמואל בר נחמני אמר רבי יונתן, because רבי שמואל בר נחמני said in the name of רבי יונתן, מאי דכתיב, what is the meaning in the פסוק, and this is a פסוק in the ברכה of משה, when he said יחי ראובן ואל ימות, let ראובן live and not die, ויהי מתיו מספר, because his men will be few. And right after that it says, וזאת ליהודה, and this is for יהודה, and he continued with the ברכה for יהודה, so we see a connection between ראובן and יהודה, what did משה mean with that? So it is because כל אותן ארבעים שנה שהיו ישראל במדבר, all forty years that the אידן were in the desert, היו עצמותיו של יהודה מגולגלין בארון, so the bones of יהודה were mixed, were not connected in his coffin, because we know that when the אידן left מצרים, they took along the bones of all the twelve שבטים. Even though it's not mentioned clearly in the תורה, but the תורה does hint to it. It says in פרשת בשלח that before the אידן left from מצרים, משה took the bones of יוסף because יוסף had commanded and he said that when you leave מצרים, you should take my bones אתכם, with you. So we דרשן אתכם, with you meaning with your bones, that the bones of all the שבטים were taken. And the reason the תורה only mentions the bones of יוסף is to teach us the greatness of משה, that at the time when all the אידן were involved in taking the ביזה, in getting the money from the מצרים, משה was involved in a מצוה in taking out the bones of יוסף. But nevertheless we see that all the bones of all the שבטים were taken out of מצרים. So the bones of יהודה were taken out of מצרים too. But nevertheless the גמרא says that the bones were not in place. The skeleton of the bones of יהודה were all not fit in place, and the reason for that was because יהודה himself took upon himself נידוי, he put himself into חרם, into excommunication. Because when יעקב wanted them to go down to מצרים the second time, and they said they cannot go unless they take בנימין because the man, meaning יוסף, told them they shouldn't come back unless they bring בנימין, and יעקב was afraid to send בנימין, so יהודה said From both worlds, I will be excommunicated from both worlds, from this world and from the world to come. And even though the condition was fulfilled, he only said that if he will not bring him back, but he really did bring him back, but nevertheless, we know a rule that if a חכם, a צדיק, gives a קללה or if he causes נידוי and excommunication, even if it's on condition, it comes true. So here, too, even though he said that on condition and the condition was fulfilled, nevertheless, it came true. And therefore, since he said on himself that he should be excommunicated, so therefore, all the forty years that his bones were in the desert, they were not in place, עד שבא משה וביקש רחמים, till משה came and he asked השם for mercy. אמר לפניו, he said to Him, רבונו של עולם, Master of the world, מי גרם לראובן שיודה, who caused ראובן to admit for his sin? יהודה, it was יהודה. Because we find in the מדרש that after יהודה admitted for his sin, and this refers to the sin that he did with תמר, as the פסוק says that he said צדקה ממני, that she is right, she is

pregnant from me, so he publicly admitted to his sin, so when ראובן saw him do that, that's when ראובן admitted to his sin. And that refers to the sin that ראובן took out יעקב's bed from the tent of בלהה and put the bed into the tent of his mother לאה. So when he saw that יהודה admitted to his עבירה, so he also admitted his עבירה. And that is the connection between the two, that right after יחי ראובן ואל ימות it says וזאת ליהודה, because that's what משה רבינו was saying, that why did ראובן admit to his sin? Because וזאת ליהודה, because of יהודה. So this shows the great זכות of יהודה. So what he asked השם was שמע ה' קול יהודה, so השם, listen to the voice of יהודה. And what happened? עאל איבריה לשפיה. When that happened, when he said that, טאקע, all the limbs of the body, of the skeleton, came together. They all were put in their proper place. But תוספות asks a שאלה, that how can we say that