The Rambam and Megilat Ruth | Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz | May 19 2026

Today I'm going to take a little bit of a break but it'll be connected to the Rambam but not the letter that we're looking at. I want to share with you a thought from the briskerv using the Rambam to explain some passages in migillat. So I think I think it would be interesting. Um as you know uh the minrael is to read uh the story of Rut on and there are many different reasons why that is given. Number one, uh Russ is of course the great grandmother of David Hamelik and the end of the story of Russ traces the lineage all the way from Yehuda through R Boaz and Russ to David and Kazal have a misor that David died on Shva so it's his site so we honor David Hamelik this way uh another reason is that the story of Russ actually happens around Shva's time the time of the harvest of the wheat Uh a third reason which is probably the the best reason is that on mat and Torah all of us became converts. All of us converted to by accepting Hashem's mitzvos. And therefore on the day that we accept Hashem's mitzvos we want to study about a role model of a totally sincere righteous woman who accepted God's Torah and that should be the model that we follow in our own lives. And the uh fourth reason the medish gives is that uh Russ uh was exemplary in the loving kindness that she had for Naomi. Remember Russ and Orpa were both the daughters of royalty. Egglon Melik Moaf and uh Rus. Although when she initially got married, she got married into a wealthy and influential family. But uh after Ali Melik and Mlon and Kyon died, Naomi was reduced to abject poverty and Russ left the royal home to live a life of poverty and deprivation because of the love and care and compassion she had for Naomi. And the medra says this reminds us that the Torah must be based on on Camila's uh because the the Torah begins with Camila Hashem creating a helpmate for for Marish and it ends with Camil Hashem burying Mosha Rabenu and therefore it reminds us of the tremendous importance of uh in a Jewish personality. So there are a lot of different reasons why we read migillas. Uh the standard minog is that it's read but seabore it's read in a minion. Many many have a claf a parchment with a braha. Others don't have a claf and there's no braha but they read it a minion. There are a few I think kabad and some other groups that in fact do not actually read it but sore at all. Everybody just reads it privately uh from their sitter but nevertheless uh one way or the other people read it init the second day of in Eric Israel since we don't have a second day of we have to pile everything on in the first day which is a little difficult if you've been up the whole night especially we have rus and yskar and odamos and all sorts of things uh maybe that's some of the ysurin of Israel that this morning is a is a longer davening than it would be in. Now I want to focus on one particular aspect of Miguel and that is the story of Miguel seems to involve a certain type of ceremony that is akin to yum. Remember Naomi is very very concerned that she lost her son Machlan and she Mlan had no children and she wants to perpetuate the memory of her son. So she wants Boaz to marry. Now now again you need to keep in mind the family relationships here. Everybody is kind of related. Uh the Gomorrah says in Baba Basra that Elime Melik Naomi's husband Salmon who is Boaz's father. So Elime Melik Salmon and the other relative who goes by two names. He's either called to or he's called Paloni Almani which means John Doe even in modern Hebrew. All of them are brothers and they are the sons of the great Nakshon Benaminadav who was the head of the tribe of Yehuda who was the first one to jump into the Yamsu. Okay. So Ali Melik Salmon and To are brothers the sons of Benad. Now that would mean Mlon the son of Elim and Boaz the son of Salomon are first cousins. Everyone understands that they are cousins. They are not brothers. They are cousins. But Naomi wants Boas to marry Rus to perpetuate the seed of Mlo. Now the very language of the verse is the same language the Torah uses about yeum. But the issue becomes this is not really yam. Yeum is when a brother dies without children. There's a mitzvah on the brother. Uh these are first cousins. There is no mitzvah of yam visa via first cousin. But the Ramban explains that there is something called nonhalic or spiritual ebam. Meaning the halic mandatory aspect of yamim is only from brother to brother. However, any relative in the family has a mystical capacity to perpetuate the soul of his departed relative by having a child that in many many ways although obviously it's the child of the father but spiritually it's almost the child of the deceased in fact you even see this very dramatically in fact not even the child of the deceased maybe the deceased mother when when Russ finally has a child from Boaz and the child is named Odet and Oette is the father