Welcome to the continuation and the conclusion of the series where we're discussing the reasoning behind the arguments between בית שמאי ובית הלל. We went through many, many different subjects where they have an argument, and we brought out the point that they argue whether we go after בכח and after בפועל. And this just shows the depth of the sages, of their understanding and of their wisdom, and how everything fits together like a puzzle, exactly like a puzzle. And with this, we're going to with this class, this is the seventh and we're going to conclude this series. Hopefully, God willing, אם ירצה השם, we're going to have other series maybe along the same line to show how the different arguments of different sages in the תלמוד also follow a certain thread of thought that they have within many of their arguments. And we will see the depth of all the sages, and we will see the depth of the תלמוד in general and the depth of the תורה. One more argument between בית שמאי ובית הלל I would like to bring in, which is an argument between them in tractate פרה. פרה is deals with the פרה אדומה. פרה אדומה means the red cow actually, known in English as the red heifer. And that refers to the special laws that came along with this red cow. And let me explain it. As I explained I think quite a few lessons ago, we have the concept of טומאה וטהרה, purity and impurity, spiritual purity and impurity. And there are ways how to get rid of the impurity and how to become pure again, clean again, spiritually clean if you became טמא through one of the ways that the Bible, the תורה describes טומאה. One of the main types of טומאה, of impurity a person could get, is if a person comes in contact with a dead body. To get rid of that טומאה is much harder than to get rid of the any other type of impurity, of טומאה. Most of the types of טומאה, to get rid of it and to become clean, spiritually clean, pure, pure again, you have to go to the מקוה, to the ritual bath, which also has all kinds of laws how to make it and when it's considered a כשר מקוה, and then you become טהור again, pure again. The exception is טומאת מת, that means if you became טמא by touching or coming in contact in the death of a dead body. There, in addition to going to the מקוה, there was something else had to be done. And that is being sprinkled with the ashes mixed with water, the ashes of the פרה אדומה. And פרה אדומה is one of the מצות, or actually the one מצוה which is called a חוקה. We know that in the תורה we have different categories of commandments. We have חוקים, עדות ומשפטים. Let me explain just in short. משפטים refers to those categ- those מצות which are in a category that makes sense. Actually, if the תורה wouldn't command us, we would understand on our own to keep those commandments, like don't steal, don't kill, or things like that. They are מצות, God commanded us to keep them, but they are called משפטים, they are logical מצות. Then you have מצות called עדות. עדות are those מצות that have a reason, but if the תורה would not command us to do it, we would not do it. For instance, keeping פסח, eating מצה on פסח, not eating חמץ, leavened bread on פסח. It makes sense, there's a reason for it, because the Jews were in Egypt and they left Egypt, and at that time they they couldn't make bread and they ate מצה, etc., etc. So to remember that, we eat מצה, we don't eat חמץ. Makes sense. But if the תורה wouldn't command us to do it, we wouldn't keep פסח. Same thing with שבת. שבת is logical. God created the world in s- six days, the seventh day He rested. He wants us to remember that, which instills within us the proper faith and belief in God that God created the world. So He gave us the מצוה of שבת. It makes sense. But if God would not command us in the תורה to keep שבת, we wouldn't keep it. Then there are מצות that make no sense. They just make no sense, there is no reason for it that we have, understand. There is no logical reason for it, and those are called חוקים. Between, and they're not too many like that, but there are quite a few. The one, the most and the the the one that makes the least sense is the מצוה of פרה אדומה. Now, what is that? Like I said, in order to become טהור from טומאת מת, from becoming טמא by in contact of a dead body, you have to sprinkle the ashes of a פרה אדומה, which means that they had to take a red cow, and there are many details in this law Oh, but a cow which was red, they had to slaughter it, שחט it, burn it together with other things, and the ashes would be kept in a special place, and if somebody became טמא through contact with a dead body, he would have to take some of the ashes, and mix it with water, and sprinkle it on the person on the third and the seventh day. And then the person could go to the ritual bath, to the מקוה, and he will become טהור. This is one of the days that the reasons why nowadays we don't have the laws of טומאה impurity, because we have no פרה אדומה, so there is no way we can get rid of it. But this is the law of פרה אדומה. And this is a חוקה. This makes no logical sense, but we don't care. If that's what God wants, that's what we do. There is a law that if you drink from the water that was prepared to mix with the ashes, though that water cannot be used. You got to use different water. It's פסול. פסול