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    Chapter 1 · HaShutafin

    Charity hastens redemption

    Lesson 5 of 44 25 min

    Rabbi Yehudah teaches the power of charity and lists ten hard things created in the world.

    Lesson goals
    • 01Restate the source in your own words.
    • 02Identify the central distinction and explain its significance.
    • 03Apply the distinction in the exercise without adding a ruling absent from the source.
    01

    Source and decoding - Bava Batra 10a

    Bava Batra 10a
    גְּדוֹלָה צְדָקָה שֶׁמְּקָרֶבֶת אֶת הַגְּאוּלָּה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״כֹּה אָמַר ה׳, שִׁמְרוּ מִשְׁפָּט וַעֲשׂוּ צְדָקָה, כִּי קְרוֹבָה יְשׁוּעָתִי לָבֹא וְצִדְקָתִי לְהִגָּלוֹת״.

    Rabbi Yehudah says: great is charity, which brings redemption near, as it says "keep justice and do righteousness, for My salvation is near." He used to say: ten hard things were created - a mountain is hard, iron cuts it; iron is hard, fire melts it; fire is hard, water quenches it...

    Rabbi Yehudah says: great is charity, which brings redemption near, as it says "keep justice and do righteousness, for My salvation is near." He used to say: ten hard things were created - a mountain is hard, iron cuts it; iron is hard, fire melts it; fire is hard, water quenches it... ending that charity saves from death.

    02

    Building the reasoning

    1. 1Restate the source in your own words.
    2. 2Identify the central distinction and explain its significance.
    3. 3Apply the distinction in the exercise without adding a ruling absent from the source.
    03

    Terms to decode

    גאולה
    redemption
    מפעפעו
    melts it
    מכבין
    extinguish
    04

    Before moving on

    Insight

    This lesson is a study framework, not a halachic ruling. Check everything in the sources, and bring practical questions to a rabbi.

    Practice

    Diagram the chain "hard, and harder than it" as arrows.

    Lesson wrap-up

    The chain teaches: there is always a stronger force - and charity is at the top.

    Check your understanding

    Test yourself before marking the lesson complete.

    Question 1 of 4

    What does charity hasten?

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