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The Thinking Talmudist Podcast shares select teachings of Talmud in a fresh, insightful and meaningful way. Many claim that they cannot learn Talmud because it is in ancient Aramaic or the concepts are too difficult. Well, no more excuses. In this podcast you will experience the refreshing and eye-opening teachings while gaining an amazing appreciation for the divine wisdom of the Torah and the depths of the Talmud.
Every week a new, deep, and inspiring piece of brilliance will be selected from the Talmud for discussion by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH (Houston, Texas).
This Podcast Series is Generously Underwritten by David & Susan Marbin
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Thinking Talmudist podcast.
Good morning, everybody. Welcome back to the Thinking Talmudist podcast. It is so wonderful to be here this beautifully hot, beautifully hot Friday here in Houston, Texas. We are going to begin a new Gemara in tractate Yoma. Tractate Yoma is focusing on Yom Kippur. But there are many interesting Gemaras that is always brought in tying either different topics or different individuals, the Tanaic sages or the Amoreic sages.
And when they say something, they say, oh, here's something else he said. So we're going to begin. We're going to begin with a piece of Talmud here. The Gemara talks about the vestments of the Kohen. And then we're going to go into a different discussion. But Rav Huna bar Yehuda, Tani Rav Huna bar Yehuda, Rav Huna, the son of Yehuda, taught Ebraisa. Rav Huna bar Yehuda, some say he was Shmuel bar Yehuda. After the public service was completed, Kohen, whose mother made a tunic for him,
the Kohen would don it and perform the private service in it. The Gemara calls the service of removing the kohen and ladle from the holy of holies a private service because it was not needed for the public's atonement. Rather, it is the Kohen Gadol's personal obligation to clear away, clear away the utensils from that place. Accordingly, the service may be performed with a white tunic made by the Kohen Gadol's mother. So this was a special garment that was made by the Kohen Gadol, the high priest's mother.
And this is so provided that he transfers the tunic to the public for temple use after he uses it. So now it becomes part of the temple's domain. It belongs to the temple. So the Gemara asks Peshitta if the Kohen Gadol transfers ownership of the tunic to the temple treasury, it is obvious that he may serve in it, it belongs to the temple. So what then is the point of this dictum? Why is the Talmud saying this? So the Gemara answers, Ma'od etaymu, you might have thought,
that he should be concerned lest he not transfer ownership of the tunic in a nice way. Koma Shmolon, the Tanah, therefore teaches us that we need not be concerned and that we sanction the transfer of this tunic to the temple. So the Gemara cites a price that illustrates the practical application of Rav Huna's dictum. The Gemara says, it is said about Rabbi Shmol, the son of Pabbi, Okay, which is expensive. And he donned it and performed in it the private service in the temple
and he transferred it to the public for temple use beforehand. Further, they said about Rabbi Eliezer Ben-Charsom, that his mother, he was also a Kohen serving in the temple, and his mother made for him a tunic of 20,000 money. Extremely, extremely expensive. But his brothers, the Kohenim, did not allow him to wear it. Why? Because it was such fine and delicate material, it would appear as if he was naked and therefore they didn't allow him to use it. So the Gemara questions this last semit,
Was his flesh actually visible through the weave? But don't we know that we are taught that the threads of the priestly garments needed to be six-fold. Six-fold. You can't see anything. So what are you talking about that he's going to, it looks like he's naked. So how could the body be seen through such a thick weave? So the Gemara answers, His flesh could indeed be seen through the material just as it is possible to see wine in a thick glass.
Just because it's a thick glass doesn't mean it's not see-through. This was such expensive material that it was see-through and therefore they did not allow him to wear this in the temple. So there's just a side piece here that we need to just understand and he says over here, the commentaries bring, that is that even though there were no spaces in the weave of the priestly garment, the linen itself was so fine that it was transparent. Hence, it was possible to see the Kohenim's flesh through the garments
just as it is possible to see wine through the sides of a thick glass cup. It's visible. So it's thick. It's expensive. So what? It's still visible. It's just an interesting sensitivity that we learn. One of the things that we learn from the temple is modesty. That the Kohen was not, there was no steps in the temple, in the service area. There were steps leading up to it, but in the service area there were no steps. Why?
We know there was a big ramp leaving the Kevesh that was leading to the altar, to the Mizbeach, so that the Kohen didn't have to lift up his legs. He was wearing a robe. He wouldn't have to lift up his legs and reveal his privates to the floor of the temple. There was a high sensitivity to holiness. Our sages also tell us something really remarkable, that there were no steps because steps is a predefined growth process. We've said this many times.