means it's invalid, you can't use it anymore. Here we have a משנה, החושב על מי חטאת לשתות. If someone thought, had in mind on the water to drink, had in mind to drink though that water of מי חטאת, רבי אליעזר אומר פסול. רבי אליעזר says it's not valid anymore. If you remember from a previous class, רבי אליעזר was from the תלמידים, from the students of שמאי. He was from בית שמאי. He was from the school of שמאי. And he says that this already makes it פסול. רבי יהושע אומר, כשיהטה. רבי יהושע says no, you got to do something. You got to actually take it to drink. Even though you didn't actually drink it, but if you bend it already, you got ready, you did something, you did an act which is the beginning of drinking, then already it becomes פסול, you can't use it. But if you just thought, or according to some opinion you said you're going to do it, it's not enough, and it doesn't count, and the water is still כשר, so to speak. So here we have a מח, an argument between a student of שמאי and a student of הלל. The student of שמאי says thinking about the מי חטאת, about this water for the פרה אדומה, to drink it is already enough to make it פסול, even though actually he didn't drink it. You actually didn't do anything, you just thought about it. But the other one says that you have to do something in order to make it פסול, which is you have to at least pick it up and turn it and get ready to use it, that's already the beginning of the actual drinking. This is all based on what we said before, that בית שמאי follows בכח, and therefore the מחשבה, the thought, is already the potential of what you're going to do, obviously, when you do something, it's because you thought first to do it, and that's when you do it. So the thought is the potential of the act, so when you thought to drink from it, you thought to pick it up and drink from it, so then already it's considered as if you drank for it, because that's what counts, the potential counts. And the other one who's from the תלמידים of בית הלל says no, you got to do some actual act in order to be considered that you drank from it and it's פסול, and that's why it's only when you bend it. Now, again this is another one which is not a 100%, because according to some opinions there are some details here which indicate that there are other factors that play a role here, not to get into it at this moment. But generally speaking, it we do see here the way they go with their direction, that the one that's from בית שמאי says that thinking, which is the potential, is enough to be considered it happened, because potential counts, בכח counts, and according to the other one who is from הלל holds that you have to have בפועל. So this is a another example that we have. Then we have another example which is more general, and that's in Talmud, tractate עירובין. There we have an argument between בית שמאי and בית הלל, on דף י״ג עמוד ב׳, which is the 13th page, the second side. And here it says clearly, תנו רבנן, the we were taught, says even more than just an argument, שתי שנים ומחצה נחלקו בית שמאי ובית הלל. Two and a half years they were arguing over this. הללו אומרים: נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא, Some say, better is for a person that wasn't created, and this is the opinion of בית שמאי, משנברא, better than he was created. והללו אומרים: נוח לו לאדם שנברא יותר משלא נברא. It's better, easier for a person that he was created than he would not have been created. This is a very strange argument. Who created us? God. What do you mean it's better that we wouldn't be created? If it would be better we wouldn't be created, then God wouldn't create us. God wouldn't do something that's no good. Obviously, this is what's supposed to happen. So how can there be an opinion, how could בית שמאי say נוח לו לאדם שלא נברא יותר משנברא. It would be better for the person if he wouldn't be created. Well obviously, this is not so simple. For sure this is the right thing. If God made it, this is what's supposed to happen. The question is, is it נוח לו לאדם? The wording are here is נוח לו לאדם. What's better for the person? It's for sure that for the fulfillment of God's will, it definitely is the right better that he's created. The proof is, proof is in the pudding, as we say, God created us, so obviously it's better for us to be created. The question is, is this something that's better for the person too, or is just because that's what God wants and it's, so to speak, better for Him, and therefore it's the right thing, but as far as the person is concerned, that's not necessarily better? When we speak here about a person being created, what did mean what did what does it mean created? We know that every Jew has a נשמה, a holy soul, and the soul came down into the body. And the discussion is, is it better for the person that the soul came down to the body, he was made into a human being down here in this world, or would it been better that he would stay up there, the נשמה to stay up there? So בית שמאי says, for the person's sake, there is nothing that he gains down here. So then why is he here? Because that's God's will, and God has His way of doing things and that's what He wanted, but it's not because it's better for the person. Better for the person would he could have been just up there