With The Commentary of the RABAM
Rabboisai,
This week I address the topic of Limud Toirah.
Limud Torah = Studying Torah, and thus by extension learning Yiddishkeit. The Torah shows a different aspect to each person, wherefore it is an obligation to all Jews to study Torah and learn it’s ‘face’.
The following shayla is a from an aspiring Toirah scholar with a apikoresdikka Greek name:
Anonymous writes:
Rebbe, please forgive me for disturbing your monitoring of the evils of the modern world (for what other reason, except to keep your faithful flock away from the yetzer hora, would you be need to simultaneously monitor all of the most recent X-rated DVD releases and surf the internet for pornography?). Only a man of your kedusha could directly enter the realm of the yezter hora and emerge intact (and I'll bet that hot little pilegesh you've been using to "take out your frustrations" helps too - don't worry, I'd never tell the Rebbetzin). But I thought I should bring this to your immediateattention:
Kedusha = Saintliness.
Pilegesh = Concubine. As Bilhah was to Reuven’s father (Breishis 35: 22), and Timnah was to Elifatz Ben Eisav (Breishis 36:12).
Rebbetzin = The legitimate wife of the Rabbi, whose marriage was catered, as Sarah stood in relation to Hagar.
Based on the minhag described in the email copied below (as practiced at our local pseudo-charedi fake yeshiva-ish self-hating modern orthodox shteibel), I have been able to precisely characterize the relative value of a newborn Jewish girls and boys in this community. One "baby girl kiddush" runs about $2000 and is sponsored by about 10 families, compared to a bris which is sponsored by one family and runs $5000, we find that boys are worth about 25 times as much as girls.
Minhag = Custom, accustomed manner of doing things, with special relevance to Halacha.
Pseudo-Chareidi = Not our kind of people. Craven and shaven.
Modern Orthodox = See Pseudo-Chareidi.
Self-hating = See Modern Orthodox.
Shteibel = Among us, a term of a smaller shul, often one with books, shtenders, and now computers for internet surfing you kofer! Among the pseudo-chareidi fake Yeshivish self-hating modern orthodox, ver veist? It is not good for a frumme yid to know too much about the customs of the heathen. Damn hippies.
Boys worth 25 times as much = As Dov Bear says, ‘The study of multiplication assuredly leads to division, and from this mixing with goyim and women naturally follow.’ We reject modern mores, how much more so modern math?
So, being a very entrepreneurial bochur (who happens to be out of work since they started cracking down on my other honored and respected means of earning a parnaso - scamming Pell grants, engaging in insurance scams, selling Regents exams…) I was wondering if it would be permissible to offer prenatal sex screening to shtetl (I mean Brooklyn) families, with the option of terminating the pregnancy if, G-d forbid, it turns out to be a girl…
Bochur = Bachelor, young man, student at a yeshiva, or someone in kollel under false pretenses.
Parnaso = Means of earning a living. The proper method of earning a living for both bochurs and kollelistas is to be married.
Brooklyn = A town with a Dutch name, surrounded by Amalek.
If, Rebbe, you have problems with the whole abortion thing, maybe I can have a goyishe partner in the business? Or maybe I can sell the business to a goy for the procedure then buy it back afterwards? Or maybe a Beis Din can buy the business from me during the procedure, and sell it back to me after? There must be some heter for this.
I'm begging you Rebbe, this is my last hope - if this scam doesn't work, I may have to give up learning Toirah in my kollel and have to get a job in chinuch (G-d forbid! though at least I could have some fun beating the crap out of those little cheder boys). And don't forget, should you in your great wisdom and Toirah learning find a way to not crush my hopes and dreams, there will be a healthy kickback transferred directly to your Swiss account - er, I meant contribution made directly to your holy Yeshiva.
Selling the business to a Goy = As frumme pizza-machers do before peysach, because while something is issur (forbidden) to Yidden, that does not mean it cannot be sold to a Goy for the duration and then bought back. Although some gedolim believe that all one can do at that point is perform bedikas shaigetz followed by biyur with a can of gasoline.