who caused ראובן to do תשובה, יהודה, when we find in a different מדרש where it says and the פסוק וישב ראובן אל הבור, and this is the פסוק concerning יוסף, that when יוסף came to his brothers and they wanted to kill him, and ראובן said, "Let's not kill him, let's throw him in the pit," and they threw him in the pit, and later they sold him, but ראובן wasn't there when they sold him. So the תורה says ראובן returned to the בור and saw that יוסף wasn't there, so he was very upset, etc., as the תורה continues the story. Where did ראובן return from? Why wasn't he there? So the מדרש says that he returned משקו ומתעניתו, from his sack and from his fasting, meaning from his doing תשובה for the עבירה he did. And this story happened before the story of תמר. So how can the גמרא say that יהודה, when he admitted on his עבירה with תמר, that caused ראובן to do תשובה, when in this מדרש it says that ראובן did תשובה much before that? And תוספות says that the truth is that ראובן did תשובה before, but he did his תשובה privately. When did he admit publicly to his עבירה? After he saw יהודה admit publicly to his עבירה. And that's what משה רבינו said, that since יהודה caused ראובן to admit publicly to his עבירה, so that's a big זכות for יהודה. So why should this happen to יהודה? So he asked השם that השם should bring his bones back to their place, and that's what happened. The

גמרא continues, לא הווה קא מסקי ליה למתיבתא דרקיעא, but he still could not enter the ישיבה in Heaven. So he asked ואל עמו תביאנו, that השם should bring him to his nation. So השם took him into the ישיבה. But still, לא הווה ידע מאי קאמרי רבנן, he didn't know what the רבנן in the מתיבתא דרקיעא were talking about, ולא מישקל ומיטרח בהדי רבנן, and he wasn't able to have a discussion with the רבנן. So that's what משה asked, ידיו רב לו, that his hands be strong to him. So השם listened to him, and he was able to understand and able to discuss with the רבנן. But still, לא הווה סליק ליה שמעתא אליבא דהילכתא, he wasn't able to learn in such a way to come to a conclusion which would fit to the הלכה. So משה asked, ועזר מצריו תהיה, he should be a help from his enemies, meaning from those that argue with him, and he should come with the right conclusion. And השם accepted that, too. אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, where do we know this thing that people say, בתר עניא אזלא עניותא, that poverty follows a poor person, that after a poor person there is poverty? אמר ליה, so he said to him, דתנן, we learned this in the משנה, עשירים מביאים בכורים בקלתות של זהב ושל כסף. The מצוה of בכורים was that the first fruit that grew, you had to bring it to ירושלים. So the rich people, the משנה says, would bring their בכורים in baskets of gold and silver, ועניים, but the poor people would bring them בסלי נצרים של ערבה קלופה, in wicker baskets made out of the bark of a willow. And הסלים והביכורים נותנים לכהנים. The poor people would give away to the כהנים the baskets with the ביכורים. The rich people would take back their baskets, and the poor people would leave their baskets with the כהנים together with the ביכורים. So we see here that the rich people didn't have to give up that much, but the poor people had to give more than the rich. So that shows that when a person is poor, poverty comes along with him. אמר ליה, so he said to him, את אמרת מהתם, you say you know it from there, ואנא אמינא מהכא, I say I know it from here from a different פסוק. The פסוק says, וטמא טמא יקרא, that a מצורע, a person who has a נגע, and he's found to be טמא, he has to stay outside of the מחנה. And the פסוק says he has to scream, he has to constantly call out, טמא טמא. If people pass by, he has to say that he is טמא. So the פשוטע פשט is he has to say he is טמא so people should stay away from him. Nevertheless, we do see that in addition to the problem he has that he has a נגע, the תורה also says that he must publicly announce that he is טמא. So that shows that if a person has a problem, more problems come along with that.

