Kiddushin, Daf Lammed, Part 4

Introduction

Today s section opens with a baraita that offers another interpretation of the word veshinantem which was earlier interpreted as an allusion to dividing one s time into three, as if it read veshilashtem.

תנו רבנן ושננתם שיהו דברי תורה מחודדים בפיך שאם ישאל לך אדם דבר אל תגמגם ותאמר לו אלא אמור לו מיד שנאמר (משלי ז, ד) אמור לחכמה אחותי את וגו’ ואומר (משלי ז, ג) קשרם על אצבעותיך כתבם על לוח לבך ואומר (תהלים קכז, ד) כחצים ביד גבור כן בני הנעורים ואומר (תהלים קכ, ד) חצי גבור שנונים ואומר (תהלים מה, ו) חציך שנונים עמים תחתיך יפלו ואומר (תהלים קכז, ה) אשרי הגבר אשר מלא את אשפתו מהם לא יבושו כי ידברו את אויבים בשער

Our Rabbis taught: And you shall teach them diligently (Deuteronomy 6:7) [this means] that the words of the Torah should be sharp in your mouth, so that if anyone asks you something, you should not stutter and then answer him, but [be able to] answer him immediately, for it is said, Say unto wisdom, You are my sister (Proverbs 7:4); and it says, Bind them on your fingers; write them upon the table of your heart (Proverbs 7:3); and it also says: As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man, so are the children of your youth (Psalms 127:4); and it also says, Sharp arrows of the mighty (Psalms 45:6); and it also says: Your arrows are sharp; the peoples fall under you (Psalms 45:6); and it also says: Happy is the man that has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, when they speak with their enemies in the gate (Psalms 127:5).

This long baraita reads veshinantem as related to the word for sharp used elsewhere in reference to arrows. Rabbis should be able to answer questions without any hesitation. They should be as known to someone as his own sister. Bound on their hearts. They should be sharp and ready to draw in an instant like arrows.

מאי את אויבים בשער אמר רבי חייא בר אבא אפי’ האב ובנו הרב ותלמידו שעוסקין בתורה בשער אחד נעשים אויבים זה את זה ואינם זזים משם עד שנעשים אוהבים זה את זה שנאמר (במדבר כא, יד) את והב בסופה אל תקרי בסופה אלא בסופה

What is meant by with their enemies in the gate ? R. Hiyya b. Abba said: Even father and son, master and disciple, who study Torah at the same gate become enemies of each other. Yet they do not move from there until they come to love each other, for it is written, [Therefore it is said it, the book of the wars of the Lord,] vahav besufah (Numbers 21:14); read not besufah but besofah.

When people begin to learn Torah together, they argue, neither seeing what the other is trying to say. But by the time they are done, they will come to love each other, to appreciate what the other is saying. This is read midrashically into a verse. The verse begins with the wars of the Lord. But the end of the verse quotes some difficult words vahav besufah. Vahav the rabbis read as related to ahavah, love. Besufah they change to besofah which means at the end. So there is war in the beginning but love at the end.

ת"ר (דברים יא, יח) ושמתם סם תם נמשלה תורה כסם חיים משל לאדם שהכה את בנו מכה גדולה והניח לו רטיה על מכתו ואמר לו בני כל זמן שהרטיה זו על מכתך אכול מה שהנאתך ושתה מה שהנאתך ורחוץ בין בחמין בין בצונן ואין אתה מתיירא ואם אתה מעבירה הרי היא מעלה נומי כך הקב"ה אמר להם לישראל בני בראתי יצר הרע ובראתי לו תורה תבלין ואם אתם עוסקים בתורה אין אתם נמסרים בידו שנאמר (בראשית ד, ז) הלא אם תטיב שאת ואם אין אתם עוסקין בתורה אתם נמסרים בידו שנא’ לפתח חטאת רובץ ולא עוד אלא שכל משאו ומתנו בך שנאמר ואליך תשוקתו ואם אתה רוצה אתה מושל בו שנאמר ואתה תמשל בו

Our Rabbis taught: Vesamtem (Deuteronomy 11:18) [read] sam tam [a perfect drug]. This may be compared to a man who struck his son a strong blow, and then put a plaster on his wound, saying to him, My son! As long as this plaster is on your wound you can eat and drink at will, and bathe in hot or cold water, without fear. But if you remove it, it will break out into sores. So too did the Holy One, blessed be He, speak unto Israel: My children! I created the Evil Desire, but I [also] created the Torah, as its antidote; if you occupy yourselves with the Torah, you will not be delivered into his hand, for it is said: If you do well, shall you not be exalted (Genesis 4:7)? But if you do not occupy yourselves with the Torah, you shall be delivered into his hand, for it is written, Sin crouches at the door . Moreover, all of his occupation is with you [to make you sin], for it is said, And to you shall be his desire. Yet if you will, you can rule over him, for it is said, And you shall rule over him.

This baraita plays on another word in the Shema, reading it as if it says that God gave Israel a perfect drug (or as Huey Lewis would say, a new drug). The baraita reflects on the strange fact that although we Judaism considers humanity as created in the image of God, we also have evil desires. God created us with these desires, but also with their antidote, Torah. Through Torah study, one can conquer the evil urge.

I do not believe that this source is saying that those who study Torah will have no sexual urges rabbis do not seem to believe this at all. Rather, study of Torah, of how one is to act in the world, reflecting on what it means to be human, all of this should, indeed must, lead to an inner transformation that allows us to have control over our lives. The baraita reads the famous verse from Genesis, stated to Adam after he ate the fruit of the tree (and the subject of one of my favorite books, East of Eden). Sin crouches at the door, but with proper reflection on Torah, humans can learn to act in a decent, moral way.