הגדה ברורה

Haggadot and essays for Pesah and all year round

Rambam

עדים זוממים (iii): A response to Prof. Shamma Friedman

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Around a year ago, I wrote an article (and a short follow up) arguing that the famous d'rasha of הרגו אין נהרגין, widely believed to be an unimpeachable teaching of Hazal, is, in fact, a דעת יחיד found only in one late, and highly dubious, source recorded in the Talmud Bavli and tacitly ignored by codifiers until the advent of a revolution in the way the Bavli was conceptualized, spearheaded by the scholars of France. I happened upon this analysis while working on one of my unfinished projects, …

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עדים זוממים (ii) The source of Rashi’s d’rasha

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In a previous article, I discussed at some length the genesis of the claim that עדים זוממים can only be punished for an intermediate period between the moment when their perjury results in the conviction of their victim (גמר דין) and the actual execution of the sentence. If, so the claim goes, the unfortunate object of their false testimony has already been executed then they may not be punished. Guilty as sin, free as a bird, what a country! As I demonstrated there at length, the story of …

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Children and Bircat Cohanim: A case study in the halachic process

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Can a child go up to the duchan? It's a simple question that merits a simple answer. Fortunately, Hazal gave us one (Mishnah Megillah 4:3): קָטָן קוֹרֵא בַּתּוֹרָה וּמְתַרְגֵּם, אֲבָל אֵינוֹ פּוֹרֵס עַל שְׁמַע, וְאֵינוֹ עוֹבֵר לִפְנֵי הַתֵּיבָה, וְאֵינוֹ נוֹשֵׂא אֶת כַּפָּיו. In as many words (or, to be precise, fewer), the Mishnah tells us that a child cannot perform Bircat Cohanim. The minimum age for a Cohen to participate therefore is 13 or, at the very least, is no less than 13. I add …

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Parshat Va’eira: Pharoah’s sorcerers

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The Torah tells us that Pharaoh’s wise men and sorcerers were able to turn their staffs into taninim by means of their להטים. This word is unusual and Ibn Ezra suggests it may not be a Hebrew word. There are two main approaches to explaining how Pharaoh’s courtiers were able to perform the same miracle as Moshe. Rav Sa’adya Gaon and Ibn Ezra suggest that it was some sort of trick or optical illusion and that in fact no real change had occurred. This fits best with the interpretation according …

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Parshat Va’eira: ‘By my name HASHEM’

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וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים אֶל־מֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲנִי יְהוָה׃ וָאֵרָא אֶל־אַבְרָהָם אֶל־יִצְחָק וְאֶל־יַעֲקֹב בְּאֵל שַׁדָּי וּשְׁמִי יְהוָה לֹא נוֹדַעְתִּי לָהֶם׃ Translated literally, God’s opening statement to Moshe here reads as follows. ‘I am HASHEM. And I appeared to Avraham, to Yitzhaq, and to Ya’aqov as El Shaddai and my name HASHEM I was not known to them.’ This statement is difficult to parse on a grammatical level and also presents a major interpretative problem because numerous …

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Parshat Shemot: ‘And this is your sign that I have sent you’

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When God tells Moshe his mission, Moshe is sceptical that he is capable or worthy of going to Pharaoh or freeing the children of Israel. God tells him that he will succeed ‘For I will be with you, and this is your sign that I have sent you, when you bring out the children of Israel, you will worship [the] God on this mountain’. On first glance, this looks like God is telling Moshe that the sign that he is worthy will be the subsequent revelation on Sinai, but this seems illogical since this can …

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