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Why do curses of wise men take effect even when their stated conditions aren't met? The shiur develops a yesod that these curses don't create new punishments but awaken divine judgment for existing wrongdoing. Achitophel, Eli, and Yehuda all deserved punishment for underlying failures, and their words simply brought immediate consequences for sins that would have been judged eventually.
This shiur analyzes a difficult passage from Makkos 11a-11b discussing the principle that 'klelles chacham' (curses of a wise man) take effect even when given conditionally. Rabbi Zweig examines three cases from the Gemara (גמרא): Achitophel's death despite providing the correct answer to King Dovid's question about writing God's name to stop flooding; Eli's conditional curse on Samuel that affected his children; and Yehuda's conditional self-excommunication that required divine intervention to remove even after fulfilling his promise to return Binyamin. The central interpretive challenge Rabbi Zweig addresses is why these punishments occur even when the stated conditions aren't met or are fulfilled. He rejects the notion that wise men have arbitrary power to harm innocent people, proposing instead that these individuals already deserved punishment for their underlying failures. The curse doesn't create new punishment but rather awakens divine judgment (me'oreir din) for existing wrongdoing.
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Makkos 11a-11b
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