Jewish audio on Chabad.org. Today's שיעור will be in מסכת קידושין דף מ עמוד א, eight שורות, eight lines from the top of the עמוד by the two dots. And we're still here in the middle of the סוגיא of the מצות that a father is supposed to do to his son. And one of the מצות we said was that a father is obligated to teach his son תורה. So the גמרא asks, עד היכא חייב אדם ללמד את בנו תורה? How far, how much is a father supposed to teach his son תורה? אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואל, so רב יהודה said in the name of שמואל, כגון זבולון בן דן, just like זבולון בן דן. There was a person in the time of the גמרא who was called זבולון בן דן. So they gave an example of זבולון בן דן שלימדו אבי אביו מקרא, משנה, ותלמוד, הלכות, ואגדות, that his grandfather taught him מקרא, which is חומש, משנה, משניות, תלמוד, which is the explanation of the משניות, the גמרא, and he taught him הלכות, and אגדות, which is the מוסר and the אגדתא of the ענינים of learning. So from here we see that the obligation to teach תורה includes מקרא, משנה, תלמוד, הלכות, ואגדות. But the גמרא asks, מיתיבי, I will ask you a קשיא. We

learned in a ברייתא, לימדו מקרא, when the father teaches his son מקרא, אין מלמדו משנה, you don't have to teach him anymore משנה. In other words, all you have to teach is מקרא and not משנה. So how could you say that we learned from זבולון בן דן that there is an obligation that the father to teach his son מקרא, משנה, תלמוד, הלכות, ואגדות when we know that all he is supposed to teach him is only מקרא? ואמר רבא, and רבא said, מקרא זו תורה, that מקרא means תורה, so all you have to teach him are the five חומשים of תורה. And before we said that he has to teach him מקרא, משנה, תלמוד, הלכות, ואגדות. The גמרא says that when we brought the ראיה from זבולון בן דן, what we meant was כזבולון בן דן ולא כזבולון בן דן, a little bit like זבולון בן דן, but not in everything is it like זבולון בן דן. כזבולון בן דן שלימדו אבי אביו, we have to learn from זבולון בן דן that a grandfather should teach his grandson תורה. But ולא כזבולון בן דן, but not like זבולון בן דן, דאילו התם, because the case of זבולון בן דן, he taught him מקרא, משנה, ותלמוד, הלכות, ואגדות. ואילו הכא, but here, but in the case of the חיוב that the father has concerning his son, it's מקרא בלבד. He only has to teach him מקרא, only חומש, but he doesn't have to teach him the rest. Now according to this, it comes out that when the גמרא asked the question in the beginning, עד היכא חייב אדם ללמד את בנו תורה, how far is this father supposed to teach his son תורה, so before we thought the question was what ענינים in תורה is he supposed to teach him. But now we're saying that that wasn't the question. The question was also how far, how many generations does it go. In other words, is it just a father to a son, or is it a grandfather to a grandson too, etc.? And that was the answer, that we could compare it to זבולון בן דן in a certain part of the question, not in the rest. In other words, concerning how far it's supposed to go in generations, we bring a ראיה from זבולון בן דן that a grandfather should teach his grandson תורה. But concerning the question what he's supposed to teach him, that we do not learn out from זבולון בן דן, because זבולון בן דן, the case there, his grandfather taught him מקרא, משנה, תלמוד, הלכות, ואגדות, but the obligation of the father is only to teach מקרא. Then the גמרא asks, ואבי אביו מי מיחייב? Is a grandfather חייב to teach his grandson תורה? We just said that it is like זבולון בן דן, that a grandfather is obligated to teach his grandson תורה, but is that true? והתניא, didn't we learn in a ברייתא, it says in the פסוק, ולמדתם אותם את בניכם, you should teach them the words of תורה to your sons, and we דרשן, ולא בני בניכם, and not to your son's sons, that there is no obligation to teach a grandson תורה. ומה אני מקיים, ay, how will we explain the פסוק that says, והודעתם לבניך ולבני בניך, that you should notify them, you should notify the words of תורה, the idea of מתן תורה to your son and to your grandson? So it seems like the תורה tells us that you should teach תורה to your grandson. So that means something else, the גמרא says, לומר לך, to tell you, שכל המלמד את בנו תורה, that anybody who teaches his son תורה, מעלה עליו הכתוב, the תורה compares it כאילו לומדו לו ולבנו ולבן בנו עד סוף כל הדורות, that is if he taught it to his son and to his grandson till the end of all generations. And the פשט is very simple: since every father is going to teach his son, so the first one that starts teaching his son, and later on that son itself who will have the obligation to teach his son, and that son will teach his son, so since the first one started it, This will automatically bring it that all generations later, they're all going to learn תורה. And that's what the פסוק means, that when you teach your son תורה, it's as if you taught all the generations תורה, because you are the cause of teaching all generations תורה. But in the meantime, we see from here that there is no obligation on a grandfather to teach his grandson תורה. So how did we say before that we learn out from זבולון בן דן that a grandfather should teach his grandson תורה? The גמרא answers, הוא דאמר כי האי תנא, that he says like that תנא. In other words, there is a תנא that does hold that you do have to teach your grandson תורה. And the גמרא before that said that you should teach your grandson תורה, that goes according to this תנא. תניא, because we learn in a ברייתא, the פסוק says ולמדתם אותם את בניכם, you should teach them the words of תורה to your sons. אין לי אלא בניכם, we only know from this פסוק that you have to teach your sons. בני בניכם מניין, how do we know that you also have to teach your grandsons? תלמוד לומר, so he brings the other פסוק that says והודעתם לבניך ולבני בניך, that you have to notify them the תורה to your sons and to your grandsons. So we see clearly that you do have to teach תורה to your grandsons. אם כן מה תלמוד לומר בניכם, so then why does the תורה say in the other פסוק ולמדתם אותם את בניכם, that you should teach them to your sons? And it's as if it's telling us only to your sons and not to your grandsons. So he says, no, we דרשן the פסוק differently: בניכם ולא בנותיכם, your sons and not your daughters. So this is a מחלוקת whether you have to teach your grandson תורה or not. One learns out from the פסוק והודעתם לבניך ולבני בניך that you do have to teach your grandsons תורה, and the פסוק ולמדתם אותם את בניכם is learned to learn out that you do not have to teach your daughters. And the other one learns that the פסוק ולמדתם אותם את בניכם tells us that you only have to teach your sons and not your grandsons, and the פסוק