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Why does magefah strike the righteous along with the wicked, while divine punishment targets specific sinners? The shiur develops a yesod distinguishing between targeted divine anger (af) and blind divine fury (cheimah) that seeks any outlet. Magefah occurs when God's essence is personally attacked through idolatry or public humiliation, triggering indiscriminate destruction that can mercifully be redirected toward inanimate objects.
This shiur begins with a detailed analysis of the language used in Parshas Mishpatim regarding an ox that gores. Rabbi Zweig examines why the Torah (תורה) uses two different Hebrew words - 'yigach' when an animal gores a person, and 'yigov' when an animal gores another animal. Based on Rashi (רש"י)'s explanation that humans have individual divine providence (mazel) while animals are governed by species-level providence, he develops a fundamental distinction between directed and undirected anger. The analysis expands to explore two types of divine anger found throughout Torah and Chazal. 'Af' represents targeted anger directed at a specific cause, while 'cheimah' represents blind fury - rage that seeks any outlet for release. This distinction mirrors human psychology, where sometimes anger targets the source of frustration, while other times it becomes generalized destruction seeking any available target.
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Parshas Mishpatim 21:28-36
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