of Yishi, the father of David. So it's like the ne I don't know I always get this impression the neighbors like take the baby away uh they I mean not really but they take the baby from Naomi from Russ [snorts] and they say Ben Lami behold there is a son born to Naomi meaning the child was really seen as a replacement for Maklam and Ra's righteousness is such that she kind of almost almost gave up the child to kind of be be considered to be the the mother. So we have to understand that what's going on here is is not mandatory. What is going on here is spiritual. And Naomi feels that Boaz is the best person to fulfill this role. Boaz was a sadic. Boaz was a god. Boaz was one of the chauffeim. Although in the book of chauffeim he appears under a different name. There's a chauffe called if son. He's not given too much too many lines in the book of Chaftim but Kazal say if son and Boaz are the same person. Now Boaz then says and remember this is a whole scene where Russ comes to him in the middle of the night to kind of shock him into his recognition because he wasn't getting it. And when he finally figures out what's going on, he says, "I will do what I must do, but there is someone that's a closer relative than I, and he must be given the first right." And in the morning, we will check in with him and if Tove, again, assuming Tob is a name, if Tove does the job, that's fine. If to refuses to do the job, I will be the one after him and I will do the job. And if you remember, to said no. And I'll get into why to said no. Yeah. >> But this is connected also with because first they're talking even about the land. >> Yeah. I I'll I'll I'll get I'll I'll discuss that. Okay. So yeah. people who are spiritual. >> Well, yes, apparently there is. Apparently, it's interesting. Why is Tove even considered to be a closer relative? Now, remember, Tove is Mloon's uncle because he's Melik's brother. Uh, as opposed to Boaz that is a cousin. Now, it's not intuitively obvious why in the hierarchy an uncle would be considered closer than a cousin. But first of all, you do see this in the Torah itself. Because for example, a man is not allowed to marry uh his uncle's wife. Even when the uncle dies, a man is allowed to marry his cousin or his cousin's wife. Again, if there's a widow or divorce. So you do see that an uncle is closer simply because an uncle is actually a brother of your parent and that that's a closer relationship than a cousin. So apparently there is priority here. Now the next morning Boaz goes to the gate. The gate of the city of Blehem was the public place the square where people would assemble to discuss various business transactions. Boaz gathers a minion and Boaz says the following. Now he starts off not even talking about Yeam. He starts with a different topic. He says Naomi has sold a field and there's a mitzvah on the relatives to redeem the field and bring it back into the family. Again, I'll explain that. Are you willing to exercise this right of redemption? Plonial Elone says, "Sure, I'm very happy to exercise the right of redemption." Then Boa says, "Oh, forgot to tell you there's a little condition that in order to exercise the right of redemption, you have to marry Russ." So Ploni alone gets cold feet. Plan says legally I cannot redeem under these conditions lest I corrupt my inheritance. I'm just translating it literally for now. You go ahead and handle the whole thing. So the truth of the matter is just just reading the verses, everything is kind of unclear here. Everything is a bit of a fog. So first of all, if Naomi actually sold the field, why is she in control of any conditions at all? Why can't Aloney say, "No, I don't want to marry Russ and I want to redeem the field." What? Naomi is not going to let me redeem unless I marry Russ. If the field was sold, the only shyus uh pelonium has is with the buyer of the field. Naomi does not control the terms of the redemption and Naomi cannot put any conditions in that redemption. So what is this linkage that's being proposed? So Rashi actually answers that in the following way and it's a kesh and it's a dohak. It's a bit of a force in the language, but this is what Rashi says. says when it says Naomi Mah sold the field, it does not mean she actually sold it. It means she's planning on selling it. And although relatives should have a priority in buying the field, Naomi because she has not yet sold the field can basically say I'm only going to sell the field to the one that marries marries Russ. In other words, Rashi is saying her ability to make this condition is only because the word mak is lava and makra is she wants to sell the field. Now again what is being referred to is the in paras towards the end of safer when a person sells a field because of their poverty there is a mitzvah well if the person has their own money they can redeem it themselves by tendering back the purchase price but if they're not able to redeem it themselves there's a mitzvah on their relatives to redeem the field and the buyer has to give in. Meaning by the buyer getting back his money, the redeemer has the right to the field. And indeed, there's even a complicated formula of depreciation because remember, every sale in these days was only a sale until Yoville because when the Jubilee year came back, the land went back automatically. So every sale is for a maximum of 50 years or 49 years. 