Beit Midrash

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קטגוריה משנית
To dedicate this lesson
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Gemara: Rav Bibi applied lime to his daughter [to remove hair] one limb at a time [and she became very attractive]. A gentile in his neighborhood applied lime to his daughter over the whole body at one time, and she died. Her father said: "Rav Bibi killed my daughter."



Ein Ayah: The moral attribute of patience has to find its way into every element of a person’s personality. It applies to the proper pursuit of purity and making the soul unpolluted. This spiritual process of improvement resembles the acts to beautify the body and its limbs, by using special techniques.

It is the Jewish way to build purity onto purity by practical education, specifically through the performance of common mitzvot on a daily basis. These sanctify the limbs of the body, as the 248 positive mitzvot correspond to the 248 limbs of the body. Through these mitzvot, the body becomes holy and beautiful one step at a time. This progression, "one limb at a time," was the approach of Rav Bibi and indeed is the way Jews in general are expected to go about the path of their life.

The gentile, when he decides to copy the Jew, goes about it in a different manner, when the grandeur of a life of morality and loftiness of the spirit appeals to him. He jumps in one step into a life of outright rejection of the physical world. This is because he is missing the education that teaches that steps should be taken methodically, and going for too much too fast can bring about death. Indeed the body can die when one is not ready to withstand such a level of purity and did not move toward it in a gradual manner – "one limb at a time." They actually will come to be disgusted by the positive and will act diametrically opposed to purity.

The failure to properly imitate physical and moral beauty, which is at the root of Judaism, can bring gentiles to hatred of Israel. This can reach the extent that he blames Jews for his educational failure. The example of this idea is Rav Bibi’s neighbor who blamed him for the tragedy that came about when he tried to copy Rav Bibi, but with a lack of patience.
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Lessons
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    3 min
    Shlach Lecha

    For God's Sake Don't Go To Israel

    Israel National Torah

    Clarifying the spies' argument for not entering the Land of Israel...and then clarifying why it's so important to enter the Land anyway.

    Baruch Gordon | Sivan 19 5780
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    Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions

    Serving as Chazan on the Shabbat Before a Yahrtzeit

    How important is it for someone to be chazan on the Shabbat before a yahrtzeit? Is it is just for parents, or also grandparents/in laws? Some people in my [the rabbi] shul feel that people use it as an excuse to “grab the amud.”

    Rabbi Daniel Mann | Tevet 2 5777
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    Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions

    How Many Eggs Should be Boiled Together?

    When making hardboiled eggs, may one cook one or two eggs or must there be at least three? Also, does it make a difference if there is an even or odd number

    Rabbi Daniel Mann
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    P'ninat Mishpat

    Introduction and Biography of the Noda B’Yehuda

    After an extended period of presenting ideas of the Chatam Sofer on monetary disputes, we move on to a shorter series on the works of Rav Yechezkel Segal Landau, often called the Noda B’yehuda. (Although Rav Landau served as a dayan for many years, poskim do not usually publicize their rulings on cases in which they served as a dayan, but on questions asked by other rabbis. The Noda B’yehuda did not include many such cases in his reponsa.) Many view the Chatam Sofer and the Noda B’Yehuda as two of a kind. They were in the same basic time period (Rav Landau was around 50 years older), they were important rabbis of important communities at critical times, and the works of each are among the most respected and quoted by Acharonim.

    Various Rabbis | Tevet 8 5776
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    Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions

    Working in a Non-Kosher Establishment

    Rabbi Daniel Mann | Sivan 14 5775
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    Prayer

    Birkot HaShachar – The Morning Blessings

    Chapter nine-part one

    Chapter nine-part one

    Rabbi Eliezer Melamed | 5775
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    Jewish Holidays

    The Twentieth of Sivan

    "I noticed that the back of my siddur contains a large section devoted to selichos for the 20th of Sivan, yet I have never davened in a shul that observed this day. What does this date commemorate?"

    Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | Sivan 17 5780
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    Additional Lessons

    The Laws of Tumas Meis

    When the Beis Hamikdash is rebuilt, bimheirah beyameinu, the laws of tumah will affect us all, since we will be required to be tahor in order to enter the Beis Hamikdash, to eat korbanos and maaser sheini, and in order to separate challah and terumah.

    Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | 5772
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    Various Subjects

    Redeeming a Firstborn Donkey!

    The Mitzvah of redeeming the first born Donkey - a long lost Halacha or a practical law for Donkey owners and riders in today's times ??

    Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | 5770
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    Basics of Financial Laws

    How Does a Heter Iska Work?

    What is the prohibition of "Ribbit"? who does it apply on? How does the "Heter Iska" bypass the prohibition? and more...

    Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | 5770
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    Marriage and Relationships

    Relationships during the Time of Engagement

    A young engaged man and his fiancée naturally have very strong feelings for each other. It goes without saying that these will be expressed after the wedding, but what expression, if any, is permitted in the meantime? And while we're on the subject, is the attraction of men and women to each other really a good thing to begin with?

    Rabbi Elyakim Levanon | 5770
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    Brachot on Food and on Smell

    Pizza, Pretzels and Pastry

    When is the Bracha Hamotzi and when is it a Mezonot?

    Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff
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