Ki Sisa 5784: What Do You Really Yearn For?

Sponsored
לזכות חיילי צבה הגנה
the return of the hostages , אחדות
among all of כלל ישראל ,and the coming of mashiach speedily In our days.

Consider sponsoring a shiur
Visit YTATorah.org

Shiur presented in 5779

---

Moshe Responds by Moving Outside of the Machaneh

After the sin of the cheit ha’eigel, Hashem Yisbarach was quite upset at Klal Yisrael, to say the least, and Moshe Rabeinu appeared as a tremendous shaliach of the tzibbur, to plead for us, to beseech Hashem for us. It would appear that Moshe Rabbeinu didn’t react in any negative manner, only in a positive manner, although he did break the luchos in response to encountering the event of worshiping the eigel which was a tremendous act of sacrifice on Moshe Rabbeinu’s part. But in reality, Moshe Rabbeinu did react in a negative manner. It says after the cheit ha’eigel משה לקח את האוהל, “Moshe took his ohel,” ונטע לו, “and he pitched it,” מחוץ למחנה, “outside of the machaneh,”הרחק מן המחנה, “far away from the machaneh,”וקרא לו  אוהל מועד, “and he called it the Ohel Moed,”’והיה כל מבקש ה, “and anyone who was mevakesh Hashem,” יצא אל אוהל מועד, “would go outto the Ohel Moed”(Shemos 33:7). So Moshe Rabbeinu took his tent and pitched it outside of the machaneh.

This was Moshe’s response to the Yidden having fallen from their tremendously high level and Hashem announcing that He would not live together with the Yidden. Moshe Rabbeinu left the camp of Klal Yisrael and isolated himself, and  Hashem would speak to him in that tent.  Moshe’s tent was known as the Ohel Moed, the Tent of Meeting. This was the same name that was given to the Mishkan at a later date. The Mishkan was referred to as the Ohel Moed because it was where Hashem’s Shechinah rested and would “meet” with Klal Yisrael. Moshe’s tent also served as a place of meeting for all those who came to seek the Word of Hashem. Even though the nation as a whole became distant following the chet haeigel but still any individual who wanted to seek Hashem could do so in the Ohel Moed.

The shaylah is exactly when this took place. The Rishonim talk about it. Al kol panim, that is what Moshe Rabbeinu did. ‘והיה כל מבקש ה, whoever sought Hashem, would go out to the tent of Moshe.

Leaving The Home to Learn

Now, it’s interesting. It doesn’t say whoever was looking for Moshe would go out and seek counsel from him. It says: ‘והיה כל מבקש ה, because Moshe Rabbeinu represented the shaliach of Hashem. The only reason why people sought out Moshe was not for Moshe’s sake but it was because Moshe represented Hashem. He was the source of the teachings of Hashem. And therefore, going to Moshe’s tent was synonymous with going to seek out Hashem.

The Ba’al Haturim says (ibid) that we learn something from this passuk and that is that someone who wants to seek the word of Hashem, someone who wants to learn something that’s not readily available where he’s at, should be willing to travel, to go into galus to learn it.^[i] Many parents who raised children who went on to become great were the parents who sent their children to learn in yeshivah in spite of the fact they would be leaving their home. They were very young in age, but they understood that’s where the hatzlachah for many lies. There are many people who like to have their children next to them, when they’re still babies. The parents naturally want to keep them close. “There are schools over here also,” they say. Even though there are better schools elsewhere and it may be even better for their children to go away a little bit, the parents sometimes hold them back.

Why Did Moshe Move His Tent?

Now, what we need to understand over here is what did Moshe Rabbeinu want to gain with this? What was the purpose of Moshe Rabbeinu setting up his tent outside the machaneh? The pashut pshat is because Hashem would not talk to him when he was with the Am Yisrael at that point. But there’s a beautiful pshat that I saw and I would like to share it with you. There’s a famous gemara in Brachos (28a).^[ii] The gemara tells us how the great Rabban Gamliel, who headed a respectable yeshivah ran his yeshivah. When somebody applied for this yeshivah they had one rule: any talmid whose tocho, whose inside, does conform to his baro, his outside, is not allowed to enter, לא יכנס לבית המדרש. That means a talmid who had a funny haircut and didn’t look like a yeshivah bochur, shouldn’t even think of applying. A talmid that would wear funny pants to the beis medrash or a talmid that would wear cowboy boots thinking he was going to ride horses and the like, need not apply. There was nothing to talk about. They understood to get into that yeshivah, you had to look like a yeshivah bachur. But because you looked like a yeshivah bachur was not enough. Anybody could buy an outfit. Anybody could buy a black hat, put on regular pants, and put on a white shirt. Regular black buttons. And he comes to the yeshivah. He looks good. So they had an announcement: “If your inside is not like your outside looks, לא יכנס, don’t enter this beis medrash.” Go elsewhere. Go to those other places where they allow you to come in every day because their motto is a gantze yar Pirim, a whole year is Purim, so everybody gets dressed up for Purim in those yeshivos every single day.