49 years. And as a result, what the way the formula works is the purchase price is divided by the number of years until Yel and for every year the buyer has to field that percentage is deducted from the redemption price. So to give you to give you a very simple example uh let's say that uh a purchaser buys a field at the very beginning right after yoville he buys it in year one and he buys it in year one I'll make up a crazy number only for $1,000. Now the way that works is since he's only buying it for 49 years. Okay, I don't have a calculator here, but divide a,000 by 49 and essentially he's paying that amount for every year. So if the buyer wants to I'm not buy if the owner wants to redeem it after 10 years. The owner does not have to tender the full price rather he deducts the years that the buyer already got. That's called redemption. That's called gula. And the Torah says the right of gula belongs to the the original owner. But if the original owner cannot redeem, there's a mitzvah on the relatives to redeem utilizing the same formula. Now the Tyra is clearly talking about when the field was already sold. That's what the Torah is talking about. According to Rashi, the case of Naomi is the field was not yet sold. But the sura the logic is the same. The same way there would be a mitzvah to keep the field in the family to redeem a field that was sold. There would be a mitzvah on relatives to buy the field from the owner. In other words, it's an extension. In other words, the point is it is not the exact case the Tory is talking about but it is a logical extension of that case to keep the field in the family. Now you might ask a very simple question. Uh earlier in Russ we talked about Naomi coming back. Naomi is povertystricken. Naomi has to send Russ to glean in the fields. I mean if Naomi has a field you know why can't she be supported from that field? The answer is very simple. Naomi is coming back at the beginning of the harvest season, meaning there's nothing you can't plant. There's nothing to plant right now. It is a barren field. Naomi is going to starve to death unless um there's another source of food. So maybe had Naomi come back at a different time of year, perhaps that field could have been cultivated. At this point, um all she can do is sell it. Now, of course, you may ask another question. How does Naomi own any property whatsoever? Uh again if Alame Melik died it would go to his sons and um if the sons died it does not go to their wives it would go to cousins or whatever. In fact it might have gone to Boaz and to automatically. Uh the short answer is the Maporam say that this was a field that she had a right to as payment for her cassuva from her husband. So this was a cassuva field and the like. Okay. So Rashi does answer the first question meaning the first question I raised was what gives Naomi control over the process to basically say you can only redeem the field if you marry Russi is because Naomi has not yet sold the field and therefore she can sell the field to whomever she wants and she wants to use this as leverage to encourage the marriage of marriage of Russ which in turn is what what would I call spiritual yam or nonic yeam so now let's look at it from the perspective of ploon alone ponial alone is perfectly happy to redeem the field by the field but once it's linked with Russ all of a sudden he says can't do it you go ahead and do it what's going lest I destroy my inheritance. What what destruction of his inheritance would there be? So Rashi in a very brief comment but the comment has a lot of background that you need to know is Rashi says Paloni Almani is making a very serious mistake which is leading him astray. And in fact, even the way words palon ali uh refers to his ignorance in Torah. Paloni is mla. The Torah is beyond him. Almon is he's mutem. He is mute in not being able to express understanding of the Torah. He was Amoritz. Although we'll see according to the briskar, he's a very he'll be a very sophisticated Amaritz. And Poni Aloney felt he is not allowed to marry Russ because Russ is a moabitete even though she converted. She converted. Yeah. But she's a moabitete. And the Torah says in paras yo ami moashem the moabitetes and the ammonites these are the descendants of lo's daughters are not allowed to enter the congregation of god meaning this is not talking about they didn't convert if they didn't convert they're goyam means even if they convert they are not allowed to marry into claw israel they can marry with each other etc but they cannot marry