Some random ideas in Torah
1] Joseph and his bothers. Joseph was considered by his brothers to be in the category of a רודף one who is running after someone to kill them. [The law is that if you see someone running after another to kill them you are obligated to kill the chaser.] This is clear as the sages of the Talmud said in a Midrash that he was saying about them that they were calling the children of the girl friends of Jacob "slaves" and they were eating a limb torn from a live animal. The second one is part of the seven laws of the children of Noah which if transgressed incur the death penalty.
Of course Joseph had seen them do just that, but as we find in the Talmud an animal created by means of Sefer Yetzirah does not require shechita and there is no law of אבר מן החי for it.
The case of calling the children of the girl friends of Jacob ''slaves'' we find that one who calls someone a slave is suspected of being a slave himself. The idea is they thought Joseph wanted to enslave them. גונב נפשות.
2] Rabbi Akiva was being tortured to death. that does not mean water-boarding. it means they were tearing his skin off his flesh and tearing his heart out of his chest. his crime was that he taught Torah publicly after the Bar Chochba incident. after that incident the Romans forbade teaching torah in public, doing the brit mila (circumcision), sanctifying the new moon, and living in Jerusalem for all Jews.
The Talmud discusses this incident and relates that Rabbi Akiva said to his disciples I have waited all my life for this moment. should I not embrace it when it comes? And as the Romans reached his heart he said the Shema, "Hear o Israel the Lord is our God, the Lord is one." and his soul left him on the word one.
This means that in general when one says the Shema and feels that his soul is about to leave him from great attachment with God he is supposed to stop his "devekut" in order to remain alive. But in the case of Rabbi Akiva he was under no obligation to limit his devekut because he was going to die in any case. So when he said the Shema he said it with such great attachment to God that his soul left his body on the word One--not because the Romans were torturing him.
3] What is the "peshat" (explanation) in the incident when Joseph made himself known to his brothers?
Joseph wanted to bring his brothers to do repentance on their evil deed and also wanted to make sure that their repentance was sincere.
Bringing them to repentance we see when they said all the evil that was coming on them was because of what they did to Joseph.
But it was only when Joseph saw Judah was willing to give himself up to a life of slavery in order to rescue his younger brother--then Joseph saw their repentance was real.מדה כנגד מדה. they did not mind the pain they caused their father and they were afraid of being slaves. here Joseph saw they were willing to go into slavery to save their father from pain and their younger brother from being a slave. the exact opposite of when they were willing to sell Joseph as a slave,
1] Joseph and his bothers. Joseph was considered by his brothers to be in the category of a רודף one who is running after someone to kill them. [The law is that if you see someone running after another to kill them you are obligated to kill the chaser.] This is clear as the sages of the Talmud said in a Midrash that he was saying about them that they were calling the children of the girl friends of Jacob "slaves" and they were eating a limb torn from a live animal. The second one is part of the seven laws of the children of Noah which if transgressed incur the death penalty.
Of course Joseph had seen them do just that, but as we find in the Talmud an animal created by means of Sefer Yetzirah does not require shechita and there is no law of אבר מן החי for it.
The case of calling the children of the girl friends of Jacob ''slaves'' we find that one who calls someone a slave is suspected of being a slave himself. The idea is they thought Joseph wanted to enslave them. גונב נפשות.
2] Rabbi Akiva was being tortured to death. that does not mean water-boarding. it means they were tearing his skin off his flesh and tearing his heart out of his chest. his crime was that he taught Torah publicly after the Bar Chochba incident. after that incident the Romans forbade teaching torah in public, doing the brit mila (circumcision), sanctifying the new moon, and living in Jerusalem for all Jews.
The Talmud discusses this incident and relates that Rabbi Akiva said to his disciples I have waited all my life for this moment. should I not embrace it when it comes? And as the Romans reached his heart he said the Shema, "Hear o Israel the Lord is our God, the Lord is one." and his soul left him on the word one.
This means that in general when one says the Shema and feels that his soul is about to leave him from great attachment with God he is supposed to stop his "devekut" in order to remain alive. But in the case of Rabbi Akiva he was under no obligation to limit his devekut because he was going to die in any case. So when he said the Shema he said it with such great attachment to God that his soul left his body on the word One--not because the Romans were torturing him.
3] What is the "peshat" (explanation) in the incident when Joseph made himself known to his brothers?
Joseph wanted to bring his brothers to do repentance on their evil deed and also wanted to make sure that their repentance was sincere.
Bringing them to repentance we see when they said all the evil that was coming on them was because of what they did to Joseph.
But it was only when Joseph saw Judah was willing to give himself up to a life of slavery in order to rescue his younger brother--then Joseph saw their repentance was real.מדה כנגד מדה. they did not mind the pain they caused their father and they were afraid of being slaves. here Joseph saw they were willing to go into slavery to save their father from pain and their younger brother from being a slave. the exact opposite of when they were willing to sell Joseph as a slave,
