Welcome to Monday Torah with Rabbi YY Jacobson, spiritual leader of Congregation Beis Shmuel Chabad in Brooklyn and one of the most sought-after speakers in the Jewish world.
This class is aired weekly on TheYeshiva.net and COLlive.com.
This week, Rabbi Jacobson explores a novel idea of the Vilna Gaon about the tragedy of divorce, in connection with a debate with the Karites in the 18th century.
The class also explores a talk of the Rebbe defining the true meaning of a relationship.
The Vilna Gaon explains that a divorce document is called a get because these two letters aren’t found next to each other in any other word in the Hebrew language and aren’t pronounced with the same part of the mouth. This name therefore symbolizes separation.
Based on this concept, the Margalios HaTorah – a student of the Vilna Gaon – notes that in the section in the Torah (Bereishis 49:29-32) which details the final instructions of Yaakov to his sons immediately prior to his death, every letter in the Hebrew alphabet is used except for gimmel and tes.