1)INVITEES TO DECLARE A LEAP YEAR
ת״ר אין מעברין את השנה אלא במזומנין לה מעשה ברבן גמליאל שאמר השכימו לי שבעה לעלייה השכים ומצא שמונה אמר מי הוא שעלה שלא ברשות ירד עמד שמואל הקטן ואמר אני הוא שעליתי שלא ברשות ולא לעבר השנה עליתי אלא ללמוד הלכה למעשה הוצרכתי אמר לו שב בני שב ראויות כל השנים כולן להתעבר על ידך אלא אמרו חכמים אין מעברין את השנה אלא במזומנין לה ולא שמואל הקטן הוה אלא איניש אחרינא ומחמת כיסופא הוא דעבד
Translation: The Rabbis taught in a Baraisa: We do not add the year except with judges who were invited for that purpose. (By the Nasi, on the previous evening. - Rashi) There was once a story with Rabban Gamliel (the Second), where he said, Wake up seven judges for me and send them to the upper floor. (The meeting place of the Rabbis. See Kesuvos 50b; Shabbos 1:4.) He came in the morning and found eight judges. He said: Whoever came up without permission should go down. Shmuel HaKatan (Shmuel the Small, called that because of his humility) stood up and said: I came up without permission. I did not come to add a month to the year, but I wanted to learn the practical laws of adding a month to the year. Rabban Gamliel said to him: Sit, my son, sit. All of the years are worthy to be added to by you, but the Sages said: We do not add months to the year, except with those judges who were invited for that purpose. Really, it was not Shmuel HaKatan who came uninvited, rather, it was someone else, but he (Shmuel HaKatan) did it in order to save the other person from embarrassment.
(a)How could Rabban Gamliel say, "Whoever came up without permission should go down"? If one must be invited to be part of the assembly, did he not know who he had invited? (Ran)
1.Ran (R' Yona): Rabban Gamliel knew who had come without permission, but Shmuel HaKatan did not want the other attendees to know.
2.R. Chananel, Yad Ramah: Rabban Gamliel did not specify which seven must come. He merely ordered seven to come. The eighth one to arrive was therefore not invited. As a result of Shmuel HaKatan's behavior, there were in fact less than seven invitees. And the Yerushalmi actually states that they did not ultimately judge on the leap year and reconvened on a different occasion.
(b)If Shmuel HaKatan knew that he was invited, if he would step down, another uninvited person would be part of the group, which would seemingly disqualify the decision? (Maharsha)
1.Maharsha: Rabban Gamliel's ordered his messenger to bring seven people including Rabban Gamliel. The messenger misunderstood and invited seven aside from Rabban Gamliel. Rabban Gamliel did not know this and thought that one person came uninvited. If so, even after Shmuel HaKatan would leave, all of the remaining Chachamim had been invited (i.e. Rabban Gamliel and six more).
2)THE STUDENT OF REBBI WHO ATE GARLIC
כי הא דיתיב רבי וקא דריש והריח ריח שום אמר מי שאכל שום יצא עמד רבי חייא ויצא עמדו כולן ויצאו בשחר מצאו רבי שמעון בר׳ לרבי חייא אמר ליה אתה הוא שציערת לאבא אמר לו לא תהא כזאת בישראל
Translation: As it once happened that Rebbi was sitting and lecturing, and he smelled the odour of garlic. He said: Whoever ate garlic go out. R. Chiya stood up and left. Then everyone stood up and left. In the morning, R. Shimon, Rebbi's son, met him and said to him: You are the one who troubled my father yesterday. R. Chiya said to him: There should be nothing like that among the Jewish people.
(a)How did R. Chiya 'trouble' Rebbi?
1.Rashi: By eating garlic and smelling bad. R. Chiya responded that he was not the one who ate the garlic.
2.Maharsha: By leaving the Beis Midrash, which caused everyone to leave and stop the Torah study. R. Chiya responded that despite stopping the Torah study, it was worthwhile to avoid embarrassing the culprit.
(b)Why would the one who ate garlic be embarrassed? How was he supposed to know that Rebbi was sensitive to the smell?
1.Binayahu (cited in Yosef Da'as): Chazal tell us that garlic increases a man's seed. It is therefore eaten on Friday night, as the time for a Talmid Chacham to have relations is Friday night (Bava Kama 82a). If a man eats it on a weekday evening, it implies that he does not behave like a Talmid Chacham as he has relations during the week. This could be a source of embarrassment for a student of Rebbi's Beis Midrash.