Chinuch = Education of the young, including instruction in what it means to be Jewish – very important in this Goyishe welt. But more than that, also chinuch ba divrei Chazal (education of the words of the sages of the past). And as Rav Yitzhok Meir of Ger said, “being a teacher is a worthwhile enterprise, as you might learn some things yourself”.
…I'm no scholar of your stature, Rebbe, but don't you think maybe it is lifnei ever for you not to give me a heter?
Lifnei iver = Lifnei iver lo sitten michshol (before a blind person do not place a stumbling block – Seyfer Vayikra (Leviticus), Parshas Yisro, psook 19.14). Oyf kitsur, do not confuse those who cannot know, do not mislead the ignorant, do not take advantage of the innocent., do not entrap others to sin.
Heter = Permission. That which formulates a modus vivendi for certain situations and practices. An allowing of something al pi halacha. Er meygt es tun.
Anonymous
> From: NAME_WITHHELD@Yahoogroups.com
We are interested in making a kiddush in honor of the birth of our baby girls. Does anyone else want to join us to make a "group"
kiddush to celebrate the birth of your baby girls? We are hoping to coordinate this kiddush and make it happen during the next few shabbosim (before the yomim tovim).
Kiddush = A sanctification, often with a drink and a brocho. In this case, an expression of happiness over a new addition to the kehal. With the appropriate words of sanctification. And perhaps some nice honey cake and a decent single malt.
Shabbosim = Sabbaths. Shabbosim before the yomim tovim = The few Sabbaths remaining before the shopping season kicks into high gear…., sorry, I mean before the High Holy Days.
Yomim tovim = Good days, hence holy days. The plural of Yontef. Rosh HaShanah starts on evening of October 3rd, Yom Kippur starts on evening of October 12th and takes up my entire birthday (and I have to fast?!?! Merde!), Sukkos starts evening of October 17th (chol mo’ed Sukkos till October 23rd), Shmini Atzeres and Simchas Toireh on October 25th, Isru Chag of Sukkos on October 27th (October 26th in Eretz Yisrael), and Halloween on October 31st.
Reb Anonymous,
Thank you so much for your learned shayla. First, let me compliment you on your detailed question. Your highly detailed question. Your extraordinarily detailed question.
Shayla = Man frogt a kashe. Az man frogt a kashe, heist dos entvort a tshuveh. Di tshuveh wird farklert und oysgelegt.
Your question was like great chazzanus – it reflects amazing mesiras nefesh, it inspires tremendous kedushah, and it is a wonderful testament to a centuries old art form. But better that I go to Vasikin, alone, unarmed, at the Mearas Hamachpelah during Ramadan than have to listen to such chazzanus. Or better yet, maybe I should sleep in and watch Spongebob, Chass Vesholom.
Chazzanus = Singing, chanting. The niggunim of prayers and psalms.
Like great chazzanus = Lifting one to a level of divine reverie. I too am inspired.
Mesiras Nefesh = Self-sacrifice, devotion to Hashem to the point where one (nearly) negates the self.
Vasikin = Reciting the Shmoneh Esrei precisely at sunrise. The earliest minyan of the day.
Shmoneh Esrei – The Eighteen benedictions, of which there are nineteen.
Mearas Hamachpelah = The cave of the patriarchs, asher al pnei Mamre. Located in Hebron (Chevron), a central friction point in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Ramadan = The Muslim fasting month, which, because their calendar does not adjust for the difference between the solar year and the lunar year, arrives earlier each year than the year before. Fasting is from Vasikin till Maeriv, and the frumme Ben Ishmael does not eat, drink, smoke, or even swallow his own phlegm in all that time. On the plus side, he may stay up all night fressing and watching entertainments, often of an anti-Semitic nature.
In any case, your shayla touches upon a number of critical topics to Klal Yisroel. Let me restate the two key issues, as I see them.
