Kedushin 29-the demon in the yeshiva

 Strange gemara in today's Daf -קידושין כט

(I will liberally translate/pararaphrase)

כי הא דרב יעקב בריה דרב אחא בר יעקב שדריה

 אבוה לקמיה דאביי כי אתא חזייה דלא הוה מיחדדין שמעתיה א"ל אנא עדיפא מינך תוב את דאיזיל אנא שמע אביי דקא הוה אתי הוה ההוא מזיק בי רבנן דאביי דכי הוו עיילי בתרין אפי' ביממא הוו מיתזקי אמר להו לא ליתיב ליה אינש אושפיזא אפשר דמתרחיש ניסא על בת בההוא בי רבנן אידמי ליה כתנינא דשבעה רישוותיה כל כריעה דכרע נתר חד רישיה אמר להו למחר אי לא איתרחיש ניסא סכינתין

The gemara just finished having a discussion about one's responsibility to learn Torah over teaching one's own son and the exception when one's own child has exceptional potential. 

The gemara then relates a story about R' Acha whose son R Yaakov was sent to the yeshiva of Abaya and turned out to be  a poor student.  As a result R' Acha decided to leave his son at home and instead  would study himself  at the yeshiva of Abaya.

When Abaya heard that R' Acha was coming to his yeshiva he figured  that he could have R'Acha  eliminate(via a miracle)a problematic demon that lived in his yeshiva, which caused harm even when two students were walking together during the daytime (gemara in Berachot says that demons cannot harm people in pairs or during the day). Abaya told the people of the town not to offer R' Acha lodging so that he would sleep in the yeshiva and would then be forced to deal with the demon. 

Sure enough that night while R' Acha was sleeping in the yeshiva, the demon appears to R Acha in the form of a Tanina(serpent, water monster) with seven heads. R' Acha did seven bows (apparently in prayer) and with each bow, a head of the serpent was severed. The next morning R' Acha said to them(not sure who "them" is- abaya, the students, both ?), if it weren't for the miracle, you would have put me in danger.

Many questions with this story. First of all, who cares? It's nice that R' Acha was able to clean house(figuratively) but what does this teach us? How does this make our discussion about the obligation to teach one's child any clearer. Furthermore, why couldn't the great Abaya eliminate the demon himself; he was after all, the teacher that R' Acha was coming to learn from. 

I would like to suggest that the demon story is a continuation of the story of R Acha and his son R' Yaakov(notice the title of rabbi that the gemara still bestows on his son). R' Acha accused his son of not studying properly and therefore R' Yaakov lost the right to learn in the yeshiva of Abaya and instead his father was going to use his resources to study himself.  The gemara then let's us know that the problem was not actually with his son, R Yaakov but the source of the problem was the yeshiva itself.

Abaya had a problem in his yeshiva.  Perhaps it was conflict and turmoil amongst his students; thus the language of inability to prevent harm even when two students were walking together during the day.  As a result, students like R' Yaakov couldn't learn or study  properly in a chaotic environment.  Sometimes, outside help is required to fix the atmosphere or a problem in a school or education system and that is exactly what Abaya was hoping with R' Acha.

The demon in the form of a sea creature or serpent (תנינא or in hebrew תנין),represents chaos or tumult. The number seven usually represents complete or unification in knowledge or the oral law (seven of the menorah). The tumult in the yeshiva represented by this demon, prevented the students from achieving their learning goals

R' Acha successfully solved the problem in the yeshiva either by unification of the students or humbling them (represented by his bowing). 

These are all my interpretations of this strange story but the point is to show that the gemara is not trying to teach us Greek mythology or how rabbis dealt with magical demons but instead real deep messages. 

Finding blame with the student/s and ignoring the education environment or system is a much easier path for most educators and parents to take. A parent or a teacher doesn't need to introspect or reinvent the wheel, when pointing a finger at the child/student. On the other hand, to examine the school and the education system requires alot more energy, introspection and sometimes even outside help. This could be the powerful and worthwhile message of this gemara.  

Even the great Abaya realized that his yeshiva and education system required help/change...