אמר ליה רבא לרבא בר מרי, רבא said to רבא בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי רבנן, where do we take this that the רבנן said, השכם ואכול בקיץ מפני החמה, get up early, summertime, and eat an early breakfast because of the sun, ובחורף, in the winter, you should eat an early breakfast מפני הצינה, because of the cold. And also ואמרי אינשי, people say, שיתין רהוטי רהוט, 60 people could chase you, ולא מטו, and they won't catch up to you, לגברא דמצפרא כרך, to a person that eats early in the morning. That's how healthy it is to eat breakfast early that 60 people will chase you and won't catch you. And the reason we mention 60, not because there is any meaning in 60, but that's just the expression of 60. But תוספות brings that רבינו משולם said that the reason we mention 60 is because there are 60 days to each season. There are six seasons in the year, and each season is two months, which is about 60 days. That's why we mention 60. But whatever it is, his question was, from where do we know that it's so important to eat early in the morning? So he said, תא שמע, because the פסוק says, לא ירעבו ולא יצמאו, they won't be hungry and they won't be thirsty, ולא יכם שרב ושמש, and the heat and the sun will not hit them. So the way he דרש the פסוק was that if לא ירעבו ולא יצמאו, if you're not hungry and you're not thirsty, meaning if you eat early in the morning, so then you will be safe from שרב ושמש, from the heat. So that is a ראיה that it's important to eat early. אמר ליה, so he said to him, את אמרת מהתם, you say you learned it out from there, ואנא אמינא מהכא, I say I'll learn it out from here, from a different פסוק. The פסוק says, ועבדתם את ה' אלקיכם, you should serve השם your God, and the פסוק continues there, וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך, and He will bless your bread and your water, והסירותי מחלה מקרבך, and I will take away any sickness from amongst you. So he דרש the פסוק like this: that the first words of the פסוק where it says that you should serve השם your God, זו קריאת שמע ותפלה, that refers to saying שמע and to davening. When it says וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך, that He will bless your bread and your water, זו פת במלח, that refers to the bread with the salt, וקיתון של מים, and a pitcher of water that a person eats in the morning. ומכאן ואילך, and from then on, והסירותי מחלה מקרבך, I will take away any sickness from you. So here we see that when you eat the bread with salt and you drink the pitcher of water, if you do that early enough, so השם will take away the sickness. That shows that this is very healthy. ותניא, and we also learned that מחלה זו מרה. When it says השם will take away the מחלה from you, the sickness from you, that refers to the gall, that He will give you a healthy gall. ולמה נקרא שמה מחלה? Why is a gall called מחלה? משום ששמונים ושלשה חלאים יש בה, because 83 sicknesses can come as a result of the gall. And מחלה בגימטריא הכי הוי, the word מחלה is בגימטריא, the numerical value of the word is 83. מ is 40, ח is 8, ל is 30, ה is 5, so together it is 83. And that's what it says, that השם will take away the מחלה, He'll take away those possible sicknesses that come from the gall. How will He take it away? What could you do that it should not be there to be taken away? וכולם, and all these sicknesses, פת במלח שחרית, if you eat bread and salt in the morning, וקיתון של מים, and you drink a pitcher of water, מבטלן, it nullifies, it takes this away. So from here we see how important it is to eat in the morning. And the גמרא continues,

אמר ליה רבא לרבא בר מרי, רבא said to רבא בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי רבנן, where do we know this thing that the רבנן said, that חברך קרייך חמרא, if your friend calls you a donkey, אוכפא לגבך מוש, so put on a saddle, meaning that you should admit to him and you should not argue with him. אמר ליה, so he said to him, דכתיב, the פסוק says, it's a פסוק in פרשת לך לך, that when הגר ran away from שרה, and the מלאך saw her, so the תורה says, ויאמר, he said, the מלאך, the angel said to her, הגר שפחת שרי, הגר, the maid of שרי, אי מזה באת, where are you coming from, ואנה תלכי, and where are you going to? ותאמר, so she said, מפני שרי גברתי אנכי ברחת, because of שרי, my mistress, I am running away. So we see that when the מלאך said to her, you are the maid of שרי, so she accepted it, and went along with it, and she also mentioned that שרי was her mistress, even though she was trying to run away, she was trying to show that she is not her mistress, she wanted to give up the yoke of שרה, nevertheless, since the מלאך said to her, you are the maid of שרי, so she went along with it, and also said, שרי is my mistress. אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, where does this thing come from that the people say, גנותא דאית בך, if there's anything not so good with you, קדים אמרה, you say it first, right away when you talk to people, you bring out that גנות that you have in you? אמר ליה, so he said to him, דכתיב it says, ויאמר עבד אברהם אנכי. When אליעזר went to find a wife for יצחק, and he found רבקה, and then he went to רבקה's house, and he spoke to בתואל and לבן, so he started off by saying, I am the slave of אברהם. So he himself said what he is, even though it's not so nice to say that you're a slave, but he that's said it first, he started off that way.

אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, where does this come from that people say, דשפיל ואזיל בר אווזא, that even though a duck keeps its head down while it's walking, ועיניה מטייפא, but the eyes are always looking far, meaning to say, as רש''י explains, that a person should always keep his eyes looking far, meaning that whenever he has something to ask for, he should ask for it, whether it is concerning פרנסה that he has to make, or concerning collecting a debt, he shouldn't be ashamed, but he should ask for it. אמר ליה, so he said to him, דכתיב because the פסוק says, והטיב ה' לאדוני, and when ה' will do good to my master, וזכרת את אמתך, so you should remember your maid. This was אביגיל talking to דוד, that she was prophesying that her husband נבל would die, so when she spoke to דוד, she was מרמז, she hinted to him, that he should remember her beauty, and take her for a wife. So we see here that she wasn't ashamed, and she asked for what she wanted. אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, where does this come from, what people say, שיתין תכלי מטי לככא, 60 troubles come to a tooth, דקל חבריה שמע ולא אכל, when you hear the voice of your friend eating and you're not eating yourself. In other words, if you see something good happening to someone else, it causes the person pain, and he is jealous of the other person. אמר ליה, so he said to him, דכתיב the פסוק says, ולי אני עבדך, and to me, your servant. This was נתן הנביא speaking to דוד המלך, when אדוניהו made a party for a lot of people, and didn't invite certain people who were together with דוד, so נתן came to דוד and he told him, that me, your servant, ולצדוק הכהן, and to צדוק הכהן, ולבניהו בן יהוידע, and to בניהו the son of יהוידע, ולשלמה עבדך, and to שלמה your servant, לא קרא, he didn't call. So we see that they felt bad that other people were invited, and they weren't invited. אמר ליה, so he said to him, את אמרת מהתם, you say you know that from that פסוק, ואנא אמינא, I say מהכא, from this פסוק. The פסוק says, ויביאה יצחק האוהלה שרה אמו, that יצחק brought her into the tent of his mother שרה, meaning he married רבקה, ויקח את רבקה, and he took רבקה, ותהי לו לאשה, and she was to him a wife, ויאהבה, and he loved her, וינחם יצחק אחרי אמו, and יצחק was comforted after his mother, he found comfort in his wife after his mother did die. וכתיב בתריה, and right after that it says, ויוסף אברהם ויקח אשה ושמה קטורה, that אברהם added and he took a wife and her name was קטורה. So we see that the reason אברהם took a wife was because he saw יצחק take a wife. So we see that a person is jealous in someone else who has something that he doesn't have, and therefore he also took a wife, he should also have what יצחק had. Then the גמרא continues, אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, where does this come from what people say, חמרא למריה, טיבותא לשקיה, that even though the wine belongs to the master, nevertheless, the thanks is given to the butler. The wine belongs to the king, but when the butler brings the wine, he gets the thanks. אמר ליה, so he said to him, דכתיב there's a פסוק that says, וסמכת את ידך עליו, ה' said to משה, you should put your hand on him, meaning on יהושע, למען ישמעו כל עדת עדת בני ישראל, in order for all the יידן should hear. So השם told משה to put his hands on יהושע, וכתיב, it says, ויהושע בן נון מלא רוח חכמה, and יהושע בן נון was full of the spirit of חכמה, כי סמך משה את ידיו עליו, because משה put his hands on him, וישמעו אליו בני ישראל וגומר, and the יידן listened to him. So here we see that even though it was השם that told משה to do it, and it was השם that gave יהושע the spirit of חכמה, nevertheless, the תורה says that it was given through משה. So the thanks was given to משה, the credit was given to משה, even though it came from השם. So here we see that even if someone gives something to somebody else that's not his, he nevertheless gets the credit. That's the way רש״י learns the פשט here. תוספות learns the פשט that what the גמרא is saying here, that even though the wine belongs to the master, nevertheless, the credit is given to the butler because the butler gives בעין יפה. He gives really more than really he was expected to give. And the ראיה we have is from משה putting the hands on יהושע, because השם said to משה, you should put your hand on him, that means one hand. לפועל, משה put two hands on יהושע. So that shows that he, who was the one that was supposed to actually execute what השם said to him, he did it more than השם told him. So we see that you have to give thanks to the one that does it because he does it even more than he is told to do. אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, where do this come from that people say: כלבא בכפניה גללי מבלע, that a dog when he's hungry could even swallow his own waste, or another פשט, swallow stones. So he said דכתיב, because the פסוק says, נפש שבעה תבוס נופת ונפש רעבה כל מר מתוק, which means, the soul that is full will eat the honeycomb, and the soul that is hungry, so even something that is