Family, Business, & Jewish Life Through the Prism of Halacha VOLUME 5778 • ISSUE XLIX • PARSHAS SHOFTIM • A PUBLICATION OF THE BAIS HAVAAD HALACHA CENTER (many men’s mikva’os don’t qualify) with all The 5777 MI YA’ALEH V’HAR the necessary prepara- on the tions. The problem is that HASHEM the lower level of tum’a, Ascending the Har HaBayis in Our Time tum’as mais, is the hard- Bring the Parsha to Life! By Rav Yosef Greenwald est to remove: it requires Adapted from a shiur by Rav Yosef Greenwald the application of aifer On Tisha B’Av this year, 1440 Jews reportedly ascended para aduma, which we TWO WITNESSES: THE TORAH STAN- Har HaBayis. cannot perform today. This DARD OF TRUTH: WHY 2>1 BUT 100=2 Prime Minister Netanyahu says Knesset members can now visit leaves us with an incur- על פי שנים עדים או על פי שלושה עדים יקום Har HaBayis, lifting a three-year ban. able inability to enter the דבר. )דברים י”ט, ט”ו( .Various organizations encourage Jews to visit Har HaBayis. Often. Azara But what does the Torah say? According to two witnesses or three witnesses Entering the Azara in a shall a matter be established. (Devarim 19:15) The Mishna (Midos 2:1) states that Har HaBayis is 500 by 500 state of tum’as mais is a amos. The dimensions of the site known by that name today are approximately 1600 feet on the west, 1550 on the east, 1050 on chiyuv kareis according A primary feature of the Bais Din system is that the north, and 900 on the south. By any account of the size of the to most Rishonim, even two witnesses are required in order to verify the ama, it would appear that the site has been significantly expanded today. The Mishna Berura, from its original configuration. truth of any matter of civil law. The Gemara ex- uncharacteristically com- tends this to matters of davar sheb’ervah, such To understand the Halachic issues involved in entering the site, menting on these matters, here’s a brief primer. as marriage and divorce. rules in accordance with What is the logic of this rule, and why does the There are three zones in Eretz Yisrael with re- this view. Gemara not likewise require two eidim con- gard to the presence of temai’im. In ascending The problem with entering Har HaBayis cerning issur v’heter, matters of prohibition? order of kedusha: is that we don’t know where on its vast ex- The Tashbeitz (1:77) suggests that employing MACHANEI YISRAEL: Walled cities in Eretz panse is the Azara. The nevua (Micha 3:12) two witnesses reduces the chances of false or Yisrael have this kedusha. Tzara’as infects a per- that Tzion would be plowed like a field was inaccurate testimony. The Nesivos HaMishpat son with the highest level of tuma, so a metzora fulfilled by the Romans under Turnus Rufus (31) explains similarly that one person might err is barred from any area that has even this kedu- on Tisha B’Av of the year 133 C.E., and there in his perception, but it is unlikely for two sha, including the city of Yerushalayim. have been many earthquakes and numerous people to make the same mistake. landfills in the area. The result of these events MACHANEI LEVIYA: This is an area with is that the contours of the site have shifted According to these opinions, hashra’as haShechina, but no avoda takes considerably, as evidenced by its current di- the difference between place here. The entire Har HaBayis has this ke- mensions. There are those who stand only at one and two witnesses dusha. One infected with tum’a hayotzeis mi- the back of the Kosel plaza for fear that part is one of accuracy. gufo shel adam, such as a zav or ba’al keri, is of the plaza itself may be the Azara. While However, a spotlight barred from entry. few authorities subscribe to this concern, number MACHANEI SHECHINA: This is the Azara, HADRAN ALACH! it underscores the geographic ambiguity. of the place of the Avoda. Here even a temai mais Dayan Rav Shmuel Though some, like the Radbaz, maintained Honigwachs, shlit’’a, is making a or one who has touched a sheretz—tum’os that that the rock under the Dome of the Rock double Siyum on both Talmud Bavli infect a person from without the body—are and Talmud Yerushalmi in memory of is the Even Shesiya, and we could use barred. Avraham Eli ben Mordechai Eliezer Halevi its location to measure the bound- Briar, zichrono levracha, father of our benefactor, We can cleanse ourselves