והודעתם לבניך ולבני בניך is to tell us that if you teach your son תורה, it's as if you taught all the generations תורה. אמר רבי יהושע בן לוי, רבי יהושע בן לוי says: כל המלמד את בן בנו תורה, anybody who teaches his grandson תורה, מעלה עליו הכתוב, ה' compares it the תורה compares it כאילו קיבלה מהר סיני, it's as if he himself received the תורה from הר סיני. שנאמר, because the תורה says והודעתם לבניך ולבני בניך, that you should notify them you should teach them to your children to your grandchildren, וסמיך ליה, and right next to it it says יום אשר עמדת לפני ה' אלקיך בחורב, the day that you stood in front of ה' your God by חורב, which is by הר סיני. So we see here that by notifying, by teaching your sons תורה, it's as if you stood in front of הר סיני and received the תורה yourself from ה'. And the גמרא continues: רבי חייא בר אבא אשכחיה לרבי יהושע בן לוי, רבי חייא בר אבא found רבי יהושע בן לוי דשדי דיסנא ארישיה, he was wearing a kind of cloth on his head, that when he was going in the street, he wasn't wearing the regular hat he was supposed to wear, he wore a kind of cloth just to cover his head, but it wasn't the regular hat that they people normally wore. So he saw him saw him walking that way, וקא ממטי ליה לינוקא לבי כנישתא, and he was taking a child to the בית הכנסת to the ישיבה to learn. אמר ליה, so he said to him, מאי כולי האי? What is it so much? In other words, what is the rush here that you have to take your child to the בית המדרש that that you didn't get a chance to put on your hat properly? אמר ליה, so he said to him, מי זוטר מאי דכתיב והודעתם לבניך? Is it a small thing what the תורה says that you should notify it to your children? וסמיך ליה, and right next to it it says יום אשר עמדת לפני ה' אלקיך בחורב, the day that you stood in front of ה' in הר סיני. In other words, is it is it such a small thing to take your son to learn תורה? Since we see here that by making sure that your son learns תורה, it's as if you receive the תורה from הר סיני, so that's such a great thing that he had no time to waste and put on his hat properly, that he rushed out, just put something over his head in order to fulfill this מצוה of seeing that his son should learn תורה because it's as if he received the תורה at הר חורב at הר סיני. So when רבי חייא בר אבא heard that from רבי יהושע בן לוי, מכאן ואילך, from then on, רבי חייא בר אבא לא טעים אומצא עד דמקרי לינוקא ומוסיף. רבי חייא בר אבא would not taste אומצא. The custom used to be that in the morning they used to eat a little bit of meat that was burnt over coal, and that was the beginning of the day. So רבי חייא בר אבא from that day would not eat that until he would learn with the child תורה, but not only learn, review what he learned yesterday, ומוסיף, he would add, he would add another פסוק today. And after that, he went to eat, because he heard from רבי יהושע בן לוי that it's so important to teach your child תורה, that because of that, the first thing he would do before he did anything else was to review with his son the תורה that he learned the day before, plus add another פסוק. רבה בר רב הונא לא טעים אומצא, רבה בר רב הונא would not taste that meat, עד דמייתי לינוקא לבי מדרשא, till he would bring the child to the בית המדרש to learn תורה. אמר רב ספרא, רב ספרא said, משום רבי יהושע בן חנניה in the name of רבי יהושע בן חנניה, מאי דכתיב the תורה says, ושננתם לבניך, you should teach them to your children. So he says אל תקרי ושננתם אלא ושלשתם. And as רש"י explains, really it should have said ושניתם, if it would mean to learn, it should have said ושניתם. What does it mean ושננתם with an extra ן? So it comes to tell us ושלשתם that you should have it, do it three times. The word ושניתם, if it would say without an extra ן, it would be from the לשון שני, be twice, two. Now that it doesn't say ושניתם, it says ושננתם with an extra ן, it comes to add one more, so it comes to tell us that it should be ושלשתם, you should have it in three. Now what does that mean? That means that לעולם ישלש אדם שנותיו, a person should divide his years into three parts, שליש במקרא, a third should be for חומש, שליש במשנה, a third should be used for learning משנה, and שליש בתלמוד, a third in תלמוד, which is the explanation of the משניות. But then the גמרא asks, מי יודע כמה חיי, how does a person know how long he's going to live? How can you tell a person to divide his lifetime, his years, into three parts, how does a person know how long he's going to live? The גמרא answers, לא צריכא, it doesn't even have to tell us because what he meant was ליומי, the days, and as רש"י learns it means that the days of the week should be divided into three parts: two days should be for מקרא, two days should be for משנה, and two days should be for תלמוד. But תוספות says that we still could ask a קשיא, but how do you know how long you're going to live? Every week, how do you know that you're going to live through the whole week, that you shall be able to divide the week into three parts? And therefore, תוספות learns that the פשט is that you should divide every day itself into three parts. And then he brings in the רבינו תם, that רבינו תם says that we find in the גמרא סנהדרין where it says that בבלי the word בבל means mixed, that תלמוד בבלי itself is mixed of מקרא, משנה and גמרא. And therefore, when we learn תלמוד בבלי, we learn גמרא בבלי, by doing that we already fulfill this commandment of learning מקרא, משנה, and תלמוד, because within the תלמוד בבלי itself, we have all three. Then the גמרא continues, לפיכך נקראו ראשונים סופרים, therefore the first ones, the חכמים, the original חכמים were called סופרים, and רש"י quotes a פסוק where we find that the חכמים are called סופרים. The פסוק says, משפחות סופרים יושבי יעבץ. So the גמרא is going to explain why were they called סופרים, שהיו סופרים כל האותיות שבתורה, because they used to count all the words of the תורה. תוספות brings from ירושלמי where it says why were they called סופרים, from the word מספר, that they used to put everything into a מספר, into a number, as we find that they said that there are ארבעים חסר אחת of the אבות מלאכות, there are 40 minus one מלאכות you're not allowed to do on שבת. Then we find ארבעה אבות נזיקין, that they said there are four categories of damages a person is obligated to pay for. So we see that the חכמים put everything into numbers, and that's why they were called סופרים. But the גמרא here says that the reason they were called סופרים, because they used to count all the אותיות, all the letters of the תורה. שהיו אומרים, they used to say, ו דגחון חצין של אותיות של ספר תורה, the the letter ו of the word גחון is the middle, the half, of all the letters of the ספר תורה. This is a פסוק in ויקרא where it