Now, there came a point in time where they removed Rabban Gamliel from the leadership because of something the gemara says and that day they removed the shomer hapesach, the door guard who enforced Rabban Gamliel’s rule. In Rabban Gamliel’s time, how could one ensure that a person was up to snuff before he came to the yeshivah? They hired a security guard. They put a real shomer pesach. I don’t think it was an ex-Israeli commando who was six foot four and was being shomer the doors from the terrorists. The shomer hapesach had to be a man who had a good nose. He had to be a good shmecker. He had a very good sense of smell and knew who was tocho kebaro, whose inside was like his outside. It says the day that Rabban Gamliel was removed from the leadership, that day they let the guard go too. And what happened? That day, the yeshivah increased, it says, by four hundred benches. It’s interesting it doesn’t say four hundred people. It says four hundred benches. Why doesn’t it say four hundred people? Why does it say four hundred benches? A funny thing to say. You don’t say you’ve got four hundred pairs of pants. You don’t say four hundred chairs. You say you have four hundred bachurim. So, one shaylah is why does the gemara mention the benches and not the people. The second shaylah is what kind of shomer hapesach did they have that could tell if a guy was tocho kebaro?If anything you could say: if you see a guy wearing a funny-looking sweater, or he’s wearing sneakers in the middle of the winter, so you know he’s strange. You know he has no place in this yeshivah. He belongs in a pet store. Not in a yeshivah. That you know. You understand that. He says he’s going fishing. But how could a shomer know if the person is tocho kebaro or not?!

The answer is like this. They made an announcement. They let everyone know about this rule. They told it to whoever applied for the yeshivah. You know what everybody said when they heard about this rule? “Who does this yeshivah think they are?! Who do these people think they are?! A bunch of snobs! Shvitzers! Shtoltzers (or whatever they call it). To have such a rule in the yeshivah – that you can’t come in unless tocho is kebaro?!” So, when people heard that, you know what they said? “I don’t want to go to that yeshivah.” That made people uninterested in coming and they said, “That yeshivah, nah! It’s not such a good yeshivah anyway.” And they put it down for this reason and for that reason, as people tend to do.

I know a yeshivah like that. It’s a very hard place to get into. A lot of people try and they don’t make it. They don’t get accepted. And you’ll ask anybody who was accepted into the yeshivah – they talk very highly and very respectfully of the rosh yeshivah. And many bachurim who tried to get in and didn’t get in, talk very negatively about the rosh yeshivah. “Such a ba’al ga’avah. Such an arrogant man. Who does he think he is?” Beh beh beh beh. So you let them know that, “You’re not baro and you’re not tocho. You’ve got nothing much going for you.” They don’t like to hear that. People tend to be put off. So they didn’t like Rabban Gamliel’s process in those days.

Rabban Gamliel didn’t hire a shomer who knew how to figure out if the guy was tocho kebaro. They didn’t tell you to put your fingerprints up against the door or put your nose against the beis medrash and let’s see if it turns red. That wouldn’t tell them if you’re tocho kebaro or not. No. What they did was they put a shomer and they put a sign. A lot of people said, “Hmph! Who do they think they are?!” And because of that, people didn’t come in. That was the process. They made it difficult in order to weed out the boys from the men. That means you create some difficulties. You create some hoops you have to jump through.

How Badly Do You Want to Shteig?

I know of a yeshivah that had a lot of people that wanted to get in, and the rosh yeshivah made an interesting rule. If you want to come for Shabbos, it’s $150. I think now it’s $250. If you want to just come for a test, that’s the price you need to pay. I once met the rosh yeshivah and asked him, “What’s the pshat? Is this for the chicken?” “Nah!” he said, “you know how many people I don’t have to interview because of this? Every guy I have to interview takes a lot of time from me. I have to look into him. I have to interview him. I have no time for that. I can only take in very few boys, but for every seat I have at least a hundred applicants. How can I interview a hundred applicants for every seat? It’s not shayach. This is a way of doing it.” You say it costs x amount of money to come for Shabbos and because of that, a lot of bachurim say, ‘I’ll go where it’s cheaper.’ Their parents tell them they’re not going to get in here anyway.  So I end up only interviewing boys who really want to come and who think they’re raoy to get in.”

