Answers to this Week’s Riddles

(For the riddles, please see back page)

1. This question isn’t so fair as it is not really written in the pasukim. However, the Sefer HaYoshar relates a fascinating episode. He writes: After the shevotim brought Yosef’s kesones passim dipped in blood, and they told Yaakov that Yosef was eaten by a wild animal. Yaakov instructed his sons to go out to the field and to bring for him the first wild animal that crossed their path, as perhaps this would be the animal that attacked Yosef. The shevotim listened, and they took their hunting equipment out the field, and the first animal to cross their path was a wolf, and they trapped it and brought it to Yaakov.
2. Yaakov then took the wolf and screamed at it very loudly with a bitter heart and said, “Why did you eat Yosef my son, do you not have fear of G-d, and do you not care about the pain you caused me – how could you just eat my son for no good reason. You have sinned, and Hashem is going to punish you.”
3. The wolf then opened its mouth in defense and said, “I haven’t seen your son, and I certainly never devoured him. I have come from a distant land, and I am also looking for my son. What happened to your son, happened to mine as well. I spent 12 days looking for my son, not knowing if he was alive or dead. Finally, today I found him, and before I could get to him, they trapped me, and to add salt to my injury, they brought me in front of you. Son of man, you can do what you want with me today, however, know that I haven’t seen your son, and I certainly never ate him, in fact, I have never eaten any human being in my life.”
4. After hearing this, Yaakov was rather confused, and he let the wolf go.
5. The question is, the Mishnah in Avos (5:6) lists the miraculous thing that Hashem created on erev Shabbos when creating the world, and one of the things it lists is the “ability for Bila’am’s donkey to speak”. The question is, why doesn’t the Mishnah list the “ability for the wolf to speak to Yaakov”?
6. Perhaps we can answer, that once we are taught that Hashem created the “ability for Bila’am’s donkey to speak”, this episode is included. The Ritva says this idea in Avodah Zorah (24b). The Gemara darshens a pasuk in Shmuel, וישרנה הפרות בדרך על דרך בית שמש, to mean that on the way to Beit Shemesh the cows sang shira. The Ritva asks, if this is peshat, why is such a miracle not listed in the Mishnah in Avos? He answers: The miracle of the donkey talking is mentioned, and this is a binyan av, for other such cases.
7. R’ Yitzchak Zilberstein discusses this question in Chasukei Chemed (Kesubos 49b): “Is it permissible to publicize on the building noticeboard that family so and so hasn’t paid va’ad habayis”. He brings from R’ Elyashiv zt”l that if he was warned beforehand that if he doesn’t pay they will hang up his name, then it is permissible, and there is no problem of embarrassing him, or of lashon horah.
8. The proof is, the Gemara in Kesubos (49b) says that if one doesn’t want to support his young children, we announce this in the marketplace, and we call out in front of him, “even a raven which is cruel sustains his children, however, so and so doesn’t.” We see that if one doesn’t support his children, we embarrass him, therefore, certainly if someone violates gezel [theft] by not paying va’ad habayis and benefits from a public service that he doesn’t pay for, we can embarrass him.
9. The Gemara in Sotah (32b) in the name of R’ Shimon Bar Yochai teaches: “What is the reason that we daven shemonah esrei quietly? It is in order not to embarrass those that have aveiros, just like we find that the korban chatos and oilah were offered in the same place in the Beis HaMikdosh”.
10. People confess their sins in shemonah esrei, and in order not to embarrass them, Chazal said that everyone should daven quietly. This is similar to the korbanos in the Beis HaMikdosh, where we find that the sin offering was brought in the same place as other korbanos, in order that people wouldn’t realize that the reason one is bringing a korban is because he sinned.
11. The question is, the Gemara in Berachos (24) offers an alternative reason for why we daven quietly: המשמיע קולו בתפלתו הרי זה מקטני אמנה – one who davens loudly, shows he has little emunah. Rashi explains, if one shouts it shows that he thinks Hashem is unable to hear his quiet tefillos, which shows a lack of emunah. So which reason is it?
12. i) The Gemara in Berachos is talking about someone who raises his voice very loudly - this is clear from Rashi who says: ומגביה הרבה – “he raises his voice a lot”, such a person is lacking emunah, as if he believes in Hashem he wouldn’t need to daven so loudly. However, if one doesn’t shout, but davens normally aloud, one might think it is ok, therefore, R ’Shimon Bar Yochai in Sotah teaches us that even this is a problem and Chazal wanted people to daven even quieter than this, in order not to embarrass those that have sinned (Shu”t Teshuvah MeAhavah, 1:13, and Iyun Yaakov, Sotah 32b)
13. ii) If everyone would daven loudly, it wouldn’t be considered a lack of emunah, however, now that Chazal required one to daven quietly because of those that have sinned, if one ignores this and davens loudly, louder than everyone else, it shows a lack of emunah. (Maharsha, Sotah 32b)
14. iii) There are two different parts of tefillah, asking for personal requests, and confessing for sins. When it comes to asking for personal requests, we need the reason of the Gemara in Berachos (מקטני אמנה), however, when it comes to confessing sins then we need the reason of the Gemara in Sotah. (Iyun Yaakov, Sotah 32b)