speaks about the things you are allowed to eat and the things you're not allowed to eat. So there it says כל הולך על גחון, so the word גחון, which really means the stomach, refers to the snakes there, it goes on its stomach, the letter ו of the word גחון is the middle of all the letters of the ספר תורה. Then they said that דרש דרש חצין של תיבות. This is a פסוק in פרשת שמיני, when it says משה רבינו found out that אהרן and his children did not eat from a certain קרבן that they brought, so it says that משה רבינו investigated, דרש דרש, he investigated and he found out that they didn't eat, and the תורה says that he was upset at them, and then finally אהרן told him the reason that they didn't eat, because that day נדב ואביהוא, his sons died, and they were אוננים, and therefore they didn't eat. But these two words דרש דרש are half of the words of the תורה. Then the word והתגלח של פסוקים, the word והתגלח is half of the פסוקים. This speaks about the נגעים, and there is a kind of נגע that you find in the head, so one of the things you're supposed to do in middle of the process of finding out whether this נגע is טמא or טהור, so it says והתגלח, you have to cut off the hair around the נגע. Then the פסוק continues, ואת הנגע לא יגלח, the נגע itself you should not cut. But this word והתגלח is the middle of the פסוקים of the תורה. Then he says the פסוק יכרסמנה חזיר מיער, חזיר of the woods will destroy it, so he says עין דיער, the עין of the word יער is חציין של תהלים, is half of the תהלים. And the פסוק והוא רחום יכפר עון, he who has רחמנות, which is השם, will forgive the עבירות, חצי דפסוקים, that is half of the פסוקים of תהלים. Then the גמרא asks, בעי רב יוסף, רב יוסף asks the question, ואו דגחון מהאי גיסא או מהאי גיסא? We said before that the ואו of the word גחון is the middle of the אותיות of the תורה, the ואו itself, does it belong to this side or to that side? Is it on the first half, the last letter of the first half of the תורה, or is it the first letter of the second half of the תורה? אמר ליה, so he said to him, ניתי ספר תורה ואימנינהו, let's take a ספר תורה and count it. מי לא אמר רבה בר בר חנה, didn't רבה בר בר חנה say, לא זזו משם עד שהביאו ספר תורה ומנאום, that they did not move from there till they brought a ספר תורה and they counted it. And רש״י says we don't know where they were, we don't know what this refers to when we say they didn't move from there, from where was it, but nevertheless, we do know that they were a certain place, and רבה בר בר חנה said that they did not move from there till they brought a ספר תורה and they counted it. If that's what he said to him, so let us too bring a ספר תורה, and we'll count the letters, and then we will know whether the ואו of גחון belongs to the first half or to the second half. אמר ליה, he said to him, אינהו בקיאי בחסירות ויתירות, they were בקי in חסירות and יתירות. Certain words are written sometimes מלא and sometimes חסר, because there are certain letters that even if the letters are not written, we pronounce them anyway. So, sometimes a word would have that extra letter, sometimes it wouldn't. So, he said that they knew which words were missing those letters, and which words had those letters, so therefore they were able to count the letters of the תורה. But אנן, but we לא בקיאינן, we are not בקי, we do not know exactly which words are מלא and which words are חסר, so therefore we cannot count and know exactly whether the ואו of גחון is on the first half or the second half, because we don't know whether we have all the מלא's right and the חסר's right. בעי רב יוסף, and then רב יוסף asked a question. We said before that the word והתגלח is half of the פסוקים of the תורה, so he asked, והתגלח מהאי גיסא או מהאי גיסא? Is והתגלח on this side or on that side? Is והתגלח the end of the first half, or is it the beginning of the second half? אמר ליה אביי, so אביי said to him, פסוקי מיהא ליתי לימנויה. Let us at least count the פסוקים. Before, when we asked about the letters, so you answered that we do not know whether certain letters are מלא or חסר, so therefore we don't know exactly which letters are written in the תורה, which are not written. But now we're talking about פסוקים, the פסוקים we definitely could count, and we could know whether this פסוק והתגלח is in the first half or in the second half. So, he answered, בפסוקי נמי לא בקיאינן, we are also not בקי in the exact number of the פסוקים, because דכי אתא רב אחא בר אדא, when רב אחא בר אדא came, אמר, he said, במערבא, במערבא in ארץ ישראל, פסקו ליה להאי קרא לתלתא פסוקי, they divided this פסוק, which by us is one פסוק, they divided it into three פסוקים: the פסוק of ויאמר ה׳ אל משה הנה אנכי בא אליך בעב הענן, so to them it was three פסוקים. So, we see that we do not know exactly where a פסוק is supposed to end and where a פסוק is supposed to begin, and therefore we can't on our own count the פסוקים to see whether והתגלח is on this half of the תורה, or והתגלח is on the other half of the תורה. And it's interesting to note that the מהרש״א explains why the גמרא prefers to bring these פסוקים, and what is the importance of these פסוקים, what do they show by showing that this is the half of the תורה, that is the half of the פסוקים, etc. And he says that really this refers to the idea that in the תורה we find that we could דרש'ן everything מ״ט פנים טהור, מ״ט פנים טמא. Everything could be דרש'נט forty-nine ways to טומאה, forty-nine ways to טהרה. In other words, everything could be translated for the side of טומאה and for the side of טהרה. But this only refers to פסוקים and to words, but the letters themselves, the letters individually, they are only קדושה, only טהרה, they refer to the שמות of של הקדוש ברוך הוא, it says, to the names of השם. And this is what the גמרא is trying to tell us, that the ואו of גחון is the middle of the letters of the תורה, to tell us that when it comes to the letters of the תורה, there is no such thing as טומאה, because גחון refers to the snake, גחון means the one that goes on the stomach, that refers to the snake. Now, the snake is the source of all טומאה, because this reminds us of the נחש הקדמוני, the first snake, who is the source of all טומאה. So, what the גמרא is saying here, that when it comes to the letters of the תורה, there is no place for טומאה, because as we see The ו from גחון is right in the middle. So this will be מפסיק in the middle of the גחון, in the middle of the נחש, not to allow the נחש to have any hold on. So therefore, as far as the letters of the תורה are concerned, there is no such thing as טומאה. And then the גמרא continues that the word דרש דרש is the middle of the words of the תורה. And he explains that two times דרש refers to the