of tum’a hayotzeis aries of the Azara, the relaibility Mr. Chaim Briar. Mazal tov, Reb Shmuel, shlit’’a, and min haguf by going to a full-fledged mikveh may the neshama have an aliya. Don’t miss our specialized “Business Halacha Journal” Recent topic: When Chametz Means Business: Corporate Chametz. Don’t yet receive it? Visit www.thehalachacenter.org/signup or call or email us. of that tradition is not unassailable. Because one enter that holy place in a state of enormous of the uncertainties and the severity of the awe. This was no Chol HaMo’ed outing. One issur, it has been Jewish practice for a very would shed his physical reality before going in. The long time to avoid Har HaBayis completely. The Bais HaMikdash itself was devoid of phys- Some maintain that the wall surrounding icality; the laws of physics, of time and space, in the Har Habayis, which includes the Kosel, didn’t obtain there. As described by Chazal, itself is part of Har Habayis, so one cannot people stood packed together and then pros- insert one’s fingers into its crevices without trated themselves with room to spare. A small Bring the Daf to Life! purification from tum’a caused by bodily bite of hilechem hapanim would be sufficient emissions. to sate a kohen. Those who ate sacrificial meat Some also maintain that because the Kosel produced no waste. This was an otherworldly isn’t perfectly vertical and actually leans over existence. מסכת מנחות ,the plaza, the area underneath the overhang This is the way Har Bayis is to be experienced has the status of Har Habayis, and one must apart from the Halachic issues that attend stand back. its ascent. Throngs of people clad in T-shirts, The Kaftor VaFerach, alone among the Ris- bearing iPhones, and engaged in casual con- honim in penning a comprehensive analy- versation is hardly the picture of awe. sis of the geography of Eretz Yisrael, writing May we soon merit to experience the Bais Ha- Weekly Topics in the 14th century C.E., maintains that the Mikdash in the way we have always yearned then-current walls of the Har HaBayis were for: V’sham na’avadcha b’yir’a kimai olam RAV YOSEF GREENWALD the original ones, and that it is forbidden to ucheshanim kadmonios. pass within them. * * * sources con- The 5777 דף ז‘ .Friday The effort to turn Har HaBayis into a place on the tradict this explanation. For Can You Fix It? Part 2 to visit, whether to demonstrate Jewish sov- Bring the Parsha to Life! ereignty or to be close to Hashem, is severely example, the דף ח‘ misguided. Sadly, political and other con- Rambam (Yeso- Shabbos, siderations have overcome severe Halachic dei Hatorah 8:2) compares the prophecy of Flour on the Floor navi eidim דף ט‘ ,prohibition. Our duty is always to follow our a to two : We must accept both Sunday mesora and be true to Hashem’s Torah. as truth, whether we know that they are true Kli Plus Kli Chazal refer to Yerushalayim as Linas HaTze- or not. דף י‘ ,dek, a place where all who spent the night did Further, the Mishna (Makkos 5b) equates two Monday so in a state of righteousness. The presence of witnesses with one hundred. If two witness- The Korbanos of the Nesi’im kedusha was so palpable that one couldn’t es are believed based on superior accuracy, דף י"א ,help being impacted, and one who sinned one would think that the hundred witnesses Tuesday would do teshuva before going to bed. should be believed over the two. Kemitzah Basics The Torah tells us that when the Kohen Gadol The Rashba (Teshuvos Meyuchasos 94) there- דף י”ב .Wednesday entered the Kodesh HaKodoshim on Yom fore explains that the fact that two witnesses Kippur, “v’lo haya ish ito”—no man was with are believed is a special Halacha related to The Puzzle of “Pigul” him. The Zohar teaches that this means not mishpat. The Ketzos also refers to this as a דף י”ג .Thursday only that the Kohen Gadol was unaccompa- gezeiras hakasuv, having nothing to do with Mattir Mechanics nied by others, but that no man—even he!— the accuracy of the testimony. was there. The Kohen Gadol was a completely Perhaps the idea is that just as dayanim repre- spiritual being at that point, akin to a malach. sent Klal Yisrael in administering mishpat, so The mitzva of mora mikdash demands that do eidim, so more than one person is required. 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