Come on baby light my fire TB Pesakhim 54

The blessing over fire “Praised are You, Lord our God, King of the universe who creates the lights the fire-בּוֹרֵא מְאוֹרֵי הָאֵשׁ. is not a blessing of gratitude. Otherwise, we would recited it every time we see and benefit from fire. We only recite this blessing at the conclusion of Shabbat and Yom Kippur during Havdalah. Even though the actual words of the blessing remains the same, the underpinning reason for the blessing is different depending on Shabbat and Yom Kippur. Today’s daf TB Pesakhim 54 clarifies the difference between reciting a blessing over the Havdalah candle at the conclusion of Shabbat and Yom Kippur.

We say the blessing over the multi-wick Havdalah candle in remembrance of the fact that Adam created fire for the first time at the conclusion of Shabbat. Yom Kippur is different from all the other holidays like Sukkot. On all the other holidays except Yom Kippur, one is allowed to use fire like by transferring a flame and cooking food. One may only light a fire on Yom Kippur for a permitted purpose like to help a dangerously ill person. Only when we light a candle before Yom Kippur in order to remind us that were forbidden to light a candle on this holiday may we recite the blessing over the Havdalah candle at the conclusion of Yom Kippur. (Shulkan Arukh, Orekh Hayyim, 298: 5, 8)

The Gemara questions whether fire was created for the very first time at the conclusion of Shabbat by citing a Mishna from Pirkei Avot 5:6 which delineates 10 miracles were created erev Shabbat.

“The Gemara stated that fire was originally created at the conclusion of Shabbat. The Gemara asks: Was fire created at the conclusion of Shabbat? Wasn’t it taught in a baraita: Ten miraculous phenomena were created in heaven on Shabbat eve during twilight, and were revealed in the world only later? They were: Miriam’s well, and the manna that fell in the desert, and the rainbow, writing [ketav], and the writing instrument [mikhtav], and the tablets of the Ten Commandments, and the grave of Moses, and the cave in which Moses and Elijah stood, the opening of the mouth of Balaam’s donkey, and the opening of the earth’s mouth to swallow the wicked in the incident involving Korah.” (Sefaria.org translation) I’ll let you look up how the Gemara resolves this seemingly contradiction when fire was created. I think the topic of miracles is much more interesting. I would like to share with you some commentaries which presents different Jewish views on miracles.

“Why does the Mishna tell us about these 10 things and why were they created immediately prior to the onset of Shabbos, after everything else was created? The 10 things enumerated in the Mishnah are basically different than the other things created during the six days of creation. Everything God created during the six days was created so that there would be constant reproduction from the original prototypes. This is inherent in the words: ‘which God created to be self-reproductive’ (Genesis 2:3). The 10 things mentioned in the Mishna were created separately because they would not be reproduced. Since their creation was for a specific time and purpose, they were created in a different time than everything else (Yaavetz)

“From the very beginning of creation, God instilled in the nature of every creature the purpose to fulfill the Divine Will whenever called upon. In most cases they would behave uniformly in accord with the Divine Law of nature but there would be instances when they would perform extraordinary acts (and be considered miracles). This is the explanation the Mishna: on the sixth day it was ordained for the earth to swallow Korach and his congregation, for the rock to give forth water, for the donkey to speak, and so forth (Rambam, Tiferes Yisrael)”[1]

After quoting Pirkei Avot (as quoted on our daf), Rabbi Louis Jacobs writes: “Zangwill came near to the meaning of this when he commented ‘The fathers of the Mishnah, who taught that Balaam’s ass was created on the even of Sabbath, in the twilight, were not fantastic fools, but subtle philosophers, discovering the reign of universal law through the exceptions, miracles that had to be created specially and were still a part of the world of order, bound to appear in due time much as apparently erratic comics are’”[2]

 

 

 

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[1] The Metsudah Pirkei Avos, a new translation and anthology of his classical commentaries by Rabbi Avrohom Davis, page 158.

[2] A Jewish Theology, page 117. For a detailed discussion on Providence read chapter 8 in this book.