0160 - Rebbe's Letters to R' Nochum Zevin Regarding Bava Kama

00:01 This year in the yeshivas we're learning Mesichta Bava Kama, which talks about niskei momin. If something that belongs to somebody damages, like an ax that belongs to somebody damages, all the dinim around it, around it, these chaivas, what you're chayav to pay, how much you're chayav to pay, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And this is a shaychas also to Parshah Mishpatim. And it's known that one of the chkiros that are there in the Seforim, when you get a niskei momin, when you get the fact that you're responsible to pay for your property that caused the damage, something that belongs to you caused the damage, the famous chkira whether the reason is because you didn't watch it and that's why you're responsible to pay, or is it because it belongs to you and you are responsible for everything that happens through something that belongs to you. That's a chkira that's spoken about in the Seforim. Now, in Likutei Sichos, Chelek Vav, page one, three twenty-nine, there's a long letter from the Rebbe on this subject. Very gishmak letter, and he goes to both sides and he explains it in detail and connects it to Yerushalmi. Very gishmak. So I want to explain a little bit the background to this letter. In the year Tov Shin Chav Vav, a bocher came to learn 770. His name was Nochem Zevin. He was a grandson of HaRav Zevin, the famous HaRav Zevin. He learned to ponievitch actually, but his grandfather convinced him to come at least for one

01:22 year to learn in 770 and be close to the Rebbe. And I got pretty close to him. And he went into yechidas. And in yechidas, the Rebbe spoke to him in learning poshet in nigleh. When he, when out of yechidas, he wrote to the Rebbe a question bekesher behemshech to what he spoke about in yechidas. And the Rebbe answered him a long letter biksav yad kodesh, a long letter, and the page was full in the Rebbe's ksav yad, going into a lot of detail, and this is that letter that we're talking about. I remember that he couldn't read the Rebbe's ksav yad. It was hard for him. If you're not used to it, it's hard, and I was used to the Rebbe's ksav yad. So I sat down with him. I remember even where we sat in Cheider Sheni upstairs in 770, and I copied over word for word the letter. Maskiros wouldn't give the letter to ksav yad, the original ksav yad to keep or even to make a copy, but to copy it over. So I remember sitting down and copying word for word from this letter from the Rebbe's ksav. I even remember one word that in the beginning we couldn't figure out, but then later we figured it out. And later on, this was printed in Likutei Sichos, but this is the letter that the Rebbe wrote to him as an answer for his question where the Rebbe describes and explains all these inyonim. After he got the letter of the

02:37 Rebbe, he sent a copy to his grandfather, HaRav Zevin. And HaRav Zevin answered him certain things, and he took the letter of his grandfather and sent it into the Rebbe. So on that, the Rebbe answered and wrote other things. So if you look at Likutei Sichos, the original letter starts on page three twenty-nine, the middle of the page, goes, came out to the end of page three-thirty, and then after that, there's another two paragraphs, the bottom of three-thirty going up to three-thirty-one. That is already after the Rebbe saw his grandfather's letter. That's when the Rebbe wrote these things, which is behemshech to the inyonim that's written in this letter. And this letter actually is used by a lot of roshei shivas concerning the Mesichta Bava Kama and explaining the different sides of this chkira and answering different questions and explaining machliket ha-saraishanim, et cetera, et cetera. But the way the Rebbe puts it is mamash brings out the inyan very clear, and through that you could answer a lot, a lot of kashas of the meforshim.