May the learning of these Torah thoughts be merit le’iluy nishmas Menachem Mendel ben Harav Yoel Dovid Balk.

This week we learned Gittin 47-53. The following are some highlights:

Gittin 47: Repentance and Fasting

The Gemara relates a striking story about the Amora Reish Lakish. There was a nation of gentile cannibals called the Ludiyim. Reish Lakish took a sack in which he had hidden a heavy stone and sold himself to the cannibals. He figured that the cannibals have a practice of granting the requests of their victims on the day that they plan to kill them, for they believed that when a person’s request would be granted he would be happy and his blood would then be sweeter. On the day that they planned to kill Reish Lakish they asked him what was his last wish. He told them that he wanted to seat each of them, tie them up, and hit them fully and then partially with his sack. They all agreed. They did not realize that the sack had a stone hidden in it. They thought it was an empty bag and would not hurt them at all. Reish Lakish tied them. Due to the stone, each one who he hit with the sack died from the impact of the blow. Reish Lakish killed them all and escaped unharmed. The Gemara then adds that Reish Lakish would spend all of his income on food and would eat a lot. His daughter asked him, “Don’t you need a pillow or a bed?” He answered, “My stomach is my pillow.” The entire account is deeply unsettling; why would Reish Lakish sell himself to cannibals and risk his own life? Furthermore, how could he act in a seemingly unrefined and appetite-filled manner?

Tiferes Yakov explained that Gemara Bava Metzia teaches that Reish Lakish had been the chief armed bandit. He had stolen from many. Rav Yochanan inspired him to change his ways, become a baal teshuvah and a great scholar. Therefore, Reish Lakish always wanted to atone for his earlier crimes. He therefore placed himself in grave danger, and risked his life to enter the company of the cannibals, in order to kill them and thereby save others from them. He felt that if he killed the murderers it would atone for his past violent crimes. The fact that he was successful in killing them all demonstrated that God accepted his repentance fully, for Hashem only performs miracles for the deserving and righteous. The Chassam Sofer explained the rest of the Gemara to also be teaching about repentance. Many, to atone for misdeeds, engage in fasts and bodily abstinence. Reish Lakish did not do so. Once he became a sage, he would eat and fully fill himself. When the Gemara states that his daughter questioned him, it means that his intellect and soul questioned him. “Perhaps you need to prepare a pillow or a bed?” They were saying, “Why don’t you need to fast? Wouldn’t fasting prepare for you a bed and pillow in the next world?” Reish Lakish responded that his stomach was his pillow. What he meant by this was that he had filled himself with Torah knowledge. One who fills himself with Torah knowledge does not need to fast for the effort to master Torah is as appreciated in Heaven as fast days and physical discomfort. (Mesivta, Heichalei Hatorah)

Gittin 48: Paying for Care

The Mishnah that begins Perek Hanizakin contains several laws that were enacted “mipnei tikkun ha’olam,” for the sake of fixing the world. For instance, if someone finds a lost wallet and brings it back to its owner and the owner claims, “This is my wallet but it is missing half the cash that was in it when it was lost; I demand that you swear to me that you did not pilfer anything,” we would not allow the finder to take an oath that he did not steal any of the cash. If those who find objects would be forced to take oaths, people would not bother to find and return objects. Thus, to fix the world the sages banned such oaths. Rav Zilberstein addressed a modern case that would also seem to require a tikkun ha’olam enactment. A couple was flying on a plane. During the flight, the wife went into labor and gave birth to a child. The child was in distress. The pilot made an emergency landing, the family was whisked off the plane, and the child rushed to the hospital to an incubator. The child survived. The airline lost thirty thousand sterling on the emergency landing and medical care. While generally insurance would cover the loss, the insurance company disputed the decisions of the airline and refused to pay the cost. Did the family have to pay the airline the thirty thousand sterling “mipnei tikkun ha’olam”—for the sake of fixing the world? If they would not reimburse the airline, perhaps the next time such an event would occur the airline would not make an emergency landing and the child might die.

Rav Zilberstein quoted the Rosh who wrote in one of his responsa that if there was a man who was sick, and the community spent money to try to save his life, even if he died, the estate must reimburse the community. The orphans cannot claim, “Our father never asked for these expenditures and would not have wanted these expenditures.” For it is standard practice that when one sees someone else in danger one is to try to save his life and one should be reimbursed for whatever expenses were incurred in the attempts to save the life. The world needs individuals who will try and save lives. If these individuals would not be reimbursed eventually lives would be lost. Therefore, the airline was correct in assuming that the family would pay, and the family should pay for the costs that were incurred. (Chashukei Chemed)

Rabbi Zev Reichman teaches Daf Yomi in his shul, East Hill Synagogue, 255 Walnut Street, Englewood, NJ: At 5:35 a.m. Monday, Thursday, at 5:45 a.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, and at 7:45 on Sunday mornings.

By Rabbi Zev Reichman