into claw Israel and the Torah gives a reason. And by the way, it's not because they came from incest. That bada is not the reason that's given, but it's because of their selfishness and cruelty that they did not offer us food and water when we needed to pass through their land. Of course, that's another question. Why did we need food or water? We still had the money. Okay. But everything opens up into other questions. But that's what the Torah says. The problem is their cruelty and lack of gratitude to Abraino. Okay. So bo uh ponial alone says I don't know what m and did that was their aa maybe that's why they even died and boas my my nephew he's making a mistake I don't consider this mudra this is a prohibited marriage so when he says lest I destroy my inheritance my inheritance means my bloodline meaning to say the children I have are going to be tainted because they come from forbidden Moabitete blood and they themselves will therefore be stigmatized as Moabites. Now this is a mistake. What is the mistake? Because the halaka is very clear that the prohibition of marrying the Moabitete is only if it's a male Moabitete and not if it's a female Moabitete. In fact, that's exactly why Mlon was permitted to marry Russ and that's exactly why Boaz is permitted to marry Russ and that's why David Melik is not considered to be tainted from Moabitete. But the plonial mooney is an amorit and he thinks that the prohibition of marrying the moabitete is even if it is a female moabitete and if Naomi is saying you can't redeem the field unless you marry Russia alone says I have to say no now what's so interesting is and this is even what boas makes no attempt to convince him to the contrary in other words pon says can't do it. So Boa says, "Okay, I'm going to marry her right now." In fact, he assembled a minion. According to Warus, part of why he assembled a minion was because Chevraus requires a minion and he wanted to marry Russ immediately because Colonial Aloney might change his mind or look in the or whatever it is. And the piska says that if somebody has a certain priority to do a mitzvah, but they think they're not supposed to do it. You do not have to correct them. You can just move in and do it. You can take advantage of their ignorance. And the ria is that Boaz is taking advantage of that of that of that ignorance. Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, okay. So let me well well well no okay okay this is what I'm talking about I mean this is exactly the sheer yeah >> wasn't engaging in some substitution because if she had not yet sold he just contacted this this he never had this conversation with that she's about to sell >> uh well that that's an interesting question meaning are you saying that boas made up the story uh that's an interesting that's an interesting possibility I mean most assume that boas is conveying the information that he had. But you're right may maybe that whole thing that whole thing was well no that can't be because Lammya after the transaction it does say befavorish the field now belongs to Boas. So so it must have happened. Now there is a ceremony that as soon as Pon says no there's a ceremony of shoe removal that goes on. Now here I want to clarify a very very frequent source of confusion. It seems intuitively that the removal of the shoe corresponds to the kalita ceremony in the Torah. Again, what does the Torah say? If a brother dies, this is let's say mandatory even. If a brother dies without um children, there's a mitzvah on his brother to marry. If the brother does not want to do it or the woman does not want, there is a ceremony. She removes his shoe and she spits in front of him. Not in his face, in front of him in front of and she says, "So shall be done to the man who does not want to rebuild his brother's home." By the way, among Ashkanazim, we don't we do not even practice yam. So a woman needs only do allow ye which seems to be what the Torah I mean the Torah clearly indicates yam is the preference and khalita is the second best of a different okay now one would immediately assume based on that knowledge that oh refuses to do non-hibum so there's a shoe removal ceremony which seems to be khaliza It's very important to understand that the ceremony that is being described in migadr is not a khalita ceremony because according to first of all when you have two potential yams let's say you have two brothers and the older brother is given priority and the older older brother turns it down and the younger brother is going to do it there's no khalita there. So it's the same thing here. If you have two relatives and one says no and one says yes, there's no khalita. There's only khalita if there's not going to be a yamim at all. So that's one reason why it's not khalita. A second reason why it's not Khalita is it's a little ambiguous who took off whose shoe and according to Khazal the definitive interpretation is Boaz took off his shoe and gave his shoe to Paloni