Moshe Rabbeinu is the source for this eitzah. Moshe Rabeinu decided he’s not going to be so accessible anymore. He’s going to go outside the machaneh. And now I’m going to be able to have a system by which I can determine if somebody really wants to learn Torah. The guy who comes to the shiur or goes to learn where there’s no sweat, no effort to be made, a place where the Torah is readily available for him – that fellow doesn’t demonstrate any indication that he’s a rotzeh lilmod. To be matzliach in learning, you have to be a rotzeh lilmod. And by making it a little difficult for somebody, you know what that does? It demonstrates if a person has a koach, a bikush. Whether he’s a seeker. Man is a mevakesh. That’s what the definition of a human being is. It’s a gemara in Bava Kama (3b).

My grandfather (Rav Avigdor Miller) used to always speak about this. He even called one of his sefarim A Seeker’s Ideology. His whole book is describing the ideology of a seeker who seeks the truth. A person who is a rotzeh be’emes will come and all the others who are not rotzeh be’emes, they will find all kinds of excuses. “It’s too far away to go. The shoes are going to get worn out. It’s dusty. It’s hot. It’s wet.” They’ll find a way of getting out of it. Every one of us has to aspire to become a seeker.

The Right Type of Seeker 

Now, everybody is a seeker, rabbosai. You have to realize it. Even if you’re a failing human being, you’re also a seeker. The question is just what is it that you seek, because everybody is seeking something. Some are seeking garbage. Some are seeking nonsense. A few wise ones seek Hashem’s wisdom, as the passuk we say in davening states, ’ישמח לב מבקשי ה (Divrei Hayomim I, 16:10). Someone who is a mevakesh Hashem will be someone with a happy heart.

You have to know that if this is what Moshe Rabbeinu did, Hashem does this too. Hashem sometimes puts up impediments and puts up blockages for people on their journey to growth. Journey to shteig. Journey to learn. Journey to acquire yiras Hashem. And those impediments serve as a test; are you a mevakesh or not a mevakesh?

I once had a talmid,an Israeli fellow, and I asked him, “Are you a mevakesh?” He said yes. I said, “Could you prove to me in any way that you’re a mevakesh?” He said, “Yes. I’m a salesman.” “What do you sell?” “I sell jewelry.” “How do you know you’re a mevakesh?” “I’ll tell you how. When I knock on the front door and they open the door and they say, ‘What do you want’ and I say ‘I’m selling jewelry,’ and they say, ‘We don’t want any,’ and then they close the door. You know what I do? I go around to the back and knock on the back door. They come to the back door, ‘What do you want?’ I tell them again, ‘I’m selling jewelry.’ They reply again, ‘We don’t want any,’ and then they slam the door in my face. Do I give up? No. Now I go around to the side door. I knock on the side door. And a lot of times after the third try they say, ‘Okay, come on in.’”

I told him, “You’re a mevakesh, my friend.” I said, “In jewelry it’s easy because there are three doors. In learning it’s not going to be that easy. In Torah, it’s not going to be that easy. You’re going to have to push hard and you’re going to think that Hashem is slamming the door on you. He’s not. He’s just trying to see if you’re a mevakesh. And if you persist and you don’t give in, you’ll be successful.

Was Artscroll Gemara a Good Idea?

You know how many people started learning gemara, found it difficult and closed it? When they first printed the Artscroll gemaros, most people saw it as a tremendous boon. Wow! “Now gemara is going to be easy,” everybody said. I remember when it came out. Everybody said that line. “Now gemara is going to be easy.” They went to Rav Shach to get a haskamah. He wouldn’t give one. “We don’t need this.” What do you mean? Everybody can learn gemara now. Who says it’s for everybody? It’s not for everybody. For gemara you have to toil, and be willing to put in effort. If a guy is not willing to put in the effort to master learning gemara, to know the words, the language, to reading the Rashi, so you’re supposed to spoon feed it to him? You give it to him without an impediment? You have to be mevakesh Hashem. That’s where the joy is. The joy in learning lies there.