דרש that we could have to the side of טהרה, and the דרש we could have to the side of טומאה. As it was actually at that time that משה רבינו investigated, he investigated to see why one קרבן was eaten and one קרבן wasn't eaten. So he investigated one to the side of טומאה, and one to the side of טהרה. So the פסוק is saying here that דרש דרש, there are two דרשות, you could דרשן it one to the side of טומאה and one to the side of טהרה. And then we say that והתגלח is half of the פסוקים of the תורה. The מהרש״א explains this goes along the same line, because really it's hard to see how in a complete פסוק of the תורה we could דרשן it to the side of טומאה or to the side of טהרה, because after we have a complete פסוק, we could only learn it one way. But nevertheless, even when we have a complete פסוק, it could be נוגע, important for טומאה or for טהרה. And that's what we bring out from this והתגלח. Because this פסוק והתגלח, that speaks about the נגע, is not in the case when a person is definitely a מצורע. That is a פסוק that deals with a person who is a ספק whether he is a מצורע or not. So here we're dealing with a with a דין which is a little bit to the side of טומאה and a little bit to the side of טהרה. And then he

continues when the גמרא brings the פסוק יכרסמנה חזיר מיער concerning half of the ספר תהלים, he says, because the חזיר מיער refers, is מרמז to עשו, and עשו is מרמז for the כח הטומאה which comes from the נחש הקדמוני. So since we're trying to be מבטל the כח הטומאה, so that's why we bring the פסוק יכרסמנה חזיר מיער. And then he brings the פסוק והוא רחום יכפר עון. And he says this is the half of the פסוקים of תהלים to show us that the whole idea of putting together the אותיות to the words and to the פסוקים is because we דאוון to השם, that השם should have pity on us, and he should not destroy us with his anger. And that is brought out from the פסוק והוא רחום יכפר עון. And now we will continue with the גמרא. The גמרא says, תנו רבנן, the רבנן learned, חמשת אלפים ושמונה מאות ושמונים ושמונה פסוקים הוו פסוקי ספר תורה, that 5,888 פסוקים are the פסוקים of the ספר תורה. יתר עליו תהלים שמונה, תהלים has eight more than that. חסר ממנו דברי הימים שמונה, and דברי הימים has eight less than that. But תוספות asks a קשיא, how can we say that תהלים has eight more פסוקים than the תורה, when even תוספות says, if every פסוק in תהלים would only be made up of three words, it still wouldn't be as much as the חומש. But the מהרש״א asks a קשיא on תוספות, didn't the גמרא say before that we are not בקי in the פסוקים of the תורה? So maybe what the גמרא means is that could be the פסוקים of the תורה are much longer than the פסוקים that we have, and therefore there are more פסוקים in תהלים than the חומש. So what is תוספות קשיא, that even if every פסוק of תהלים would be made up of three words, it still wouldn't be more than חומש? Maybe the פסוקים of חומש are much longer than we have it, and therefore there are much less פסוקים in the חומש, so there are more פסוקים in תהלים than the חומש. But the תפארת שמואל on the מהרש״א says he doesn't understand the מהרש״א's קשיא on תוספות, because here we're going according to the one that just said a certain amount of פסוקים that we have in the תורה. He said clearly that we have 5,888 פסוקים. And based on that, the גמרא said that תהלים has more. So תוספות asks, now that you're telling that there are 5,888 פסוקים in the תורה, how can you say that there are more פסוקים in תהלים? In other words, if the גמרא's קשיא would not be based on the statement he said before that there are 5,888 פסוקים in the תורה, מהרש״א's קשיא would be a good קשיא. We don't know how many פסוקים there are in the תורה, so maybe there are more פסוקים in תהלים than in the תורה. But now that we said that there are 5,888 פסוקים in the תורה, so if that is so, תוספות asks, how can we have more פסוקים in תהלים over תורה? Because even if every פסוק would be made up of three letters, of three words, still there would be more פסוקים in the תורה than in תהלים. Then the גמרא continues, תנו רבנן, the רבנן learned, ושננתם, it says in the תורה, you should teach it. So the

פשוט פשט in the word ושננתם means to teach. But here we דרשן the word ושננתם from a different meaning: the word ושננתם from the word שינון, which means sharp. שיהיו דברי תורה מחודדים בפיך, that the words of תורה should be sharp in your mouth, meaning שאם ישאלך אדם דבר, if someone will ask you something, אל תגמגם ותאמר לו, do not stammer and tell him, אלא אמור לו מיד, but tell him right away, tell him very clearly and very sharply. How do we know that? שנאמר, because the פסוק says, אמור לחכמה אחותי את. You should say to the חכמה, which means to the תורה, you are my sister. רש״י says the ראיה from this פסוק is that you should be clear in the words of תורה as clear you are in the fact that a person is not allowed to marry his sister. ואומר, there is another פסוק that says, קשרם על אצבעותיך, you should tie them on your fingers, כתבם על לוח לבך, write it on the לוח of your heart. Here we see how clear it's supposed to be in your mind. ואומר, there is another פסוק that says, כחצים ביד גיבור, like the arrows in the hand of the strong man, כן בני הנעורים, the same way should be the young children. And as רש״י says, when we speak of children, really we mean תלמידים. Because we know that תלמידים are referred to as children. And רש״י brings ראיות from different פסוקים where they call תלמידים בנים. So when the פסוק says, כחצים ביד גיבור, just like the arrows in the hand of the גיבור, so should be the בני הנעורים, the young children, that means that the תלמידים that they study תורה, the תורה should be so clear to them as the arrows in the hand of the גיבור. ואומר, there is another פסוק that says, חצי גיבור שנונים, that the arrows of the גיבור should be sharp. ואומר, there is another פסוק, חציך שנונים, your arrows are sharp, עמים תחתיך יפלו, nations will fall in front of you. And this all refers to learning of תורה, that it should be very sharp in your mind. ואומר, there is another פסוק that says, אשרי הגבר, good is the person, אשר מילא את אשפתו מהם, that filled up his garbage with it. And רש״י says, even though it refers to תורה, but since we used the term חצים before, arrows, that's why here he uses the term אשפתו, the garbage. So it's good for the person who is full of it. לא יבושו, they shouldn't be embarrassed, כי ידברו, when they will talk, את אויבים, with their enemies, בשער, at the gate. And the enemies here that we're talking about are the enemies in תורה, which means when you argue with somebody in תורה, so you should not be embarrassed when you talk to them, because you will know what you are saying. And the גמרא explains,

מאי אויבים בשער? What do we mean when we say the enemies at the gate? אמר רב חייא בר אבא, רב חייא בר אבא said, אפילו האב ובנו, even as father and a son, הרב ותלמידו, or a teacher and his student, שעוסקין בתורה בשער אחד, when they learn תורה in one gate, when they study תורה together, נעשים אויבים זה את זה, they become enemies one to another. Because when you learn תורה, each one gives his own opinion, each one asks questions, and they many times disagree, so it's as if they become enemies one to another. But ואינם זזים משם, they do not move from there, עד שנעשים אוהבים זה את זה, until they become friends one to another. שנאמר, he quotes a פסוק, את והב בסופה. This is a פסוק that we have in פרשת חוקת. The פשוט פשט in the פסוק is that השם performed many miracles to the יידן. The תורה said, על כן יאמר בספר מלחמות ה׳, therefore, it is written in the ספר that when you will discuss the מלחמות, the wars השם had, so it says there, את והב בסופה. One of the things that they will mention is that השם performed many miracles, he gave us many miracles בסופה, by the ים סוף. But here the גמרא דרשנ׳ס it differently. גמרא דרשנ׳ס it, אל תקרי בסופה אלא בסופה.