Almani. Now I'll explain what what what that even means but that's not khalita boas. First of all, if anybody would take off anybody's shoe, it would have been Russ taking off the shoe from Poni Aloney. This is this is Boas taking off his shoe and giving it to Paloni Aloney. So it so although it's reminiscent of Khalita and I would even suggest that perhaps the Nvi wants to create a mental image of a Khalita ceremony, but this is not a Khalita ceremony. What this is, this is something that is known as a Kenyan khalipen. And that that is the idea that when you give up rights and prerogatives in order to make it irrevocable, I give up a right to something. So I give you, it's kind of a symbolic barter. I give you something. And it could be anything. It could be a handkerchief, could be a key. Uh it can't be money. It has to be a clay. And by my giving you this object, that is a symbolic barter transfer of your rights. Now, it it didn't have to be a shoe. I'll explain why. It was customarily a shoe. Uh but the idea is a plea, some type of vessel. Now, here Plony Almani has two prerogatives. He has the prerogative of redemption and he has the prerogative of non-hala. He does not want to exercise those prerogatives. Boaz wants to be sure that plonial money will not change his mind in the next minute or so. So this is finalized by a symbolic barter in which Boas gives something of value. didn't have to be issue intrinsically. I'll mention in a moment why this is khalipin barter. I give you this object in exchange of which you renounce your rights in a permanent irrevocable manner. This is called kenyan khalipin a kenyan an acquisition based on exchange. And since it was commonly like a a scarf that was used it was called kenyan sudar. uh if you ever if you remember your wedding uh or the uh weddings of your children or grandchildren. So uh before the cassuva is signed the witnesses give the kassan a pen or a handkerchief to lift up and that's very very important that actually has to be done. What is that doing? It's a barter in exchange for my giving the kassan something. The is assuming the obligation. In other words, kenyan suda can be either renunciation of rights or the assumption of obligation. It's the same thing. It's just two sides of the same coin. If thean is accepting the obligations of kuba, it is through a khalipen. If [clears throat] Almani is renouncing his rights, the renunciation takes place to a khalipe. So this is very important. I mean the reason I'm I'm belaboring it a little bit is countless countless people automatically assume that what is being described in the shoe ceremony is Khalita when in fact it is not khalita, it is Kenyan Khalip. Now Kenyan Khalipin does not require a shoe per se and the McGillis it says says is writing it later the old custom used to be that for transactions people would remove shoes indicating that even in time already they stop with the shoe and the Kenyan Khalipan is affected by any type of cle a pen a handkerchief whatever it would be now why was it a shoe so again giving up shoes was a sign of subservience. For example, one of the signs of a slave was a slave went barefoot meaning he couldn't go where he wants to go etc. So the way they did the kenyan khalipin is in exchange for your renouncing your rights I am in your service. I'm giving you my shoe. uh it was a symbolic statement of uh in the manner of the orient so to speak that I am putting myself in your servitude in exchange for your uh giving me uh your rights but howly the shoe was not critical in this in this instance okay now according to rashi colonial mon's mistake was that the female moavite was much now I'm sorry female moite was also when in fact the female moite was mutter Here is the interesting question. If Paloni Aloney took the position that marriage to root was forbidden under the Moabitete law, why does he say my only concern is I don't want to ruin my children? It's like a person that says, um, I'm not going to bring tra into my house because it'll be bad for my children. Well, that's true, but you're not allowed to eat. Meaning, he should have said, "I can't do this because it's forbidden to me." Why is he only concerned for the kids? >> Yeah. >> Well, well, well, this is this is the way people talk. Boaz obviously is saying it's permitted. Boaz is saying it's permitted. So basically ponial money says okay you think it's okay you take the responsibility for it it's a way of it's a way of talking meaning it's on your head it's not on my and by the way it's very interesting Boaz was very old he had recently become a widowerower he consummated his marriage with Russ and he died the next day [laughter] so a lot of people said hey Clon alone must have been right you know you're not supposed to not supposed to touch this marriage by the way that's that's why Hanovi kept out that detail in the narrative because Mafim say wants to legitimate David by showing that the great Boaz married Russ if he'd