ח: מחלוקת לשם שמים

בשלמא (לרבא) תבעו ממון תחלה בשלשה תבעו נפשות תחלה אפילו ממון בעשרים ושלשה אלא לעולא קשיא אמר רבא אני וארי שבחבורה תרגימנא ומנו רב חייא בר אבין הכא במאי עסקינן...

The משנה in אבות ה:י”ז speaks about the difference between a מחלוקת לשם שמים and a מחלוקת שלא לשם שמים. One of the prevailing interpretations of the מחלוקת לשם שמים, exemplified by הלל and שמאי is that both sides of the dispute actually share a common goal. They are each seeking to reach the common goal of the proper way to understand a סוגיא and thus, the proper way to serve the רבש”ע.

This is – perhaps subtly – on display in this גמרא. The גמרא asks a קושיא on עולא’s opinion cased on a ברייתא. But רבא, in conjunction with רב חייא בר אבין offers an understanding of the ברייתא which evades the קושיא. But wait, who was עולא arguing with? None other than רבא himself. So even while רבא is embroiled in this dispute with עולא over how to understand our משנה, he nevertheless comes to his defense to reject the גמרא’s question.

הדרן עלך מסכת ברכות

מזל טוב!!
Looking forward to מסכת שבת.

Welcome

I am proud to announce the unveiling of the latest addition to the Weekly Shtikle blog network. This one will be slightly more challenging to keep up with since it requires my following of Daf Yomi (so far, so good.) Also, I will need to post in a timely manner while readers still have the relevant daf in mind.

Let me explain the name. I wanted to come up with something original. The first ideas that popped into my mind - On the Daf, Daf Thoughts, etc - just didn't fit the bill. The name is inspired by a speech I heard at the Toronto Siyum HaShas by R' Yair Adler where he pointed out that a daf of gemara is sometimes referred to as an עלה, a leaf. This was as he was introducing the guest speaker at the event, Rabbi Moshe Tuvia Lieff (his pun, not mine. I promise.) So, there you have it - "The Daily Leaf."

Live Daf

Thanks to Yeshiva World News, I just found out about a brand new site, Live Daf, based out of Toronto, which provides video and audio shiurim on the daf. The video feature is nice for those who feel their attention is kept better when the shiur is visual, even if it's just someone giving a shiur. But the true uniqueness of the site is its interactivity. You are able to submit questions on the daf and have them answered and there is a Question of the Day feature on each daf. I guess it's kind of the interactivity I hope to accomplish with this blog one day. But there's always room for more - להגדיל תורה ולהדירהּ!

Fastest דף יומי in the West

We've already had some גמרא's that address the concept of not making מצות or תפילה appear as a burden. Nevertheless, is one has difficulty fitting דף יומי into the schedule and is looking for the quickest online shiur, it appears the best option is the שיעורים provided by the Young Israel of Century City, CA given by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom. One slightly frustrating thing about the audio, however, is that although it seems these were designed for דף יומי the files are not divided exactly by דף. So listening to the day's דף will often entail listening to portions of two separate files.

Thanks to my father-in-law for this tip.