Halakhah su Esodo 17:78

One also has to careful when about to say birkat ha-mazon to remove the knife from the table. The reason for this practice is because the table is called an “altar,” and just as on an altar we have been warned not to brandish something made of iron over it, as it is said, “do not build it [an altar] of hewn stones, etc.”¹⁹⁴Ex 20:22. The rule of Torah is that if one makes it into an altar of hewn stones with a tool of silver or flint, it is permitted. For the point of the prohibition is not against it being hewn, but rather because it is hewn with something made of iron, i.e., a sword, and Torah kept it far from the tabernacle, when it is written: “gold, silver, and copper,”¹⁹⁵Ex 25:3. but does not mention iron there. And likewise with the sanctuary it is written, “No hammers or axe or any iron tool was heard in the House when it was being built.”¹⁹⁶I Kings 6:7. The reason is because that is the power of Esau with what he was blessed from his father’s mouth; this is what is meant by “By the sword you shall live,”¹⁹⁷Gen 27:40. and it is written, “but Esau I hated.”¹⁹⁸Mal 1:3. Therefore it is kept far from the sanctuary. And likewise at the table we have been warned to remove the sword from it, because the sword is something destructive¹⁹⁹The pun ha-herev hu ha-mahriv is lost in the translation. and the source of destruction, the opposite of peace, and it does not belong in a place of blessing, i.e., peace. For indeed the altar and the table prolongs a person’s days, while a sword shortens them, and it makes no sense to brandish something that shortens over something that prolongs life.²⁰⁰Mekhilta Yitro (end).

Some of the meals prepared in the world to come are bodily and intellectual – for both the body and soul. And there are some intellectual meals for souls who stand alone without the body, and they enjoy forever those very worlds where each and every one resides according to their level. The bodily meals have been reserved for them from the beginning, the refined and pure foods created from the supernal light through a chain of causes. And they are: Leviathan among the fishes, Bar-Yokhnai among the birds, which were created on the fifth day, and Leviathan is called what it is because it is ordered for the righteous, and likewise the Behemoth of the thousand mountains,¹Ps 50:10. which was created on the sixth day with the creation of the human being, but before him. And the quality of these foods is very profound; they can penetrate into the intellect and purify the heart, like the manna which the generation in the desert merited, which was “like wafers in honey”,²Ex. 16:31. and was an offspring of the upper light, about which it is written, “Sweet is the light, and good to the eyes, to see the sun.”³Eccl. 11:7. And it is possible that their quality will be greater than those who ate the manna, for insofar as perception at the end of days will be greater and more elevated than all the times before, so will the hearts be wide enough to include knowledge of Ha-Shem (May He Blessed) in its completeness, like “waters covering to the sea,”⁴Is. 11.9. and this will be in the time of the Messiah greater and greater than the generation of the desert who went out of Egypt, habituated to hard labor, raising their hands out of mud, and their “palms just passed from the kettle.”⁵Ps. 81:7. For this time will be the perfect and elevated time, following the will of the One Who dwells in the bush, what is not so in this world, because it does not follow what His will was. And that is why they fixed the wording of the Kaddish to say, ‘be-alma dibra khe-r’utay‘ [‘in the world He created according to His will’], so consequently we pray for the time of the King Messiah which in the future the Holy One Blessed be He will create according to His will. And the compelling proof of this is that this world which we stand in now, in its conduct indeed does not follow His will, because here – when Adam sinned because of the serpent, it was against His will, because it was indeed His will that Adam live forever, that he never die. And thus the intention of creation was originally that no creature ever cross the line of serving its Creator, and