A Half Slave, Ber Oppenheimer, the Reliability of R’ Shlomo Sofer, and Other Comments
A Half Slave, Ber Oppenheimer, the Reliability of R’ Shlomo Sofer, and Other Comments By Brian Schwartz When I was in my early yeshiva years studying tractate Shabbos, I came across a Rashba which I found to be most intriguing. During its discussion of the first mishna, the gemara in Shabbos 4a makes the statement, “וכי אומרים לו לאדם חטא כדי שיזכה חבירך,” which means, “do we really say to a person, ‘sin in order that your friend should merit?’” A notion which suggests that a person should…