1431 —שבעים שנה, הגדרת זקנה, ומקורות הלכתיים

B"H, 23 Shevat, 5712.

Brooklyn, NY.

Hagaon Hamufarsam Letehilah, vavac"h iy"a chov"b soav"h, Mara D'avdin Teven, etc. etc., Kehadarag Moharar Eliezer Silver Av Beit Din of Cincinnati

Shalom u'Vrachah!

I have learned that Kehadarag Shlita has reached seventy years of age. On your seventieth birthday I join all those who wish you well and all good things. May Hashem Yisbarach lengthen your days and years in goodness and pleasantness, to flourish in Torah and increase in charity and good deeds for the benefit of the community at large and in particular. These are my respectful wishes and blessings.

P.S. In Mishnah (Avot ch. 5), "At seventy—old age." In greater detail in Bava Batra (75a): "There is no old age less than seventy." So rules Shulchan Aruch Yoreh Deah beginning of siman 244. But in the AriZal's Siddur (at the beginning—laws of synagogue) it is written that one must stand before a sixty-year-old (brought in Birkei Yosef Yoreh Deah there). This follows what is written in Tikunei Zohar (Tikun 61 p. 56a): "There is no old age less than sixty... at fifty—elderly." This reasoning of the AriZal is also evident from his Shaar HaMitzvot and Sefer HaLikutim. In Minchat Chinuch mitzvah 257 he explains the AriZal's ruling as being concerned for the opinion of Targum. Perhaps he overlooked what is written in Shaarei HaMitzvot and Sefer HaLikutim mentioned above. Even without this—we find several poskim who rule stringently like the Zohar even where it disagrees with the Talmud Bavli; but there is no such logic regarding a dispute between Targum and Bavli. One could say that both Yerushalmi and Bavli disagree with Zohar versus Bavli: for Yerushalmi holds that from nun (fifty) onward there is no karet; Bavli holds from samech (sixty) onward (see Tosafot "Eshet," beginning of Yevamot; see Mareh HaPanim on Yerushalmi at the start of Tractate Bikkurim). With this we can also understand the difference in sugyot: in Bavli (Moed Katan 28a) it says: "At seventy—old age," but not so in Yerushalmi (Bikkurim). The Tikunei Zohar are from the Talmud of Eretz Yisrael, so they follow its approach. See also books cited by Sdei Chemed under entry Zaken; also Sefer Kohelet Yaakov (by author of Malei HaRo'im) under entry Seivah.

Summary

The Rebbe honors Rabbi Eliezer Silver on his seventieth birthday by exploring various halachic sources about when one attains old age status, highlighting differences among Mishnah, Talmud Bavli and Yerushalmi, Zohar, AriZal's rulings, and later authorities.