Rashi comments, "An ear that heard at Mount Sinai, 'for the Children of Israel are slaves unto Me,' and he went and acquired a (different) master for himself, let it be bored" (21,6). According to Rashi, the transgression of this person is not a result of a deficit in his "listening" ability, rather it is for allowing himself to be sold as a slave. If so, why is he punished by having a hole bored into his earlobe, which symbolizes a lack of "listening"?

The Sefas Emes zt"l answers as follows. Upon Hashem's offering of the Torah to Bnei Yisroel had they only answered "we will do", it would have meant that they were willing to accept the mitzvos upon themselves and perform their obligation according to the letter of the law. When they added "we will listen", they were accepting upon themselves a totally new dimension of service to Hashem. They were subjecting their complete being and essence to the service of Hashem and accepting the yoke of Heaven in an act of piety - "going beyond the letter of the law". This complete subservience to Hashem of "going the extra mile" is the definition of the "nishma (listening)" component.

A person who has sold himself into slavery is able to perform all the mitzvos and it is indeed possible for him to fulfill all of the mitzvos according to the "letter of the law". However, since he is subservient to his human master and must concern himself with the master's needs and desires, it would be difficult for him to totally immerse himself in the service of Hashem to the point of acting above and beyond the call of duty. As a result, he is missing the main point of Bnei Yisroel's declaration of "nishma", which calls for service "beyond the letter of the law".

An initial enslavement is not a total deficiency in the acceptance of Hashem's yoke, which demands action "beyond the letter of the law", since this is due to financial pressures or punishment for stealing. However, when a slave decides to voluntarily remain with his master and of his own volition declares, "I love him," he is willingly creating a complete deficiency in the desire of "going beyond" and total subservience to Hashem, which is represented by "nishma". Therefore, he is punished by boring a hole in his ear, which is the vessel of "nishma".

Chazal (Shabbos 88b) state that because Bnei Yisroel uttered "naaseh venishma (we will do and we will listen)", each person was crowned with two crowns by the angels. If such a statement merited such a reward, it must be the result of an extremely high level of dedication to Hashem on the part of Bnei Yisroel.

In contrast to this, the Tosefta (Bava Kamma Perek 7,2) states that even though Bnei Yisroel responded with "naaseh venishma", they had not actually attained such a lofty spiritual level. In fact, it seems that Bnei Yisroel tried to "fool" Hashem into believing that they reached that high spiritual level.

According to the Tosefta, it is difficult to understand why Bnei Yisroel would be rewarded with two crowns for saying "naaseh venishma" when this statement did not accurately reflect their position? On the contrary, Bnei Yisroel should have been punished for perpetrating "fraud". How could Hashem be pleased with such a statement?

These two accounts of Bnei Yisroel's declaration of "naaseh venishma" are not necessarily in conflict with each other. Although Bnei Yisroel were not at the level of their declaration, they aspired, however, to attain that level. Their utterance of "naaseh venishma" was not a ruse to fool Hashem into giving them the Torah. Rather, it was a statement of their true desire to reach this level in their service to Hashem.

TABLE TALK

THE DILEMMA
(What is permitted to do in this situation?)

One of Boruch's children invites a friend to come along for a visit to the zoo. If one of Boruch's children does not participate in this family trip, is it permissible for Boruch to use his family pass to gain free admission for his child's friend?

(Consult your Rav for a proper halachic ruling)

Last week's clues and answer: I gained a palace by defying the king; I prepared for salvation; I carried a lot of "wait"; I gave new meaning to running water - Miriam

Congratulations to Sholom and Yehuda Adler, Mrs. Devorah Ben Gedalyahu, Moshe Chaim Hefter, the Simon Family, Nesanel Speiser and Mr. Neil Parks

TORAH RIDDLE

Is it possible for a person to be fulfill the obligation of eating the Friday night seudah without making Hamotzi and eating bread during the seudah?

(Please send us your answer by e-mail to gkrainess@adelphia.net. The answer will appear in next week's issue)

Last week's question and answer: Is it possible for someone to eat bread without saying the brocha of Hamotzi, even though he washed his hands and recited the brocha of netilas yadayim? Yes.
1) If someone else said the brocha of Hamotzi for him. 2) Reuven recited the brocha of Hamotzi over two challahs (he does not have any other challahs) at a Shabbos meal before Shimon had an opportunity to wash. Shimon can be yotzei with Reuven's brocha of Hamotzi, however before eating the challahs he should first wash his hands and then recite the brocha of netilas yadayim. This would not be considered a hefsek between the brocha of Hamotzi and the eating of the bread.

Congratulations to the Solomon Brothers

THE KOLLEL FAMILY

MAZEL TOV

Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Bookman on the birth of a granddaughter

Mr. and Mrs. Marc Millstein on the birth of a daughter

Rabbi and Mrs. Shlomo Moerman on the bar mitzvah of a grandson

Mr. and Mrs. Yaakov Pollack on the birth of a grandson

COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

The Cedar-Green Community Kollel Friday Evening Parsha Classes will convene this week at 8:00

*Beachwood………………Contact Rabbi Katz 360-9153

*The Huntington-Green Apartments

Rabbi Levi's group……….Contact Rabbi Levi 381-1617
Rabbi Nadoff's group……Contact Rabbi Nadoff 291-2692
Rabbi Newman's group….Contact Rabbi Newman 381-4497
*University Heights………..Contact Rabbi Charlop 291-8981

(Please inform us if you wish to have a happy or solemn occasion or a community or personal event posted on the Community Bulletin Board - Thank you.)

To sponsor an issue of Oneg Shabbos, please contact Leib Chaim Krainess, Director of Kollel Development at (216) 559-0638 or gkrainess@adelphia.net.
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