1) What is the proper profession for a Ben Toirah?
2) What is the halachic position on "Happalah"?
To your first question, many worthy Bnei Toirah such as yourself have pondered this issue while in the course of their Reboinoisheloilum ordained daily activities – while wearing talis and tefillin during shacharis, while sitting in the bais medrish, while immersing in the mikvah, while driving in the cars donated to their Rabbinic institutions for tax purposes, and while on line for lottery tickets.
Happalah = 1.) Incoherence. 2.) An unformed mass, a natural result. The term for a miscarriage, whether natural or induced. Per Rashi “Lo nefesh hu” (it is not a soul), and he clarifies, based on Seyfer Shmos (Exodus), Parshas Mishpatim psook 21:22 that it is as a part of the mother, like her thigh. But this is based on the concept that in the first forty days it is merely mayim be alma – liquid having the potential for life, but not the realization. 3.) A delicately spiced lentil wafer, usually called a papad or papadum. Eppes geshmak!
According to Ben Hay Hay in Perek Yood of Pirkei Avois, the preferred parnassah of a Ben Toirah is to be supported by the father of his kallah. And if the kallah is a meeskeit, Rachmana Letzlan , then Ben Toirah is also entitled to a healthy bonus equal to 1,000 zuzim for every maiyseh biyuh, plus 10,000 options redeemable in five years at a strike price equal to the cost of a mid-sized Esroig from Bavel at Rosh Hashanah time the following year, as established by the S&P (Sura and Pumpedisa) index.
Ben Hei Hei, a convert to Judaism, whose name represents a yood (10) cut in twain, rendering two hei (5), one for Avraham, one for Sarah, to whose names a hei was added. All converts are considered ben Avraham or bas Sarah, and in the name of Ben Hei Hei, the heiyim remember both. Ben Hei Hei says, in Pirkei Avos 5:21 “the reward is proportionate to the pain”. Rabbi Yishmael Bar Rabi Yosi, in Avos De Rabbi Nosson (Avos D’Rabbi Nathan) psook 3:6 says ‘it is better for a person that one thing be done with pain, than one hundred with ease’. They were discussing marriage.
Perek Yood = Perek Hei read twice. It is worth rereading.
Kallah = Bride.
Meeskeit = A woman who is beautiful on her wedding day, but at no other time.
Rachmana letzlan = The merciful one forefend.
Esroig = A lumpy lemon which costs too much. The only function it serves is to be waved around with other vegetable matter on Sukkois. Or to have whole cloves carefully inserted in the rind, in rows, barely touching each other, to be dried in a warm place, so that afterwards one may sniff it in shul when the hairy hassid next to you reeks too Russian. So treated, and properly dried, it lasts a long time.
Sura and Pumbedisa = Centres of civilization. Locations of academies in the post-beis mikdash oilum.
However, Rabban Gamliel disagrees. He suggests that a Ben Toirah not rely on handouts from his father-in-law, chass v'sholom, but that he be put on the books of his father-in-law's business, and is chayav mi-Dioraisah to come into the office once a week to look at his mail, as well as check out the cleavage on the hot shiksah receptionist.
Rabban Gamliel = A descendant of Hillel and distant descendant of King David. Typically refers to the grandfather of Rabbi Judah HaNassi (though may refer to Judah HaNassi's son or other similarly named members of the Hillel clan).
Rabban Gamliel disagrees = It says in Pirkei Avois 5:17 ‘Any dispute for the sake of heaven will have a good outcome.’
Chayav = Must. To be obliged to do something. Chayav mi d’oraisa = An obligatory act deriving from the Toriah rather than d’rabbanan.
Shiksah = Nisht a miskeit, ober a richtige sheynheyt. Usually. One hopes. With luck. Men muss mazl hobn. Why else have her? Werum? Siz a shvere sheile. Und a zach.