Do not read it בסופה, but read בסופה. בסופה means at the end. And את והב בסופה means והב comes from the word אהבה. So it's as if it would say that there is אהבה בסופה, there is love at the end. And this refers to the מלחמות ה׳. Since the פסוק starts off with the words על כן יאמר בספר מלחמות ה׳, so the גמרא דרשנ׳ס it that we're talking here about a מלחמה that is done with a ספר, a war that is concerning a ספר. That means a war that is concerning learning. That when two people argue in דברי תורה, so what happens? את והב בסופה, that at the end there is love, that even though when they start learning and they start arguing they are like enemies one to another, but the end is that they become friends one to another. Then the גמרא continues, תנו רבנן, the רבנן learned, ושמתם, and the תורה says ושמתם את דברי אלה, that you should put these words on your heart, refers to the words of תורה, so the גמרא דרשנ׳ס ושמתם is made up of two words, סם תם. סם means poison, תם means complete, which means it's a kind of סם that is complete, that is good. In other words, it is not poison that hurts a person, but on the contrary, it is a kind of medicine that gives life to a person. נמשלה תורה כסם חיים. תורה is compared to סם חיים, to a kind of medicine that gives you life. And it gives a משל. משל לאדם, a parable to a person שהכה את בנו מכה גדולה, he hit his son very hard, והניח לו רטייה על מכתו, and he put a bandaid on the wound, ואמר לו, and he said to him, בני, my son, כל זמן שהרטייה זו על מכתך, as long as this bandaid is on your wound, אכול מה שהנאתך, eat what you desire, ושתה מה שהנאתך, ושתה מה שהנאתך, and drink what you desire, what you have pleasure from, ורחוץ ורחוץ, and you could wash, בין בחמין בין בצונן, whether with hot water or with cold water, ואין אתה מתיירא, and you don't have to be afraid. But ואם אתה מעבירה, if you will take it off, הרי היא מעלה נומי, there will be growths that will come upon it. But if you keep your Band-Aid on, then you could do whatever you want. כך הקדוש ברוך הוא, the same with השם, אמר להם לישראל, he said to the אידן, בני, my children, בראתי יצר הרע, I created the יצר הרע, ובראתי לו תורה תבלין, and I created the תורה to be the spices for the יצר הרע. ואם אתם עוסקים בתורה, if you learn תורה, אין אתם נמסרים בידו, you will not be given over in his hand. שנאמר, as the פסוק says, הלא אם תיטיב שאת, this is what השם said to קין, he said to him, if you will be good, שאת, you'll be forgiven. But שאת also has the meaning of being picked up. So what the פסוק is saying, הלא אם תיטיב, if you will be good, and the word טוב also refers to תורה, as the פסוק says, כי לקח טוב נתתי לכם. What he's saying here, אם תיטיב, if you will have this טוב, this תורה, שאת, you will be picked up, you will be elevated beyond the יצר הרע, that you'll have no reason to be afraid of your יצר הרע. ואם אין אתם עוסקים בתורה, but if you will not be learning תורה, אתם נמסרים בידו, you will be given over into his hand. שנאמר, as the פסוק says, לפתח חטאת רובץ. At the door, the sin lies, so you are able to do עבירות. ולא עוד, not only that, אלא שכל משאו ומתנו בך, all the business of the יצר הרע will be only you. In other words, he will be completely involved in trying to make you sin. שנאמר, as it says, ואליך תשוקתו, and to you will be his desire. But on the other hand, ואם אתה רוצה, if you do want, אתה מושל בו, you could control him, you could rule over him. שנאמר, because the פסוק says, ואתה תמשל בו, you will rule over him. But this is only if a person studies תורה. But it's interesting to note that it says in ספרים that we see here in the גמרא, the גמרא did not say that השם said I created the יצר הרע and I created the תורה to fight the יצר הרע or the תורה to destroy the יצר הרע, but on the contrary, the גמרא says I created the יצר הרע and I created the תורה to be a תבלין to the יצר הרע. תבלין means spices. Now, spices does not destroy the food. Spices is put into the food that if the food doesn't taste so well, what it does is it changes the taste of the food and it makes that the food that doesn't taste so good should start tasting good. And the same thing is with the יצר הרע. The

purpose of the תורה is not to fight the יצר הרע, so to speak, to kill the יצר הרע, to destroy the יצר הרע, but the purpose is to overcome the יצר הרע in such a way that the יצר הרע himself will realize that it's important to do מצוות. The יצר הרע himself will help out a איד to do מצוות. As we find in the גמרא where it says that when the פסוק says, ואהבת את השם אלוקיך בכל לבבך, you should love השם with all your heart, the גמרא says that really it should have said בכל לבך. לב is a heart. With all your heart would be בכל לבך. Why does it say בכל לבבך with two ביתין? To tell us that you have to love השם בשני יצריך, with both your יצרים, with the יצר טוב and with the יצר הרע. In other words, the purpose of a איד is that he should serve השם with the יצר הרע himself. In other words, he should take those מידות that really are מידות of the יצר הרע, which seem to be things which are not so good, and utilize them for the good, utilize the יצר הרע himself for serving השם, for learning תורה and doing מצוות. And this is what the גמרא means here, too: that השם created the יצר הרע and created the תורה as תבלין to the יצר הרע, as spices to the יצר הרע, what the גמרא means is that you could take the תורה and through the תורה you could even change the יצר הרע, you spice up the יצר הרע, that the יצר הרע himself starts tasting good, which means starts helping a איד in serving השם. Then the גמרא continues:

תנו רבנן, the רבנן learned, קשה יצר הרע, the יצר הרע is bad, is hard, שאפילו יוצרו קראו רע, that even his Creator called him bad. שנאמר, as the פסוק says, that השם said כי יצר לב האדם רע מנעוריו, that the יצר of the heart of the person is bad from its youth. So we see that השם Himself calls that יצר, calls him bad, calls him רע. And as the מהרש"א explains, that this is a very big חידוש, because normally the דרך ארץ is that a person who makes something will never speak bad about it. And here we see השם, who is the Creator of the יצר הרע, He Himself calls the יצר הרע רע. So that shows how bad the יצר הרע is. אמר רבי יצחק, רבי יצחק said, יצרו של אדם מתחדש עליו בכל יום, the יצר הרע of a person renews himself every day on the person, trying to rule over the person. שנאמר, it says, רק רע כל היום, he is bad every day. So every day he gets new strength to fight the person. ואמר רבי שמעון בן לוי, רבי שמעון בן לוי said, יצרו של אדם מתגבר עליו בכל יום, the יצר הרע of a person strengthens himself every day over the person, ומבקש המיתו, and wants to kill him, שנאמר, as the פסוק says, צופה רשע לצדיק, the רשע looks to the צדיק, ומבקש להמיתו, and wants to kill him. And here the רשע refers to the יצר הרע, and the צדיק refers to the איד, that the יצר הרע looks every day to the איד and wants to kill him. ואלמלא הקדוש ברוך הוא עזרו, and if השם would not help him, אינו יכול לו, he wouldn't be able to fight him, he wouldn't be able to overcome the יצר הרע. שנאמר, it says, אלוקים לא יעזבנו בידו, השם does not leave him in his hand. So, it's because of השם that we're able to overcome the יצר הרע. And the reason the גמרא says that the יצר הרע wants to kill a person, really all the יצר הרע wants to do is make a person do an עבירה, but the truth is after the יצר הרע makes the person do the עבירה, then the יצר הרע himself goes to השם, complain against the person, and then he gets the right to kill the person. As we know, the גמרא says that the יצר הרע himself is the מלאך המות, and therefore the גמרא uses the לשון that every day the יצר הרע wants to kill the person. Then the גמרא continues,