I tell people even if you use an Artscroll, don’t use it to avoid your challenge with gemara and get around the difficulties. If you do that, then you’ll never be matzliach in learning. You have to use it at most to translate a word for you but not to think for you. Not to figure stuff out for you. Not to read the Rashi in English to make it easier for you, without having you use your mind to reading comprehension to grasp what it says. That should not be the intention for using it. It never was and it never will be. There’s nothing wrong with having to put in effort. You live in America. In America you’re always looking for the easy way out. Without effort. Torah will always require effort. A mevakesh is not afraid of putting in the effort. If a person wants to master anything in ruchniyus, he has to be willing to face the challenge and know they’re just imaginary challenges. They’re made to be knocked out once you demonstrate that this is what you really want.

How Do You Ask Hashem

There’s a gemara in Brachos (50a)that discusses an interesting concept.^[iii] The gemara says as follows. When you want to thank Hashem you’re supposed to be very expansive, not limited. That’s why we say in the nusach of the zimmun before bentching, ובטובו חיינו – through his goodness we live, as opposed to מטובו חיינו – from his goodness. Saying from his goodness implies that He only gives us a small amount of goodness, which would be minimizing our thanks to Hashem. You’re supposed to thank Hashem for all of His kindness and for showering you with unending unlimited kindness. The gemara (Brachos 58a)^[iv] says a similar idea regarding a guest. If a person is a guest at somebody’s house, אורח טוב מה הוא אומר, what does a good guest say? He says כל מה שטרח בעל הבית, everything the ba’al habayis did is for me. What does an oreach ra say? “Nah, everything he did, he did for himself, and I’m enjoying the benefit.” Do you hear the difference? One is expansive in his gratitude to Hashem: “Hashem You opened up all Your kindnesses to me in every area of my life. I appreciate everything You’ve done for me,” instead of saying, “Hashem You gave me something in my life.”

The gemara (ibid. 50a) says how do you make a request from Hashem? When you request something, don’t request something expansive. Most people ask Hashem to win the lottery. They’re not going to be happy with a million dollars. They want the $850 million ticket. I once asked a guy, “And what if you win $450 million?” You know what the guy tells me? “Do you know how much goes off for taxes? Do you know how much you end up getting? $129 million.” That’s some change! I told the guy, ”Are you normal?!” But that’s what people think. If I take the payout up front, you have no money there. I said, “In your lifetime you’ll probably never see $129 million, even if you worked a few lifetimes of the kind of job that you’re doing. $129 million is not bad.”

A House Here, A House There…

The gemara (ibid. 50a) says in whatever you ask of Hashem, don’t ask merubah. תפסת מרובה לא תפסת. Don’t seek out to get as much as you can from Hashem.  What did Yaakov Avinu say to Hashem? “I want to have food to eat. I want to have clothes to wear. I want to be safe. I want to have what I need. My basic needs should be met.” But no, you think to yourself, “First, I need a house here where I live. At least one more in Eretz Yisrael.” But sometimes you can’t go to Eretz Yisrael. It’s too far. So you want to go to Florida, so you need a house in Florida. Maybe Arizona. It’s a little drier over there, not so humid. You make cheshbonos how many houses you need. A person has to know that when it comes to asking from Hashem, don’t ask in that fashion. The gemara, however, says that this is difficult to understand.^[v] You know why? Because the passuk says אנכי ה’ אלקיך, “I am Hashem,” המעלך מארץ מצרים, “who took you out of Eretz Mitzrayim.” Meaning, you saw with your own eyes there’s nothing I can’t do. Therefore, הרחב פיך, “open up your mouth wide.” That means request and request and request! No stopping. ואמלאהו, Hashem says, “I will fill it.” So you see it says over here clearly that you can keep on requesting! Why do you have to limit your requests?! The passuk says you’re supposed to maximize your requests! So the gemara answers: ההוא בדברי תורה. The only area that a person is supposed to maximize his requests and make them unlimited – is only in areas of Torah. That’s all. And Hashem wants to see a person who is mevakesh, true growth, be’emes. הרחב פיך ואמלאהו. We read this passuk every single morning. For those of you who say it and unaware of it or for those of you who skip it – it’s in Hodu. The Sefardim say it too. You see clearly, Hashem says, הרחב פיך ואמלאהו.

Are Mevakesh Olam Hazeh or Hashem? 