Shiksah, and its masculine equivalent Shaigetz, are slangy derivations from katz and shiketz (abhorred, loathed, detested), although alternatively they may derive from shachtzanus (arrogance, insolence), or gutz, gitz (undersized, insufficient). This may very well reflect the point of view of a mother who threatened to die of a heart-attack if her child dated one.
And what if his wife's father is dead? Or even worse, her father is not wealthy? The Gemarrah discusses this at length in Masechess Kesubois, Perek 401K. According to Rav Huna, all is permitted in order to support one's family. He brings as an example the scholar Ben Drusoy, who was part-time chef, part-time thief, and full time Kollel Bochur.
Gemarrah = The secondary discussions of halachic points, which taken together with the Mishna (the restatement) form our Talmud. There is much illustrative narrative in the Gemarrah.
Maseches Kesubos = The tractate of marriage contracts (kesubos) in the Talmud, in the order of Nashim (women). There are seven tractates in Nashim, Kesubos is the second. There are thirteen Prakim (chapters) in this tractate. Each perek may be identified by the traditional counting system, in which the chapter mentioned above is known as perek taiv-alef-kaif.
The Gemoro explains that a drusa is an animal which has been clawed by a predator, and hence has injuries, which are probably infected, and is thus blemished. A drusa is one of the categories of treifa. Ma’achal ben drusa is food cooked by a gentile up to the point where it may be considered at least marginally edible, which makes it forbidden, even if then finished by a Jew. This per the Shulchan Aruch, which rules strictly in this case, following the opinions of the Rashba and Rabbeinu Chananel. There are leniencies, but at the point at which it is edible the sha’at ha d’chak evaporate, but evenso, then sha’at ha d’chak ke bedieved dami (in case of great need one may permit something which is normally only permitted bedieved).
Alternately, may refer to a thief named Ben Drusoi who was always on the rune from the law, and typically only had time to cook his food until it was one third cooked. The minimum amount food must be cooked prior to Sabbath to be considered "pre-cooked."
Sha’at ha d’chak = Exceptions because of extenuating circumstances. Allowances due to time.
Rav Ashi holds farkhert. He holds that one may not steal from an individual, but may indeed steal from an institution, since his thievery is considered to be battul be-shishim. As proof, Rav Ashi cites a Braisah that details how Rebbi Elazar Ben Azariah used to claim senior citizen discounts even though he was only eighteen years old.
Rav Ashi = Amora of the sixth generation (in the transmission), head of the academy at Sura, nifter 427. Father of Mar Bar Ashi (aka Tav Yomi). One of the Talmudic greats, and gaveir of Ravina, one of the last lights of lomdus. Rav Ashi is often considered the sof hora’ah (end of instruction), but it is evident that though he redacted, he was not the final dictor on the subject.
Battul be shishim = diluted by a sixtieth, that being a stricter standard than is normally held.
Battul, batel = Null, idle. Not significant, not having a use or function. Void.
Braisah = A discussion of a point in the Gemoro (Gemarrah).
Elazar Ben Azariah = The crown of the sages; one of five Elazarim mentioned in Pirkei Avos, not to be confused with the three Eliezrim with which they keep company. He turned prematurely gray after being temporarily made Nasi, which is referred to in the Passover Seder service . “Where there is no Toireh, there can be no proper behaviour; where proper behaviour does not exist, there can be no Toireh”.
Rav Ashi's position is the basis for the position of most Reshoinim and Acharoinim. The following are some practical suggestions from some of the greatest Rabbinic minds.
Reshonim = The firsts; the Talmudic commentators of the middle ages, Rashi and his gang, plus Maimonides and several other Sfardim.
Acharonim = The laters, being mostly Eastern European scholars of the last four or five centuries.
