5782 - 'Ve'eileh Hamishpatim': When the wagon driver didn't understand what the Rabbi was hiding from him: Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld with an amusing insight on Parshas Mishpatim, at the conclusion of the Daf Yomi shiur of…

00:01 Speaker 1 Please.

00:03 Speaker 2 On the verse “And these are the laws that you shall set before them,” one of the explanations Rashi brings there is that “before them” means you must explain it to them clearly. You have to explain it, not just throw the law and its reason at the student without making it clear. You have to present it so that he understands. In that connection, they tell a story about a woman in a town who was about to give birth. How did things work in those days? They would bring the midwife. There were no—there was no transportation or anything like that. They would bring the midwife to the house, and she would deliver the—

00:44 Speaker 1 The midwife.

00:46 Speaker 2 Midwife. So they came to the wagon driver and said, “Listen, hurry and bring the midwife. She’s at…” Now, this was on Shabbos. When they came to the wagon driver, he said, “I don’t drive on Shabbos.” They told him, “It’s a matter of saving a life.” The wagon driver said, “I don’t know what ‘saving a life’ means. I know you don’t drive on Shabbos. Saving a life? I don’t know.” They tried to explain it to him, but he didn’t know anything about it. On Shabbos, he didn’t drive. So he said, “If the rabbi comes and tells me I have to drive, then I’ll drive.” They saw there was no choice. They went to the rabbi and told him it was a matter of saving a life. The rabbi came and said to the wagon driver, “Listen, you have to drive.” The wagon driver asked him, “But you don’t drive on Shabbos.” The rabbi said, “It’s a matter of saving a life! How could you not drive?” Fine—if the rabbi said so, he would. “But Rabbi,” he said, “when I drive, I have to smoke a cigarette. I can’t drive without a cigarette.” The rabbi tried to explain to him that, even though it was a matter of saving a life, smoking on Shabbos was forbidden. The wagon driver said, “But you said it’s a matter of saving a life.” The rabbi tried to explain, but the wagon driver didn’t grasp it. It was a dangerous situation. So the rabbi told him, “Smoke a cigarette. The main thing is, drive and bring the midwife.” The wagon driver took the reins, as wagon drivers do, lit a cigarette, and then thought to himself: Who knows what other things we’re allowed to do? The rabbi just doesn’t want to tell us. That’s the meaning of “that you shall set before them.” In other words, you have to present things clearly enough that even the wagon driver will understand.

02:37 Speaker 3 Amen.

02:39 Speaker 4 “If you lend money to My people, to the poor person with you.” There is a mitzvah to give a loan. The Shulchan Aruch, in Choshen Mishpat, rules that it is best to make a loan with a written document or to take collateral. It is forbidden to give—as the halachah says, it is forbidden to give a loan without either a written document or collateral. A question came up: What if there are no witnesses? You can’t find witnesses, and they don’t want a written document. Is there still a mitzvah to give the loan, or not? This question was asked of Rabbi Chaim Sonnenfeld—Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, the Sonnenfeld beis din—and he said something interesting. The verse says, “to My people, to the poor person.” What does “to My people” mean? With My people. Others should be there too; there should be witnesses there. In other words, the Torah itself says that one should lend only in the presence of witnesses. And it is interesting that the Alter Rebbe also rules in the Shulchan Aruch that it is forbidden to give a loan without a written document or witnesses, because of “You shall not place a stumbling block before the blind.”

04:05 Speaker 3 That connects to today’s Daf Yomi.

04:07 Speaker 4 Yes, yes, yes.

04:07 Speaker 3 That it’s forbidden to hit an adult son. Yes. [unclear].