But it’s hard. I tell people it’s a lot harder to make money than it is to acquire some Torah. You know why? First of all, making money takes effort too. Everybody knows that. Nothing comes easy. People have dreams, pipe dreams. But when you go into the working world you discover reality. There are no jobs that afford you your dreams. You have to work your way up and hope that someday you’ll realize some of your dreams. The gemara says people don’t realize their dreams. And another thing, people put in such efforts. It’s amazing. They go from one job to the next. A guy called me recently. For the last five years he tried many different things. He’s a fellow, a yungerman, who was in learning. He learned very well, and successfully, too. Made a good siyum on shas, not one of these davening shasim. He learned shas well, made a siyum, very proud of himself. And then his rebbei‘im told him for whatever reason it was time to go look for a job. He tried different types of jobs. First he tried the jobs that many people in his place were doing, trying to take a course and getting a job. He’s a bright fellow. He can do anything. Whatever he tried did not work. I said, ”My friend, five years you tried different jobs. All those jobs were very much for you. They weren’t out of your league. It’s not like you tried to do something that had no shaychus to you. You weren’t matzliach. Five years you tried, it’s time to give up. The gemara says if you try for five years and you’re not matzliach you give up. You’re not going to make it.”

But when it comes to learning, the guy tries a little bit, “Nah, I tried. I couldn’t understand the gemara. I don’t know the words. I don’t remember anything I learned.” When it came to business you were willing to try again and again, this field and that field! You took this course and you took that course! How come? You know why? Because you have everything mixed up in your life. Yes, you’re a mevakesh. But you’re not a mevakesh Hashem! You’re a mevakesh olam hazeh! You have no control over that. You have to remember this rule. והיה כל מבקש ה’ יצא, he has to be willing to go out.

Yesteryears’ Kollel Yungerleit

I think about my great-grandfather. It was common in his days for bnei Torah who got married, to leave their wives for a year or more. I still can’t imagine this. It’s hard to imagine someone doing it over here, in our time. Can you imagine a person getting married nowadays, when he’s already celebrating his first anniversary, and then leaving to join an out of town Kollel for a year?! Or it’s only been a month since the chasunah. And then they leave their wives for a year or two?! I pashut can’t understand it. I could see people say, “Learn first and then get married!” No. They got married and then they went to learn. Rav Elchanan Wasserman. All the gedolim. They went to kollel. Kollel in those days meant you said good-bye and left your kids with your wife. Not that you made some money first. There was no money. You went to the kollel and you sat and learned. No Yom Tov. No Shabbos. No Purim. No Chanukah. How did they do it? One little insight I got.

The city of Kelm had an extremely high caliber yeshivah and kollel. Rav Yerucham Levovitz once related a story that when he was a bachur learning in the Talmud Torah of Kelm, a fire broke out in one of the houses next to the Talmud Torah and many houses burned down, but the Beis Medrash survived. Afterward, one of Kollel yungerleit told Rav Yerucham, “You know what I was thinking besha’as the fire? I was hoping that if the Yeshiva will be burned as well, and then, baruch Hashem, I‘ll be able to go home and see my wife and children.”

So it’s not that they left their families because they didn’t like them. This yungerman loved his family! He missed his family, and now he would have a good excuse to go home. They clearly went because they were ‘מבקשי ה. Incidentally, Rav Yerucham says that not being embarrassed to reveal this deep desire to go home – which to most of our untrained ears points to that person’s seemingly horrible character – actually showed this person’s greatness! It showed that he was a normal human being with a desire to see his wife and children! (Da’as Torah, Bamidbar, pg. 83). Mevakesh Hashem. מבקש ה’ יצא.

I can’t imagine a wife accepting her husband going away and learning for a year or longer after the chasunah or a year into their marriage when they may already have a child. And I can’t imagine a husband accepting this. I can’t imagine anybody accepting this. Here you have a man in kollel. For breakfast he goes home. He runs home for lunch. He runs home for supper. He runs home in the middle of first seder to chap arein a little hello or he goes in the middle of second seder to chap another little snack and to talk to his wife a little bit. He’s making phone calls during seder. The guy never left his house! The guy ke’ilu never went to kollel! That’s not called a mevakesh Hashem.

Rabbosai, let us strengthen ourselves. Let us undertake to accomplish something and make something of ourselves and not to give up so easily just because we tried by investing very little effort. It doesn’t count. Put in a lot of effort and then you’ll see and reap big rewards. 

---

^[i] והיה כל מבקש ה’ יצא מכאן שצריך אדם לגלות כדי שילמוד תורה.

