Outline Of Shiur

לזכות ידידי האהוב מימון יהודה בן רחמה לברכה והצלחה ובריאות איתנה

Summary of the shiur at Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan tonight [without the jokes and stories]. Thanks to all those who attended:-):

[A very vague outline. The shiur was based on the Torah of the Rogochover ztz"l].

A person's רצון creates a presence. A lack of רצון means no presence and no מציאות.

The gemara [קדושין סב עמוד ב] says כל שבידו לאו כמחוסר מעשה דמי [anything within one's power is not considered as if it lacks the necessary action]. The gemara asks why one can't marry a woman על מנת שאתגייר since geirus is בידו and answers that it's not בידו because he can't necessarily find three people to be present for his conversion. But with respect to a שפחה the gemara says that a man can't marry her על מנת שתשחררי because before being freed she is not yet a Jew with the elevated status of אדם. Why doesn't the gemara say the same about the גר?

Yesod gedol: If there is רצון there is a presence. If there is no רצון there is no presence and no מציאות. A שפחה has no רצון as to whether she will be freed, hence she is not a מציאות and one can't be מקדש her for after her liberation. A ger has a רצון that enables him to convert so he IS a מציאות.

Once an עבד is freed he must remain that way because the kedushas yisrael which is חל on him can't go away [גיטין ט עמוד א]. A ger kotton MAY retract [כתובות יא]. What's the difference? An eved is not a מציאות and he is completely passive with respect to his שחרור and thus has no כוח to revert back to his previous state. A ger kotton is active with regards to his geirus because it requires his רצון and thus HAS the power to undo it. [We asked that a ger kotton can be a baby with no רצון - so how does HE undo the geirus. He is as passive as the עבד. Vi-tzarich iyun. Update - I asked HaGaon Rav Betzalel Rudinsky Shlita and he answered on the spot that an eved is not בתורת רצון. It is not possible for him to have a will [halachically]. A ger kotton IS בתורת רצון. He could theoretically have רצון. In practice he doesn't, but essentially his רצון counts. והדברים מאירים]

The mishna [גיטין יא] says that divorcing a woman is considered a חוב while freeing an עבד is considered a זכות even though they both can no longer eat תרומה and it should be a חוב for both of them [and the rule is אין חבין לאדם אלא בפניו - see the mishna]. The explanation is that an עבד is not a מציאות and only eats תרומה because he is owned by his אדון such that we can't say that is was a זכות that he was eating תרומה and now he lost the zchus and it is a חוב. His right to eat תרומה came from him being a non-מציאות.

For a גר who converts the bracha is ולהטיף ממנו דם ברית  which is לשון יחיד. For an עבד the bracha is להטיף מהן דם ברית which is לשון רבים. Why the difference? Every גר is a מציאות so they have individuality which warrants a bracha for each individual - as opposed to an  עבד who doesn't have an individual מציאות. Therefore, the bracha is on the מציאת of עבדים in the world לשון רבים.

The yesod in Avodas Hashem: Being an עבד means that you are completely מבטל yourself to the אדון. No מציאות. No רצון. Moshe Rabbeinu is called עבד השם. He wasn't a מאן דאמר. It's all רצון השם.

Eliezer is called עבד the whole parsha [and his name is omitted] in order to emphasize that he was מבטל himself to his אדון and found a shidduch for Yitzchak even though he wanted Yitzchak to marry his own daughter. In this merit he was transformed from an ארור to a ברוך [as the medrash says on the pasuk בא ברוך השם]. See what Reb Shmulie says about that, here.

Also in marriage. Don't "sacrifice" for your spouse. Her רצון should be your רצון. What she wants is what you want.