s"xc Rabbi Sedley Halacha Laws of Shabbat SHIUR 2 Rabbi David Sedley

Importance of Rabbinic Laws

Ecclesiastes 10; 8 j euxp h erp ,kve He who digs a pit will fall into it, and :Jjb UB f h rsD . r«pU kIP h IC .NUD rp«j he who breaks down a wall will be bitten by a snake.

Shulchan Aruch 551; 11 th ;hgx tbe, inhx ohhj jrut lurg ijkua Anyone who eats meat (during the .rup 'ruxht uc ohdvuba ouenc rac kfuta hn kf nine days) in a place where the /(j 'h ,kve) ajb ubfabhu tuv rsd minhag is to forbid it, breaks down fences and will be bitten by a snake.

Talmud Brachot 4b :s ;s ,ufrc ,fxn hkcc sunk, Anyone who transgresses the words /v,hn chhj ohnfj hrcs kg rcugv kf of the Sages deserves death.

Talmud Berachot 20b :f ;s ,ufrc ,fxn hkcc sunk, Rav Avira taught, sometimes in the hnt hcrs vhnan vk rnt ihbnz 'trhug cr ars name of Rabbi Ami and sometimes hftkn urnt :hxt hcrs vhnan vk rnt ihbnzu in the name of : The cu,f 'okug ka ubucr :tuv lurc ausev hbpk ,rav angels said to G-d, ‘Master of the jeh tku ohbp tah tk rat (wh ohrcs) l,ru,c Universe, it states in Your Torah “Do :ch,fs 'ktrahk ohbp taub v,t tkvu 'sja not show favour and do not take tk hfu :ovk rnt /lhkt uhbp wv tah (wu rcsnc) bribes” (Deuteronomy 10). Yet You ohrcs) :vru,c ovk h,c,fa ?ktrahk ohbp tat show favouritism to Israel, as it ovu 'lhvkt wv ,t ,frcu ,gcau ,kftu (wj /vmhcf sgu ,hzf sg onmg [kg] ohesesn states “May G-d show favour to you” (Numbers 6). G-d replied, ‘How can I not show favour to Israel? I wrote in My Torah “You shall eat and be satisfied and bless the L-rd your G-d” (Deuteronomy 8), but they are stringent upon themselves to bless even after a k’zayit or a k’beitza’.

Rabbinic Decrees

Talmud Avoda Zara 35a /vk ;s vrz vsucg ,fxn hkcc sunk, What does the verse mean, “For t,t hf ?ihhn lhsus ohcuy hf (t ohrhav rha) htn your love is dearer to me than :v"cev hbpk ktrah ,xbf vrnt 'rnt hnhs cr wine.”? When Rav came he ka vbhhn r,uh lhsus hrcs hkg ohchrg 'g"acr said, K’nesset Yisrael said to G-d, ////vru, Master of the Universe, the words of ukdn tk 'tcrgnc t,rhzd hrzd hf :tkug rnt your beloved ones are more dear to ahbht tfht tnks 't,a hjrh rxhr, sg tngy me than the wine of the Torah. /vc hkuzkzk h,tu k"x tks said, ‘When they would make a decree in Israel, they would not reveal the reason until twelve months later, lest there are some people who don’t hold of it, and they may come to treat it lightly.

you can find more shabbat source sheets on the web: www.hilchotshabbat.blogspot.com 5 s"xc Rabbi Sedley Halacha Laws of Shabbat SHIUR 2 Rabbi David Sedley

Rashi Avoda Zara 35a t sung vk ;s vrz vsucg ,fxn h"ar The words of your beloved /ohrpux hrcs - lhsus hrcs ones - the words of the /c,fca vru, rehg - vbhhn sofrim (early Rabbis) /uhkg urzd vnk - tngy ukdn tk Than wine - the main part vc kzkznu vhbhn khsc tku tngy tuvv vhk ,hks - tfht tnks of the written Torah une hrcxs g"f vhbhn hksc t,kns tngy ukdn tks t,av kct They did not reveal the /tngyc ibhthec tks tuv ibtu tcruj vhbhn h,ts t,knc ibcr reason - as to why they had made the decree Lest there are - people who don’t agree with this reason, and they won’t leave it, but they will come to treat it lightly. Now that they have not revealed the reasons, people don’t delve into it, but rather assume that the Rabbis made the decree in something that would otherwise lead to desctruction, and it is us who don’t understand properly what the reasons are. Tosefot Rid Avoda Zara 35a t sung vk ;s vrz vsucg ,fxn s"hr ,upxu, It was a new decree and therefore hnkaurh vc ihepepn ihtu v,hv vasj vrhzd (zf) we don’t ask any questions on it. In cureca hbpn ibjuh wr rnt uk vkhd tk vn hbpn the Yerushalmi it asks: Why did the lhauckk ohacf sg wuf iye vuv ktgnah wru vurxt Rabbis not reveal the reasons? ohbye lhsunk,a vgac smhf tv ch,f ohacf Rabbi Yochanan said, ‘Because they vkd ohacf uagb ukhsdv vru, hrcs ovhbpk aucf had only recently prohibited it, and vktu htjuh ic a"r hb,s whk ghhxn tsu vru, hzr ivk Rabbi Yishmael was still young. vbht ,tz vnha vn ovhbpk oha, rat ohypanv When your students are young you hrcsc g"t geak ,uar lk iht lf whrc kfk ,ukdb should cover Divrei Torah from :ohraf ost hbc hbpk tkt vru, them. When they get older you can reveal to them the secrets of the Torah, and this is hinted at in the Torah when it states: “These are the laws that you should place before them”. What does it mean ‘place’? It should not be revealed to everybody. You are not permitted to reveal them before an ignoramus, but only before appropriate people.

