Resources for Megillah 25

Rabbi Yitzchok Gutterman

1. The משנה says that if someone says יברכוך טובים, we are משתקין אותו. The explanation given by רש"י is that we must include the רשעים in our תפילות, like we see by the חלבנה. (See the שדה צופיםon the משנה who quotes from מפרשים that “ציבור” stands for צדיקים, ביונונים, ורשעים.) However, see the רשב"א who brings the ירושלמי that says that the issue with יברכוך טובים is that it sounds like there are two רשויות, the good God and the opposite ח"ו. The רשב"א asks why we are allowed to say in אשרי the words “וחסידך יברכוך”? He answers that the only time it is אסור is if you say it in שמונה עשרה. See the תוספות הרא"ש who is not bothered by the question from אשרי since the beginning of the פּסוק says יודוך ה' כל מעשיך, so we already know that all people are included.
2. The גמרא says that anyone who davens that Hashem should have mercy on him like he does on the birds, we silence him since he is making Hashem’s מדות to be רחמים and they are really only גזירות. See the בניהוin ברכות לג: ד"ה וחד אמר who asks the obvious question: חז"ל gave many טעמי המצוות, including many which refer to רחמים such as אותו ואת בנו which is to have mercy on the mother and child. The בניהו answers that the גמרא is not saying that we can’t give טעמי המצוות. The issue was that he included it in his תפילה to Hashem which makes it sounds like he knows for sure what the reason is for the מצוה when in fact no one does. See the גר"א on משלי in פּרק ל' פּסוק י"ח who says that the מצוה of שילוח הקן is actually an “אכזרוית גדולה”, as the זוהר describes that the bird doesn’t know where to turn and may destroy itself. Therefore this particular מצוה is not from רחמים but rather just a גזרה from Hashem, although of course Hashem’s מדות are מלא רחמים.
3. The גמרא says that someone who says שמע שמע we silence since him it sounds like there are two רשויות. The גמרא clarifies that this is only if someone says the full פּסוק If someone just says the words שמע שמע it is only מגונה, See theריטב"א who quotes the ירושלמי that says this halacha only applies to a שליח ציבור. However, a person is allowed to repeat words in his private תפילות, although it is better not to. See the ב"ח in סימן ס"א סעיף ז who says that the only איסור to repeat שמע שמע is out loud, but quietly one is allowed to repeat it. Many אחרונים point out from our גמרא that it seems clear that it is inappropriate for חזנים to repeat words in davening, even though the tune won’t work without it. See the אגרות משה in חלק או"ח בּ סימן כ"ב who says that while for a חזן to repeat words is מגונה, it isn’t a הפסק unless he says words out of order.
4. The גמרא says that all the words written in the Torah that are לגנאי we change to לשבח like ישגלנה ישכבנה . See theתשובות הרשב"א in  חלק ז' ס"ק שס"א who was asked a fascinating question: why isn’t this a violation of reading the Torah by heart? We know that each word of the Torah must be read and certainly leined in public מן הכתב, and this word is being read בעל פּה! He answers that it is הלכה למשה מסיני to read it this way. It is not clear what the רשב"א meant to answer: did he mean that the הלכה לשה מסיני was to read those words by heart or did he mean that the הלכה לשה מסיני was to read those letters in a different way. See the פּמ"ג in אשל אברהם סימן קמ"א ס"ק ט who says that if a ספר תורה is missing this word, it is פּסול. However, if it is covered over in wax, one can still lein from that ספר תורה since you are reading the word by heart anyway. However, see the אגרות משה in חלק ג סימן מ"א who says that the הלכה למשה מסיני was to read the word ישגלנה as ישכבנה, in which case if there is wax on the word, one could not read it by heart.

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