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A pit for wasting

שו”תCategory: Talmudic studyA pit for wasting
asked 5 years ago

Does the Rabbi have an explanation of what a “scourge” is and of course how it kills?

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מיכי Staff answered 5 years ago

No. There are of course places where there is a hole that can kill. But when you say that about every hole, it’s not clear to me.

On the 3rd of Tammuz 5771

To Menachem – Shalom Rav,

See the discussion from 20 Adar 5771 on column 121 ‘between the Tzamet Institute and the Weizmann Institute’. I assumed that the problem was the moisture and carbon dioxide that accumulate in the pits and cause a feeling of suffocation. However, ‘Yishai’ linked there to sources indicating the accumulation of toxic gases in the pits.

Best regards, ShࢭT

מנחם replied 5 years ago

Interesting – Yishai's interpretation seems a bit strange to me that it is a “pit that the Torah spoke about” especially since they require “an ox and not a man” that the digger is exempt from death.
In Rashi, he writes in the Sugiya: “By way of falling – in depth, meaning and on its face” According to your interpretation, it is understood that since the animal fell while upside down on its face, it also suffocates in a pit 10 tefahim deep.

To Menachem – Greetings,

If the bull fell on its face, it would also be understood that it would be harmed by breathing in toxic gases, as Yishai suggested.

Best regards, Sh”t

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