You know, the steps, if you have steps in your home, they're about engineered to be about six and a half inches between each step. But the way we see growth is not pre-designed growth. The way growth needs to be is that every person takes their own step. It's interesting that when you have teenagers in your house, or you have little babies in your house, or if you have seniors, really old people, then you'll notice that not everybody takes the same size step.
For the little baby, it's too tall for them to pick up their foot six and a half inches. For the senior, it might also be difficult. They're walking with a cane, holding on to the banister. It might be difficult for them to raise their foot that high. For a teenager, they want to jump six steps. For an ordinary person, okay, so they'll take one step at a time. Even then, you know, you're jumping two steps.
I see at the JCC, I see all these teenagers are jumping up four steps at a time, running up the steps. And there are other people taking one step at a time. It's pre-engineered growth. Judaism doesn't believe in pre-engineered growth. So there was a ramp representing individual growth. Every person takes their own size step. There's another piece that we learn from this is that on a ramp, there's no stagnation. You're either going up or you're going down.
You put a ball on a ramp, it's going to roll down if you don't kick it up. We have FIFA. FIFA's starting now, right? FIFA in Houston, the World Cup is coming to Houston, right? So they're going to be kicking the ball. If you put a ball on a ramp, you kick it up, it'll go up, but otherwise it's rolling down, you have gravity, which pulls it down. If you put it on a step, it can sit there securely.
You go out on your vacation, you come back, and it's sitting right there on the step. It didn't move because you can stagnate on a step. Judaism is constantly reminding us with the ramp to the altar that you have to be on a forward motion if you want to go up. You can't stagnate. You're either rolling down or you're going up. And that's a constant reminder that we need to be moving in our spirituality. Okay, so now the Gemara continues with a totally different topic,
and we're going to see how this connects. The Gemara digresses to discuss the wealth of Rebbe Lazar ben Charsom. We mentioned Rebbe Lazar ben Charsom. Now we're going to continue, right, because his mother made a tunic worth $20,000, which was, imagine, a $20,000 suit or tunic. It's very expensive. It's really $20,000. If Ed was here, he would pull up his AI and ask how much a manna is worth, right? Okay, so the Gemara digresses to discuss his wealth. And the rabbis told Nebraisa,
A poor person, a wealthy person, and a wicked person come to judgment. It sounds almost like the beginning of a joke, right? They all walk into a bar, right? No, so they all walk into judgment. David, you had a question? So over here the commentary says that someone who was in the thrall of his evil inclination, Nebraisa describes the complaint that can be lodged in heaven against each of these three types of people. So what's going on here?
They go to the poor person and they say to him, If he says, I was a poor person, I was preoccupied with my sustenance. I had to go get a job. I had to do whatever I can to support my family. I didn't have time to study Torah. So the answer from heaven is going to be, Were you poorer than Hillel? Even though Hillel lived in dire poverty, he nonetheless overcame all obstacles to study Torah. So that's not an answer. Nebraisa describes Hillel's situation now.
That each and every day he would perform work and earn one tarpoik, which is a tarpoik is worth one half a dinner, which was not a lot of money. Half of that tarpoik, which is a half a money, so a quarter of the money, he would give to the guard of the security hall. He'd think we only have security. So we mentioned security for Torah study. They had security then as well. And half of it would go to his livelihood to support him and his family.
One time he did not find a job to earn his money. And the guard of the study hall did not allow him to enter. Sorry, you don't have money. You can't come in to study here. Because everyone would chip in to pay for the heat, for what we call electricity today. But then it would be for the firewood. You want to come into the study hall and be warm and study Torah? You would have to chip in for the expenses of the study hall.
Thereupon he climbed up to the roof, suspended himself and sat at the edge of the skylight. So there was a skylight. In order for him to hear the word of the living God from the mouth of Shmaaya and Avtalion. It was their custom to delve in esoteric matters, the words of the living God, which means hidden ideas, in the study hall on Friday nights, especially after midnight. Very interestingly, the Ben Yishchai, in the introduction to the book of Shamos,
Ben Yishchai writes that the study of Torah on Shabbos is 500 times more valuable than the study of Torah during the week. Yes, that's the Ben Yishchai. You can look at it in the introduction to the book of Shamos, in the Ben Yishchai. Unbelievable, unbelievable, impressive opportunity that we have on Shabbos. Not to read in the newspaper, not to learn Torah. It's an amazing power because we have such a greater ability to connect with Hashem
on such a higher level because we have a Nesham Yisra, we have an elevated soul that is added to us. That studying Torah on Shabbos is so much more rewarded when we do so on Shabbos. So here he would go and he didn't have what it took to prepay, I guess, for the Friday night session that was going on in the study hall. They said that it was the eve of Shabbos. So I knew it was during the winter season. On top of the study hall.