Kedushin 29

 Interesting and beautiful Gemara in this Mondays Daf(kedushin 29). The gemara says the following (I will paraphrase/ loosely translate with explanation)

 פדאו במנה ולא הספיק למושכו עד שעמד במאתים מה שפדה  פדוי ואין נותן אלא מנה

 

The gemara makes a statement,  that if someone attempts to redeem something that was consecrated to  the mikdash worth a hundred dollars and paid the money (which completes the transaction as far as hekdesh is concerned)but he hadn't had time to finish the transaction (via physical transference), before the price of what he was trying to redeem increased to two hundred dollars; he is still only required to pay one hundred dollars

The gemara then asks, 

אמאי הכא נמי נימא לא יהא כח הדיוט חמור מהקדש

Why don't we say(as we said before) that the strength of a regular persons transaction with other people, should not be more powerful than when making a transaction with hekdish. In other words, when a transaction between two ordinary people takes place; if the transaction was not completed(by transferring the object; even if payment was already made),

the buyer loses out and would then need to pay the increased price(if he still wants to complete the purchase). 

Why don't we say the same when one wants to redeem from hekdesh and now force this person to pay the increased price, if he still wants the object from hekdish?

The gemara gives an interesting answer,

אטו הדיוט לאו במי שפרע קאי

Would then a regular person not receive the curse of "he who punished"...

The explanation is that there was a curse for people that gave over money for a transaction and then the seller backs out before the transfer of the object(even though legally that had every right to back out). The curse was " the one that punished the generation of the flood and the generation of the tower of babel will take revenge against those that don't keep their word".

In other words, even the temple/hekdesh needs to keep their word and not benefit from a transaction that both sides committed to and began  but was not yet technically completed.

 Basically God(or the caretakers of his temple) are required to keep his/their word as it regards transactions, because otherwise how can God expect man, to do so himself. After all, aren't we supposed to imitate God :)

Rosh Hashanah

 Excellent job! Worthwhile listen. 

I would add, that if one takes the story of Adam and the garden of eden as an allegory (as I do), then when chazal say that Rosh Hashanah is the birthday of the world or creation of Adam; a much deeper message is being taught.

The story of Adam and Gan Eden represent the potential of man's perfection as it regards his potential closeness to God via contemplation, behavior and control of his desires (or finding the middle way). It also represents his fall if he abandons all of the latter and just seeks self gratification or voodoo judaism of God serving man ;)

On Rosh Hashanah(as R' Laufer beautifully explains) we relive Matan Torah by perfecting ourselves and drawing close to God. It is the first of the ten days of teshuva (as per the Rambam דרשו ה בהמצאו).

 In striving for perfection we are recreating Adam in ourselves. We are re-entering the garden where we can once again stroll with God. By once again accepting and reliving matan torah via the sounds of the shofer, we are hoping that by  perfecting ourselves with the final conclusion of the final blast on Yom kippur, we will renter the garden via the tree of life(Torah).

As the rabbis said, that man is a world onto himself. Here is a beautiful piece from אבות דרבי נתן(purposely not quoting from the zohar on this one ;))

יצר באדם כל מה שברא בעולמו. ברא חורשים בעולם וברא חורשים באדם - זה שערו של אדם, ברא רוח בעולם, ברא רוח באדם - זה חוטמו של אדם, חמה בעולם חמה באדם - זה פדחתו של אדם; רקיעים בעולם, רקיעים באדם - זה לשונו של אדם.

More from the Midrash Rabbah 

"כי תהיו אתם ארץ חפץ"[2], דרש רבי ברכיה בשם רבי שמעון בן לקיש: כל מה שברא הקדוש ברוך הוא באדם ברא לארץ לדוגמא לו. אדם יש לו ראש, והארץ יש לה ראש שנאמר[3] וראש עפרות תבל. אדם יש לו עיניים, והארץ יש לה עיניים, שנאמר[4] וכסה את עין הארץ. אדם יש לו אוזניים, והארץ יש לה אוזניים שנאמר[5] והאזיני ארץ. אדם יש לו פה, והארץ יש לה פה שנאמר[6] ותפתח הארץ את פיה. אדם אוכל והארץ אוכלת, שנאמר[7] ארץ אוכלת יושביה. אדם שותה והארץ שותה, שנאמר[8] למטר השמים תשתה מי

So yes my friends we are reliving recreation on Rosh Hashanah-of ourselves via our connection to god