because the design of the Holy One Blessed Be He was not fulfilled, but instead, the design of the Adversary, nevertheless, this world itself necessarily will return to the end which was the desire of its Creator at its beginning. And because we pray for this very time, the formulation of the Kaddish was fixed in the Aramaic language, so that the ministering angels won’t recognize or understand it, for if they did understand, they would be jealous of our status at that time, and they would pray for the delay of the redemption. Therefore we seek mercy for the name YAH as it written regarding it, “By the hand on the throne of YAH,”⁶Ex 17:16. Both kise and Yah are spelled defectively, that is without an aleph and hay respectively, according to R. Bahya’s midrashic reading of Ex 17:16 and the Kaddish. See Mahzor Vitry. that His name will be “made greater and sanctified”, that is, the “name Yah will be great and blessed” [yehay shmay (= shem yah) rabah mevorakh], namely, that both His name and His throne will be complete, in that world which He created according to His will, all of it will return to like it was at its beginning. And I have compelling proofs for this that there is no need for me to go into at length, for it is my intention in this Gate only to give an explanation of the bodily and intellectual meals prepared for the righteous in their body and soul, and for the intellectual meals which are for the soul alone without the body. And no one with understanding ought to be astonished if the righteous will have actual physical meals, that they will delight in both in body and soul. For see, in the Garden of Eden which had in its land a tree of life which could bring about eternal life for those who ate from it – whether good or bad, and there was water and grasses in it, which without a doubt, some of them were life-giving, others deadly, some of them healthful, others which would make you sick. And thus it is written in the Torah, “There He made for them a fixed rule, and there He put them to the test.”⁷Ex 15:25, which R. Bahya understands to apply to the Garden of Eden as well, not just to the grumbling Israelites’ experience in the desert.And the view of our rabbis z”l was that the wood was bitter, and the Holy One Blessed Be He sweetened the bitter with something bitter, a miracle within a miracle, and so our sages z”l taught in a midrash:⁸Mekhilta Be-Shalah Vayisa’ 1. “‘The Lord showed him [Moses] a piece of wood.’⁹Ex 15:25. Rabbi Elazar says it was hardofaney,¹⁰A kind of ivy with berries poisonous to animals. R. Nathan says it was olive wood,¹¹According to the Mekhilta, ibid., there is no wood more bitter than olive wood. and there are others who say it was the roots of a fig tree.” In any case, it was bitter. And so you find it written about Elisha, “The water is bad and the land causes bereavement,”¹²2 Kings 2:19. and it is written, “Bring me a new dish, and put salt in it,”¹³Ibid. 2:20. and that “healed” the water.¹⁴Ibid., 2:22.Rabbi Simon ben Gamaliel says how much more wonderful are His ways than the ways of flesh and blood! He puts a harmful thing inside a harmful thing to make a miracle inside of a miracle.¹⁵Mekhilta, ibid. Moreover, we are able to teach even more midrash about this, for you know Torah has seventy faces, because when it said in the verse, “There He put them to the test,”¹⁶Ex 15:25. that is to say, there Moses tested this plant, and it was out of the science the Holy One Blessed be He taught him that he knew the power of this plant, about its nature or its virtue, which was to sweeten the bitter. And so it uses the expression: va-yorehuHa-Shem (i.e., “the Lord instructed him”), instead of va-yar’ehu (“He showed him”),¹⁷Ex 15:25. Actually, va-yorehu is just a defective spelling of va-yarehu, and so its literal meaning is the same: “He showed him,” but R. Bahya exploits the spelling anomaly for the sake of midrash.because he had to have Him teach him about this; the Holy One Blessed be He taught him the science of the plants He created – about their nature to revive and to kill, to heal and to sicken, to sweeten and to embitter. And this is the connotation of the expression hok u-mishpat (“statute