Answers to this Weeks Riddles

Answers to this Week’s Riddles

(For the riddles, please see back page)

1. The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 297:4) writes: נהגו לברך על ההדס כל היכא דאפשר – “The custom is to make a berachah on a myrtle, as long as it is still possible”. The Mishnah Berurah (297 s.k. 8) writes: We are referring to using the hadasim that were used on Succos in the arbah minim. The reason one should use them is: כיון דאתעביד בה חדא מצוה לעביד בה מצוה אחריתא – “Since one mitzvah has been done with it, we try and do another one”. However, the Mishnah Berurah adds: One can only do as long as they still smell, after a few weeks once the smell goes, one can no longer use them for besomim in havdolah.
2. The Gemara in Sanhedrin (108b) teaches, that the tohar birds were also on the top floor together with Noach and his family. Therefore, when Noach sent out the Yonah it says (8:8): וישלח את היונה מאתו – “He sent the Yonah which was with him out”, meaning the Yonah which always was on the same floor as Yonah. The Maharsha brings an even bigger chiddush from the Medrash Rabbah (31:11) which says, that not only were the tohar birds on the same floor as Noach, but all the tohar birds and animals were on the top floor with Noach.
3. The Yalkut Me’am Loez writes: One of Noach’s sons told Eliezer the slave of Avraham, “We had great discomfort in the teivah due to the lions who have the nature of eating meat. The lions could have eaten other animals in the teivah, however, Hashem had great mercy, and He made it very hot to make the lions feel satiated, and keep them calm, like we find by people who are sick, that they don’t need to eat as the heat makes them feel full”. In short: Hashem made it very hot, therefore they weren’t hungry, and as a result they never ate the other animals.
4. The Medrash Rabbah (Perek 31, ois 14) says: R’ Aba bar Kahna said, “Noach brought into the teivah grape vines to feed the elephants, some special type of grass to feed the deer’s and וזכוכית לנעמיות, glass to feed the namiyos.” It’s clear from the Gemara in Shabbos (128a) that the food that namiyos eat is glass. Rashi there understands that namiyos are ostriches, and the reason they eat glass is because their stomachs are very hard. However, in Medrash Eicha Rabbah (Perek 3, ois 400) there is another teaching from R’ Aba bar Kahna. The Medrash discusses how Shmuel HaNavi got rid of the body of Agog the king of Amalek, and R’ Aba bar Kahna says: “They cut his body into many pieces of meat and fed it to the namiyos.” From this Medrash it would seem that namiyos eat meat, if so, why did Noach have to bring glass into the teviah for them, why couldn’t they eat meat?

Perhaps we can answer the above based on something the Sefer HaBris writes (Vol. 1, Perek 5) about ostriches. He writes: “Their food is grass and shrubs, and when they don’t find what to eat – they swallow bone, iron, all other types of metal and glass.” We see that their main source of food is grass and shrubs, and only when they need to, i.e. they are very hungry, then they also eat glass.

However, the question now is: Why did Noach prepare for the namiyos glass, why didn’t he prepare for them grass, shrubs, bones or meat?

Perhaps we can answer based on the Ibn Ezra. The Ibn Ezra asks: What did all the predator birds and wild animals such as lions who only eat meat do in the teivah, it wasn’t possible for Noach to bring in so much meat? He answers: This is not difficult, as if they can’t find meat – they are able to survive on grass, fruit and other such things.”