ASBI Pre-Mincha Shiur: Ki Karov Eilecha - Torah and Intuitionism

(14) For the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart, to observe it.

What does it mean that: (Deuteronomy 30:13) "For it is not in the heavens, and not from beyond the seas." "For it is not in the heavens", for if it was in the heavens, you would need to go up after it. "And not from beyond the seas", for if it was from over the seas, you would need to cross to go after it. (Rabbah) [Rava] said: “It is not in heaven” means that Torah is not to be found in someone who raises his mind over it, like the heavens, i.e., he thinks his mind is above the Torah and he does not need a teacher; nor is it to be found in someone who expands his mind over it, like the sea, i.e., he thinks he knows everything there is to know about the topic he has learned. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: “It is not in heaven” means that Torah is not to be found in the haughty, those who raise their self-image as though they were in heaven. “Nor is it beyond the sea” means that it is not to be found among merchants or traders who are constantly traveling and do not have the time to study Torah properly.

...(Psalms 1:2): "and he studies that teaching", Rabbi Shimon sayd: A father does not teach him, and a rabbi does not teach him. So from where did he learn Torah? Therefore God invited his two kidneys to be like two rabbis who are flow and teach him Torah and wisdom. This is why it says (Psalms 16:7): "I bless the LORD who has guided me; my conscience^eLit. “kidneys.” admonishes me at night."

Rav Ashi objects to this: Why do I need a verse to derive this? It is based on logical reasoning that one who suffers from pain goes to the doctor. Just as here the individual with the problem has the responsibility to resolve it, so too, someone with a claim against another must bring a proof to corroborate his claim.

And it seems that your question is whether in general there is a sin of destroying a life in this case. Now, it would be possible to make a number of distinctions, such as whether 40 days have passed – for before this time it is “mere water”, as is stated in Yevamot and Kriot – or whether three months have passed which is the time when the pregnancy is visible, or if she sensed in her womb the movement of the infant, which occurs a brief time after the 3 months, nevertheless it is not our interest to decide based on how we would be inclined to think or the “logic of the gut”, but only according to Torah law.

...[A]nd let there appear before You the binding with which our father Avraham bound his son Yitzchak upon the altar, and how he suppressed his compassion to do Your will with a whole heart; so may Your compassion suppress Your anger against us, and in Your great goodness turn Your fierce anger away from Your people, and from Your city, from Your land, and from Your territorial heritage.

...Eliyahu, may his memory be blessed, said, "I was once walking on the way and I found a man, and he was mocking me and taunting me. I said to him, 'What [can] you answer on the day of judgement, since you have not studied Torah.' He said, 'I have what to answer - it is [because of] the understanding and intelligence and heart that were not given to me from the Heavens.' I said to him, 'What is your craft?' He said to me, 'I am a trapper of birds and fish.' I said to him, 'Who gave you knowledge and heart to take flax and spin it and weave it to make traps, and to catch fish and birds with them and to sell them?' He said to me, 'It is the understanding and the knowledge that were given to me from the Heavens.' I said to him, 'To take flax and to weave and spin and catch fish and birds you were given understanding and intelligence; but to acquire the Torah, they were not given to you? Behold, it is written (Deuteronomy 30:14), "But the thing is very close to you, in your mouth and in your heart to do it."' [So] he immediately thought in his heart and raised his voice in crying.

So too you, the student, make your ears like a funnel and acquire for yourself an understanding heart to hear both the statements of those who render objects ritually impure and the statements of those who render them pure; the statements of those who prohibit actions and the statements of those who permit them; the statements of those who deem items invalid and the statements of those who deem them valid.