Are You Simi?

So on the theme of Kafta Vaferach, I just want to end with one last thought of that's mamesh Kafta Vaferach from the great Gaon, Reb Reuven Margolies. And that is, so the Gemara said here on daf kuf tes amud alef, so Rav Rav said the height of the menorah was nine tfachim. So Rav Simi bar Achiya turned to Rav and he said, "Nine tfachim it can't be." He said there were steps to get up to the menorah. It can't be it was so small because you wouldn't have needed steps for it. Amalei, so what does Rav tell Rav Simi bar Achiya? He tells him, "Simi'at." Oh by the way, the right way to say this is Shimi'at, but in yeshiva I'm pretty sure it's Simi and not Shimi. So we're going to go with Simi. Forgive me. Simi'at. Kiko amina misvas kamina d'oraita went ahead and he explained it. Tells him, "Simi'at." Okay. Right? Again, is that a compliment? What does that mean Simi'at? If you take a look at Rashi, Rashi says, "Dibra maskil Simi'at at d'hu amachsali." Pit me ah. Very good. Pit me ah. That's the punchline. Are you Simi? You're the one that's asking me this kasha? Simi'at is a little bit funny, right? This nusach of Simi'at, believe it or not, that rhymes, is mentioned in a lot of different places in Shas. As a matter of fact, it's also mentioned in Likutei Amarim daf kuf yud amud alef, it's in Bechiros daf kuf gimmel. It's in Bechiros daf mem dalet. It's in Niddah daf kuf dalet. It's always the same thing. Rav is talking to Rav Simi bar Achiya and he tells him, "Simi'at." As a matter of fact, Rashi in Maseches Niddah daf kuf dalet has a whole arichus, a long Rashi there. And Rashi says, "B'chama duchtan ashkachan d'mahadrin Rav Rav hachi Simi'at." And he says, "I'm trying to figure out a pshat." He says, "V'neira b'eina." Let me tell you what I think. Mishum d'bar b'rei Achiya, Rav Simi bar Achiya wasn't just an a Simi, the son of Achiya. It's Achiya who was the son of Rav. Rav had a son Achiya, right? And it's his own grandson. V'kamalei Achiya and the reason he told him this was mishum chavivusa because this was his beloved grandson. Kol d'mei atya d'eila lo hishivani. Right? You're someone that knows how to to say something good to me and I don't know, it's some sort of compliment that he's telling him because he's very close with him. Then he says, "V'anishma'ti." Says, "I'm going to tell you I heard a different pshat. Shumidas tzni'us haya b'Rav." Rav had a middah of tzni'us. Sh'lo haya zakif eina l'ma'alah. He would never lift his eyes up. Hu k'chulei alma k'eira. And as a result, when he saw me didn't recognize him. And that's why he said this. So where does this come from? The Rav had a minic that he didn't look up. This is one of the asara minic d'chasidus of Rav. Right? Never looked at the sides, he never looked outside of his his dalet amos. We've spoken about this, right? More times than we spoke about the Gemara in Maseches Bava Metzia of Rebbi Akiva, but the bottom line is the Gemara we've tackled baruch Hashem so many different angles. But the bottom line is we know Rav had He said, "I heard that." He said, "Simi'at." Like, "Are you Simi?" He was like a little bit confused. But Rashi says that can't be the pshat because if that was the pshat, v'lo yihya shari b'ma'aseh sh'amar Rav kach l'Shmuel amud alef zayin. The only person he ever told it to was Simi. So it doesn't make sense. He said, "V'eish shama'ti I heard another pshat that he was a very he was a charif." Rashi says, "I don't like that pshat." The bottom line is Rashi sh'lo k'darko is giving you access to different pshatim that he heard and he's mamesh giving you like a real time of view of he's struggling. What's pashut pshat in Simi'at? Zog Reb Reuven Margolies, "It's so pashut what the pshat in Simi'at is." Says the Gemara, the Gemara is in Maseches Chullin daf kuf yud alef amud bet. This by the way, in yeshiva circles is a well-known Gemara. It's the sugiyah of nat bar nat which we're not going to go into right now. Simi'at. But in the sugiyah of nat bar nat, that was a easy seg- segway. Taggim sh'alu b'ka'ara. So the Gemara there talks about fish that were cooked in a tanur, okay? And was put on a ka'ara, a plate, that was a fleishig plate. And now you want to eat the fish with milchigs, right? So we're supposed to just call the beis din. But the bottom line is the Gemara had a whole shaila. Rav amam asar l'chatchila. B'kudcha amud alef. You're not allowed to eat it now with some milchig product. V'Shmuel amam mutar l'chatchila. If you want to eat it you're allowed to. Rav amam asar. Rav said it's asar nicean tamo. V'Shmuel amam mutar. Shmuel said it's mutar nicean tamo bar nicean tamo. It's not nicean tamo, it's nat. Nat, it's nat bar nat. Zog the Gemara. V'ha od Rav b'seiraish itma el kol d'eifa. This that Rav is of the opinion that nat bar nat is asar. Rav never said never said those words out of his mouth. But rather it's something that we were able to do based on a ma'aseh of Rav. The Rav became ill by Rav Simi bar Achiya bar Berei. Because Rav was once by his grandson Simi bar Achiya. Rav had an ainikel Simi bar Achiya. And he once came to his ainikel Simi. Chash b'eina. And he had an issue with his eyes. He was struggling, couldn't see, something was bothering. Avdu lei shaifa b'tza. And they went ahead in the house of his ainikel Simi bar Achiya they made him a certain potion. They made him a certain tapshil. Tam lei tamo b'sara Afterwards Rav amam lei bishula d'gava. They took the same pot that they used to make these herbs and they put something inside of it. And then when Rav ate lunch he said, "You know, I taste the tamo of the shaifa." Amar so. They said, "You have tamo kulei hai?" Must be Rav amam decided that nat bar nat is asar. The Gemara says that Rav was once by his ainikel Simi bar Achiya and his eyes were hurting. Avdu lei kach they made him a thing with a ma'aseh and the whole nat bar nat of shitas Rav came about from that story. Zog Reb Reuven Margolies, "It's not right to say. In fact, it's very glad to say. Rav spent some time with his ainikel. He was a choleh there. And what was his machla? His machla was with his eyes. And he was there he couldn't really see and during that time what did Rav do? He connected learning. See you have six places in Shas where Rav Simi tells him something and Rav says, "Simi'at." Not Simi'at because he couldn't see. He was chash b'eina. It's in the first Maseches Chullin daf kuf yud alef amud bet. And this is what we call classic Reb Reuven Margolies. And I think this is what Rav Tarfon would have said, "Kafta Vaferach."