and law”):¹⁸Here R. Bahya is drawing upon the classic Jewish medieval philosophical distinction between laws whose rationale are not immediately accessible to reason – “hukim” (e.g., the rules of kashrut) and those which any rational being would derive through reason – “mishpatim” (e.g., “Thou shalt not kill”). The Torah consists of both types of laws, but the hukim are known to us only because God revealed them. R. Bahya suggests here that the “laws of nature” (e.g., the nature of plants in this case) are analogous to laws governing human behavior – mitzvot. In other words, eh believe we can discern some qualities of the natural world through natural science, but other qualities are made known to us only through supernatural revelation. hok is its virtue whose reason is not known, and about mishpat, our rabbis z”l said, “And the Lord instructed him [about] the tree” – that is, its nature, that it is by law to be so in its nature. And it is connected immediately to “If you will heed the Lord your God diligently, doing what is upright in His sight, giving ear to his commandments and keeping all His hukim [“statutes”], then I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians, for I the Lord am your healer.”¹⁹Ex 15:26.Scripture has warned us not to entrust the core of our well-being to the power of plants, but rather to keeping the commandments, for they are the core. And with keeping the commandments He will keep them healthy, and prevent them from getting sick. And it was necessary to say this, because it is possible that mortals, erring and stumbling through their knowledge of the powers of these plants, will entrust the core of their well-being to them, and despair of seeking mercy from the Master of Mercy (may He be blessed) “in whose hand is every living soul.”²⁰Job 12:10. And this is the reason why King Hezekiah hid the Book of Cures, so that human beings would not stumble over them, and the sages z”l thanked him for this.²¹B. Pesahim 56a.

Aside from these individuals, the Bible contains other examples of wars where the spiritual elite fought. Rashi (Bemidbar 31:3) asserts that the soldiers in the wars against Amaleik (Shemot 17:8-16) and Midyan (Bemidbar 31) were specifically chosen based on their religious piety. The Radak and Malbim (Shofetim 5:14) explain that, after defeating the army of Canaan, the prophetess Devorah gave special praise to the people of Machir and Zevulun precisely because their religious leaders fought in the battle. All of these sources clearly teach that no fundamental problem exists with spiritual leaders serving in an army. The advisability of their service in the Israeli army today, however, remains to be determined.

The Or Samei'ach (Hil. Megillah 1:1) suggests a reason for linking reading to the memory of Amaleik. He notes that the need to write down the Megillah stems from God's commandment to Moshe to commemorate the heinous attack of Amaleik in writing (Shemot 17:14). The Purim miracle can be recounted orally for pirsumei nisa, but written commemoration of Amaleik necessitates reading out of a scroll. Accordingly, women, who are merely obligated to orally recount the miracle, cannot discharge men of their obligation to read out of a Megillah scroll and commemorate Amaleik in writing. The Or Samei'ach thus explains the Behag's intention in writing that men are obligated to read the Megillah, while women are only obligated to hear the Megillah.

Every oleh must read³⁸Or have the ba’al koreih read for him, as is the present custom. at least three verses. On Mondays and Thursdays and at the Shabbos Minchah service, it is required that in all no less than ten verses be read. We should read a minimum of four verses for the third oleh.³⁹Some allow three verses to be read. If it happened that in all only nine verses were read, i. e., three for each oleh, the obligation is fulfilled. On Purim, we read only nine verses for all [the olim] combined because the subject matter ends [after nine verses].⁴⁰On Purim, the holiday commemorating our victory over Haman, a descendant of Amaleik, we read of the attack of Amaleik upon us in the wilderness. (Exodus 17:8–16). That chapter contains only nine verses.

