Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Gittin Daf 20

The Gemara discusses an argument between Rabbi Yehuda and the Chachomim whether one who wrote G-d's name unintentionally (he thought he was writing the name Yehuda and by accident left out the daled) may write over it with the proper intention for it to be a valid writing of G-d's name. The Chachomim do not allow it because "ayn Hashem min hamuvchar" it's not a proper writing for G-d's name. The Gemara goes on to say that this may only be true with regards to a Sefer Torah because of the concept of " zeh Keli veanvehu" this is my G-d and I will glorify Him.
The concept of "zeh Keli veanvehu" is usually applied to making Mitzvos more beautiful, e.g., having a nice Talis, etc. However, the application here is referring to an instance where the beauty is completely hidden from the eye, as one cannot tell whether it was written the first time with the intention of G-d's name or not. This teaches us that sometimes we can beautify the Mitzvos that we do in a completely internal and hidden way and fulfill the concept of "zeh Keli veanvehu". Our initial intention in doing a Mitzvah can make the difference.

2 comments:

Mark Kerzner said...

Can we say that the intention actually makes a difference. Just because you do not see it does not mean that your Mazel does not. I think it bears out in practical experience - the intention is always palpable.

Ohr Hanegev said...

Not only does intention make a difference as we see here, it even makes a difference whether the intention was there from the outset of the writing or it was written over with the intention later.