Why Did Rabbi Akiva's Students Not Treat One Another with Respect? The Daily

The Daily Chizuk – Why is even a non-Jew's peace offering considered a burnt offering?

Sunday, 4th of Iyar, 5784

Dina, the daughter of Yaakov, had a Turkish passport because she was born in Turkey.

Where was she born? In which city?

In Charan! (Eastern Anatolia in southeastern Turkey)

Where is Charan? In Turkey!

So it's true, they kidnapped Dina to Gaza, to Rafah. Yaakov Avinu (our forefather Jacob) called Erdogan, the Prime Minister of Turkey, and asked him to release Dina, since she has a Turkish passport.

Erdogan said, "Okay, give me a day or two," but Shimon and Levi did not have the patience to wait; they said, "We aren't waiting a single minute!"

They took our sister!! Shimon and Levi killed an entire city, 24,000 people.

Therefore, they had to return in a gilgul (reincarnation) as Rabbi Akiva's [students] and later as the "men of renown" (Numbers 16:2).

All of Rabbi Akiva's students who did not treat one another with respect (Yevamos 62b) were once converts. They were once gentiles, so they did not know how to treat one another with respect, because a gentile does not know [how to do this].

It is written in the Rambam (Maimonides) in Chapter 1 of the Laws of Ma'aseh HaKorbanos (The Act of Sacrifices - Mishneh Torah, Book of Service) that even if a gentile brings a shelamim (peace offering), it is considered an olah (burnt offering). This is because a gentile cannot "fargen" (be happy for another's benefit) that someone else should eat from the sacrifice.

Regarding a shelamim (peace offering), one cannot eat an entire lamb; how can one eat a sacrifice alone? Even for Yitzchak (Isaac), Rivka (Rebecca) brought two young goats—could he really eat two goats?

Rather, Rivka says to Yaakov, "Bring two goats, one for the Korban Pesach (Passover sacrifice) and one for the Chagigah (festival sacrifice)" — he needs to eat it with someone else; he knew that Esau would come.

It is written in the Midrash that he missed the Afikoman. "B'mirmah" (with deceit) has the same Gematria (numerical value) as "Afikoman"; "B'mirmah" = 287.

If a person does not perform the Afikoman [properly], he has lost all the money, he has lost everything.