Shiur on Maamar Lashon Hakodesh Siman 1
Shiur on Maamar Lashon Hakodesh Siman 2
Shiur on Maamar Lashon Hakodesh Siman 3

At the beginning of Bereishis, Rashi quotes Rabbi Yitzchok’s statement, “The Torah should have begun with the mitzvah of proclaiming the new month, the first mitzvah given to Israel. Why then does it start with Bereishis?

[The Rebbe continues to quote statements of Chazal that say that Hashem wants to stay in exile and wait for the redemption at a time only He will determine. We need both moshiach and teshuva, as shown in the previous siman.

The Rambam has taught us an important lesson here.

[In the previous siman, the Rebbe asked how the Rambam can rule (in Hilchos Teshuva 7:5) that the Jewish people must do teshuva before the redemption, in view of the fact that there is a dispute about this in the Gemara between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Y

[Now that we have established that all authorities, including the Rambam, agree that although moshiach will not make changes in the natural order of the world, he will display prophecy and other miraculous abilities, we proceed to analyze the Rambam’s n

[Background: The Rambam (Hilchos Melachim 11:3) stated that moshiach will not have to perform miracles to prove himself; as proof, the Rambam cited the fact that Rabbi Akiva and the other Sages thought that Ben Koziva (Bar Kochba) was moshiach, and they

[In the previous siman, the Rebbe pointed out an apparent contradiction between two works of the Rambam.

[In the previous three simanim, the Rebbe argued that since an oath cannot be imposed on unborn future generations, the Three Oaths are merely the Gemara’s way of stating the severity of a prohibition that existed already, without the oaths.

Based on this Akeidah, we can answer some of our questions about the Three Oaths. Our questions were:

1.How can the oaths be binding on future generations? (Siman 34)

2. How can the non-Jews’ oath be binding on them? (Siman 34)

[We are discussing the mechanism by which the oaths are binding on all generations. The Rebbe explained that they took effect at the Giving of the Torah, when all future souls were present.

The Rosh writes in his responsa (Klal 5 paragraph 4) that one cannot impose an oath on people who are unborn. But one may impose a ban or a curse.

[In the previous siman, the Rebbe asked how the Maharal could have said that one must allow himself to be killed rather than transgress the oaths. Now he continues to address the source of the Maharal, the Midrash.]

In order to explain this subject, I would like to pose a few more questions.

In order to explain this entire subject, let me pose several more questions. First of all, why does the Rambam omit these oaths from his Mishneh Torah? They are stated in the Gemara without any dissenting opinion.

[The Rebbe was looking for a definition of "excessive prayer" which, according to Rashi, violates the oath.

[Background: We are looking for an explanation of Rashi’s statement that too much prayer transgresses the oath “not to force the end.” How much is too much, and where did Rashi get this idea from?]

[Rashi says that the oath “not to force the end” prohibits excessive prayer. In Siman 24 the Rebbe asked how much is too much. In this siman he brings two places where the Yismach Moshe discusses this.

There is another version of the text of the fourth oath, cited by Rashi, that reads “shelo yerachaku” – that they should not push the end of exile further away. Rashi explains, “They should not push the end further away with their sin.”

[Background: Rashi has explained the oath “not to force the end” as a prohibition on excessive prayer for the redemption.