Chulin 60
Summary
- Today’s *shiur* begins in מסכת חולין on דף נט עמוד ב and moves into a full *daf* of אגדתא portraying deep philosophical exchanges in Rome between Emperor Hadrian and רבי יהושע בן חנניה, as explained primarily through the מהרש"א. The narrative clarifies a prior report about locust at an OU Halachic סעודה as referring only to chocolate locust and not a halachically accepted locust under OU *hashgacha* due to lack of *mesorah* among the OU and most אשכנזים. The *Gemara* then presents successive demonstrations that human beings cannot grasp Hashem’s essence, cannot withstand even a “lion of the upper region,” and cannot prepare a *seudah* even for Hashem’s attendants such as wind and rain, followed by a pointed episode with the Caesar’s daughter framed as proof of השגחה פרטית. The *sugya* then returns to *halachic* and *aggadic* statements about סימנים, commerce definitions, creation being formed in full maturity, the ירח’s diminishment and the שעיר של ראש חודש “להשם,” plants awaiting אדם הראשון’s תפילה, and finally השסועה as a distinct creature used as a תשובה לאומר אין תורה מן השמים, along with an instruction to record rare terms like קניגי and בלסטרי in written אגדתא.
- Today’s *shiur* begins with a clarification that a newspaper article stating locust was served at the OU’s Halachic סעודה coordinated by Rabbi Ari Z. Zivotofsky and Dr. Ari Greenspan is true only in the sense that chocolate locust was served under OU certification. Today’s *shiur* states that the תימנים and Moroccans have a קבלה, מסורה, that the desert locust is the חגב, while the OU and most אשכנזים lack that מסורה and therefore cannot eat it, and there is no locust under OU השגחה. Today’s *shiur* states that a video impression of an OU marking came from photographing a locust whose belly marking looked like a ח, inverting it to resemble a י, and circling it with an O, even though only chocolate locust was actually served.
- The Caesar challenges רבי יהושע בן חנניה on the statement אלהיכם כאריה מתיל, citing עמוס: אריה שאג מי לא יירא and ה' אלהים דבר מי לא ינבא, and argues that a lion can be killed by a stronger warrior. Rabbi Yehoshua answers that Hashem is compared not to a regular lion but to כאריה דבי עילאי, described from yesterday’s *shiur* as having a mouth span of nine אמות from ear to ear. The Caesar demands to see it despite being told לא מצית חזית ליה, רבי יהושע בעי רחמי, and the lion advances and roars from ארבע מאה פרסי away, causing miscarriages and the fall of Rome’s wall, then roars again from תלת מאה פרסי away, causing men’s molars and front teeth to fall out and the Caesar to fall from his throne. The Caesar begs that the lion return, רבי יהושע prays, and the lion goes back, with the מהר"ם שיף and בן יהוידע offering reasons why the תפילה targets return rather than stopping the roar, and the בן יהוידע adding that ת and ש in תש allude to תש כוחן של אויבים.
- The Caesar next says בעינא דאיחזי ליה לאלהיכו and is told again לא מצית חזית ליה, with the מהרש"א explaining that the request is to grasp Hashem’s essence rather than to see physically. The Caesar insists איברא בורי חזינא ליה, and Rabbi Yehoshua positions him against the sun in תקופת תמוז and instructs him to look, but the Caesar admits he cannot. Rabbi Yehoshua responds that the sun is only one of the servants standing before הקדוש ברוך הוא, so if the Caesar cannot gaze at the sun, he certainly cannot comprehend the שכינה, framed as inability to grasp essence.
- The Caesar says בעינא דצבית ליה נהמא לאלהיכו, interpreted by the מהרש"א as an attempt to claim Hashem might be physical and could therefore eat. Rabbi Yehoshua says לא מצית and explains that Hashem’s attendants are too numerous for the Caesar to prepare for them, yet the Caesar insists איברא בורי and is told to prepare on the bank of the river רביסא due to open space. The Caesar prepares six months in summer and a wind sweeps the *seudah* into the sea, then prepares six months in winter and rain washes it into the ocean. Rabbi Yehoshua explains that these are Hashem’s attendants, the sweepers and the ones who wet the ground, and that each alone sufficed to remove the entire *seudah*, leading the Caesar to concede לא מצינא.
