Ein Yaakov 067a – Sotah 8 – Parshas Shelach – Parshas Vayeishev – HaShem’s Punishment Fits the Sin – Teshuvah – Shimshon HaGibor – Yehudah and Tamar

Ein Yaakov 067a – Sotah 8 – Shelach – Vayeishev – HaShem’s Punishment Fits the Sin – Teshuvah – Shimshon HaGibor – Yehudah and Tamar – Speaker: Rabbi Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld zal.

• 00:36 Parshas Shelach. אֶרֶץ אֹכֶלֶת יוֹשְׁבֶיהָ הִוא – “…a Land that consumes its inhabitants…” (Bamidbar 13:32, Shelach)
• 01:00 כִּי־אַתָּה תְשַׁלֵּם לְאִישׁ כְּמַעֲשֵׂהוּ – “…for You repay a man according to his deed” (Tehillim 62:13). A person’s sins are punished by HaShem according to the nature of each particular sin.
• 02:46 The four death penalties inflicted by the Sanhedrin: stoning, burning, beheading, and strangling
• 06:30 Conversion – non-Jews have the right to convert to Judaism, but according to Torah Law, Egyptians only have that right after three generations of waiting. Why this halakha does not apply today.
• 07:24 To prevent rebellion, Sancherev redistributed the population of lands he conquered.
• 08:20 Egyptians today are not really Egyptians as a result of Sancherev’s redistribution of population.
• 08:34 The Torah prohibits a Jew from establishing permanent residence in Egypt because the land itself is impure.
• 09:21 The Arizal explains that throughout the diaspora, holy sparks are hidden. When a Jew lives in the diaspora, he draws out these holy sparks and returns them to Eretz Yisrael.
• 09:56 A deeper understanding of the statement: “The people of Israel were exiled amongst the nations only so that converts might be added to them” (Bavli, Pesachim 87b).
• 10:51 When Am Yisrael left Egypt, they extracted every last bit of holiness so there is no purpose in a Jew settling permanently in Egypt.
• 11:15 The Rambam lived in Egypt for part of his life.
• 13:49 Shimshon’s punishment of blindness was another example of how HaShem repays a person measure for measure.
• 14:26 An additional aspect of HaShem punishing according to the crime: double punishment. When a person steals, he not only loses what he steals, but he also loses what was originally his.
• 15:36 Example: the nachash – the serpent – was originally intended to be King of Beasts and to walk upright.
• 17:57 The same principle applied in the case of Cain and Hevel.
• 18:53 During the mabul – flood – every last descendant of Cain was wiped out.
• 19:12 More examples of double punishment – Korach.
• 19:32 Gechazi – the servant/student of Elisha HaNavi – was also punished doubly.
• 19:51 Haman.
• 19:59 Summary – all these cases prove that a person should be happy with what he has.
• 21:11 Shimshon HaGibor.
• 23:22 Rav Noson of Nemirov explains that the final act of Shimshon – the destruction of the Plishtim – illustrates the concept that a tzaddik has even more power in after he passes away than he did during his physical lifetime.
• 25:07 Shimshon stated that he “served Yisrael well for 20 years”. The word “well” alludes to the fact that he never asked a Jew for a favor.
• 25:40 Shimshon’s legs were crippled and he needed a cane to walk.
• 26:29 The reason Shimshon was crippled in his legs – Delilah.
• 29:47 The hospitality of Avraham Avinu.
• 31:17 Parshas Vayeishev. Tamar and Yehudah: the 3 items Yehudah gave to Tamar as surety corresponded to Yehudah’s words to Yaakov Avinu after Yosef HaTzaddik was thrown into the pit.
• 33:30 Michtam LeDovid.
• 34:28 3 mitzvot that a person should die rather than transgress: Avoda Zara, adultery, and murder.
• 36:13 Yehudah’s admission concerning his daughter-in-law, Tamar: צָדְקָה מִמֶּנִּי – “She is more righteous than I am” can also mean “She is correct – from Me [the Shekhina]” (Bereishis 38:26, Vayeishev).
• 38:56 Closing blessings.

Indexing and Notes by S.Y. Wurtzel