put in the detail of Boaz dying right away that would have undermined uh the story. Boaz died for other reasons that his time had come. Okay. So here's what the brisk says. We find this is the point you made. We find that the accusation that David Hamel is tainted because he comes from Russ the Moabitete and the Torah says Moabites cannot marry into Khloe Israel is an accusation that haunted David remember this is many years after Rus it haunted David for many many years. It haunted him when he before he was even king where after he killed Galas after he killed Goliath who by the way comes from Orpa. So interesting that the great grandson Russ and Orpa are sisters the great grandson of of Russ you know kills [snorts] the descendant of Orpa and the like. Uh and when Schlaw was so impressed Goe who always looks to find something bad about David says ah this guy's a Moabitete. He's not even a kosher Jew. It haunted him when David became king. And David had many many enemies. If you read to him, you see David is not just talking about external nations. David has many many enemies in Khloe Israel who make his life very very bitter. They bring up the Moabitete uh idea over and over and over and over again. Now according to our tradition the female Moabites was already an established and that is why Boaz married Russ that is what Boaz is establishing. Uh but the halaka gets forgotten over and over again for various reasons maybe because there are very few Moabitete converts. It's like you know how many Nazis converted to Judaism? There were some but you know it's it wasn't a common common occurrence. But here is what the briskarov says and this is now my my excuse for digressing from our topic because I want to bring an interesting ruling of the Rambam. Uh one of the most interesting sections in the Mishna Torah comes towards the end of the Mishna Torah in a very interesting obscure corner called Hilhis Mamm. Hilos Mamra means the law of the rebels. And here the Rambam kind of it's kind of very ingenious. It's really a poperet cholant of different types of rebellious people. He talks about the zak mamre the rebellious elder who refuses to accept the decisions of the Sanhedrin. He talks about kibbutim the person who refuses to accept the authority of their parents. Now there's no connection between the two but the Rambam invented an amazing common denominator called Mamrim. They are both rebels. Remember I think we talked about at the very beginning of the of the course here that um the Rambam sometimes had problems in where do you put certain things? How do you classify? So he had to sometimes create new categories. Uh the Rambam talks about the Ben Soreru Moore the rebellious son. uh the Rambam in fact there's a very famous passage about the Kim who reject the oral law that's in hilosim and the Rambam gives a very famous rule that's highly relevant to the way we deal with kilonim today and the Rambam says that it is only the first generation of kim who rejected the oral law who are treated as rebellious the later generations were born into it and they have the status of Tino Shenishba the captured baby and that Rambam is the basis of all that we talk about how we deal with etc who were not raised religious based ones but it's based on that Rambam by the Benim remember kyites in Egypt were very very large movement okay so in the middle of hilos the Rambam raises the idea that even a sanhedrin can theoretically be rebellious if it rejects the stock of an earlier Sanhedrin. And he brings the gammorrah that says b here means a bel later bon cannot enull or rescend the decisions of an earlier sanhedrin unless they are greater in kma greater in wisdom and usually because of miscatuos we tend not to go there and they also have to be greater in number. Now and the Rambam then asks asks himself immediately since the maximum size of a Sanhedrin is 71, how can you ever have a Sanhedrin that is greater in number? No such thing. So the Rambam says that if a later Sanhedrin, which is greater in wisdom, if there will ever be such a thing, wants to consider a repeal, they can temporarily expand the Sanhedrin to include the other of the generation. In fact, some have said, some have said it's not clear what is the relationship at the beginning of the second temple between the ane kessa sagdollah, the men of the great assembly and the sanhedrin. Now the men of the great assembly were 120 elders. Is that the same as the Sanhedrin? But some say based on this Rambam, Ezra felt a need to expand the Sanhedrin to accommodate the unique needs of the returning Jewish population to Erit Israel. Okay. Now, so the Rambam does say therefore a Sanhedrin cannot be mateel the of an earlier Sanhedrin unless they are greater in both wisdom and number. That's that's good. But then the Rambam creates a very interesting exception that I believe is his. It's not clear that there's a mak in the garra to this and that is this is only true meaning when