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.

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