When day broke. This is every day. Our room here, our building is illuminated by the light. It's already sunrise. But today it's dark. What's going on? Maybe it's a cloudy day. They looked up into the skylight. And they saw a figure of a person at the skylight. They found that there were three amos of snow, six feet of snow on top of him. Six feet of snow on top of him. They extracted him, they washed him with warm water, not hot water,
to open his pores, anointed him with oil, and sat him opposite the fire. They said that this one, for this great sage, Hillel, it is appropriate to desecrate the Sabbath. Now, we know that on Shabbos you can save anybody's life. Why? Oh, Hillel will desecrate the Shabbos for him. No, no, no, no. You can do that for anybody. I know. I'm in Atzola. When we get a call on Shabbos, we take the call on Shabbos,
and we drive, and we deal with everything that we need to do with our patient like it's Tuesday. So why is anything different? Oh, for Hillel, then we can desecrate the Shabbos. What do you mean? You can do that for anybody. Our sages say saving the life of any Jew overrides the Shabbos Malacha prohibitions. Why did they say that it was appropriate only for someone like Hillel? So our sages answer that it is not so obvious that we desecrate the Shabbos
to save one who consciously endangered his life, which Hillel did. He intentionally endangered his life, meaning he probably didn't realize how dangerous it is for him to stay in the cold like that. However, because Hillel risked his life in order to study Torah, it was indeed appropriate to save his life. The other commentaries, however, explain that the Shabbos was not, in fact, desecrated for Hillel because the fire had been lit before the Shabbos, and all the other activities mentioned are forbidden only rabbinically at most.
But to emphasize how great Hillel's love for Torah was, they declared that this person had placed himself in a condition where it would have been appropriate if necessary to desecrate the Shabbos for him even on a biblical level. He had put his life in risk for the love of Torah. So the Gemara says here that they took him, saved his life, and restored his life. That's how poor he was. He didn't have the 25 cents to pay the security guard,
which was going to help to pay for the wood, you know, the entrance fee for their class. You guys are so lucky. There's no entrance fee here. Look at that, right? We have to make a sunlight here so that if someone can't, they can come in. You can just come right in, please. All right, so the Brice now relates the judgment of the second type of person. So that's Hillel. So there's no argument for a person who says,
you know, I'm poor and therefore I couldn't study Torah because I didn't have money and I was busy earning a living. Earning a livelihood, were you poorer than Hillel? Hillel was so poor and yet he did not stop studying Torah. We know how great Hillel was. Unbelievable. The Gemara now continues. What's about the argument of the second type of person? The wealthy person. Oshir omrim lo, the wealthy person, they ask him, mi'pnei ma'lo asakne v'torah, why did you not study Torah?
What is he going to answer? Im omir oshir a'isi v'torah de'isi b'nuchasai. If he answers, ah, I was wealthy and I was preoccupied with managing my possessions, omrim lo, klum oshir a'isi yosim v'Rebbe Eleazar, remember Eleazar that we just mentioned? Were you wealthier than Rebbe Eleazar b'ncharsam? Although he was fabulously wealthy, Rebbe Eleazar nevertheless overcame all obstacles to and the rationalizations against personal Torah study. He had all the reasons in the world. You know all my properties.
I have to go visit my properties. I have to collect the rent. I have to sign the contracts. I have to buy. I have to sell. I have to this. No such thing. Rebbe Eleazar b'ncharsam was so incredibly wealthy and yet he stopped everything to study Torah. Reminds me of one of my favorite stories about the brisker of. The brisker of married the daughter of a very, very wealthy businessman. And it was customary then that if you wanted to have a real Torah scholar,
someone of the caliber of the brisker of, you had to pay a nice dowry. So his dowry was an entire city block in Warsaw. Warsaw was like New York City today or like Jerusalem. It was like the most expensive downtown Moscow. Like imagine an entire city block in New York City, you know how much that's worth? Billions of dollars. It's unbelievable. He gave it to his son-in-law, the brisker of. He says, you, this is your dowry. You married my daughter.
I want you to sit and learn and I want you to just collect the rent for the rest of your life. You'll never have to think about it again. You'll never have to worry again. Now, he was a great Torah scholar. You think he was going to go and collect rent himself? He hired somebody. Told that person, I want you to just go every month, collect the rent, anything that needs to be taken care of. You're the management, property management.
