Monthly Archives: December 2011

The Structure of the Chumash 07 – Dikdukei Sofrim

Rashi on Temurah 16a explains dikdukei sofrim based on a Yerushalmi in Shekalim.

This gemara seems to contradict both Rav Dovid Tzvi Hoffman’s approach, and the view of Dorot HaRishonim.

Rabbi Triebitz claims that these dikdukei sofrim are in fact the proto-mishna, which Chazal saw as the precedent for Rebbi’s Mishna.

These shiurim are free of charge. Please enjoy them. At the moment nobody is sponsoring the shiurim, and Rabbi Triebitz is giving of his time voluntarily. Thank you very much to those of you who have contributed to this website. If anyone else would like to have a share in the merit of these shiurim (and is in a financial position to be able to do so) we would welcome any donations. There are no overheads, so any money will go to Rabbi Triebitz. We can also give American charity tax receipts if you want. Otherwise there is a ‘donate’ button on the side of the page.
Thank you.

You can watch and download the shiurim below. As always please send any comments, thoughts, ideas or criticisms to admin at hashkafacircle.com

[flv:/Torah/RT_Torah_07.flv 240 180]
Video of shiur 07

Click here to download the shiur as an flv file
Structure of Torah 07

(you may have to right click on the link and click ‘save target as’)

Click here to download the shiur in audio mp3 format
Structure of Torah 07

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Structure of Torah 07

The Structure of the Chumash 06 – Derashot of Moshe Rabbeinu

This shiur is l’ilui nishmat R’ Yitzchak Dov ben Avraham HaLevi

This week we take a detour from Chazon Ish to clarify what we discussed last week. Rabbi Triebitz claimed last week that the Torah of Derashot began only with Vayikra. But where do we see that Moshe made Derashot at all?
Temurah 16a says that Moshe Rabbeinu made Derashot. It says that he made Kal Va-Chomers, Gezeirah Shavas and Dikdukei Sofrim.

Rashi there explains Dikdukei Sofrim as referring to using numbers as mnemonics, e.g. 15 women who don’t need Yibum.

Rabbi Triebitz does not fully understand Rashi’s explanation, and next week he will discuss his understanding of Dikdukei Sofrim.

We do find Chazal telling us of Derashot of Moshe Rabbeinu.

In Shabbat 87a that Moshe made 3 kal vachomers. Rabbi Triebitz explains that kal vachomer is something that a person can make by themselves. Therefore any innovation of Moshe Rabbeinu is by definition a kal vachomer.

Conversely, a gezeirah shava cannot be made without a tradition. So how could Moshe make a gezeirah shava? Because at root a gezeirah shava is really a form of gilui milta. That is what Moshe did. We find this definition of gezeirah shava in Ritva to Kiddushin 2a with (possibly) the most famous gezeirah shava in Shas – kicha-kicha from sdei Efron. He explains that this is not a proper gezeirah shava, but a form of gului milta.

Returning to the gemara in Temurah, we find that Otniel ben Kenaz was able to relearn all the halachot that were forgotten during the mourning for Moshe Rabbeinu using pilpul. What is pilpul?

The gemara in Nedarim 38a says that Moshe taught the Torah to Klal Yisrael with Tovat Ayin. This means that he gave them pilpul. And they could use the midot to derive halachot. But that could only begin once they had a written text to work with.

Rabbi Triebitz then gives a novel reading of the Gemara in Menachot 29b about Moshe Rabbeinu and Rabbi Akiva. Based on the Rosh in Nida, and the Rash MiShantz in Yadaim, Rabbi Triebitz understands that sometimes ‘halacha l’Moshe mi-Sinai’ means that the halacha is so clear logically that it is as if it was given to Moshe at Sinai. Therefore Moshe felt better after hearing that Rabbi Akiva had derived the halacha logically, because that means he was using logic which was Moshe’s inheritance to Klal Yisrael.

Next week (hopefully) we will continue in the Chazon Ish, but also speak about Dikdukei Sofrim and Tikunei Sofrim.

These shiurim are free of charge. Please enjoy them. At the moment nobody is sponsoring the shiurim, and Rabbi Triebitz is giving of his time voluntarily. Thank you to those who have already made donations to the website. If anyone else would like to have a share in the merit of these shiurim (and is in a financial position to be able to do so) we would welcome any donations. There are no overheads, so any money will go to Rabbi Triebitz. We can also give American charity tax receipts if you want. Otherwise there is a ‘donate’ button on the side of the page.

Thank you.

You can watch and download the shiurim below. As always please send any comments, thoughts, ideas or criticisms to admin at hashkafacircle.com

[flv:/Torah/RT_Torah_06.flv 240 180]
Video of shiur 06

Click here to download the shiur as an flv file
Structure of Torah 06
(you may have to right click on the link and click ‘save target as’)

Click here to download the shiur in audio mp3 format
Structure of Torah 06

AND NEW FOR APPLE I-POD USERS:
Click here to download the shiur in mp4 video format
Structure of Torah 06