Nedarim 37 - December 1, 7 Kislev

Study Guide Nedarim 37

Today's daf is sponsored by the Hadran Zoom group in honor of Shira Farber 's army service and with gratitude to your parents for raising you with such strong values. "As Shira Farber drafts to צה"ל, defending the Jewish people and ensuring our security, we are reminded of what we learned with her mother in Masechet Berachot: "Rav Zutra bar Toviya said that Rav said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “He has made everything beautiful in its time?" This teaches that each and every individual, God has made their work (umanut) pleasant for them in their own eyes." Shira, we wish you years of meaningful and impactful service, and that your umanut will bring you great satisfaction."

Today's daf is dedicated to Mimi and Rafi Schachat on the birth of a baby boy last night! 

Why did the Mishnah differentiate and say that it is possible to teach Midrash, Halakha and Aggada from one who is prohibited to benefit from them, but not Torah? Shmuel establishes the Mishna in the case that a fee is charged for studying the Torah and not for studying Midrash. As a difficulty is raised, the Gemara explains that the Mishna comes to teach us that it is forbidden to charge a fee for learning Midrash, but it is permitted for studying Torah. However, why should it be permitted to charge for teaching Torah if the reason that it is forbidden to receive a salary for studying Midrash is learned from several verses from Moshe Rabbeinu - as he didn't charge money, we shouldn't either? Rav and Rabbi Yochanan give two different explanations - it is possible to charge a fee for watching (babysitting) the children or for learning the punctuation of the text with the ta'amim (cantillation). The Gemara brings two difficulties about Rav's explanation (babysitting) - one from our Mishna and one from a braita. To resolve the difficulty from the Mishna, they suggest that the Mishna is referring only to minors and add words to make the Mishna work with that explanation. To resolve the difficulty from the braita, they explain the braita two other possible ways. Why didn't Rav hold like Rabbi Yochanan and why didn't Rabbi Yochanan hold like Rav?