He hired this guy, Joe Schmo. You take care of it and this is your payment for doing that. So now he can just sit and learn and not worry about anything. What happened? World War I broke out and the brisker of left Warsaw during the war to protect him and his family. Comes back after the war and he looks for his Joe Schmo and his Joe Schmo is nowhere to be found. He goes to the city. The city says, this is not your property.
Joe Schmo transferred the deeds in the city to his own name and he stole from the brisker of an entire city block in Warsaw. And he fell into a terrible depression. Didn't know what to do. So you know what he did? He took this book, Choves HaLvavos, Shaar HaBitachon, and he studied it and studied it and studied it nonstop. And he declared after studying it that I thought, that till now I thought that you know who's wealthy? Someone who owns an entire city block in Warsaw.
I thought that's a wealthy person. He says, but now I know that someone who lives by the words of the Choves HaLvavos in Shaar HaBitachon, that's a true wealthy person. True wealth is when you have 100% reliance on Hashem. When you have no dependency on anything. You have no reliance on anything other than the hand of Hashem. Hashem is able to do anything. Hashem has all the power in the world. Hashem has all the compassion in the world. Hashem has all the love.
Hashem has all the understanding. Hashem knows the big things, the little things, the small things, the not so important things. Hashem knows everything. And Hashem takes care of every one of our needs. He says that's someone who's really wealthy. So here we go. So he says, are you more wealthy than Rebel Lazar? So the Bryson now describes Rebel Lazar Mencharsom's situation. They said about Rebel Lazar Mencharsom, that his father left him an inheritance of 1,000 cities on dry land.
The Bryson specifies that Rebel Lazar inherited his wealth to clarify that he did not have to work hard to acquire it in his early years, right? He got it as an inheritance. Yet, each and every day, note tell note, still, notwithstanding that he had so much wealth, and who connected 1,000 cities, and corresponding to each of those 1,000 cities, he gave him 1,000 ships at sea so that he can transport goods from city to city. Yet, each and every day, note tell note,
he would take a flask of flour on his shoulder, and walk from city to city, from state to state, to learn Torah. He would walk from town to town, and from province to province, to study Torah. One time, his servants encountered him in Oslo, Hungary, and pressed him into service. Rebel Lazar said to them, I beg of you, release me, and let me just go learn Torah. Let me, leave me alone. Amrolov, right, what does the commentary here explain?
The word hangaria usually refers to the service of the master of the town, who, in this case, was Rebel Lazar Ben-Charsom himself. However, the servants did not recognize him. They mistook him for a resident of one of Rebel Lazar's towns. He could legally be pressed into the service of their master. He was the master. He says, no, no, no, leave me alone. And Rebel Lazar Ben-Charsom did not initially identify himself because he was uncertain the servants would believe him.
And he did not wish to take time from his studies in order to convince them. So he just begged them, please, just leave me alone, just leave me alone so I don't have to work and I can just study Torah. Amrolov, they said to him, By the life of Rebel Lazar Ben-Charsom, we will not release you. From this incident, it was apparent that all the days of Rebel Lazar's life, he never went back to see his servants because he never wanted to be forced
to have to go serve the master of that town, which was he himself. He didn't want to, which is, by the way, they have this thing, like the CEO goes undercover to see his own company, his own many, right? That's a similar thing. He was the CEO, he was the owner of the town, and yet he didn't want to be identified. And what would he do? Rather, he would sit and engage in Torah study all day and all night.
The Bricev concludes with the judgment of the third person, the third type of person, Roshom, Omrimlo. To the wicked person, they say in the heavenly court, why did you not engage in Torah study? If he says, look, I'm a handsome guy and I'm entangled with my evil inclination, I have desires and temptations. Were you any more handsome than Joseph? The Bricev relates how extremely handsome Joseph was and how much he overcame his temptation. It was said about Joseph, each and every day,
the wife of Potiphar would attempt to seduce him with words. The clothes that she wore for him in the morning, she did not wear for him in the evening, meaning she was constantly changing her wardrobe, trying to entice him and seduce him. And the clothes that she wore in the evening, she did not wear again in the morning. She wore new clothes, constantly trying to appeal to Joseph. After changing her clothes and her appearance and trying to arouse him,
Potiphar's wife said to Joseph, surrender yourself to me and commit adultery. He said no. She said to him, I'm going to throw you into prison. We know that Hashem is the one who releases the imprisoned. Go right ahead. I will strike your stature. You're the leader of my home. I will strike you down. What did he answer? Hashem straightens the bent. You'll beat me down? Hashem will stand me upright. I will blind your eyes, she threatened. What did he answer?
