Podcasts about Shoftim

   In this episode we take a closer look at why Rashi understands that the key theme of Shoftim is developing the Mishkan. How do we reconcile this idea with the main narrative of the Sefer that talks about the problems of the times with Avoda Zara? We also discuss Chazal attributing authorship of the Sefer to Shmuel. How did they know this? What does this teach us about the Sefer?   Similarly, we look at the basic theme of Shmuel. Why do we call the Sefer called Shmuel and not Dovid? Isn't Dovid the protagonist for more of the Sefer than Shmuel? Similarly, why does the Sefer include the stories of Eli in Shmuel and not in Shoftim? And also why are the last stories of Dovid in Melachim? Nach Yomi: Join R' Wittenstein's Nach Yomi on WhatsApp. We learn a perek a day five days a week, with a nine minute shiur covering the key issues. Click here to join!  For tours, speaking engagements, or sponsorships contact us at jewishhistoryuncensored@gmail.com PRODUCED BY: CEDAR MEDIA STUDIOS  

Welcome to Daily Bitachon . We continue with the next unit in the Haggadah . במתי מעת Bimtei Me'at/In a little bit of Meteh What does Meteh mean? One year we were doing the Haggadah shel Pesach and I asked, what is Meteh ? No one around the table knew. The truth is, I didn't know either. So we stopped right there and opened up a Chumash . Rashi said bimtei me'at bishivim nefesh , with 70 souls. But that doesn't translate what metei me'at means. So we looked at the Targum , our next choice after Rashi , and it said be'am ze'ir , a small nation. So metei is being defined as nation . The Metzudot David in Shoftim 20:48 says, metim- hu shem le'enoshut / Metim means humanity , or people like anshei . The Ibn Ezra says the word Meteh , anytime you have a tzere yud , it means the "plural of". For example, שער Shaar is a gate. שערי Shaare is the gates of . It's a plural possessive. So the word Meteh means a small amount of many people. That's a little strange term. Furthermore, the Ibn Ezra says the word מת never shows up in singular form. He sends us back to Devarim 2,34 where it says we overtook the nations of Sichon and it says we took over the whole city, metim . Which means anashim , but again, in plural. So it's a term for humanity in the plural sense. So a small amount of humanity. That's a strange term. The Jewish people went down in a small amount of humanity, and as Rashi says bishivim nefesh, they went down with 70 souls. Rav Dessler, in volume 3 page 211 explains that certain numbers are significant. The number 70 has a significance. There are 70 nations in the world, broken down into 35 nations under Esav , which we'll call Western civilization , and 35 nations under Yishmael , which we call that the Arab world. Those are the 70 nations. It's not a coincidene. The number seven is a completion, like the seven days of the week. And 10 is also a full gamut. So 70 is a completeness. 70 years is a full life. So the number 70 is not a coincidental number. When the Jewish people, hit the number 70, they were a metim . They were a small humanity, a small nation . Those 70 people had inside of them the 70 forces that corresponded to all the 70 nations. This shows us that Hashem is setting us up for greatness and every detail is measured. It says in Bereishit 46:27, kol hanefesh le'beit Yaakov haba'ah Mitzrayimah shivim / All the souls that came down were 70. The commentaries point out from the Midrash Rabbah 94:9 that if you count, there weren't actually 70. Some say Yocheved was born as they were coming in (She was the mother of Moshe Rabbenu, and God was sending the refuah before the Makkah ), others say it was Serach bat Asher . Still others say it was Hakadosh Baruch Hu who ended up being the 70th one. In Ha'azinu 32:8, it says be'anchel Elyon goyim / when Hashem started to give the inheritance to the nations, be'hafrido bnei Adam, when he separated them by the Dor Haflagah into 70 nations ( that's when the 70 nations happened). It says there lemispar Bnei Yisrael . The 70 nations corresponded to the 70 Jews that went down to Mitzrayim . So God was working out 70 corresponding to the 70. Rabbeinu Bachya on that pasuk lemispar Bnei Yisrael adds that the 12 tribes correspond to the 12 months and the 12 mazalot . We're above the stars, and we're above the mazal . Getting back to our Haggadah and Bimtei me'at , we're thanking Hashem that we came into Mitzrayim not just as 39 people, or 28 people, or a random 83 people. No. It was a bimtei me'at . It was small, but it was a force of humanity of 70 . As we say, bishivim nefesh yardu avotecha Mitzrayimah / 70 souls went down . And it says Ve'ata hena samcha Hashem Elokecha ke'kochvei hashamayim larov / We're like the stars in number- referring to when they got into the desert- there were 600,000 people. So we went from 70 to 600,000! And the number 600,000 is also not a random number. The Gemara in Masechet Berachot 58a says that when you see 600,000 people, there's a special bracha called Baruch Chacham Harazim . Blessed is God, Who has the wisdom of the secrets that He knows all the secrets of these 600,000 people . That means 600,000 includes all the personality types that exist in the world. Although we can have more than 600,000, those are offshoots of the basic 600,000 personalities and types of people that exist in the world. All of the energies of humanity are in 600,000. So we went from the 3 Avot ,which correspond to the three main traits the world stands on, to 70 children of Yaakov that correspond to the 70 nations, which includes all of the United Nations- every possible country type, German, France, every country type is rooted in the Jewish people. And then we go on to the 600,000 personalities. So the Jewish people are perfectly worked in to the entire makeup of the world. This is all part of the hashgacha of Hashem Every person makes a difference. The Gemara in Masechet Bava Kamma discusses one reason one should never have a dog. It says imagine if there were 600,000 people standing ready for the Shechinah to come down, and one dog barks and causes a miscarriage. Now the Shechinah won't come down in that way that it comes down only on 600,000 people. Every individual adds something. That's the uniqueness and the perfect planning that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is doing as He brings the Jewish people down into Egypt and eventually takes them out of Egypt and continues to watch each and every one of us.

Harav Yussie Zakutinsky Shlita

08/08/2021

08/28/2022

This is a story that takes place on the backdrop of the period of the Shoftim. And yet, its message is very different to that book. What is Ruth trying to add that hasn't been said in Shoftim?