Sunday, August 20, 2006

Daf Yomi - Yoma 75 - Agadta in Specific Mesechtos

posted by Reb Ben

The Gemara incorporated in Maseches Yoma the lessons of the manna that fell from heaven. Prior to the discussion of the manna the Gemara derives from verses that are stated regarding the manna the concept of inuy, affliction, which is the theme of Yom Kippur. Reb Tzadok HaKohen from Lublin writes in Tzidkas HaTzaddik that the Chachamim incorporated the agadata regarding the manna in Maseches Yoma similar to the discussion regarding the Receiving of the Torah which is recorded in Maseches Shabbos. The reason the Gemara discusses the receiving of the Torah in Maseches Shabbos is because the Torah was given on Shabbos and the power of Torah is through the Shabbos. Similarly, the Gemara expounds on the miracles of the manna in Maseches Yoma because the manna was absorbed into the bodies of those who consumed the manna. On Yom Kippur one is nourished from the spiritual aspect contained in the manna, and one needs Divine Assistance to merit this. In Maseches Gittin we find the discussion regarding the destruction of the Bais HaMikdash, as the destruction of the Bais HaMikdash and the exile of the Jewish People from Eretz Yisroel was similar to a divorce of which it is said, “what is your mother’s bill of divorce by which I sent her away?” Mahri Chagiz writes that all spiritual matter is clothed in this world in a physical garment, and one who is capable can separate the physical from the spiritual and the remnants are absorbed into one’s physical being. Such a person will not have a need to expel any waste. The Torah refers to the manna as lechem haklokel, the insubstantial food. Rashi in Avodah Zara and in Parashas Chukas writes that the manna was thus referred to because it was absorbed in the limbs of the Jewish People and they had no need to expel any waste from their system.


Avromi said...

Seen in

Rebbi Tzadok explains that in the Gemara here, both Rebbi Akiva and Rebbi Yishmael are correct. The Man was the food of the angels, as Rebbi Akiva says, and yet it was eaten by mortal man. How could mortal man eat the heavenly Man, a spiritual substance? When the spiritual entity of the Man descended to the physical world, it became corporeal itself (like every Neshamah that descends to this world), and thus it could be eaten by man.

The contrasting experiences of feasting on Erev Yom Kippur and fasting on Yom Kippur are comparable to the two forms of the Man, its original spiritual form and its eventual physical form. On Erev Yom Kippur one is commanded to eat and to enjoy the physical pleasure of food (81b). In contrast, on Yom Kippur one attains an elevated level of holiness, a level even greater than the holiness one attains on Shabbos, and his source of pleasure becomes the spiritual pleasure of Olam ha'Ba, where "there is no eating or drinking, but rather the righteous sit with their crowns upon their heads and bask in the pleasure of the Shechinah" (Berachos 17a). The spiritual pleasure which one experiences on Yom Kippur corresponds to the pristine, spiritual Man itself, the food of the angels.