1) According to the RASHBAM, the wife of a Ben Toirah should keep up her part of the marital bargain. While her husband is strenuously devoting all of his precious life energies to harbotzas ha-Toirah, she must do her fair share. Rather than selfishly complain about the strain of raising six children in a one bedroom apartment, she should "get off her Tuchus," says the RASHBAM, and get a job teaching or working in the local grocery or working as a sheitelmacher. But to really express Yirass Shamayim, she should overcome the Yetzer by emulating her husband's grueling three chavrusas a day and taking on all three jobs.
Rashbam = Rabbi Samuel Ben Meir (1085 – 1174), grandson of Rashi (1040 – 1105). Yocheved, one of Rashi’s three daughters, married Meir Ben Shmuel. Together they had four sons, liebe kleine yingeln: Samuel (Shmuel; the Rashbam), Jacob (Yakov; Rabbeinu Tam, Izzy (Yitzhok; the Ribbam), and Solomon (Shlomo, the grammarian). There were also daughters, ober ver veist vifiehl.
An uncle of the kinderlech, Rabbi Yehudah Ben Nosson, finished Rashi’s commentary on meseches Makkos, an aunt completed the mefarsha on Nedarim. Quite an impressive family. I wonder what they talked about socially.
Harbotzas HaTorah = Dissemination of Torah knowledge. Study, and assisting others in their study. It is not enough to learn, one must also teach – and by teaching, one learns.
Sheitelmacher = One who makes sheitels. A manufacturer of sheitels, or a merchant of sheitels, particularly one who also reconditions and restores sheitels. One who has skills for the construction of sheitels. A place where one may have a sheitel made, the place of business of one who makes or sells sheitels.
Yiras Shomayim = Fear of heaven; awareness of Hashem, and obedience to the mitzvos.
Yetzer = the urge. The inclination. Here refering to the yetzer horo – the evil inclination.
Chavrusas = Study partnerships. Two people who sharpen each-other’s understanding of the material by studying together and debating the texts. Two learn faster than one.
2) Rabbeinu Tam suggests that a Ben Toirah should always apply for food stamps, welfare and other government related social benefits.
After all, better WE should get this money than the goyim, who irresponsibly go have seven children without any means of supporting themselves. The lazy mamzerim.
3) The RAMBAN goes one step further, citing the example of Tamar from Sefer Beraishis. He suggests that a true Bas Yisroel should claim unwed mother status whenever she gives birth. This allows her to maximize her earnings potential and enable her husband to continue to dedicate his life to Limud Toirah with a modicum of self respect. What a Kiddush Hashem!
The Ramban = Rabbi Moishe Ben Nachman, whose mefarsh on Toireh truly is marvelous. A profound scholar, but not a diplomat as regards morons converted by the church. He should have realized that the Dominicans would back their prize donkey, and should have been more gentle with the fool. Instead, he ripped Pablo Cristiani another one, and the tonsured gang went gunning for his tuchus. Nebech.
Tamar = The daughter in law of Yehuda, whose husband, Er, was whacked by the merciful one for his wickedness. Yehuda’s other son, Oinan, refused to fulfill his role in a levirate marriage in order that his brother’s name might continue, and instead spilled his seed, whereupon the merciful one whacked him also. Yehuda advised Tamar to wait until the third son, Shelah, should be grown up.
Time passes, and Yehuda’s wife snuffs it, and by this time Tamar is running out time. When Shelah is not given her as a husband, she veils herself and lies in wait for Yehuda, who hasn’t had any in a while, and not recognizing her disguised, thinks her a trollop. Yehuda gives her his signet and his cord as a pledge, so that he may ‘come in unto her’. She gets pregnant by her mechuten, and when accused of harlotry, proves that she has done what was better than him, by providing a continuation of the lineage of the dead. Her children are the twins, Peretz and Zerach.
4) The Chassam Soifer makes a suggestion that is more relevant to the modern day. He recommends that a Ben Toirah and his wife start a successful home business. In particular, he advocates that they open a porn telephone hotline business. The money is great, and the time requirements are quite flexible: The wife can work the afternoon shift providing telephone services to straight men, while the Kollel bochur can take a few calls from gay men when he gets home after evening seder. NOTE: He must just be careful to disguise his voice, lest he be recognized if his rebbe dials into the hotline.