bitter will seem to him as sweet. אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, where did this come from that people say: מטייל ואזיל דיקלא בישא גבי קינא דשיחי, that means that a bad palm will usually make its way to a grove of trees that do not give fruit, which means that someone that's bad or something that's bad will find its way among something else that is bad. אמר ליה, so he said to him, דבר זה כתוב בתורה, this thing is written in the תורה, שנה בנביאים, repeated in the נביאים, ומשולש בכתובים, mentioned a third time in the כתובים, ותנן במתניתין, and we also learned it in the משנה, ותנינא בברייתא, and it's also learned in a ברייתא. כתוב בתורה, where is this written in the תורה? דכתיב, it says, וילך עשו אל ישמעאל, עשו went to ישמעאל. So we see that עשו, who was bad, found his place by ישמעאל, who was also bad. שנה בנביאים, it's repeated in נביאים, דכתיב, it says, ויתלקטו אל יפתח אנשים ריקים, that to יפתח gathered empty people, bad people, ויצאו עמו, and they went out with him. So we see that bad is connected to the bad. משולש בכתובים, it's mentioned a third time in כתובים, דכתיב, it says, כל עוף למינו ישכון, and every bird with its kind will rest, ובני אדם לדומה לו, and people to the similar ones. So we see that if a person is one way, he will get together with someone else who is the same way as him. תנן במתניתין, we learn this in a משנה, it's a משנה in כלים, it says: כל המחובר לטמא טמא, anything that's connected to טמא is טמא, כל המחובר לטהור טהור, anything that's connected to טהור is טהור. This refers to the דין of, for instance, a hook that is put into some into a כלי. There are certain כלי עץ, certain wooden כלים, wooden vessels, which are able to be מקבל טומאה, which are able to become טמא, and certain כלים are not able to become טמא. The difference is whether it is a פשוטי כלי עץ or not. If it is a simple כלי, a straight כלי that doesn't have any walls, it cannot accept anything in it, then it is not able to become טמא. But if it is a כלי that does have walls, it is a כלי לקבלה, it is a כלי which is able to receive things in it and hold things in it, so a כלי like that is מקבל טומאה, does accept טומאה. Now, if you have hooks that are hooked onto the כלים on which you would hang an animal to skin it, etc., so then the question would be whether the hook is מקבל טומאה or not. So it says, if it is hooked onto a כלי which is מקבל טומאה, then the hook is also מקבל טומאה. If it's hooked onto a כלי which is not מקבל טומאה, then the hook is also not מקבל טומאה. That is the rule, that whatever is connected to something which can become טמא also becomes טמא, whatever is connected to something that cannot become טמא also will not become טמא. So here we see that two things that are connected are usually similar, and that proves the point that if a person is bad, he will find himself amongst bad, cuz the connection of one to another is usually the same. ותנינא בברייתא, we also learned this in a ברייתא, it says, רבי אליעזר אומר, רבי אליעזר says, לא לחנם הלך הלך זרזיר אצל עורב אלא מפני שהוא מינו, that not for nothing did the starling go to the raven, but only because it's its kind. And this was concerning something else that he said, but the meantime we see from there that since it's its own kind, that's why it came to him. אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, from where do we know this that people say: קרי חברך ולא ענך, if you called your friend, you tried to give him rebuke, מוסר, and he didn't answer you, he didn't listen to you, so רמי גודא or דוחי גודא שדי ביה, throw a wall down on him. In other words, leave him alone, and now you are not responsible anymore for anything that happens to him. אמר ליה, so he said to him, where do I know this from? The פסוק says: יען טהרתיך ולא טהרת, because I tried to make you clean and you didn't let yourself become clean, מטומאתך, from your טומאה, לא תטהרי עוד, you will not become clean again. In other words, I cannot do anything more, now you go ahead on your own way. אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, from where do we know this that people say: בירא דשתית מיניה לא תשדי ביה קלא, that into a well that you drank from, you should not throw any clod. אמר ליה, so he said to him, I know this, דכתיב because the פסוק says: לא תתעב אדומי כי אחיך הוא, do not tease an אדומי because he is your brother, ולא תתעב מצרי, and do not tease a מצרי, an Egyptian, כי גר היית בארצו, because you were a stranger in his land. So even though they made you all kind of problems, they threw the children to the river, etc., nevertheless, since you were a