just as good. And בית הלל says no, נוח לו לאדם, it's better for the person! For the person himself it's better that he comes down here. Now when a person's נשמה, a איד's נשמה comes down to this world, obviously he comes down for a purpose. There is a mission that the person was given, the נשמה was given, that's why he's brought down into this world. And the mission is obviously to fulfill God's will, and that is by doing the commandments, keeping the מצות, and by doing that, you're fulfilling God's will, that's your mission. That's for sure. But before the נשמה comes down to this world, the נשמה has the potential of doing it. The נשמה has the power and the potential of doing it. If the נשמה wouldn't have the potential of doing it, he wouldn't be able to do it. So the fact that we are able to be down here in this world with all the hardships of fulfilling God's commandments, it's not so simple. It's hard, sometimes it's very hard, but nevertheless, this is our job and this is our mission, this is what we have to do, we have the potential to do it. When we're down here, we don't only have the potential, we have the בפועל, we actually do it. Now the question is, is it important for the benefit of the person that he should actually do it? So בית שמאי says we follow בכח. By us the כח is more important. So therefore, whether he actually does it or not doesn't make a difference. So then why does he actually have to do? Because God wants him to do it and that's God's will, so that's it. But as far as the person is concerned, because he has the potential, even if he wouldn't come down here and actually do it, he's just as good off. And בית הלל says no, בכח is not enough. And therefore, even for the נשמה himself, for the person himself, for his soul, the fact that he is able to do it potentially, no, that's not good enough. It has to come down down here בפועל, when you actually are doing it, and then you reach your שלמות, your your completion, that's when you reach your your what you're the level that you're supposed to reach. So here we see that this is not just an argument between בית שמאי and בית הלל in individual cases of different subjects. This is an argument in the general approach how we look at what the mission of a Jew is. According to בית שמאי, בכח, the potential is enough, and coming down into this world is not for the benefit of the person, it's not important for him because he has the potential before and that's just as good. And you know what? Maybe even better. בית שמאי says בכח is more important than בפועל, the potential is more important, so it's even better up there. And coming down here is because that's God's will, but not נוח לו לאדם, but it's not for the person's sake. And בית הלל says even for the person's sake, the potential is not enough. We have to have the בפועל. And בפועל is only down here. So it's even נוח לו לאדם, it's better for the person that השם sent the נשמה down here into this world and do the מצות and overcome all the hardships down here in this world, that's for the benefit of the person. So here we see how their approach is in not only in specific things, but even in the general approach. So here we come to the conclusion and here we see that the way בית שמאי and בית הלל look at things, whether individual things or general things, is based on בכח or בפועל, potential or actuality, and And we brought many, many, I don't even remember what the amount is, but many, many different places in different subjects, in different areas, in different parts of the גמרא and of the תלמוד, of different מחלוקות, and whether we look at it בכח or בפועל. And like I said before, this gives us an understanding of the depth of the תלמוד and of the sages of the תלמוד. And I have to tell you what we spoke about is not a drop in the bucket. It's not even a drop in the ocean. The תלמוד, the תורה is so deep and so wide, it's basically unlimited, infinite. And when you have a certain explanation which shows that everything has a meaning, and that all fits together like a puzzle in one thing, is just one out of billions of things that are there. And the more we learn, the more we learn, the deeper we could go, and the deeper we could go, and we could see more of the תלמוד. But I want to say another point here. We said the argument of בית שמאי and בית הלל is whether בכח or בפועל. בית שמאי says בכח, and בית הלל says בפועל. And I mentioned quite a few times before, the הלכה is like בית הלל, which means the decision of how to actually act is like בית הלל. They're both true. Like I said, they both had the כללים, they took the rules given by God, like I said in the first lesson, and they used their understanding how to apply it, which is what God wants. But then there is a rule: when it comes to the actual doing, what do we do? And according to those rules, the הלכה is like בית הלל. So when it comes to this, when we have a question of בכח or בפועל, the הלכה is with בפועל. And this is something that we all have to take to heart. There are many Jews who have the potential of being very observant, the potential of doing מצוות, and they have great feeling in their heart towards Judaism, and towards God, and towards all these holy special things, but they don't bring it out into actuality. It's still in their