Chatam Sofer = Moises Shreiber (1762 – 1839). A native of Frankfurt am Main, in 1806 he became Rabbi of Bratislava (formerly called Pressburg), where he remained till his death. Like many other scholars, he is known by a nickname – in this case Chidushei Toireh Moishe (the interpretation of the Torah of Moses, that being the title of his most famous book), to which the translation of his Yekky (German) surname is appended – a sofer is a shreiber, or scribe. And shreib he did – seven volumes of responsa from cases brought before him in his function of judge, plus commentaries, plus exegesis. Many orthodox take his opinions as normative.
Careful to disguise his voice = And by the same token, his rebbe should do likewise, so as to avoid embarrassing any of the talmidim who may be earning their living in this manner. One should always make it a point to alter one’s speech when making anonymous phonecalls
5) A related initiative was recently adopted by one enterprising young Toirah scholar:
http://www.theknish.com/article18.6.shtm
6) Many Bnei Toirah have unfortunately been oiver by making false health and property damage claims to insurers. According to Reb Elchanan Wasserman, this violates on the principle of Dinah D'Malcusa Dinah, and even worse, raises our insurance fees. Rather, a Ben Toirah should take on the respectable role of insurance broker. Specifically, he should broker insurance claims for others who cannot file the claims themselves – for example, people that have been dead since the Nixon Administration.
Oiver (over) = Transgress; having committed an offense. To pass.
But by sound association, also ‘aver’ = Cutting. Hence bribery and corruption, as it is said ‘ki ha shochad ye’aver einei chachomim’ – bribes blind the eyes of the wise.
Dina d’malchusa dina = The law of the land is the law. The principle that as long as native law does not obligate one to disobey the mitzvois, it should be obeyed.
People dead since the Nixon administration = Because it is manifestly unfair that the oiver-batel do not benefit in the same way that the rest of us, the more so as they are an important segment of the electorate.
7) Rav Avraham Shapira suggests that if all else fails, a Ben Toirah should make the ultimate sacrifice and take on a union job. According to Reb Avrum, after one week on the job he should make certain to "have an accident" severe enough to entitle him to workman's compensation and subsidized Toirah study for the rest of his life. Hey, you only need one hand to flip a page in a Gemarrah.
Now, my beloved Anonymous, with regard to your second question:
According to the Toirah, can one engage in Happalah?
Engage in Happalah = It is forbidden for goyim to do so, as it says in Bereishis (Genesis), parshas Noach, psook 9: 6 “Shofeich dam ha adam, ba adam damo yishafeich” (He who spills the blood of a person, by a person his blood shall be spilled). The Talmud reads this, in cases of injury, as applying also to the person within, and, al pi halacha ve al pi minhag, as we do not assume that goyim can actually count to forty, we must assume that if they induce happalah they commit error.
As is well known, a child is not considered viable until 30 days after it is born; if a newborn child dies before then, there is no standard period of mourning.
Viable until 30 days = The Rebbe of Prolicz said, in the name of his holy ancestor the Baal Ha Turetz (The Master of Tourettes –one of the Tosafists), that “the days decrease as one gets older”. By which is meant the well known rule that states that a foetus before forty days is not valid, a newborn before thirty days, a barmitzva bochur before twenty days, and a newly married person by ten. This was once merely minhag of a certain time and place, but the more we think about it, the more it appeals to our modern sensibilities.
However, one must ask whether this calculation is equally relevant to both the male and the female. A male can of course potentially father tens or even hundreds of children from a multitude of mothers. A woman, however, is restricted to birthing approximately one child for each of her child bearing years. Say, a total of twenty children per woman.
Now, as established above, a man is biologically capable of procreating with hundreds of women. Such activity is permitted MiDioraisa whether he is married or not, as long as he does not commit an act of Biyuh with a married woman.