- The daughter of the Caesar tells רבי יהושע בן חנניה that אלהיכון נגרא הוא, citing המקרה במים עליותיו, and demands that Hashem make her חדא מסטרייתא. The בן יהוידע interprets her request as demanding proof of Hashem’s involvement in earthly particulars rather than a distant heavenly deity, and the *shiur* adds a teaching בשם רב נח Isaac Album שליט"א בשם רב מרדכי בנט about שבת הגדול, distinguishing רם as distant from גדול as involved in both heaven and earth, and connecting it to יתרו’s עתה ידעתי כי גדול השם מכל האלהים and to ישראל taking and preparing the Egyptian עבודה זרה before פסח. Rabbi Yehoshua prays, she becomes a מצורע, and she is placed in the marketplace of Rome with a מסטרייתא because in Rome a מצורע would sit and wind thread coils so that people would see and pray for mercy. רבי יהושע later passes, asks whether her reel is good, and she asks that Hashem take back what He gave her; he answers אלהא דידן מיהב יהיב אבל משקל לא שקיל, and the episode is presented as a demonstration of השגחה פרטית.
- Rav Yehuda defines a שור as having כרסתן ופרסתן, a large head, and a large tail, with the opposite applying to a donkey. The *Gemara* asks למאי נפקא מינה and answers that the definition matters for business transactions, so a buyer who requests a שור expects a robust ox rather than a newborn calf even though שור בן יומו איקרי שור. The explanation also allows identifying that an animal described as wide-bellied, wide-hooved, wide-faced, and wide-tailed refers to a שור.
- Rav Yehuda states that the ox Adam offered had one horn on its forehead, deriving it from ותיטב לה' משור פר מקרן מפריס, and the *Gemara* resolves the plural sense of מקרן by noting מקרן כתיב without a יו"ד. The מהרש"א explains the one horn as symbolism against שתי רשויות, placing the declaration of Hashem’s oneness on the מצח associated with reasoning that led to sin. Rav Yehuda further states that the animal’s horns preceded its hooves, reading מקרן ברישא והדר מפריס, and this supports רבי יהושע בן לוי that all מעשה בראשית were created בקומתן נבראו, בדעתן נבראו, and בצביונם נבראו. The *shiur* brings Rashi’s reading of לדעתם as prior consent and the ערוך’s reading of בדעתן as mature intellect, explains תוספות that לצביונם connotes beauty at full maturity, and cites the חתם סופר and בן יהוידע that צדק alludes to צביונם, דעתם, and קומתם as creation made ביושר ובצדק.
- Rav Chanina bar Pappa teaches that יהי כבוד השם לעולם ישמח השם במעשיו is said by the שר העולם at the moment Hashem says למינו by trees, prompting grasses to make a קל וחומר that they too should emerge separated by species. The grasses reason that if trees, which naturally grow separated, are commanded למינו, then grasses, which naturally grow mixed, should certainly be separate, and they immediately emerge each according to its kind, leading the שר העולם to praise Hashem’s honor and His joy in creations that are careful with His mitzvos. The *shiur* cites תוספות identifying the שר העולם with מטטרון and links the praise to a blessing against ערבוביא, with the חתם סופר connecting it to חנוך and later דור המבול conditions. Ravina asks whether grafting two grasses creates liability given that the התורה did not explicitly command למינהו for grasses, and the *Gemara* concludes תיקו, with תוספות and later מפרשים explaining the question as addressing חוץ לארץ or the presence of an עונש given אין עונשין מן הדין.
- Rabbi Shimon ben Pazi resolves the contradiction between שני המאורות הגדולים and המאור הגדול והמאור הקטן by describing the ירח’s complaint that two kings cannot share one crown, Hashem’s response to diminish the moon, and the moon’s protest that a proper suggestion should not be punished. The ירח rejects successive consolations, including ruling by day and night as meaningless like a candle in daylight, being the basis of Israel’s calendar while the sun remains necessary for תקופות and years, and having צדיקים called by its name through figures like יעקב הקטן, שמואל הקטן, and דוד הקטן. Hashem then says הביאו כפרה עלי שמיעטתי את הירח, and Reish Lakish explains that the שעיר של ראש חודש uniquely says להשם because it serves as atonement for the moon’s diminishment.
- Rav Asi resolves the contradiction between vegetation emerging on Tuesday and the statement on Friday that field growth had not yet appeared by teaching that the plants stood at the opening of the ground until אדם הראשון prayed for mercy, after which rain fell and they grew. The teaching concludes that הקדוש ברוך הוא מתאוה לתפלתן של צדיקים. Rav Nachman bar Pappa experiences this when seeds in his garden do not grow until rain comes, and he says היינו דרב אסי, with later reflection in the *shiur* on how an אדם may recognize personal standing without arrogance.
- Rav Chana bar Abba states that השסועה is a distinct creature with שני גבין ושני שדראות rather than an adjective of split hooves as in תרגום אונקלוס, and the *Gemara* asks how משה רבינו could know such an animal without being a hunter or archer. The *Gemara* answers that this is מכאן תשובה לאומר אין תורה מן השמים, since knowledge of the creature and its name comes through רוח הקודש. Rav Chisda instructs Rav Tahlifa bar Avina to write this אגדתא with the terms קניגי and בלסטרי in his אגדתך so that preserving the definitions functions as a justification for recording the passage.
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