Gulliver and Maimonides

Gulliver ends up hating all of humanity (spoilers). He writes:

"When I thought of my family, my friends, my countrymen, or the human race in general, I considered them, as they really were, Yahoos in shape and disposition, perhaps a little more civilized, and qualified with the gift of speech; but making no other use of reason, than to improve and multiply those vices..."

Is it just me or does this sound like Maimonides' description of unlearned peoples (Guide 3:51, Pines trans.):

"Those... are all human individuals who have no doctrinal belief, neither one based on speculation nor one that accepts the authority of tradition: such individuals as the furthermost Turks found in the remote North, the Negroes found in the remote South, and those who resemble them from among them that are with us in these climes. The status of those is like that of irrational animals. To my mind they do not have the rank of men, but have among the beings a rank lower than the rank of man but higher than the ram or the apes. For they have the external shape and lineaments of a man and a faculty of discernment that is superior to that of the apes."

A Mishnah Directed At Non-Jews Only?

Rosh Hashanah 4a says (in resolution of a contradiction) that it is considered full tzedaka for Jews to give for the wrong reasons (e.g. so that one's son will live), but it is not considered tzedaka when non-Jews do so (see Rashi there, and Tosafot Pesachim 8b).

Tosafot on this line in Rosh Hashana asks a simple question. In the beginning of Avot, we learn that one must not do the commandments in order to get stuff, yet the Talmud states that it is ok. Contradiction? No, write Tosafot, that line in Avot is directed at non-Jews, not Jews.

Isn't that crazy? Are there any other sources that suggest other Mishnayot are not for the Jews?

Rav Kahn responds:

 I don't think that Tosafot mean that the Mishnah is directed specifically to non-Jews. Based on the parallel Tosafot in Pesachim, I think it means, "People like the non-Jews", who ONLY do things for the reward, and should the reward not be forthcoming they regret having done the good deed in the first place. While Tosafot say that this is a midah of non-Jews, it equally applied to Jews who are sorry they ever did the good deed. Why, then, do Tosafot in RH mention non-Jews specifically (unlike in Pesachim)? In order to make it work well with the Gemara in RH which is comparing Jews and non-Jews.

Yaakov marrying two sisters according to the tosafists

In order to answer the questions of how Yaakov could marry two sisters, or his children marrying their twins (according to the midrash), Tosafot (found in Tosafot HaShalem Genesis 37:35) suggest that non-Jews (B'nei Noach) are only prohibited in the erva of adultery! And they base it off a statement of Rabbi Chanina in Snahedrin 57b that gentiles only have the prohibition of "בעולת בעל", implying anything else they do not have. Am I reading this wrong? True, they have difficulties with that answer afterward, but it is a suggestion.

Shadal and "the spirit of God"

Shadal translates Genesis 1:2's "וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים" as "a POWERFUL wind" colloquially called "a wind of God", but just meaning very strong winds, not "the spirit of God" or anything like that. I see now that the gemara also probably thought this. Chagigah 12a: "Wind and water [were created on the first day], as it says, "וְר֣וּחַ אֱלֹהִ֔ים מְרַחֶ֖פֶת עַל־פְּנֵ֥י הַמָּֽיִם"

A sanskrit term in the Talmud

Shmuel calls Chiya bar Rav an aryan in Chagiga 14a. Back then, "arya" meant "noble".http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arya_(Buddhism)

Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges into History Presents: Heavy Mettle

The Kuzari on the Awesomeness of the Mishnah

Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi, on why the Mishnah is too awesome to have been written by man alone:

"It is greatly distinguished by terseness of language, beauty of style, excellence of composition, and the comprehensive employment of homonyms, applied in a lucid way, leaving neither doubt nor obscurity. This is so striking that every one who looks at it with genuine scrutiny must be aware that mortal man is incapable of composing such a work without divine assistance. Only he who is hostile to it, who does not know it, and never endeavored to read and study it, hearing some general and allegorical utterances of the Sages deems them senseless and defective, just as one who judges a person after meeting him, without having conversed with him for any length of time."

The saddest of the "That is what people say" statements

This is the saddest "It's like what people say" I've seen in the gemara:

אמר רב פפא היינו דאמרי אינשי חברך מית אשר איתעשר לא תאשר

Said Rav Pappa: It's like what people say, "If [they say] your friend is dead, believe it. If [they say] your friend is rich, don't believe it.

The Mishnah - Yaakov Elman

This is a great introduction to the major opinions about the Mishnah, its structure and purpose http://www.drisha.org/Mishnah's%20Anthological.pdf

Sherlock Holmes in the form of a blind slave in Jerusalem

Sherlock Holmes in the form of a blind slave in Jerusalem (Eichah Rabbah 1:12):

A certain person from Athens came to Jerusalem. He labored for three and a half years to learn the language of wisdom, and he did not learn it. 
After three and a half years, he bought a slave who was blind, saying, "After three and a half years, and I have bought a blind slave! [I have accomplished very little here!]"

He [the slave-trader] said to him, "By your life, he is wise in abundance, and he sees from far away!"