As it is required for the house of Israel to read from the scrolls, and to teach in the Torah, and to conclude with the prophets, on each day according to its subject matter — laws of Pesaḥ on Pesaḥ, laws of Shavuot on Shavuot, laws of Sukkot on Sukkot, as it is written "And Moses spoke the appointed-times of haShem to the children of Israel" (Leviticus 23:44), and it is commanded to read every matter at its time and extrapolate on the subject of the day, as taught, "Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says:¹In our manuscripts, it says "The Rabbis taught" here. Moses ordained for Israel that they would investigate and extrapolate on the matter of the day — laws of Pesaḥ on Pesaḥ, laws of Shavuot on Shavuot, laws of Sukkot on Sukkot" (Megillah 32a:17). On Ḥanukkah we read the princes (Numbers 7). On Purim we read "And Amalek came" (Exodus 17:8—16). When Rosh Ḥodesh Adar falls on Shabbat we read the portion of the sheqalim (Exodus 30:11—16). "And Rabbi Yitzḥaq Nappaḥa said: when Rosh Ḥodesh Adar falls on Shabbat, bring three Torah scrolls, and read one for the matter of the day, and one for the new moon, and one from Ki Tissa. And Rabbi Yitzḥaq Nappaḥa said: when Rosh Ḥodesh Tevet falls on Shabbat, bring three Torah scrolls, and read one for the matter of the day, and one for Rosh Ḥodesh, and one for Ḥanukkah" (Megillah 29b:22). On Ḥanukkah and on Purim three people read, on Rosh Ḥodesh and on Ḥol ha-Moed four people read — since there is Musaf, we add [mosifin] a person. When Rosh Ḥodesh Adar falls on Shabbat, we read the portion of the sheqalim (Exodus 30:11—16). When it falls on another day of the week, we advance the reading of the portion of the sheqalim, and interrupt the special readings. On the second² Shabbat of the month we read 'Remember' (Deuteronomy 25:17—17). On the third, the red heifer (Numbers 19:1—22). On the fourth, 'This month' (Exodus 12:1—20). If it falls on the sixth, then 'This month' is on the fifth. After that they return to the regular order. And everyone interrupts the order for Rosh Hodesh, Ḥanukah, Purim, fast days, festival days, and Yom Kippur (Mishnah Megillah 3:5). On Pesaḥ they read the portion of the festivals. And a mnemonic is: "during the bull, sanctify with money, cut in the desert, send the firstborn." On Shavuot, "On the third day" (Exodus 19:1–20:23), and on the second day, "Every firstborn" (Deuteronomy 15:19—16:37). On Rosh Hashanah, "And haShem remembered Sarah" (Genesis 21:1–34) and on the second day, "And God tested Abraham" (Genesis 22:1—24). On Yom Kippur, "after the death" (Leviticus 16:1—34). On Sukkot, the offerings for Sukkot (Numbers 29:12—34). On Ḥanukkah, the princes (Numbers 7). On Purim, "And Amalek came" (Exodus 17:8—16). On Rosh Hodesh, "And on your new months" (Numbers 28:1–15). On the watches, the matter of creation (Genesis 1:1—2:3). On fast days, "And Moses petitioned" (Exodus 32:11—14, Exodus 34:1–10). On Mondays and Thursdays and on Shabbat in the afternoon they read according to the order, but they are not counted in the order. As it is said, "And Moses spoke the appointed-times of haShem to the children of Israel" (Leviticus 23:44) — it's commanded that they read each and every one at its time.

Another version of what appears to be an identical attempt to resolve this difficulty is cited by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik in the name of his father, the late Rabbi Moshe Soloveitchik, in a footnote to his "Kol Dodi Dofek," Ha-Dat ve-ha-Medinah, ed. M. Rottenberg (Tel Aviv, 5724), pp. 192–93.⁷This article is also included in Torah u-Melukhah, ed. S. Federbush (Jerusalem, 5721) and forms the second part of Mosad ha-Rav Kook’s edition of Rabbi Soloveitchik’s Ish ha-Emunah (Jerusalem, 5735). Rabbi Soloveitchik argues that the commandment with regard to Amalek is really a twofold one: (1) an obligation devolving upon each individual Jew to destroy the genealogical descendants of Amalek; (2) a communal obligation to defend the Jewish people against any enemy threatening its destruction. These differing obligations are indeed recorded as separate commandments. The commandment recorded in Deuteronomy 25:19, "you shall erase the memory of Amalek," is addressed to all individual Jews and refers only to genealogical descendants of Amalek. Exodus 17:16, which speaks of "the war of God against Amalek," is addressed to the community as a whole and lends sanction to a preemptive war undertaken in the face of impending danger. Since the latter type of warfare, although categorized as a war against "Amalek," must be waged against any would-be aggressor, Rambam eliminates mention of the fact that the genealogical descendants of Amalek are no longer identifiable. This thesis leads to a conclusion contradictory to that of Rabbi Gershuni. While Rabbi Gershuni's explanation would lend sanction to a war of aggression against professed enemies, according to this analysis only preemptive or defensive wars may be undertaken even against the avowed foes of the people of Israel.

