1. Our dining room tables correspond to the מזבח/Altar (Br 55a, Mn 97a and Avos 3:3.) Besides the many mitzvos we do at our tables, in what specific way do we correlate the bread that we eat there with the offerings that are consumed by fire on the Mizbei'ach.
Salt 2:13. SA OC 167:5, Rema:
מצוה להביא על כל שלחן מלח קודם שיבצוע כי השלחן דומה למזבח והאכיל' לקרבן ונא' על כל קרבנך תקריב מלח (ב"י בשם שבולי הלקט) והוא מגין מן הפורענות (תו' והגהת אשיר"י פ' כיצד מברכין וע"ל ס"ס ק"ע):
Chametz and honey, 2:11, 'כי כל שאר וכל דבש לא תקטירו ממנו אשה לה. Rav Hirsch has an interesting approach - this reminds us that luxuries may be enjoyed but should never be aspired to.
3. Identify the word, a homophone, that in our Parsha means ash but in other places means fat or luxury.
Deshen. Here, 1:16, אל מקום הדשן, and in Mei'ein Sheva Friday night, ומניח בקדושה לעם מדושני עונג זכר למעשה בראשית. See Tehillim 63:6, כמו חלב ודשן תשבע נפשי ושפתי רננות יהלל פי, and Vayeilech, Devarim 31:20, כי אביאנו אל האדמה אשר נשבעתי לאבתיו זבת חלב ודבש ואכל ושבע ודשן. Harav Avraham Isenberg says they are related because ash is used to fertilize land, just as manure is called a "fertilizer."
4. Where in this Parsha is meat is referred to as "lechem" and matza as "Challah."
Eimurim, at 3:16, ואת שתי הכלית ואת־החלב אשר עלהן אשר על־הכסלים ואת־היתרת על־הכבד על־הכלית יסירנה והקטירם הכהן המזבחה לחם אשה לריח ניחח. Matza, the Menachos at 2:4, וכי תקרב קרבן מנחה מאפה תנור סלת חלות מצת בלולת בשמן ורקיקי מצות משחים בשמן. On a side, note, the ibn Ezra brings an opinion that because they are called Challos, these matzos need to be round, not square - ויש אומרים עגולות מלשון חלילה בדברי קדמונינו.
5. In 1:17 Rashi says (from Mn 110) that the expression 'ריח ניחוח לה, a pleasing fragrance, is found by a זבח/animal sacrifice and by a מנחה, which is a few pounds of flour and two cups of oil, to show that it doesn't matter if you spend a lot or a little. All that matters is what is in your heart, that you did your best.
אחד המרבה ואחד הממעיט ובלבד שיכוין לבו לשמים
In Gemara parlance, the term for "expansive" is גם, gimmel mem, and the term for "limited" is אך, aleph chaph; (אֶתִים וְגַמִים ריבויין. אַכִין ְוְרַקִין מיעוטין) How are these two words directly related to the לב, the heart?From the Ben Ish Chai: Heart is leiv, lamed beis. The letters that precede gimmel and mem are beis and lamed. The letters that follow aleph and chaph are beis and lamed. When it comes to בין אדם למקום, there is no difference between them. All that matters is that they are from the heart.
1. Chapel also tell us that just as the mizbeiach is mechaper, so too is a person's table. The salt is symbolic of the sublimation of the (artificial) separation between the upper and lower waters; so too is a person's table, when he invites the poor to join in his meal, a sublimation of the Hashem's separation between rich and poor, which is only there in order to allow them to benefit each other. בורא נפשות רבות, וחסרונות על כל מה שבר את, להחיות בהם נפש כל חי.
ReplyDelete3. Fascinating!
4. Food in general, especially the primary form, is referred to as lechem, as in עבד לחם רב. And challah in biblical parlance just means loaf, cf. the machines haposkim whether the beach's should be lehafrish challah min ha'isa or lehafrish terumah.
5. I may have seen this in the Chida, but if not, I'll take the credit: לב חכם לימינו ולב כסיל לשמאלו, a wise man turns his לב to the preceding letters on the right, and is מסתפק במועט in accordance with ach; while a fool turns to the following letters on the left, and always wants more.
(Apologies for the typos - I still haven't disabled the autocorrect on my new phone...)
Deletere 4 - Sure. Lechem is used in many ways, as shown in the way Yosef used it talking to Eishes Potiphera. Especially by Kodshim, where it's all called לחמו של מזבח. I just know from my shiur that lashon mikra and lashon bnei odom are very different, and there's resistance when I tell them that the word Challah and Lechem can refer to matza.
Deletere 5- thank you. I had forgotten the part about leiv chacham limino.
Yes the Chida says that in sefer Nachal Eshkol on that pasuk. Also, it is is interesting that the first time the phrase "echad hamarbeh etc." is applied in shas it is in regards to limud torah (brachos 5b). If I remember correctly the word "leiv" has been said to be meramez to torah as its letters are the first and last of the Torah.
DeleteAnd that ties in to our possuk as well. The Torah begins with a beis, and ends with a lamed. Leiv chochom liyemino, a chochom looks to his right, ever reviewing that which he has already learned, thus reading the Torah from end to beginning, and forming the word leiv. While a ksil only reads from start to finish, always seeking only "new" knowledge, and his Torah does not enter his heart. This cost works even better with the Torah sheb'al peh, which begins with a mem, and ends with a sav. One who reads only from start to finish, neglecting chazarah, his Torah is "dead". Only with constant chazarah can his Torah be "complete".
Deletenot in order:
ReplyDeletesalt for our bread
both are 11 off gematriya of lev (32) = 43 and 21
lechem elokecha is meat;
cheilev; in Tehillim 147 cheielev chitim is cream, same idea as luxury you mentioned
and of course, chametz and honey
Very nice.
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