As they left the gate, he [the slave] said to him, "Let us hurry to meet up with the group ahead of us."

He said to him, "Is there [truly] a group ahead of us?"

He said to him, "Indeed. And in ahead of us is a camel that is blind in one eye. In its womb are two [camels], and it carries two flasks, one of wine and one of vinegar. It is four millin distance, and the camel-driver is a gentile."

He said to him, "A broken-knecked people! With one eye, from where do you know that it is blind in one eye?"

He said to him, "I saw that one side of the way was grazed, and one was not grazed."

"And two in the womb, from where did you know that?"

He said to him, "It kneeled, and I saw their places [by the traces in the sand]."

He said to him, "From where did you know that it carried two flasks, one of wine and one of vinegar?"

He said to him, "From the drops, for the wine was absorbed [by the sand], and the vinegar floated atop [the sand].

"That the camel-driver was a gentile, from where did you know?"

"He made water in the middle of the way, and a Jew would not make water in the middle of the way, but rather in one corner."

"And that it is a distance of four millin, from where did you know that?"

He said to him, "Up to a distance of four millin, the camel's hoof-prints [remain] visible, thereafter they are not visible [because the sand would cover it over]."

Moses' Wish To Enter The Land

Last year I wrote about the Meshech Chochmah, who quoted a contemporary who believed that an interesting aggadata should be interpreted as meaning that there is no commandment for Jews to live and settle in the land of Israel, and how the Meshech Chochmah pushed back against that idea. The aggadata was from Sotah 14b, which states:

 דרש רבי שמלאי מפני מה נתאוה משה רבינו ליכנס לא"י וכי לאכול מפריה הוא צריך או לשבוע מטובה הוא צריך אלא כך אמר משה הרבה מצות נצטוו ישראל ואין מתקיימין אלא בא"י אכנס אני לארץ כדי שיתקיימו כולן על ידי אמר לו הקב"ה כלום אתה מבקש אלא לקבל שכר מעלה אני עליך כאילו עשיתם שנאמר

R. Simlai expounded: Why did Moses our teacher yearn to enter the land of Israel? Did he want to eat of its fruits or satisfy himself from its bounty? But thus spake Moses, 'Many precepts were commanded to Israel which can only be fulfilled in the land of Israel. I wish to enter the land so that they may all be fulfilled by me'. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, 'Is it only to receive the reward [for obeying the commandments] that thou seekest? I ascribe it to thee as if thou didst perform them'; as it is said...

Now, what is the meaning of the Talmud's question, "Why did Moses yearn to enter the land..."? If living in Israel is a mitzvah, that is alone plenty of reason to want to enter the land!

Rabbi Yaakov Kaminetzky asks this question at the very beginning of Parashat Vaetchanan in Emet L'Yaakov. He offers two solutions (both assuming there is, generally, a mitzvah of settling the land of Israel, which would be the obvious alternative):

It is possible that the mitzvah of settling the land of Israel could be fulfilled even at the Jordan crossing [where Moses was at the time]. And perhaps, this is proof that the mitzvah of settling the land of Israel only applies to those who have a portion and inheritance in the land of Israel, and since the tribe of Levi does not have a portion and inheritance in the land, perhaps they are therefore exempt from the mitzvah of settling the land of Israel, and more research needs to be done on this.

Perhaps my grandfather's answer can also provide a very different way to answer this question. From the future full version of Keter HaRachzav, by Rabbi Chaim Zev Bomzer:

I want to share a bit of kabbalah. The Talmud (Sotah 14a) asks, “Why did Moses our teacher yearn to enter the land of Israel? Did he want to eat of its fruits or satisfy himself from its bounty? But so said Moses, 'Many precepts were commanded to Israel which can only be fulfilled in the land of Israel. I wish to enter the land so that they may all be fulfilled by me'. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, 'Is it only to receive the reward [for obeying the commandments] that you seek? I ascribe it to you as if you did perform them'.”

The Meharsha asks: What’s going on? The Mishnah in Avot says that one should not do a mitzvah in order to receive the reward! 

The Chachmei Ha’emet say that at creation, there were 288 nitzotzot - sparks of the Divine Creation which require fixing by our experiences. 202 were amended by the slavery in Egypt, as it says (Exodus 12:38) “And also the erev rav went up with them” - “rav” equals 202, leaving 84 to be recaptured. How is this done? Moses thought he could succeed by entering Israel and being subject to the mitzvot ha’aretz which first required war, suffering, danger of death, etc. Above that would be a sense of surrender to the mitzvot hateluyot ba’aretz.

So this would be the reward for Moses - that the sparks should be collected by his actions. G-d answers, “I want Klal Yisrael to be involved in that tikkun - but you will get credit for your intentions “as if you did them”.

The lesson to be learned: Each of us is obligated to repair the sparks through our sparks and actions, to have the intention to fulfill mitzvot in Israel, and above all, through submission and humility. Love your fellow Jews! Set aside time for Torah! Ensure shalom bayit. Long for the return of the Temple!