However, once a woman marries, she may not give in to her Yetzer Harrah and commit the Dioraisa of Gilui Arayois. Such an abominable act would deem her a Soitah, and she would be Chayav Misah (along with the man with whom she engaged in the illicit extramarital relationship). And since every Bas Yisroel should be married at the age of eighteen at the latest, a woman is banned MiDioraisah from having relations with anyone save her husband for the vast majority of her life. Yet while a married woman cannot always surround herself with Toirah, she is always surrounded by temptation. Consequently every woman is automatically a chashash of Soitah.
Yetzer hara = The evil inclination. Some say the idolater within.
Gilui Arayois = Unethical sexual behaviour, immorality, forbidden marriages. The term literally means blatant nudity. Gilui = Evident; open, openly, clear and uncovered.
Sotah = An unchaste woman, an adulteress.
Chayav Misah = Subject to death; there are a number of offenses which incur the death penalty. Other than the obvious ones, these include a ‘zar’ (non-Kohain) performing certain sacrificial rituals, deliberate and willful breach of Sabbath (being mechallel shabbes ba meizid), adultery, consulting a magician or soothsayer (magush), and idolaters studying Talmud-Torah for the purpose of chillul HaShem.
A Goy who keeps shabbos is also chayav misah.
What does this mean? A maise shehoyo: The Baal Ha Turets had an old friend with whom he would go out drinking during the week. One year he asked his friend to join him for Peysach, but his friend declined, saying that he could not come as he was not Jewish.
“You’re not Jewish? We’ve been studying Toireh together for years – whaddya you mean you’re not Jewish?!?!”
“Well”, says the Goy, “who else should I discuss tiefe sheyles with in this farkakte village filled with ignorant mediaeval peasants, prior to the invention of printing, widespread literacy, and the internet?”
“But you’re shomer shabbes! A goy who keeps shabbes is chayav misah!”
“Actually, I never kept shabbes – I always put my keys in my pocket when I went out.”
“But we have an eruv!”
“Myeh…., I don’t hold from that eruv”.
Our rabbis have never had an appetite for executions. According to maseches makkos (Mishnah) 1:10: ‘One said "A Sanhedrin that puts to death one person in seven years is called murderous". Rabbi Eleazar ben Azariah said, "one person in seventy years". Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiva said "if we had been in the Sanhedrin, no one would have ever been put to death". Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel remarked "they would have thus increased bloodshed in Israel".’
It should also be added that in practice Rabbinic law, by insisting on virtually impossible conditions for evidence and testimony, did away with the death penalty for all intents and purposes.
As a result, a life of a woman CANNOT be equal to that of a man, for at the age of 30 days and up, she may decide to engage in Gilui Arayois and is potentially Chayav Misa. Consequently, her life is worth far less than a man's.
Therefore, if a fetus is a Nekaiyvah, chass v'sholom, one is certainly permitted to engage in induced miscarriage prior to the birth. Moreover, it may indeed be a mitzvah De-Rabbanan to commit a retroactive abortion after a girl has been born, in order to prevent the issur Dioraisa of Gilui Arayois and to prevent the girl from playing the temptress and causing another to sin before the Aimishteh.
Nekaiyvah = Nekaveh; a female, a woman. A technical yet not particularly diplomatic term for women best used when none are around. Derived from Nekev = Hole, puncture.
So, as you can see, Hakadoshboruchhu provides for those who dedicate their lives to studying Toirah. While others waste away the limited time they have on earth by focusing on gashmiyus, you should remain committed to the derech and never compromise, especially with your wife.
Gashmius = Enjoyment, earthly urges. Also genuine pleasure, the balance to Ruchnius. Ruchnius is remez to shamayim (heaven), while gashmius is remez to aretz (earth). According to the Rebbe of Prolicz “ruchniyus iz gashmius mit groyshe neshomo”. And gashmius can, with kavanah, become ruchniyus.