Importance of Minhag

Proverbs 1; 8 t erp hkan Hear, my child, the discipline of your :W N t , 6rIT J«Y T k6t u Wh ct r6xUn h b C g6n J (j) father, and do not abandon the teaching of your mother.

Talmud Pesachim 50b c sung b ;s ohjxp ,fxn hkcc sunk, The people of Baishan had a minhag hkgnc iushmk rumn ihkzt uuv tks duvb iahhc hbc not to go from Tzur to Tzidon on :uk urnt 'ibjuh hcrs vhne uvhhbc u,t /t,ca Erev Shabbat. Their children came :uvk rnt - /ik rapt tk ibt 'uvk rapt ih,vct to Rabbi Yochanan. They said, ‘Our th hkan+ rntba 'ovhkg ofh,uct ukche rcf parents were able to keep this /lnt ,ru, ay, ktu lhct rxun hbc gna +qtq minhag, but we are unable.’ He answered them, ‘Your parents have already accepted this minhag, as the verse states “Hear, my child... do not abandon the teaching of your mother.”. you can find more shabbat source sheets on the web: www.hilchotshabbat.blogspot.com 6 s"xc Rabbi Sedley Halacha Laws of Shabbat SHIUR 2 Rabbi David Sedley

Rashi Pesachim 50b c sung b ;s ohjxp ,fxn h"ar From Tzur to Tzidon - the market ovu ',ca crgc iushm ka euav ouh - iushmk rumn day in Tzidon was on Erev Shabbat, /,ca hfrmn kychvk tka inmg kg ohrhnjn and they were stringent upon /uhv ohrhaga 'euav in gbnvk - uvk rapt vuv themselves so as not to detract from preparing for Shabbat. They were able - to take the day off from the market because they were rich.

Emet L’Ya’akov on Shulchan oa v"s tbe, wx j"ut g"ua kg ceghk ,nt Aruch OC 551 s.v. Sham o,rnau o,ut o,snku vru, vrnta vn uvzu This is what the Torah means when ,umnv ,t sunkk ost kf chhja ubhhvs 'o,uagk it says “You shall teach them, and ibcrs ruxht uvnu t,hhruts ruxht uvn cyhv gshku guard them to keep them”. In other vrhnava ubhhvu 'tnkgc dvbn uvnu dhhx uvnu words a person is obligated to learn hs tku 'o,ut o,snku hsh kg er ,hrapt o,uagk the Mitzvot and to know well which uhct vauga vgub,u vgub, kf ,uejk ostk uk are Torah prohibitions, which are ot gsuh ubht zta ouan 'rund ehsm uhct ot ukhptu Rabbinic, which are fences and tc vznu 'tnkgc dvbn ut ihs ,njn rcsv vaug which are customs. In other words ova ,eukjnu obj ,tbaf vru, hruxht kg rucgk the ‘guarding to keep’ is only obhta ohrjt tuv vturafs 'vru, hruxht htsu possible through ‘teaching them’. It hbpn ohbhhrcgk o,ut cauj uhct dvbnf ohaug is not sufficient for a person to ova inzc uc vru, hpud kg ohrcug ova rcuxa watch and copy every action and vznu 'uh,uct dvbnf vaug tuvu o,uct dvbnf ohaug movement that his father does, ,t tba, tk kgu lunf lgrk ,cvtu kg rcug hkgck vrvzt tuvs ussud,, tk kgu lcckc lhjt even if his father is completely /o"cnrv ,yha hpk ,eukjn righteous. In such a case a person will not know whether his father is doing the action because it is a Halacha, or just a custom. Through this he will then come to transgress Torah prohibitions, such as causeless hatred and machloket. For this person sees others who are not doing exactly the same things as his father did, he will consider that they are transgressing the Halacha, even though they are also following the minhagim of their fathers. Through this a person will come to transgress ‘You shall love your fellow as yourself’ and ‘Do not hate your brother in your heart’ and ‘Do not make different groups’ which is the prohibition of making machloket according to the Rambam.

you can contact rabbi sedley via e-mail: [email protected]

have a look at www.rabbisedley.blogspot.com for more shiurim.

you can find more shabbat source sheets on the web: www.hilchotshabbat.blogspot.com 7