Hashem is the one who gives sight to the blind. She gave him 1,000 silver bars to enrich him and to bribe him to commit adultery with her. So that he'd listen to her. To lie beside her and to be with her. And he did not listen to her. The Gemara here says, the commentaries here explain that Joseph was rewarded measure for measure for resisting each of this woman's threats and inducements. She tried, she tried with everything to entice him, to seduce him.
And he kept on staying strong in his commitment to his holiness. The Brisa expounds this verse to explain Joseph's decision. He did not listen to her to lie with her in this world. Because he did not want to be with her in the world to come. What is the commentary explains? That is, he did not want to be punished with her in Gehenna in the world to come. Says, if I commit this sin, I'm going to be punished in the world to come.
I don't want that. The Brisa expounds this verse to explain Joseph's decision. So we just explained. The Brisa now concludes, And we see from this Gemara that Hillel obligates the poor people to study Torah. Obligates the wealthy people. And Yosef obligates the wicked people. Meaning, our sages ask, why Joseph is not mentioned first in as much as he lived before Hillel and Rabbal Azar. He explained that the Tanah's listing reflects the importance of the judged in descending order.
That is, the pauper is held in a greater esteem by the heavenly court than the rich man. And the rich man in a greater stature than the evil person. Now the evil person, why are they calling Yosef, Hatzadik, the evil person? Meaning, this whole idea of immorality is an act of evil. Not that Yosef was evil, but the circumstances are evil. That means that someone who doesn't hold themselves with purity and holiness, Yosef is called a Tzadik.
There are two people in the Torah called a Tzadik. Noach is Tzadik and Yosef Hatzadik. To be in a place of such, who was there? Who was there with Yosef in Egypt? Nobody, nobody would find out. What happens in Vegas days in Vegas? Nobody knows anything. Yosef had a relationship with Hashem. He says, Hashem is everywhere. And we see that by his response. She says, I'm going to, I'm going to take your eyes out. I'm going to make you blind.
She says, Hashem pokei achivrim. Meaning, he had a consciousness knowing Hashem is the one who gives me eyes. Hashem is the one who stands us upright. Hashem is the one who releases the matir asurim, the releases those imprisoned. There's no threat because I know Hashem is with me. Because he had that consciousness is why he maintained his holiness. He maintained his purity. All of the greatness that we have to withstand temptation is from Yosef. Yosef teaches us.
Nowhere we see, we'll get into why he was Tzadik as well. Why he's called in the Torah Tzadik, it's very rare. We don't see Moshe being called Tzadik. We don't see others being called Tzadik. But I'll tell you the similarity is very simple. That Noach and Yosef were both people who saved their generation. Noach, after the flood, he saved his family and from there came the rest of humanity. And Yosef saved his family in Egypt and from there came
the rest of the Jewish people. Just say someone who saves other people and looks out for other people, that's a Tzadik. Right, so Noach was limited. In his generation he was a Tzadik, right. But you know what? To follow instructions is a big thing. It's a big deal. Go out there in the world and see. Did you ever drive above the speed limit? Okay, follow instructions. Follow instructions. It says 35 speed limit. Why are you driving 45?
It's a special thing for someone to follow. Look, the Torah gives us 248 performative commandments, 365 prohibitions. It's not so difficult. Just follow instructions. It is. That's greatness. That notwithstanding all the temptation. Again, she tried to entice him in every way possible. She tried threatening him. That's how beautiful he was. It says, Ben Porat Yosef, the beauty of Yosef. Ben Porat Aley Ayin, Notzada Aley Shur. The women would stand on the walls.
They would go up on the top of the walls to see Yosef. Every girl wanted to look at him. He was so beautiful. He was so beautiful. And we see that he was punished because he understood his beauty. The commentaries explain that he was misal so besaro, that he would comb his hair beautifully. He would look good. So perhaps he was held accountable for that because he was a little bit vain in that regard.
But who are we to speak about Yosef Hatzadik? Unbelievable. My dear friends, this concludes today's episode. We all have a great answer. We're learning Torah. And that's the greatest gift. That we're able to say, whether we're wealthy, whether we're poor, whether we're wicked, have wicked temptations. We're studying Torah. We come here every single week. To study Torah. That's the greatest answer. God willing, we won't have any challenges to pull us down. We'll only use the Torah to continue to elevate ourselves, just like Yosef. My dear friends, have a great Shabbos.
You've been listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe on a podcast produced by TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.