^[ii] תָּנָא אוֹתוֹ הַיּוֹם, סִלְּקוּהוּ לְשׁוֹמֵר הַפֶּתַח וְנִתְּנָה לָהֶם רְשׁוּת לַתַּלְמִידִים לִיכָּנֵס. שֶׁהָיָה רַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל מַכְרִיז וְאוֹמֵר: כׇּל תַּלְמִיד שֶׁאֵין תּוֹכוֹ כְּבָרוֹ, לֹא יִכָּנֵס לְבֵית הַמִּדְרָשׁ. הַהוּא יוֹמָא אִתּוֹסְפוּ כַּמָּה סַפְסַלֵּי. אָמַר רַבִּי יוֹחָנָן: פְּלִיגִי בַּהּ אַבָּא יוֹסֵף בֶּן דּוֹסְתַּאי וְרַבָּנַן. חַד אָמַר: אִתּוֹסְפוּ אַרְבַּע מְאָה סַפְסַלֵּי. וְחַד אָמַר: שְׁבַע מְאָה סַפְסַלֵּי. הֲוָה קָא חָלְשָׁה דַּעְתֵּיהּ דְּרַבָּן גַּמְלִיאֵל, אֲמַר: דִּלְמָא חַס וְשָׁלוֹם מָנַעְתִּי תּוֹרָה מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל. אַחְזוֹ לֵיהּ בְּחֶלְמֵיהּ חַצְבֵי חִיוָּרֵי דְּמַלְיִין קִטְמָא. וְלָא הִיא, הַהִיא לְיַתּוֹבֵי דַּעְתֵּיהּ, הוּא דְּאַחְזוֹ לֵיהּ.

^[iii] תַּנְיָא נָמֵי הָכִי: בֵּין שֶׁאָמַר ״בָּרְכוּ״ בֵּין שֶׁאָמַר ״נְבָרֵךְ״ – אֵין תּוֹפְסִין אוֹתוֹ עַל כָּךְ, וְהַנַּקְדָּנִין תּוֹפְסִין אוֹתוֹ עַל כָּךְ. וּמִבִּרְכוֹתָיו שֶׁל אָדָם נִיכָּר אִם תַּלְמִיד חָכָם הוּא אִם לָאו. כֵּיצַד? רַבִּי אוֹמֵר: ״וּבְטוּבוֹ״ – הֲרֵי זֶה תַּלְמִיד חָכָם, ״וּמִטּוּבוֹ״ – הֲרֵי זֶה בּוּר (רש”י: ומטובו הרי זה בור – שממעט בתגמוליו של מקום דמשמע דבר מועט כדי חיים)

^[iv] הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר: אוֹרֵחַ טוֹב מַהוּ אוֹמֵר? – כַּמָּה טְרָחוֹת טָרַח בַּעַל הַבַּיִת בִּשְׁבִילִי, כַּמָּה בָּשָׂר הֵבִיא לְפָנַי, כַּמָּה יַיִן הֵבִיא לְפָנַי, כַּמָּה גְּלוּסְקָאוֹת הֵבִיא לְפָנַי, וְכׇל מַה שֶּׁטָּרַח – לֹא טָרַח אֶלָּא בִּשְׁבִילִי. אֲבָל אוֹרֵחַ רַע מַהוּ אוֹמֵר? – מַה טּוֹרַח טָרַח בַּעַל הַבַּיִת זֶה? פַּת אַחַת אָכַלְתִּי, חֲתִיכָה אַחַת אָכַלְתִּי, כּוֹס אֶחָד שָׁתִיתִי, כׇּל טוֹרַח שֶׁטָּרַח בַּעַל הַבַּיִת זֶה – לֹא טָרַח אֶלָּא בִּשְׁבִיל אִשְׁתּוֹ וּבָנָיו.

^[v] אֲמַר לֵיהּ אַבָּיֵי לְרַב דִּימִי: וְהָכְתִיב: ״וּמִבִּרְכָתְךָ יְבֹרַךְ (אֶת) בֵּית עַבְדְּךָ לְעוֹלָם״! – בִּשְׁאֵלָה שָׁאנֵי. בִּשְׁאֵלָה נָמֵי, הָכְתִיב: ״הַרְחֶב פִּיךָ וַאֲמַלְּאֵהוּ״! – הַהוּא, בְּדִבְרֵי תוֹרָה כְּתִיב.