do you need a greater Sanhedrin. This is only true if it's a takana like lighting kaneka candles or a gizer a decree of not eating chicken and milk lest you eat meat and milk a legislative taka a draan you cannot be mathlet unless you're greater but if an earlier Sanhedrin made a drussa they interpreted the biblical sukum a certain way and a later Sanhedrin thinks that that is an incorrect drasha. They could be matalate even if they're based in cart. Now, now at first glance, this is very counterintuitive because a takana or gazer is only a rabbitic law. So, you'd figure that's easier. When you make a dasha, you're interpreting the Torah. That becomes a dorisa. So how can you say when it's a dissa you don't need a greater basement? But the answer is very very logical. And laavdale I don't know if anyone here has legal background I'm going to give you a legal analogy. Um you know in the Supreme Court of the United States really really every court they follow precedent normally but there is a cl that when it is a matter of constitutional interpretation and a later Supreme Court thinks the constitution was incorrectly interpreted president has much less authority because the ultimate loyalty of the court is not to the president. The ultimate loyalty of the court is to the constitution and if they feel the constitution was misinterpreted they must follow their understanding. Now laavdil this is a perfect analogy. It actually is a perfect analogy to the ram's getter when the Sanhedrin makes a takana or a gazer. So that's a new law that they made. So we don't have the authority to repeal it unless we're greater in wisdom and number. But when the Sanhedrin makes a dasha, they're interpreting what the Torah means. Now if a later Sanhedrin feels that's not what the Torah means. To whom do they owe their loyalty? to the Torah of Hashem or to the human body that interpreted that Torah. Their first loyalty is to the Torah. Now that doesn't mean I can argue with the Sanhedrin that for sure not. But at least a Sanhedrin that's given the authority to interpret the Torah. So even a based in Kotan. So now the briskar says Ploni Aloney is not as much of an ignoramis as we might think. He's making a very sophisticated argument although it's it will still be mistaken and that is the Gumar yamos that talks about doe trying to discredit Dovet and theim said no no no female moabites are permitted. The Gmoramos gives us a back and forth and that is theim said to do the Torah gives the reason why Moabites are forbidden because they did not give food and water to the Israelites when they were passing through the land or when they wanted to pass through the land. You can only blame the men for not doing that. You can't expect women to come out and uh give food and water to a foreign army. Right? So that's a drussia, right? That's that's a methodology in which you're looking at a puk and you're using the reason to have an inference. Doe tried to refute that Russia. Doe said, "What do you mean men could bring it out to the men? women could bring it out to the women and the kame argued back and forth says the briskar this what happened with doe decades later is what plonial money is afraid of right now meaning the following colonial mooney understands the is female moabites are permitted that's why boaz is proposing this and boas is a galador but colonial Aloney thinks it's based on drussia. Now if it's based on drussia, here is the argument of the brisk. If I go ahead if colonial money marries Russ, he's okay because he's following the hor of the Sanhedrin. But what's going to be if a hundred years later a later Sanhedrin says exactly what doi later says. So that's not going to affect me. I didn't commit a sin because I followed the guidance of my son. But liafa retroactively all of my children are going to be stigmatized. So when Rashi says, I think it's a stretch to put this in Rashi, that he's making a mistake in the of the female Moabitete, he's not making a mistake that he thinks it's forbidden, but he's making a mistake that it's based on dasha and the drussia could be changed even by an inferior basin. And the reason it's a mistake is because the gamor's masana is that it is not a drussa. It is a directi. It was a direct law given to Moshe and that certainly is going to be unchangeable. Soon's mistake was he thought it was a biblical exigis when in fact it was if it's a biblical interpretation that is subject to change even by an inferior bin years later. If it's then of course that's a direct transmission. Okay. It's a beautiful beautiful thought of the briskar which actually paints Plonial Aloney as a more learned person than Kazal seem to seem to paint him as. Now the idea that Boa's assembled dominion uh when he talked to Pon Aloney uh I should go back a little bit. The Gammoran Cassubos actually says there were two different reasons why he may have assembled a minion. One is he wanted to publicly proclaim Barabim minion that