תנא דבי רבי ישמעאל, in the ישיבה of רבי ישמעאל they learned: בני, my son, אם פגע בך מנוול זה, if this מנוול, if this rotten, bad person meets up with you, and who is that? That is the יצר הרע, משכהו לבית המדרש, pull him into the ישיבה, into the בית המדרש to learn. Because as we said before, the תורה is the תבלין against the יצר הרע. אם אבן הוא, נימוח, if he is a stone, he will melt, ואם ברזל הוא, מתפוצץ, if he is metal, he will fall apart. שנאמר, as it says, הלא כה דברי כאש נאם ה', my words, השם says, are like fire, וכפטיש יפוצץ סלע, and like a hammer will break apart the סלע, the stone. So, from here we see that if it's like metal, it will be מתפוצץ. And תוספות asks, טאקע, what's the ראיה from this פסוק? That if it's like metal, it'll be מתפוצץ, it'll make the metal fall apart? All we see in this פסוק is that the hammer will make the סלע fall apart. But where do we see that the ברזל will fall apart? So, one of the תירוצים that תוספות gives is that the ראיה is just the opposite: that we learn פשט in the פסוק, וכפטיש יפוצץ סלע, is the סלע that will break the פטיש. סלע is the stone that will break the פטיש, the hammer. Now the hammer is made of metal, the סלע, that would refer to the תורה, so the סלע will make the metal, the פטיש, be מתפוצץ. And from here we see that if it's a ברזל, if it's metal, it'll be מתפוצץ. Now we said before, אם אבן הוא נימוח, if it's like a stone, if the יצר הרע is like a stone, he will melt. How do we know that? שנאמר, because the פסוק says, הוי כל צמא לכו למים, anybody who is thirsty should go to water, and we know that refers to תורה because אין מים אלא תורה. תורה is called water. ואומר, there's a פסוק that says, אבנים שחקו מים, that water could rub out stones. So, since תורה is compared to water, so we see that תורה, which is the water, could rub out and could make the stone melt. And this is what he said, if you have a יצר הרע, and there are different types of יצר הרעs, certain יצר הרעs could be compared to stone, certain יצר הרעs could be compared to metal, as is explained in the ספרים, but by bringing him into the בית המדרש and learning תורה, you will overcome the יצר הרע. And now the

גמרא goes back to the original ברייתא as we brought before, where the ברייתא mentions the different things that a father is obligated to do to his son. And one of the things mentioned in the ברייתא was להשיאו אשה, you have to see that your son should marry a wife. The גמרא asks, מנלן, where do we know that from? The גמרא quotes the פסוק, דכתיב, it says, קחו נשים, take wives, והולידו בנים ובנות, and give birth to sons and daughters, וקחו לבניכם נשים, and you should take wives to your sons, ואת בנותיכם תנו לאנשים, and your daughters you should give to men. So, here we see it's an obligation to take wives for the sons. Then the גמרא asks, this פסוק, it's a two things, you should take wives to your sons, and your daughters you should give to the men. The גמרא asks, בשלמא בנו בידו, ממילא when we talk about a son, it's in his hands. He is able to take a wife for a son, because the custom is that the man takes the woman. So, since he is the father of the son, so it's in his hands to take a wife for his son. אלא בתו, but when we say that you should give your daughter to men, בידו היא, is it in his hands? Can the father force a man to take his daughter for a wife? The גמרא answers, הכי קאמר להו, this is what he said to them: ניתב לה מידי ונלבשה ונכסיה, let's give them things, clothes, and have them get dressed, כי היכי דקפצו עלה אינשי, in order that men should jump on them. In other words, you have to make your daughter look in such a way that men should want to marry her. Then the גמרא continues with the ברייתא that we learned before, that one of the obligations of the father to teach his son is ללמדו ללמדו אומנות, to teach him a trade. And the גמרא asks: מנלן, how do we know that? אמר חזקיה, so חזקיה said, אמר קרא, the פסוק in קהלת says: ראה חיים עם אשה אשר אהבת, you should see life with the wife that you love. Now חיים, life, that refers to a trade, because when you have a trade you're able to make a living. And the פסוק says you should see life with the wife that you love. Now this word, אשה, that the פסוק says here, there are two פשטים. One פשט is that אשה means really a wife, and another פשט is that אשה refers to the תורה. And the גמרא explains: אם אשה ממש היא, if the פשט in the פסוק is that the word אשה means ממש a wife, so what the פסוק is saying, כשם שחייב להשיאו אשה, so just like a father is obligated to marry his son to a wife, כך חייב

ללמדו אומנות, so too he's obligated to teach him a trade. So the פסוק says you should see life with the wife that you love, that means that together with the wife, just like the wife there's an obligation on the father to see that his son marries a wife, so too there's an obligation on the father to see that he has life, that he has a trade. אם תורה היא, if the word אשה in this פסוק refers to the תורה, the פשט is כשם שחייב ללמדו תורה, just like he's obligated to teach him תורה, כך חייב ללמדו אומנות, so too he is obligated to teach him a trade. Then the ברייתא said: ויש אומרים אף להשיטו בנהר, some say that there's also an obligation on the father to teach his son how to swim in a river. And the גמרא asks: מאי טעמא, what is the reason? And the גמרא answers: חיותיה היא, that is his life. In other words, there could be a time that he will be drowning, and this could save his life. Therefore, there's an obligation on the father to teach his son how to swim. Then it said in the ברייתא, רבי יהודה אומר, רבי יהודה said: כל שאינו מלמדו אומנות מלמדו ליסטות, anybody who doesn't teach his son a trade is as if he teaches him how to steal. So the גמרא asks: ליסטות סלקא דעתך? How can you say that when you don't teach him a trade you teach him how to steal? אלא, the גמרא says, כאילו מלמדו ליסטות, as if he teaches him how to steal. Because since he will not have from where to make a living, he is going to steal. So by not teaching the child a trade, you are so to speak as if you teach him how to steal. Then the גמרא asks: מאי בינייהו, what is the difference between the two? The ברייתא of תנא קמא says first we say that you're supposed to teach your son a trade, and the גמרא gave the reason before, because it says ראה חיים עם אשה אשר אהבת, that you have to see life to your son. In other words, you must give your son something to make a living from. And then רבי יהודה added that if you don't teach him a trade it's as if you teach him how to steal. What is the difference between these two sayings? It seems like רבי יהודה is adding something, that not only must you teach him a trade because you must give him something to make a living from, but he's adding that if you don't, it's as if you teach him how to steal.