How Many Verses Must Be Read For Each Aliyah. Containing 6 Se'ifim:
On a day that 3 [people] read, we do not read less than 10 verses. [The frequent short introductory verse] "And [the Lord] spoke..." is included in the count [of verses]. And if the topic ends in less than 10 verses, for example the parsha of Amalek [Exodus 17:8] which has only 9 verses, it is acceptable.

In the morning [it is proper] to get up early to go to the synagogue. After the Shemoneh Esrei, half-kaddish is said. We call up three persons for the Torah-reading of Parashas Vayavo Amalek [And Amelek came] [Ex. 17:8), after which half-kaddish is said. After the seifer Torah is placed in the Ark, the Megillah is read. After the last berachah [over the Megillah], in the morning, we do not say Asher heini [Who annuls the counsel of the nations]. After concluding the berachah with hakeil hamoshia [the God Who brings salvation] we say Shoshanas Yaakov [The rose of Jacob] etc. then Ashrei, Uva leTzion, Full-Kaddish including Tiskabbeil. You should not take off the tefillin until after the reading of the Megillah, because in the Megillah it is written, Vikar [and honor] (8:16), and [our Rabbis] expound that this refers to the tefillin. If there is a bris, it is performed before¹³According to Pri Chadosh and Vilna Gaon, the Megillah is read before the bris. (Mishnah Berurah 693:12) the reading of the Megillah, because it is written vesason [gladness], which refers to bris milah.

All (types of) work (for whose transgression) a person is guilty on the Sabbath is also guilty on Yom Kippur. And all types of work for whose transgression on the Sabbath a person is free from punishment but are still prohibited, are also prohibited on Yom Kippur in a like manner except that on the Sabbath a conscious sin is punishable by stoning,⁷⁹Stoning, sekilah, סקילה, is a Biblical form of capital punishment which was the standard penalty for crime in all ancient civilizations. In the Torah there are two explicit methods of executing a criminal or a sinner; stoning and burning. According to the Talmud, the Torah has four methods of execution: stoning, burning, beheading, and strangling, (See B. Sanhedrin 49b., ff).
Stoning was an instinctive violent expression of popular wrath, (Exodus 17:4, 8:22; Numbers 14:10; I Samuel 30:6; I Kings 12:18; II Chronicles 10:18) and often in the Bible it is the prescribed mode of execution (Leviticus 20:2, 27, 24:16; Numbers 15:35; Deuteronomy 13:11, 17:5, 21:21, 22:21, et al). Originally, the whole community participated in the stoning and were required to throw stones at the guilty person. Stonings were probably the standard form of judicial execution in Biblical times, (Leviticus 24:23; Numbers 15:36; I Kings 21:13; II Chronicles 24:21).
The Mishna (Sanh.6:4) states that a "stoning place" was established where instead of a person being pelted by stones, the convicted person would be pushed down from a high place to his death provided it was not too high so as to mutilate the body which was a concern of the rabbis. It also was not to be too low so the death would be instantaneous. The reason for the stoning place was that the scriptural rule states "The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death," (Deuteronomy 17:7) and then afterwards the "hand of all the people (should be on him)", (Deuteronomy 17:7). To insure that the witnesses put him to death they were the ones to push him and thereby be first to put him to death. Thus this method of "stoning" became acceptable as opposed to the actual throwing of stones. This also seemed the more "humane" way of carrying out capital punishment as the convicted person died more quickly and the danger of mutilation was reduced. In Maimonides' comment to Sanhedrin 6:4 he stated that it really made no difference if stones were thrown at one or if one were thrown at stones.