female Moabites are permitted lef farm and the other is uh that chevraus requires a minion and therefore he was going to marry her right then. Now it's interesting I would think because here's the thing when we say requires a minion thean counts as one of the 10. So technically he wouldn't have to gather 10 people. >> He'd only have to gather nine people plus himself. No plonial money would count as well. If on the other hand he wants to be he would need a crowd. He would need what's called. So I'm not sure um how you get around that. Gives two both gives two reasons but maybe maybe they're not alternative reasons. Maybe they're cumulative reasons. So we had 10 in order to beim the uh I just want to point out that um and I think he brings it from earlier sources uh makes a very powerful and beautiful observation. He says, you know, Ammon and Moab are not our worst enemies. I mean, there's no mitzvah to eradicate Ammon and Moav like there's a mitzvah to eradicate a mullet. And yet, in many, many ways, the or the we have for Ammon is indeed worse than any other nation. Even a Malik, as strange as it sounds, as bizarre as it sounds, according to the Rambam, if an Amali doesn't even become Jewish, if an Amali accepts the seven commandments of Noah and Jewish sovereignty over Eric Israel, he is allowed to be kept alive and he's allowed to live in Eric. That's why you find throughout n you find amalakes coming and right in fact uh who gave David news that sh died it says gari what on earth is there a ga malei doing around the answer is even amalik has admission and the gammor even says that there were great that were descended from amalik ban of shaman ham is amalik Hmon was killed, but apparently he had and his sons were killed, but apparently they were grandchildren and eventually the descendants converted. They became teachers of Torah. So even a malik, that's the absolute epitome of evil, has some potential connection to am. The Moabitete males at least are totally mukak. So even though we're not allowed to wage war with them except defensively, that's true because they're our load's children, but nonetheless, we keep them at at arms length. And Revkito says, you see from here how important gratitude is for a Jew. You know, Amal represents evil for sure, but Amalik also represents people that were rejected. If you if you know the story of Amal, Amal was the son of Timna, who was a pleesh, a concubine of Asov. And the Gmorrah has a story, the med has a story that Timna wanted to uh she was a princess. She was a baselik like Hogar and she wanted to join Arainu's home and they rejected her. And she said, "If I can't join the good part of Avaram, I'll join the bad part of Abraham. And she was taken by Asov's son and she wasn't even given the dignity of marriage. is rejection. In fact, was very famous. He would never kick somebody out of yeshiva even even though it seems that he should kick the guy out. And says, "I don't want to create more Amaliks in the world." God forbid when people are rejected. Now, now again, got to be careful. We are not, so to speak, defending a Malik. We are not blaming the victim. Obviously, there are many people that get abused and get hurt and get rejected who don't grow up and kill six million Jews or people. Okay? So, we're not exonerating evil. But we do have to understand that rejection can have catastrophic effects. So, a malik is the product of rejection. But ammon and Moab coming from lo are only the products of kindness, consideration, care and concern. And therefore Ammon and Mayv don't represent evil. They represent ingratitude. And in some ways ingratitude is such a destructive mida that it even creates a greater distancing than the radical evil of a malik itself. And that's an important idea. Uh in fact the whole word yehudi comes from I mean Yehuda. But why why did Leia call her fourth son Yehuda? Because she said hapam odashm now I am grateful and rashi explains the medish that leia knew with ruesh that there would be 12vatim and she knows that the 12 boys will emerge from four tri four women rail zulfa so she figures she everyone is entitled to three sons so when she has number four it's no longer magi We wound up with six. But when she had the fourth one, she said, "Now I am grateful. Yes sir, I have taken more than my portion." So says theas, every Jew is called Yehudi because we have to go through our lives feeling that Hashem's kindness is more than I deserve. Now remember the simus was saying this in uh povertystricken rapidly anti-semitic Poland to have the attitude of taliashem virtually all of us are in a better situation than that and how important takarat is and that that you see because the of ammon is very very extraordinary. It goes even even beyond Amalik on some level since the Rambam understands Amal Amalachites have the kawak to remain init of Noah. Um okay so I wish you all a wonderful wonderful inspirational day of Kabala Satra and may we be za to be