stranger in his land, you are, so to speak, like his guest, you drank from the well, meaning you lived there, so therefore you should not tease those people. So that teaches us that if you used something once, something helped you, don't embarrass it, don't do anything against it. אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, from where do we know this that people say: אי דלית דורא דלינא, if you will help me pick up my burden, I will pick it up, ואי לא, לא דלינא, if you will not help me, I will not pick it up. Meaning that it is a nature of a person that he will not take a risk of losing money unless someone else participates together with him. אמר ליה, so he said to him, דכתיב because the פסוק says: ויאמר אליה ברק, ברק said to her, אם תלכי עמי והלכתי, if you will go with me, I will go, ואם לא תלכי עמי לא אלך, if you will not go with me, I will not go. He said this to דבורה concerning the war that he wanted to go, so he said: if you will not go with me, I will not go. So here we see the idea that a person wouldn't take a risk unless someone else takes the risk together with him. אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, from where do we know this that people say:

כד הוינן זוטרי לגברי, when we were small, then we were considered by others as men, השתא דקשישנא לדרדקי, now that we got old, we're considered like children. אמר ליה, so he said to him, we know this because מעיקרא כתיב, first the תורה says: וה' הולך לפניהם יומם בעמוד ענן לנחותם הדרך, ה' went in front of them during the day with the עמוד ענן, with the pillar of clouds to show them the way, ולילה בעמוד אש להאיר להם, at night with the pillar of fire to light it up for them. This was in the beginning, as soon as they left מצרים, it says ה' Himself went in front of them. ולבסוף כתיב, and later on it says: הנה אנכי שולח מלאך לפניך, I am sending an angel in front of you, לשמרך בדרך, to guide you in the way. So here we see that in the beginning it says ה' did it, and later it says that the מלאך went. So that shows that in the beginning you could be considered bigger, and later on you're looked upon as smaller. אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי, רבא said to רבה בר מרי, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, from where do we know this that people say:

בתר מרי נכסי צבי משיך, that after a rich man, a person who has a lot of possessions, so fat goes, or chips are there. In other words, if you follow a rich person, you will also get some of it. אמר ליה, so he said to him, דכתיב the פסוק says: וגם ללוט ההולך את אברם היה צאן ובקר ואהלים, that also לוט who went along with אברם, also he had cattle and tents. And this this is in the תורה concerning אברם when he was in מצרים, and שרי was taken away by פרעה, and later on when she was freed, פרעה gave אברם a lot of possessions, and then it says that also to לוט who went with אברם, he also had all these different things. So we see that because he was together with אברם who became rich, he also got these things. Then the גמרא says, אמר רב חנן, רב חנן said: המוסר דין על חבירו, if someone revokes judgment in the heaven against his friend, he דאוונס to ה' that his friend should be punished, so הוא נענש תחילה, so he is punished first. שנאמר, as it says: ותאמר שרי אל אברם, that שרי said to אברם, חמסי עליך, that my wrong may be upon you, וכתיב and it says ויבא אברהם לספד לשרה ולבכתה, that אברהם came to mourn over שרה and to cry about her. So we see that she died first, so we see that she was punished because she wanted to revoke judgment against אברהם. But הני מילי, when is this said? דאית ליה דינא בארעא, that he is able to have a judgment down here in this world, in the court, in the בית דין של מטה. But if he is not able to, then it doesn't matter if you tried to revoke judgment against him in the heavenly court.

אמר רב יצחק, רב יצחק said, אוי לו לצועק יותר מן הנצעק, woe is to the one that screams more than the one that is being screamed against. That if someone screams to השם against somebody else, so it's worse for him than for the person that he screams against. תניא נמי הכי, we טאקע learned like that in a ברייתא: אחד הצעק ואחד הנצעק במשמע, that the one that screams and the one that is being screamed against, both are included. This refers to the פסוק in פרשת משפטים, קפיטל כ"ב, in beginning from פסוק כ"א, כ"ב, and כ"ג. There it says that you should not tease a widow or an orphan. And then the פסוק says, אם ענה תענה אותו, so if you will tease him, you will cause him discomfort, כי אם צעק יצעק אלי, he's going to scream to me, שמוע אשמע צעקתו, I will hear his screaming. And the פסוק says what will happen: וחרה אפי, my anger will be there, והרגתי אתכם בחרב, I will kill you with the sword, והיו נשיכם אלמנות, and your wives will be widows, ובניכם יתומים, and your children will be orphans. So from the פשוט פשט of the פסוק, it seems that this is going to happen to the one that is screamed against. So what he said was that אחד הצעק ואחד הנצעק במשמע, that the one that is screaming and the one that is being screamed against, they are both included in this curse. Because the פסוק says, והרגתי אתכם, I will kill you, plural, meaning both of you: the one that screams and the one that's being screamed against. אלא שממהרין לצועק יותר מן הנצעק, but that השם will punish first the one that is screaming, even before the one that is screamed against. And this fits, as we said before, that by שרה we see, since she wanted to revoke judgment against אברהם, she was punished first.

