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Why can mourners take haircuts on the first day of aveilus during sheva brachos? The Ran allows only passive mitzvah (מצוה) violations (shevus) but forbids active simcha displays. This creates a fundamental chakira about whether aveilus dinim are prohibitions on actions or positive obligations to appear disheveled.
The shiur analyzes Kesubos 4a regarding the complex halachic situation when someone dies during sheva brachos celebrations. The Gemara (גמרא) states that when death occurs during wedding festivities, one buries the deceased immediately and continues with sheva brachos afterward, as aveilus will not take effect due to the overriding simcha of the wedding. Rashi (רש"י)'s commentary presents an apparent difficulty: he explains that burial must be immediate specifically because aveilus will not be chal. This seems to imply that if aveilus would take effect, one would delay the burial - an unthinkable proposition given the prohibition of leaving a corpse overnight (halanah).
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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 4a
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