What is רבי יהודה trying to add here? What is the difference between what רבי יהודה said and what the תנא קמא said? And the גמרא answers: איכא בינייהו, the difference is דאגמריה עיסקא, you teach him business. According to the תנא קמא, he uses the positive part. He says you have to teach him something to make a living from. So if you don't teach him a trade, you just teach him how to do business, you're also giving him something to make a living from. But according to רבי יהודה, who uses the negative term, he says you're not allowed to teach him how to steal. By not teaching him an אומנות, it's as if you're teaching him how to steal. So by teaching him business it's not enough, because sometimes he won't have from where to do business, and he won't have where to make a living, and that could bring him to steal. So according to רבי יהודה, it is not enough if you teach him business, you must teach him a trade. Then the גמרא continues, we learn in the ברייתא: כל מצות האב על הבן, that all the מצות of the father on the son, men and women are both equally חייב, both equally obligated to perform. And the גמרא asks: מאי כל מצות האב על הבן, what does the משנה mean when it said all the מצות of the father on the son? What do we mean? אילימא, if we're going to say כל מצותא דמיחייב אבא למיעבד לבריה, that all the מצות that a father is obligated to do to the son, that if that's what it means, נשים חייבות? How could the משנה say that נשים are obligated, women are obligated? והתניא, didn't we learn: האב חייב בבנו למולו ולפדותו, that a father is obligated to perform מילה on his son and to redeem his son the מצוה of פדיון הבן, אביו אין אמו לא, the father is obligated but the mother not. So how can we say that when the משנה says that all the מצות that the father on the son women are also obligated? So if it means the מצות the father is supposed to do to the son, and there we say that the women are also obligated, that is not true. Because we know that those מצות that the father is supposed to do to the son, only the father is obligated to do it, but not the mother. Therefore, אמר רב יהודה, so רב יהודה said: הכי קאמר, this is what does the משנה mean: כל מצות האב המוטלות על הבן לעשות לאביו, all מצות of the father that the son is supposed to do to the father. So on that we say, אחד אנשים ואחד נשים חייבין, men and women are both obligated. In other words, the מצות of כיבוד אב ואם, the מצוה that a son is supposed to do to the father, those מצות also apply to a daughter, that a daughter is also supposed to do those things to her father. תנינא להא דתנו רבנן, so it comes out that the משנה is telling us what we learn in the ברייתא. It says in the ברייתא: איש, concerning the מצוה of כיבוד אב, the פסוק uses the term איש. אין לי אלא איש, so I would all think only a man, אשה מנין, how do we know a woman too? Because the פסוק says: איש אמו ואביו תיראו, that a man his father and mother they shall fear. So it starts off with the word איש, so it's as if the תורה is telling us that only a man is obligated to fear his father and mother. How do we know a woman too? כשהוא אומר תיראו, the תורה says, you, plural, shall fear. It starts off with the word איש, a man his father and mother you shall fear, referring to plural, to two people. הרי כאן שנים, so here the תורה is as if it is telling that two kinds of people are obligated to fear the father and the mother. Now,

two kinds of people means the men and the woman, the son and the daughter. אם כן מה תלמוד לומר איש, so if so, if the תורה really is telling us that sons and daughters both are equally obligated to fear the father and the mother, so why does the תורה start off with the word איש? The גמרא answers: איש סיפק בידו לעשות, a man is able to do. אשה אין סיפק בידה לעשות, a woman is not always able to do, מפני שרשות אחרים עליה, because there is a רשות of others over her. She is not her own boss, she is under the בעלבאטישקייט of her husband, and therefore she doesn't always have the opportunity, the ability, to perform the מצוה of כיבוד אב. Therefore, the תורה says איש, because an איש is always able to do. And תוספות explains that even though this דין that a woman is obligated to work for husband's sake, and the money that she will earn will go to the husband is only מדרבנן, but מדאורייתא she doesn't have to work, so it comes out that מדאורייתא she does have the time and the ability to perform the מצוה of כיבוד אב, nevertheless תוספות says, but still she's usually in her own home, not in her father's house, so she doesn't usually have a chance to perform this מצוה of כיבוד אב. אמר רב אידי בר אבין, אידי בר אבין said, אמר רב in the name of רב: נתגרשה, if she gets divorced, שניהם שוין, they're both equal again. As soon as she doesn't have the רשות of her husband over her, she is equal to the son concerning the מצוה of כיבוד אב ואם. Then the גמרא continues:

תנו רבנן, and the רבנן learned, נאמר, the תורה says: כבד את אביך ואת אמך, you should honor your father and your mother, ונאמר, there's another פסוק that says: כבד את ה׳ מהונך, you should honor ה׳ from your possessions. So we see here that the תורה uses the same term concerning father and mother and concerning ה׳. השוה הכתוב כיבוד אב ואם לכבוד המקום. ה׳ compared כיבוד אב ואם, the honoring of one's father and mother, to the honoring of ה׳. נאמר, there's another פסוק that says: איש אמו ואביו תיראו, a man his mother and father he should fear, ונאמר, there's another פסוק that says: את ה׳ אלהיך תירא ואותו תעבוד, you should fear ה׳ your God and Him you should serve. So here too we see that the תורה uses the same term. Concerning the father and the mother it says תיראו, you shall fear, and concerning ה׳ it says תירא, you shall fear. השוה הכתוב מוראת אב ואם למוראת המקום. ה׳ compared the fear one should have for his father and mother, he compared it to the fear one should have to ה׳. נאמר, there is another פסוק that says: מקלל אביו ואמו מות יומת, if someone curses his father or mother, he should die, ונאמר, there's another פסוק that says: איש איש כי יקלל אלהיו ונשא חטאו, if a man will curse his God, he will carry his sin. So here too we see that the תורה uses the same term. Concerning the father and mother it says מקלל אביו ואמו, and concerning ה׳ it also says כי יקלל אלהיו. השוה הכתוב ברכת אב ואם לברכת המקום. ה׳ compared the blessing of one's father and mother to the blessing of ה׳. Really we mean here the cursing, but the גמרא uses a לשון נקיה, a nice לשון, so instead of saying the word קללה, the גמרא uses the word ברכת אב ואם and ברכת המקום. But what the פסוק the גמרא means is that the פסוק compares the עבירה of one cursing his father and mother to the עבירה of one cursing ה׳. אבל בהכאה ודאי אי אפשר. There's another פסוק about a father and a mother that says that if you hit your father or mother you have to get killed. Here we don't find a פסוק that the תורה should compare the hitting of one's father and mother to the hitting of השם, because it's impossible to hit השם. But otherwise, the other things, the תורה compares it, the father and the mother to השם. And the גמרא says, וכן בדין. It's proper, it makes sense, why the תורה compares the father and the mother to השם, because ששלושתן שותפין בו, because all three are partners in the person. And as the גמרא will say soon, that there are three partners in the person: the father and the mother and and השם, so therefore, the honor that you're supposed to give your father and mother is similar to the honor you're supposed to give השם. The fear you're supposed to have from your father and mother is similar to the fear you're supposed to have from השם, and חס ושלום, the cursing of one's father and mother is similar to the cursing of השם. Then the גמרא continues, תנו רבנן, the רבנן learned, שלושה שותפין הן באדם, there are three partners in a person: הקדוש ברוך הוא, ואביו, ואמו, השם, and his father and his mother. And as רש״י explains, as the גמרא in נידה explains it, that the father is the one that makes the white of the child, the mother is the one that gives him his red, but both of them are parts of the body, and השם is the one that blows the נשמה into him and gives him all the abilities he has: the ability to see, the ability to hear, the ability to speak, all the things a person is able to do, all that comes from the נשמה that השם puts into the person. So there are three partners in the person: the father and the mother and השם. The גמרא says, בזמן שאדם מכבד את אביו ואת אמו, that when a person honors his father and his mother, אמר הקדוש ברוך הוא, השם says, מעלה אני עליהם, I consider it upon them, כאילו דרתי ביניהם, as if I lived amongst them, וכבדוני, and they honored me. Since השם is the third partner, so when you honored the other two partners, השם says as if I'm there too, and you honored me too. Continuing what the גמרא said before, that ושננתם means שיהיו דברי תורה מחודדים בפיך, that the words of תורה should be sharp in your mouth, that if someone asks you something, אל תגמגם ותאמר לו, that do not stammer and tell them, but tell them directly right away. So תוספות asks a קשיא, we know the גמרא says in אלו מציאות, that there are certain things a תלמיד חכם is allowed to change the words, not say the complete truth, and one of the things is concerning מסכתא, concerning learning, that if they ask him about a מסכתא, so then he could change and say he didn't learn it when really he did. So it seems like a contradiction. Here it says that if they ask you, אל תגמגם ותאמר לו, אלא אמור לו מיד, you have to answer right away, very clear, and there it says that you could change and say that you didn't learn it. And תוספות says there is a big difference. There we're talking about a person who is asked whether he learned the גמרא or not, so he has to be an עניו, not a בעל גאווה, and say, "I didn't learn it." But here the גמרא is talking in a case where they actually ask him a פשט, they ask him a הלכה, or they ask him to teach them something. So here, when he does teach, when he does answer, he's supposed to answer very clear.

