Avodah Mailing List

Volume 43: Number 73

Mon, 08 Dec 2025

• 1. The Ram of the Akeida (Akiva Miller)
• 2. Modern Orthodox (Joel Rich)
• 3. Re: (no subject) (Akiva Miller)
• 4. Right? (Joel Rich)
• 5. And so the game continued (Joseph Kaplan)

.
There is a mishna in perek 5 of Pirkei Avos which lists several things that
were created at Bein Hashmashos just prior to the Shabbos of Bereishis. My
understanding is that they were all miraculous, unnatural things. Good
examples are the mouth of Bilaam's donkey, which talked, and the mouth of
Miriam's well, which traveled through the midbar. And the reason they were
created at this particular time is so that they would technically be part
of nature (and *not* unnatural), and not require a new creation later on.
Hashem wanted no new creations after The Creation.

My question concerns one particular item on that list, namely the Ayil
which was sacrificed at the end of the Akeida story. Some editions of that
mishna refer to it as Avraham's ram, and some as Yitzchak's ram, but they
are clearly talking about the same animal. And I do concede that the
inclusion of that ram on this list is only a "yesh omrim", so I will stress
that my question applies only from the perspective of those who do include
it.

My question: What was miraculous about that ram?

Reviewing the meforshim on this mishna, and on Bereshis 22:13, I found some
interesting comments about that ram. For example, some write that this ram
was hefker, so that the korban would not be of a stolen animal. I don't see
what's so miraculous about that. I think we'd agree that if something
happens to be in the right place at the right time, that is the very
definition of a nes *nistar*, a *hidden* miracle. It does not rise to the
"open miracle" level of the mon or the other things in that mishna, and
there was surely no need for it to be created at the very last moment of
Creation.

What did I miss? Can someone tell me (according to the Yesh Omrim who
includes it on this list) what was so special about this particular ram?
Hashem could have arranged for ANY hefker ram to be in that place at that
time. What was so miraculous about THIS ram?

Thanks in advance
Akiva Miller
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From Malka Z. Simkovich in Tradition

Postscript
Working on this essay gave me occasion to consider the rising tendency
among Modern Orthodox American Jews to accept the notion that judaism
cannot be authentically practiced outside the Land of Israel. My sense is
that such Jews are exposed to the writings of R. Soloveitchik and R. Sacks,
and could easily familiarize themselves with R. Soloveitchik?s interiorized
understanding of the spiritual self, or with R. Sacks? position that all
jews can fulfill the prophetic charge to help build a moral civilization.
Nevertheless, Modern Orthodox Jews intuitively align themselves with
R. Berkovit?s position, not because of their exposure to his writings, but
because they are exposed to claims from educators in Israel that position
themselves as the voice of jewish authenticity. Such educators argue that
the jewish people can only fulfill their covenantal destiny in the Land of
Israel. For Israeli jews, the notion that halakha can only be authentically
practiced in the Land of Israel, and that doing so shuttles the Jewish
people towards an ontological destiny, satisfies their sense of religious
purpose For jews living outside Israel, who adhere to these same ideas, it
produces self-negation.

Me- Does this description fit your sense of galut MO?s sense of self?

KT
Joel Rich
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.
R' Joel Rich asked:
> Does hkbh give one a nisayon that one cannot pass? I guess the
> answer depends a lot on how you define the terms but in its
> strongest sense doesn?t this imply that anyone who ever sins
> hasn?t tried hard enough?

I once asked Rav Elazar Mayer Teitz z"l about this. He answered yes, there
is most definitely at least one situation where a person will definitely be
unable to avoid sinning, and that is when he is confronted by an Eishes
Y'fas Toar.

But I later pondered this answer, and realized that it might be taken two
different ways, and I regret that I never got around to asking him about it.

One possibility (surely the one that REMT intended) is that Eishes Y'fas
Toar is the ONLY such example. There are no other cases where it is
impossible for a person to overcome his yetzer hara. If there were other
such cases, the Torah would have prescribed some procedure to help for them
too.

But isn't there another possibility? Maybe Eishes Y'fas Toar really is just
one example, to illustrate that we are human and fallible. Maybe there ARE
other cases where the temptation really is overpowering. Maybe there is a
reason why Eishes Y'fas Toar was singled out to get a procedure for heter,
and I just don't know what that reason is.

But, as R' Micha Berger wrote, it doesn't really matter. Let's suppose that
Hashem does have a list of unpassable tests for which failure is not
counted against us. When I get to a difficult situation, I have no way of
knowing whether this situation is on that list or not. Therefore, I must
always try my hardest, on the safek that this situation IS passable.

BTW, as I understand it, even Eishes Y'fas Toar is NOT carte blanche to do
what you want. If the soldier wants that woman, he must follow the halacha
and the prescribed procedure. He CANNOT simply say "I can't stop myself"
and get away with it.

Wherever this concept came from, I strongly suspect that it was intended to
help us and strengthen our yetzer tov. (Hashem would not have given you
this test unless He was confident you'd pass it, so find a way!) I find it
hard to accept that it was intended as a loophole. (This one is just too
hard; do what you want and don't feel guilty about it.)

Akiva Miller

PS: By the way, a quick Google search suggested that the source for this
idea is in the Christian Bible, specifically 1 Corinthians 10:13.

.
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In a number of places in halacha we give priority to the right-hand side
and turning to the right. It?s interesting that 80+ percent of humans are
right-handed. While there are a number of theories as to why this might
be(especially compared to other life forms), I wonder if there?s some
message as to why HKBH created the world this way. Any thoughts appreciated?
KT
Joel Rich
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"Why?  Why didn't the ba`al qri'ah just write in the vowels?  We are
obliged to read the book of Esther from a parchment (which is,
parenthetically, a better term than "qlaf"; books of the Bible aren't
supposed to be written on qlaf, although they can be, they're supposed
to be written on gvil) and yet we are allowed, lkhatxilla, to write in
the vowels if we need to.  A fortiori, we are not obliged to read,
e.g., the book of `Ovadya from a parchment, so if we do we should
certainly be permitted to write in the vowels.  Am I missing something?
I haven't studied these laws (just enough to make that pedantic
correction about "qlaf" and "gvil"), does it say anywhere that it's
forbidden?

By the way, as long as I am making pedantic corrections, because we
are Jews and we enjoy pedantic corrections, please don't call him the
"ba`al koreh".  Call him the "ba`al qri'ah" or the "qoreh", but a
"ba`al qoreh" is a to`evah, even though it is now legal in all 50
states.?

Answering the question and ignoring the admittedly pedantic ?corrections,? I don?t know. I was just telling a story.
Joseph

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