heart. That's not enough. We have the הלכה is it has to come down בפועל. We have to do it in actuality. And if you didn't do it in actuality, it doesn't count. It's major, it's very special if a person has a feeling in his heart towards God, very good. But he missed the point. The point is that you got to do it in פועל ממש, which means in actuality. They say this joke that why do so many Jews have heart attacks? Because all the Judaism is in their heart. Some Jews say, I'm a Jew at heart, that means in potential I am a Jew, but in actuality, you have to do actual מצוות. The Jewish religion is a religion of מעשה, of action, not only of thinking and feeling. And as a matter of fact, the action is more important than the thinking. Others think that to serve a God, you got to serve with your mind, with your heart, which we agree with that. You got to do your heart, with your heart, with the mind. But the main thing is to do the action. When you do the will of God, then you connect yourself to God. If you have feelings, but it's not doing what God said, then you're missing the connection. I just want to use this, I'll use an example. It's only a parable, a משל. There was once a person who met a new friend. He went someplace and he met a friend, and became friendly, and when he left, he said, \"You know, let's keep in touch.\" So the friend gives him his telephone number, and he says, \"Please be in contact with me, call me from time to time, so we'll talk.\" Fine, he writes down the number. A few weeks later, he says, \"Well, time for me to call my friend. A new friend, let's be in touch.\" He looks at the number, and he says, \"I'm going to dial this number.\" And then he says, \"I think, I think, for such a nice guy, there should have been a better number.\" And he says, \"I think that this should be 1 2 3 4 5, not 3 6 7, whatever.\" And he's going to dial that number. You know what's going to happen? Never get to him. You'll never get to your friend. You have to use the number he gave you. As much as you might think that the other number is better, but if that's not the number he gave you, that's not his number, you'll never reach him. Same thing here: God gave us the number. He gave us the מצוות, He gave us the commandments. And He said, \"I want you to do it בפועל. I want you actually to do it, because we פסקן like בית הלל.\" And if you don't, we have a fine number. It looks like it's a very good number, the number of your heart, all this, but it's not His number, and we'll not reach Him. So no one could say, \"I have my own way.\" When you talk to some people, they say, \"You know, I have my own way of communicating with God. I have, don't tell me what to do, don't tell me to put on תפילין, don't tell me to do other מצוות. I have my ways.\" The problem is that it's your ways. We don't need your ways, we need the ways of God. Especially that God is infinite, and we are finite, and it's impossible for a finite thing to connect to infinite, it's impossible. The only way it's possible if it comes from His side. He is infinite and He could do anything, He could raise us. On our own, as much as we'll try to raise ourselves to God, but because it comes from within us and we're limited, so whatever it is will never reach the unlimited. It's like someone will try to pick himself up by pulling himself by his ears, I'll go like that. You're picking yourself up from yourself. So you're doing something to get out of yourself, to get out of your limits, to go to to the unlimited by doing something from yourself, which is limited, you'll never get out. You got to do something that the unlimited says. He, who is unlimited, could pull you up, says, \"Do this and you'll be connected to Me.\" So from here we see, based on everything that we said and all understanding that says in פרקי אבות, which is the father of ethics of our fathers, which everyone knows about, says, \"המעשה הוא העיקר.\" The main thing is the action. And we can't say, \"Well, we have enough with the potential and the feeling and all these great things,\" which are very great if they come together with action. All these thoughts and all these potential feelings and all these things are like a zero. If the zero comes after the one, ooh, you know what it adds? From one, it becomes 10. Another zero comes 100 and 1,000, but the one has to be there. If you put the zero before the one, you can tack 100 zeros, it's all zero, it's nothing. If you have the feelings, potential, it's all it's nothing. But if you have the מצוה, then very good, you got to have the feelings and we got to do all this, but we got to remember the בפועל is which counts. And this is the lesson that we take, we learn all this and we have all these different explanations, the bottom line is the bottom line is המעשה הוא העיקר, the בפועל ממש, the action is what counts. And when we do the action, God sees that we're doing בפועל of what He wants, then we could turn around to say, \"You know, we're asking you too, do בפועל, do in actuality what we're asking,\" and that God will give us everything that we need, not just in potential, but in actuality, and the best and the greatest thing that He will give us is that He will bring in actuality משיח, who will come very, very soon, speedily in our days.