ואמר רב יצחק, also did רב יצחק say, לעולם, always, אל תהי קללת הדיוט קלה בעיניך, let not the curse of an ordinary person be easy in your eyes. Don't think that since he is not a special person, he's an ordinary person, his curse won't have any effect, don't think so. שהרי אבימלך קלל לשרה, because we see אבימלך cursed שרה, ונתקיים בזרעה, and it came true in the children of שרה. שנאמר, it says and that he said, הנה הוא לך כסות עינים, let this be to you a covering of the eyes. אמר לה, what he really said to her was, הואיל וכסית ממני, since you covered from me, ולא גילית לי שהוא אישך, and you didn't reveal that he is your husband, וגרמת אלי הצער הזה, and you caused all this suffering to me, so יהי רצון, let there be the will of השם, שיהא לך כסות עינים, that you should have covering of the eyes, meaning that you should become blind. ונתקיים בזרעה, and actually was fulfilled in her children, in the child of שרה. דכתיב, as it says, ויהי כי זקן יצחק, that when יצחק was old, ותכהין עיניו מראות, so his eyes became dark from seeing, that יצחק became blind. So we see that even though אבימלך was only an ordinary person, nevertheless, his curse came true. אמר רב אבהו, רב אבהו said, לעולם יהא אדם מן הנרדפים ולא מן הרודפים. A person should always be from those that are persecuted, and not from the persecutors. שאין לך נרדף בעופות יותר מתורים ובני יונה, because we don't find more persecuted amongst the birds other than the doves and the pigeons. והכשירן הכתוב לגבי מזבח, and yet, the תורה allowed only them that they are allowed to be brought as a קרבן to the מזבח. So we see the specialty of a נרדף. Concerning what we learned before, that שרה, because she said חמסי עליך, she revoked judgment in heaven against אברהם, she was punished. But לכאורה the גמרא says that this is only if you could have done it in the בית דין של מטה. But if you couldn't do it in the court down here in this world, then you're allowed to scream to השם. So then why was שרה punished? The תוספות says because in the time of שרה there was a בית דין של מטה. The בית דין of שם was in existence, so she could have gone to the בית דין, and instead of that she said חמסי עליך, that's why she was punished. Also concerning what רב יצחק said, that אוי לו לצועק יותר מן הנצעק, that if a person screams, he gets more, more punished than the one that screamed against. And we also learned in the ברייתא: אחד הצעק ואחד הנצעק במשמע, that when the תורה says that השם says וחרה אפי והרגתי אתכם, refers to both: to the צועק and to the נצעק, to the one that screams and to the one that's being screamed against. Not only that, but the one that screams will get punished first. And רש"י says that we learned that out from the story of שרה as the גמרא mentions earlier. So תוספות says that רבינו שמואל says That in ספרי, there it's written differently, there's a different גירסא. It doesn't say אחד הצועק ואחד הנצעק, one that screams and the one that's screamed against, but what it says is אחד הצועק ואחד שאינו צועק במשמע, that whether you are screamed against or you are not screamed against, you are nevertheless included. Because the תורה says that if you will tease an אלמנה or a יתום, השם says, He will scream to Me and I will listen to his screaming, and therefore I will get angry at you and kill you, is משמע that only if the יתום and אלמנה will scream against you, that's when השם will punish. But if he won't scream, you won't get punished. So, that's what we say, that אחד הצועק ואחד שאינו צועק במשמע, that whether he screams or not, you will nevertheless get punished. And the reason for that is very simple, because since you did something you weren't supposed to, so what difference does it make whether he screamed against you or not? Since you did what was wrong, השם will punish you nevertheless. And instead of saying at the end of the statement that השם will punish faster the one that screams, rather than the one that is being screamed against, as we had in our גירסא, but according to this גירסא, at the end the גמרא is supposed to say that אלא שממהרין לצעוק יותר משאינו צועק. But why does the תורה say that השם will punish you because he will scream? To tell us that if the one that's affected will scream, then השם will punish you faster, but if he doesn't scream, then השם will punish you, but not that fast. And according to this, we do not learn it out from שרה. The way we have our גירסא that it says that השם will punish the one that screams before the one that is being screamed against, so that is learned out from שרה, that since she said חמסי עליך, so therefore she was punished first, she died first. But according to the גירסא of רבינו שמואל, that all it's telling us is that if you're screamed against, השם will punish you faster than if you're not screamed against, then we don't learn it out from שרה, then we just learn it out from the פסוק where the פסוק says כי אם צעק יצעק אלי. Now it is

