(For the riddles, please see back page)
1) The Targum Yonason on the subject of “egla arufah” – “the ritual performed when a corpse is found between two cities” (Devorim 21:8), tells us that after the Sanhedrin would perform the required ceremony, a row of worms would emerge from the calf and trace a line to the home of the murderer, who would then be condemned to death for his crime. (Torah IQ)
2) The pasuk says “ki ha’adam eitz hasadeh” – “man is compared to the tree in the field” (Devorim 20:19). Just as the mitzvah of “orlah” forbids the eating of the fruit tree for the first three years, so too, we have the minhag of not cutting a male child’s hair for the first three years. (Torah IQ)
3) The sefer Torah from which they are reading belonged to the king (Devorim 17:18). According to the Rambam, (Hilchos Melochim 3:1), a commoner may not read from the Torah of the king. The pasuk says: “v’kara bo kol yemai chayav” – “and the king should read from it all the days of his life” (Devorim 17:19). We deduce from this pasuk, that it is only the king who may read from the king’s sefer Torah. (Torah IQ)
4) R’ Yitzchok Zilberstein writes: Throwing bottles into a regular bin is not considered ba’al tashchis, as for most people it makes no difference. However, Chazal (Yevamos 11b) say: לא ישפוך אדם מי בורו ואחרים צריכים להם – “One shouldn’t pour away water from his pit, if other people need it”. Therefore, anything which has a purpose for other people, should not be wasted. Therefore, if possible, one should try and dispose of the bottle in the special recycling bin.
However, if great effort is involved, then there is room to be lenient. The Mishnah Berurah (15:3) writes: If one has an old tallis that he wants to throw out, some Achronim write that one should be careful to untie the knots and unwind the strings carefully and not simply cut them off, in order to ensure that they can be used on another garment. Like Chazal say: לא ישפוך אדם מי בורו ואחרים צריכים להם – “One shouldn’t pour away water from his pit, if other people need it”. However, the Chayei Adam writes: If it’s difficult and great effort is involved, then one can cut/snap them off and there is no problem of ba’al tashchis, as one is not doing it in a destructive manner.
Therefore, if one is a masmid and every second of time is priceless and can’t be made up, or the recycling bin is far away, then one may be lenient. If, however, recycling is just as easy, one should recycle the bottle and help those who gain from it, and receive a mitzvah of chesed.
R’ Yaakov Meir Stern, when asked this shailah also ruled, that there is no prohibition of ba’al tashchis.
The Mishnas Yosef (11:205) has a Teshuvah in which he discusses the above, and he says more or less the same as R’ Zilberstein. However, he adds one small point: In Eretz Yisroel, there is a system that for every bottle that one recycles (if taken to the correct place) he can receive money. For plastic bottles one normally gets around 30 agarot, however, on some glasses bottles one can get much more. Many people collect bottles and make money from this. I even saw during bein hazmanim someone going around to all the bins and collecting the bottles. So, certainly if one is able to give his bottles to such a person and help him earn some money one should do so. (There is a chosuvah shul in my area, which introduced a scheme that they would collect lots of bottles over the years and they would use the money earnt from handing them into to the recycling place to by a set of Neviyim.) However, the Mishnas Yosef adds, “If the money is going towards someone who needs money to feed his desires (i.e. cigarettes, drugs etc.) then one should certainly avoid giving them to him.”
5) i) R' Hutner in Pachad Yitzchok brings a moshul to answer the above. He says that there are two types of people who sing. Some people when they sing, can sing for two hours straight, and although they have sung for two hours, each part of the two hours is unrelated to other. Then there is another group of people that can sing, however, in this group the whole purpose of the two hours of singing, is a lead up to bring out the main chorus of the song. To get to the peak of the song, there is a two hour build up. In the first group each part of the song is unrelated to the next, whereas in the second group it’s all connected.
R' Hutner explains, when it comes to the six constant mitzvos, although they are constant, each minute that one fulfills the mitzvah is unrelated to the next. If one fulfills one of the six constant mitzvos and then stops, and then continues again, the second time one fulfills the mitzvah he is not worse off. When it comes to Talmud Torah however, each minute is connected and effects the next. If one learns, then stops, and then starts again, it’s a different learning to one who learnt straight through uninterrupted. Therefore, we are commanded to make sure to learn wherever we are, as each minute effects the next. An insightful, but scary thought.
I would like to bring two more answers which I received from R’ Yehuda Leib Liberman shlita:
I want to posit two potential answers, which depend on whether you would consider the six constant mitzvos ones that you need to actively engage in.
ii) To start there is a question - how can you perform six mitzvos at the same time? Perhaps the answer is that the Torah is obligating you to have your mind in congruence with these six concepts of Loving Hashem, Fearing him, Knowing he is one, etc. So that with all of your thoughts, speech and action, it is within the boundaries set by these precepts. Whereas by Talmud Torah it is not the same. You need to actively engage and can't simply have your mind in congruence with Torah in order to study and learn. Therefore, the Torah pushes you to make sure that this, more physically demanding requirement is performed at all times.
iii) Even if you are to say that you need to actively engage in the six constant mitzvos (I remember hearing of a Rav who would constantly make a Yud and a Hey and a Vav and a Hey with his finger – except on Shabbos) - perhaps you can answer that Torah requires ameilus and not just engagement. Therefore, it may be a simpler matter to continually be engaged with the six constant mitzvos wherever you go or whatever you do, however, with Torah, which requires intense study, you may not think it's possible to get to such a level to be able to perform this mitzvah at all times - so the Torah tells you otherwise.