3)R. MEIR, SHECHANIAH, YEHOSHUA AND MOSHE
ורבי חייא מהיכא גמיר לה מרבי מאיר דתניא מעשה באשה אחת שבאתה לבית מדרשו של ר״מ אמרה לו רבי אחד מכם קדשני בביאה עמד רבי מאיר וכתב לה גט כריתות ונתן לה עמדו כתבו כולם ונתנו לה ור״מ מהיכא גמיר לה משמואל הקטן ושמואל הקטן מהיכא גמיר לה משכניה בן יחיאל דכתיב ויען שכניה בן יחיאל מבני עילם ויאמר לעזרא אנחנו מעלנו באלהינו ונושב נשים נכריות מעמי הארץ ועתה יש מקוה לישראל על זאת ושכניה בן יחיאל מהיכא גמר לה מיהושע דכתיב ויאמר ה׳ אל יהושע קום לך למה זה אתה נופל על פניך חטא ישראל אמר לפניו רבש״ע מי חטא אמר לו וכי דילטור אני לך הטל גורלות ואיבעית אימא ממשה דכתיב עד אנה מאנתם
Translation: And where did R. Chiya learn to do this? From R. Meir, as it is taught in a Baraisa: There is a story about a certain woman who came to the Beis haMidrash of R. Meir and said to him: Rabbi, one of you betrothed me through marital relations. R. Meir stood up and wrote her a divorce document and gave it to her (attaching the blame to himself). Then, each one of his students stood up and gave a divorce document to her. And where did R. Meir learn to do this? From Shmuel haKatan. And where did Shmuel HaKatan learn to do this? From Shechaniah the son of Yechiel, as it's written: 'And Shechaniah the son of Yechiel, one of the sons of Elam answered, and said to Ezra: We transgressed against our God and have taken gentile women of the peoples of the land: and now there is hope in Yisrael concerning this. (Ezra 10:2. Shechaniah made a false confession to save the sinners from embarrassment.) And where did Shechaniah learn to do this? From Yehoshua, as it is written: 'Hashem said to Yehoshua: Get up. Why are you fallen on your face? Yisrael has sinned.' He (Yehoshua) said before Him: Master of the Universe! Who sinned (by taking from the spoils)? Hash-m said to him: Am I your informer? Go and cast lots to find out. (This way, the real sinners would be saved from embarrassment.) Or, if you want, say: He learned to do it from Moshe, as it is written: ' Hash-m said to Moshe: Until when will you refuse to observe My commandments and My laws?' (Shemos 16:28. The whole nation is accused of going out to collect the Mann on Shabbos, in order to save the actual sinners from embarrassment.)
(a)In the story of Yehoshua, why did Hash-m tell him to cast lots, when either way, Hash-m would ensure that the outcome would incriminate the sinner? Why not just tell Yehoshua directly who the sinner is?
1.Sefer Chofetz Chaim (Rechilus Klal 9:4 w/ Be'er Mayim Chaim): We learn from here that even when there is a need to expose something negative, if possible, it should be done in a way that minimizes the actual speaking of Lashon haRa.
(b)Why does the Gemara ask 'where did he learn to do this' in each story and create a chain back to Yehoshua or Moshe? Why is it not enough that he behaved that way in order to avoid causing embarrassment? (Maharsha)
1.Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz (Sichos Mussar 14): This Gemara teaches that even the greatest Chachamim did not do anything, even if something that made logical sense, unless they saw it done by the Chachamim who were before them. (This is a reason why Pirkei Avos begins by stating the chain of the tradition - that even the traits and behaviors found in Pirkei Avos are not invented by Chazal. They were given over to Moshe at Har Sinai.)
