On the 8th day, you must give it to Me (Shemos 22:29)

Do you want to be a Talmid Chacham?

Rashi teaches us an important lesson in the verse quoted above. This verse talks about the Cohain offering the firstborn animal. If a person just reads this verse, he might think that the Cohain would offer the firstborn animal on the 8th day. But there is a later verse which states “from the 8th day and onward it shall be accepted” (Vayikra 22:27). Rashi then states that a comparison is made between these two verses meaning that in this verse it also means on the 8th day and onward the firstborn animal can be offered.

So you might be wondering, what important lesson is this Rashi teaching? We no longer offer firstborn animals as offerings, so what are we to learn from this?

The answer is that it shows that to be wise in Jewish law a person needs to know all of the Torah. If a person wants to learn about offering firstborn animals, he might read the verse from this week’s parsha and thinks he understands everything there is to be known. But if he does not also learn the verse in Vayikra which Rashi quotes, the person will come to a wrong conclusion. To be well versed in Jewish law, a person needs to learn everything because only then will he learn all of the laws.

I have been learning the Gemara Makkos with my son and the beginning discusses false witnesses. While we were learning these first few pages, though, suddenly the topic changed to laws of a Mikvah. What is this doing here; there is a separate Masechta which only discusses Mikvaos. The answer is that it is to teach that if a person wants to be a Talmid Chacham, he needs to learn every Masechta.

Good Shabbos!
-yes
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