cf., Haim Hermann Cohn, v. 5, pp. 142-43. but on Yom Kippur it is punishable by karet.⁸⁰Karet, כרת; see footnote 78. Everything that is forbidden to be moved (or handled) on the Sabbath is also forbidden to be moved (or handled) on Yom Kippur, (but it is permitted to clean vegetables and to open (shell) nuts from the Minḥah time⁸¹Minḥah, מנחה, a time designating afternoon, meaning after the six and one half hour or after 12:30 P.M. according to our present day time system. (See footnote 40 for a more complete explanation). onward when (Yom Kippur) falls on a weekday, but nowadays (presently) it is customary to forbid that.)
Hagah: If a fire occurs on Yom Kippur, it is permitted to save one meal for the need of the night (following Yom Kippur) as one (may) save on the Sabbath the afternoon meal,⁸²The afternoon meal on the Sabbath is also referred to as Se'udah Shelishit, the third meal which is eaten on the Sabbath between the Minḥah, Afternoon Service (see footnote 40) and the Ma'ariv, Evening Service (see footnote 144). (ר״ן פרק כל כתבי),⁸³Rabbenu Nissim on the chapter Kol Khit-vey, כתבי ר״ן פרק כל, which is a commentary on the talmudic tractate Shabbat.
For Rabbenu Nissim, ר״ן; see footnote 47. and it is already explained in section 334⁸⁴See in the Shulḥan Arukh, Oraḥ Ḥayyim, chapter 334 which contains twenty-seven paragraphs on the laws that apply when a fire breaks out on the Sabbath. These same laws apply regarding a fire, according to Isserles to Yom Kippur. (as to) how to act at this time when a fire (occurs) on the Sabbath and the same law (applies) for Yom Kippur. It is customary that the children play with nuts (אגודה ומהרי״ל).⁸⁵Agudah and Maharil, אגודה ומהרי״ל.
The Agudah, אגודה, is a collection of halakhic decisions derived from talmudic discussions and arranged in the order of the talmudic tractates. It was written by Alexander Suslin ha-Kohen of Frankfort who died in 1349. The Agudah was published in Cracow in 1571 and it also included novellae of his own as well as those of his predecessors, and a commentary and collection of halakhot to the minor tractates and to the Mishnayot of the orders Zera'in and Tohorot. The language of the Agudah is very concise and it is evident that it was written quickly under the threat of the persecutions of the time since Suslin died a martyr's death in Erfurt. Suslin was the last of the early German halakhic authorities. This German talmudic scholar was born Erfurt where he taught, as well as in Worms, Cologne, and Frankfort.
The Agudah, Suslin's most famous work, gives halakhic rulings in concise form and it ignores differences of opinion. He used as sources Mordecai b. Hillel and Asher b. Jehiel. It is often necessary to consult the work of these two scholars to understand fully the Agudah. Jacob Weil (see footnote 27) wrote a digest to the work called Ḥiddushei Agudah which was published in Venice in 1523 and accompanies the Agudah. Later halakhic authorities such as Jacob ha-Levi Moellin (see footnote 8) and Moses Isserles considered his decisions authoritative and they quoted from him. Isserles mentioned the Agudah often in his glosses to the Shulḥan Arukh.
Editorial Staff, E. J., v. 2, p. 585.
Maharil, מהרי״ל; see footnote 8. One should not object to them (the children) even before the Afternoon Prayer⁸⁶Minḥah, מנחה; see footnote 40., and the custom is widespread with respect to the mentioned law of breaking nuts, (ד״ע).⁸⁷Da'at Aẓmo, ד״ע, Isserles' own opinion; see footnote 38.