4)RUACH HAKODESH AND BAS KOLS
ת״ר משמתו נביאים האחרונים חגי זכריה ומלאכי נסתלקה רוח הקודש מישראל ואף על פי כן היו משתמשין בבת קול פעם אחת היו מסובין בעליית בית גוריה ביריחו ונתנה עליהם בת קול מן השמים יש כאן אחד שראוי שתשרה עליו שכינה(כמשה רבינו) אלא שאין דורו זכאי לכך נתנו חכמים את עיניהם בהלל הזקן וכשמת אמרו עליו הי חסיד הי עניו תלמידו של עזרא שוב פעם אחת היו מסובין בעליה ביבנה ונתנה עליהם בת קול מן השמים יש כאן אחד שראוי שתשרה עליו שכינה אלא שאין דורו זכאי לכך נתנו חכמים את עיניהם בשמואל הקטן וכשמת אמרו עליו הי חסיד הי עניו תלמידו של הלל אף הוא אמר בשעת מיתתו שמעון וישמעאל לחרבא וחברוהי לקטלא ושאר עמא לביזא ועקן סגיאן עתידן למיתי על עלמא ועל יהודה בן בבא בקשו לומר כן אלא שנטרפה שעה שאין מספידין על הרוגי מלכות
Translation: The Rabbis taught in a Baraisa: When the last prophets died, namely, Chaggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, Divine inspiration (Ruach haKodesh) was taken away from Yisrael. Nevertheless, they would use the Bas Kol (an 'echo' of a Heavenly voice). Once, the Rabbis were reclining in the upper floor of Guryah's house in Yericho, and a Bas Kol was sent to them from Heaven, saying: There is one among you who is worthy that the Divine Spirit should rest on him (like it did on Moshe Rabbeinu), but his generation did not merit it. The Rabbis turned their eyes to Hillel the Elder. And when Hillel died, they said about him: What a pious man, what a humble man, a student of Ezra. Another time, they were reclining in the upper floor in Yavneh, and a Bas Kol was sent to them from Heaven, saying: There is one among you who is worthy that the Shechinah should rest on him but his generation does not merit it. The Rabbis turned their eyes to Shmuel HaKatan. And when he died, they said about him: What a pious man, what a humble man, a student of Hillel. He (Shmuel HaKatan) also said before he died: Shimon (Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel) and Yishmael (R. Yishmael bar Elisha, the Kohen Gadol) will die by the sword, and their colleagues (R. Akiva and R. Chanina ben Teradyon) will be killed by other means, and the rest of the people will be plundered, and in the future, many tragedies will befall the world. The Rabbis wanted to say the same (What a pious man, what a humble man!) for R. Yehuda ben Bava (who was martyred at the age of seventy under the Hadrianic persecution, see below 14a), but he died when times were troubled, and no eulogies were allowed for those who were executed by the Roman government. (Any words of praise spoken about martyrs would have been regarded by the Romans as an act of provocation.)
(a)The Baraisa taught that when the last prophets died, Divine inspiration (Ruach haKodesh) was taken away from Yisrael. How does this reconcile with the Gemara in Bava Basra (12a) that teaches that 'from the day of the destruction of the Beis haMikdash, prophecy was taken from the prophets and given to the Sages? Furthermore, there are many instances after the destruction where we seemingly find that a Sage had Ruach haKodesh?
1.Ramban (Bava Basra 12a): The Baraisa is referring to direct prophecy through a vision. The prophecy of the Sages comes through their wisdom. This was not taken away - they still know the truth through the Ruach haKodesh that is inside them.
2.Rashba (Teshuva 548): Prophecy was removed, but it can still come on an occasional basis.
3.Rav Chaim Kanievski (Orchos Yosher Chapter 26): Actual prophecy ended, but there are many different lower levels of prophecy and Divine inspiration that still exist.
(b)What is the meaning of the term Bas Kol?
1.Ramban (Parshas Tetzaveh), Tosfos Yom Tov (Yevamos 16:6): A voice from Heaven that is on a lower level than prophecy. The Urim v'Tumim were on a level in between.
2.Rashi (Sotah 33a dh Shani Bas Kol): It is a Malach (angel) who knows all 70 languages of the world nations. (However, his student, R. Simcha of Vitry, in his Sefer Machzor Vitry, states that it is not a Malach.)
(c)What is the nature of the sound that is emitted?
1.Tosfos (Sanhedrin 11a dh Bas Kol): The actual 'voice' that emanates from Heaven is not heard. Another 'voice' emanates from that voice, which is heard, hence the name 'Bas Kol' (lit. 'the daughter of a voice')
2.Tosfos Yom Tov (ibid): It is called a "Bas Kol' rather than a 'Ben Kol' - because the sound is weak (an echoe) like a female rather than strong like a male.
(d)It seems that in the two stories, everyone present heard the 'Bas Kol'. However, the Ramban (Toras Hash-m Temimah 3:17) writes that a Bas Kol is a level of prophecy and can only be heard by those who are worthy of prophecy. If so, what did the Bas Kol mean by saying, "There is one among you who is worthy that the Divine Spirit should rest on him"? If they all heard the Bas Kol, were they not all worthy of that? (Chazon Yoel on Toras Hash-m Temimah 3:17)
1.Chazon Yoel (ibid): Although the people there were at a certain level of prophecy, Hillel and Shmuel haKatan were on an even higher level, where the Shechinah rested upon them.