Another thing that's important to mention in the גמרא here: the גמרא said that תורה is like סם, and it says that it is compared to סם חיים. Now the truth is the גמרא in יומא דף ע״ב עמוד ב׳ says that not always is תורה סם חיים. There it says, זכה נעשית לו סם חיים, that if a person is זוכה, then the תורה becomes סם חיים, the medicine which gives life. But חס ושלום, the גמרא says, לא זכה, if a person is not זוכה, then the תורה becomes סם המות, the תורה becomes like poison. Now what does it depend on whether the תורה should become סם חיים or סם מות, and what is בכלל the פשט that the תורה is turned into סם המות, into poison? So it says in some חסידישע ספרים that the פשט is, it depends how you learn תורה. If you learn תורה with יראת שמים, if you learn תורה with the proper approach, the realization that the תורה is תורה מן השמים, תורה from השם, and every word of תורה is חכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, is the חכמה, the wisdom of השם, then this תורה causes the person to become in a higher מדרגה. It purifies a person. And that's what the גמרא means, זכה נעשית לו סם חיים. The word זכה doesn't only mean if he is זוכה, if he merits, but the word זכה also comes from the word זכות, clarification, clarity, purity, that if he learns תורה in a way which purifies him, he learns תורה with the proper approach, with the proper יראת שמים, so then the תורה becomes סם חיים, the תורה is life to the person. But if חס ושלום לא זכה, if he studies the תורה, but not with the proper approach, he forgets that the תורה is חכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, and therefore he learns the תורה as if it's a very nice חכמה, so then the תורה doesn't have the proper effect. And being that the תורה after all is the words of השם, but since you don't use it in the right way, then חס ושלום it could become סם המות, it can become like a poison, that you could utilize, חס ושלום, the תורה against השם, that there are some people that use the תורה לקנטר. They learn תורה, and they use the תורה itself, that with the תורה, they go against השם. Now, as we said before, the proper approach to the תורה is the יראת שמים, which means that you constant- You have to remember that the תורה has its קדושה. Not to forget that the תורה is תורה מן השמים, the תורה is given by השם, and all we're doing is we're trying to understand in our mind the words of השם. This is really the פשט in the גמרא נדרים where it says that the, that the ארץ, ארץ ישראל was destroyed על שלא ברכו בתורה תחילה, that they didn't make ברכת התורה, that they didn't make the ברכה before they learned תורה. And as the תלמידי רבינו יונה explain, it doesn't mean simply that they didn't make the ברכה, because why shouldn't make the ברכה? What it means is that they didn't have the חשיבות התורה, they didn't realize the חשיבות, the importance of תורה. It says that למדו תורה הרבה, they learned a lot of תורה, but they did not learn it with the proper approach. They didn't feel the חשיבות התורה, the importance of תורה, which means that they knew that the תורה is a very great חכמה, but they didn't keep in mind that the תורה is the חכמתו של הקדוש ברוך הוא, the wisdom of השם. Truth is, this is mentioned in the גמרא שבת דף ל"א. There it says that the תורה must have a הקדמה, an introduction of יראת שמים. And the גמרא says there that if a person learns תורה and doesn't have the proper יראת שמים, which means that he doesn't look at the תורה the proper way, so then it's a משל as if a person who has keys to the rooms of the inside and doesn't have keys to the outer rooms. So what good are the keys to the inner rooms when he can't get there because he has no keys to the outer room? So too, if a person doesn't have יראת שמים, then so to speak, it's as if the whole learning of the תורה is not worth it. And as we said before, the תורה could, חס ושלום, turn into סם המוות, into poison. And ספרים say that there is a רמז to this idea that when you start learning תורה you must have the introduction before is from the fact that the תורה starts with a ב. And the

famous קשיא, why does the תורה start with a ב, not with an א? Since אלף בית starts with an א. So the first word of תורה should have started with the first letter of the אלף בית. As we see that the עשרת הדיברות do start with an א. But nevertheless, the תורה starts with the word בראשית, with a ב. And the answer that is given is because ב means number two. It's to teach us that when we sit down actually to learn תורה, this is already the second step. The first step is the יראת שמים you're supposed to have. The א before you start learning תורה, that is the יראת שמים that you're supposed to have before you even start. Then when you actually sit down to learn תורה, there you come to the ב, that is already the second step. And some say that this is מרומז in the ירושלמי. In ירושלמי it says that why does the תורה start with a ב, not with an א? Because א is a ראשי תיבות, the abbreviation of the word ארור, cursed, while ב is an abbreviation of the word ברוך, of the word blessed. But some ask, and the truth is that really there are words which are good words and they start with an א, and there are, חס ושלום, words that could mean something not so good and it could start with a ב. Why does the ירושלמי say that because there is an abbreviation ארור from the word, letter א, therefore the תורה could not start with an א? And some say that the פשט in the ירושלמי is that not that really the word starts with ארור, that is not the whole meaning of the ירושלמי. The פשט is that if you would start with an א, that means that a person would feel that learning תורה is the first step and there is nothing that comes before that, then this, חס ושלום, could be turned into an ארור. As the גמרא says: לא זכה, נעשית לו סם מות. While if it starts with a ב, that means that you realize that the learning of the תורה is really the ב, the second step, then you could get the ברוך, you would get the ברכה.