שלוש שאלות על עץ הדעת טוב ורע בתורה | הרב מנחם מיידנצ'יק, ה' חשוון | אגרות הקודש סימן כ"ו

Today, the 5th of MarCheshvan, we continue with Iggeret HaKodesh, Letter 25. After we asked two questions, today we have the third question. The first question: Regarding the fact that part of the Torah is called the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil," how can that be? And the second question we asked: Since that is the case, why did studying the laws of forbidden and permitted things not override the act of prayer; for as we said yesterday, prayer is established through the secrets of the Torah, the Zohar, and unifications.

Prayer is no trivial matter. In their generations, in the time of the Tannaim whose Torah was their craft, Torah study would override prayer. So seemingly, how can Torah study, which contains forbidden and permitted laws, override prayer, which is a higher level? Now, the Alter Rebbe asks the third question: And furthermore, it is truly wondrous, a great wonder, how is it possible that in the Messianic era, they will not need to know the laws of forbidden and permitted, and of ritual purity and impurity?

How can it be that in the Messianic era they will not need them? For how will they slaughter the sacrifices and also ordinary meat, if they do not know the laws of "Drasah"( pressing) and all the rest? Yes, and things that invalidate the slaughter. There are all kinds of laws related to the matter of slaughtering, and " Pegimah"(nicking)—if the knife is nicked, it invalidates the animal, and so on.

Will a person be born naturally knowing how to be a shochet? How? How will they not study these things? How will they know them without knowing the laws of "Drasah"?

Yes, and will the knife also be miraculously healthy and remain without any nicks forever? How can it be by nature that it wouldn't? After all, one must study the laws of how to sharpen the knife! Yes, so one must know the laws of slaughtering, and many other laws related to the slaughter of sacrifices, fats, blood, and other prohibitions.

And the laws of corpse impurity will also be needed by the Kohanim when they offer sacrifices; they must be pure, as it is written: " The youth of one hundred years shall die." This means that, at least initially, there will be the matter of death at the beginning of the Messianic era—later it will not exist, but at the start, it will. One needs to know the laws of corpse impurity, and also the impurity of a woman after childbirth, as it is written: "The pregnant woman and

the one giving birth together," for in the redemption everyone will be revealed, both the pregnant and the one giving birth. And if a woman gives birth every day, that is to say, it is written that in the future the woman will give birth every day, there will be many births. They will not need to wait nine months; on the day she conceives, she will also give birth.

Even so, the laws regarding her impurity do not change. One still needs to know all the laws of impurity, and there is no need to elaborate on this simple and famous matter, which is spread throughout the Shas and Midrashim. That is to say, throughout the Shas and Midrashim it is well-known that in the time of Mashiach, they will permitted, and purity and impurity. Seemingly, this is the opposite of what seems likely at first glance, as we spoke about yesterday—why does the Zohar need to address the questions raised regarding the Messianic era?

Meaning, we must understand why they will need to study these laws. Yes, but in any case, in the time of Mashiach, they will need to know this Halacha, so , how do we resolve this matter? And Elijah comes to resolve all doubts. After all, there are many questions that appear in the Gemara, they tell us that Elijah the Prophet will come and that this matter is for Elijah to resolve in the future.

And furthermore, it is not understood from our faith: that which is written, that Torah scholars will not be supported by the common people in the time to come. It is written that Torah scholars will not be supported by the common people, so the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which is prohibition and permission, will not rule over the people of Israel , because the Torah scholars will not be supported by the commoners nor by the mixed multitude who eat invalid, impure, and forbidden food, God

forbid. Because even in the time of the Second Temple, Torah scholars were not supported by commoners who ate invalid and forbidden food, God forbid, for they were Torah scholars and had their own fields and vineyards, meaning they did not need to rely on the common people for their livelihood. And even so, and despite that, they were engaged in prohibited matters—excuse me, they were engaged in the study of prohibition and permission and ritual impurity and purity—all the pairs of Tannaim that were in the Second Temple.

So, seemingly, why would they need to study that? Seemingly, if they are not dealing with the matter of impurity and purity, yet they raised many students in this matter by the thousands and tens of thousands, and the study of the hidden, the hidden part of the hidden. So, the fact that Torah scholars do not need to rely on the common people for their livelihood is not a reason why they would not need, God forbid, to study the laws of prohibition and permission, impurity and purity. So, in the time to come as well, they will need to.

So, how do we speak about them regarding the matter of the laws of impurity and purity? We say that in it there is what is called both holiness and the opposite of holiness, how can that be? Meaning that there is in it what is called good and evil, the Tree of Knowledge. How is it possible to call it the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil?

After all, in the time to come, all evil is to be nullified, so how will they still study the matter and need to know the subject of prohibition and permission, so?