worthwhile to mention one thing concerning the whole גמרא here, the general attitude of this גמרא. The גמרא here mentions many, many things דאמרי אינשי that people say, and the גמרא asks מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, and where do we know this that the people say? This גמרא is a יסוד, a foundation, in the whole אמונה a ייד is supposed to have, because we know that everything that's in the world is because of the תורה and came as a result of the תורה. Not only was everything created because of the תורה, as we know that רש״י says, brings from מדרש in the beginning of חומש, בראשית, בשביל ישראל ובשביל התורה, that the whole world was created because of the יידן and because of the תורה, but more than that, the world was created through the תורה. As it says in מדרש, that the תורה served as דיפתראות ופנקסאות, as blueprints to השם to create the world. So, it comes out that the source of creation is the תורה. And therefore, there can be nothing in the world that doesn't have a source in the תורה. And that's what the גמרא means to ask here, that מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, that since there are sayings of people, which is part of the nature of the world, it must have a source in תורה. And that's his question, מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי, where do we know this? What is the source in תורה for these statements that the people make? And this also teaches us that whatever is in the world, whatever is in creation, must have a connection to תורה, since it comes from תורה. Even though sometimes we do not see how everything comes from תורה, but the fact is that since the תורה were the blueprints to the creation, so everything in creation comes from תורה, so therefore, whatever happens in the world must have a connection to the תורה. Sometimes we see it openly and sometimes we have to look hard, but one thing is for sure that everything is for the sake of the תורה. And therefore, the בעל שם טוב said that whatever a ייד sees or hears in the world, he must use as a lesson in his service of השם, because it can't be that this happened in the world and it should not have a connection to the תורה, to serving השם. And since he saw it happen, so obviously this was shown to him also in connection to his service of השם. And therefore, he must utilize anything that's there in the world that should help him in his service of השם. And if a person really wants, he's always able to see how any happening that comes to his attention is really to help him serve השם. As the famous story, that after the בעל שם טוב gave this statement, one of his famous תלמידים, the תולדות יעקב יוסף, went home and he was thinking about it a lot. And during the time when he was thinking about it, it was in the middle of the winter, he happened to walk outside in the street and he happened to meet up with a parade of גוים during their חגאות, the גויישע holidays. Since it was in the middle of the winter, they had a custom that they used to make a parade in his city on that day. The parade would go till the river, and since the river was frozen, they would chop out out a cross out of the ice of the river, and they would walk holding that frozen cross and go through the streets of the city. So when the תולדות went out of his house, he happened to meet up with this parade, saw them holding the cross that's made of ice. Since he had just learned that anything that happens to you, anything that you see happen in the world, is a lesson in your service of השם, so he started thinking what kind of lesson can he take from what he just had seen now. What kind of lesson is there possible to take from seeing גוים carrying a cross chopped out of the ice? And he couldn't figure it out. So he went away to the בעל שם טוב and he asked the בעל שם טוב, what does this mean to him? So the בעל שם טוב says, this is also a lesson to you. This is to show you how a איד is supposed to be warm in his service of השם. He's not allowed to let himself cool off, because if you get cold and you freeze, you could even get turned into a cross, into a צלם. So this shows how important it is constantly to keep the ווארעמקייט, the warmth in אידישקייט. But the reason why he looked upon it as a lesson to him, because he knows that this is part of creation, this is part of nature, and since everything comes from תורה and everything is for the sake of תורה, obviously this is also for the sake of תורה, for the sake of his service of השם. And that's why he went to the בעל שם טוב to find out what it meant to him, and the בעל שם טוב told him that it meant to show him that you always have to be warm in אידישקייט, not to let yourself get cold and freeze, because then you could even turn into an עבודה זרה. And the same applies to anything that happens in the world, that as far as a איד is concerned, it is only to teach him and give him a lesson in how to serve השם better.