For her role in eating from the fruit of the tree of knowledge, Hashem punished Chavah (Rashi 3:16) with the difficulty of raising children and with the pain of pregnancy. Wouldn’t it have been more chronologically precise to reverse the curses, as the suffering of pregnancy precedes that of child-raising?
The above is a very famous question, and many answers have been given to the above. The Taz, Maharil Diskin, and Brisker Rov answer that this curse was directed to Chavah, who gave birth to Kayin and Hevel prior to eating the forbidden fruit (Sanhedrin 38b). For her, the difficulty of raising children preceded the pain of any future pregnancies, so it was said first.
Rav Chaim Volozhiner explains that the curse is that a woman will get pregnant with additional children before she finishes the difficulty of raising those who have already been born. The pain of pregnancy is written second to hint that it exacerbates the pain of raising already-born children.
The Steipler suggests that the order of this curse is fulfilled in our generation, when mothers are forced by financial considerations to work outside of the house and young children are babysat by their older sisters. These girls experience the difficulty of raising children (their younger siblings) long before they know the pain of bearing their own children.
Rav Yosef Sorotzkin posits that as difficult as a situation may be, the knowledge that it is temporary makes it more bearable. A woman could cope with the difficult nine months of pregnancy if this were the only suffering associated with children. However, the knowledge that the pain will continue without any limit through child-raising exacerbates the pain of the pregnancy, so this curse is written first. (R’ Ozer Alport)From the Gemara in Kiddushin (35a) it’s clear that the mitzvah of peru urevu is not considered a time bound mitzvah. The question is, according to many Rishonim the five inuyim [afflictions] on Yom Kippur are de’O’raisa and marital relations are forbidden on Yom Kippur, if so, surely it should be considered a time-bound mitzvah? Moreover, when a woman is a niddah she is forbidden to her husband, so why does the Gemara consider the mitzvah of peru urevu not to be a time-bound mitzvah?
R’ Yosef Engel (Asvon De’O’raisa, Klal 22) discusses the above. He writes that the above is a rayah to the achronim who learn that when there is a אריה דאיסורא רביע עליה, it doesn’t make it time bound. Meaning, on Yom Kippur there is a mitzvah of peru urevu, it’s just that there is a side issue that it is Yom Kippur and one isn’t able to fulfill the mitzvah. Presumably the same thing would apply to a niddah. He then suggests that a mitzvah which applies all year around except for one day, is not considered time bound. However, this doesn’t answer up the question from niddah.
The Imros Moshe (4:4) cites R’ Shlomah Kluger, that if the amount of time that there is a chiyuv for a mitzvah exceeds the amount of time that there is no mitzvah, then we can’t say the chiyuv to fulfill the mitzvah is time-bound. On the contrary, the time brings an exemption, not a chiyuv. This would apply to both Yom Kippur and niddah.
Finally based on what we spoke about at length last week, if we take on like the Minchas Chinuch that the mitzvah of peru urevu is only fulfilled when one has a child, then one can have a child all year round even on Yom Kippur, and even when a niddah, and the mitzvah is therefore not considered time bound.In this week’s parsha we learn of the tragic incident of Kayin killing Hevel. This was the first murder that took place in the history of the world. The question is, what exactly did Kayin do to kill Hevel? And how did he know that it would work?
The Pikudecha Dorashti brings a number of answers:
Firstly, the Gemara in Sanhedrin (37a) writes that in fact Kayin didn’t know what he was doing, and he wasn’t sure how to kill. Therefore, he made lots of wounds and cuts all over Hevel and he eventually died.
Then he cites the Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer (Perek 21) which writes, that Kayin killed Hevel, by taking a stone and sinking it into Hevel’s forehead. It’s not clear how he knew to do this.
The Radal (on the Pirkei D’Rabbi Eliezer, 35) cites the Zohar that Kayin bit Hevel the way that wild animals bite, and he died trough that. If this is how he killed him, presumably he learnt this from the animals.
Finally, the Medrash Rabbah, quotes R’ Yochanan who says that Kayin slaughtered Hevel using a knife.In Birchas Hamazon on Shabbos we add retzei and we mention: שלא תהא צרה ויגון ואנחה ביום מנוחתינו – “So that there should not be any distress grief or lament on this day of our rest”. Why do we only daven not to have distress and grief on Shabbos, it seems that in the week we are happy to have distress and grief? Moreover, why don’t we daven not to have distress and grief altogether?
The above riddle came from the Madanay Asher. He brings an answer from R’ Menachem Jacobson, who cites the Taamei HaMinhagim, Kuntros Achron 374, who writes: Just like the main life source of the body is the heart, and all other organs get strength and life from the heart, similarly, Shabbos is the life source for the entire week. And just like the heart needs to be well protected, to ensure the rest of the body gets life, similarly, Shabbos needs to be protected. On Shabbos we daven “that there should not be any distress grief or lament on this day of our rest”, and as long as Shabbos is good, then the rest of the week which gets its life from Shabbos will also be good. (For more answers see Madanay Asher, Bereishis 5782)
