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What is the function of the minyan requirement for birchas chasanim? The shiur explores whether the ten people create hashroas hashechinah through the brachos themselves, or whether they merely celebrate the hashroas hashechinah that naturally occurs when a man and woman marry.
This shiur delves deeply into a fundamental question about the nature of birchas chasanim (wedding blessings) and their minyan requirement. The Gemara (גמרא) presents an apparent contradiction: Rav says an almanah (widow) doesn't need a bracha, yet elsewhere it states that both a besulah and almanah need brachos. The resolution distinguishes between a bachur (single man) marrying an almanah (requiring sheva brachos) versus an alman (widower) marrying an almanah (not requiring the full celebration). The central analysis focuses on the Rambam (רמב"ם)'s position in Hilchos Ishus. The Rambam establishes two separate categories of sheva brachos: one required before the nisuin (at the chuppah itself) and another for the celebratory period afterward. This creates several difficulties, including where the Rambam derives this distinction and why he changes his language between 'kodem hanisuin' and 'kodem kinusu l'chuppah.'
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Why does halacha forbid entering dangerous places if everything happens by Divine decree? The shiur examines the debate between Rashi and Tosfos on traveling at night, developing a fundamental distinction: Rashi holds one must avoid even deserved punishments that Hashem delays through mercy, while Tosfos holds the prohibition addresses self-inflicted harm through free will. This framework reveals how people rationalize self-destructive behavior as "hashgacha."
Why does the Gemara praise hospitality to scholars as a unique mitzvah rather than ordinary hachnasas orchim? The shiur distinguishes two mitzvahs: hachnasas orchim (providing for those in need) and connecting to talmidei chachamim (cleaving to God through scholars). Yisro's meal for the Jewish leaders wasn't charity—it was his way of bonding with those transformed by Torah, teaching that learning must fundamentally change who we are.
Kesubos 7b
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