Tzedakah as bribe

Hi,

[Background: In the fourth chapter of the book of Daniel, Daniel interprets Nevuchadnezzar's dream to indicate that punishment is coming to him, and he advises Nevuchadnezzar to give tzedakah in order to forestall his punishment.]


"Why was Daniel punished? Because he advised Nevuchadnezzar… [to give tzedakah]"

(Talmud, Bava Batra 4a)


"Giving tzedakah to the needy cannot resolve the problem of haughtiness and arrogance, which plagued Nevuchadnezzar. Perhaps this was Daniel's sin; he did not entirely clarify his words to Nevuchadnezzar, and he planted within Nevuchadnezzar the feeling that the tzedakah he would distribute to the needy would pacify Divine wrath at his arrogance. Can one who sins with arrogance then bribe the One who neither shows favour nor accepts bribes?"

(Rabbi Yaakov Medan, Daniel: Galut v'Hitgalut pg. 101)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Depressing, but true...

Hi,

Don Isaac Abarbanel comments on the fourth chapter of Daniel, in which powerful King Nevuchadnezzar has a dream in which he sees himself as a tree:

"Man is a tree of the field. He is like that great, tall, beautiful tree, which must grow, exist, and then be destroyed."

(Abarbanel, Maayanei haYeshuah, Maayan 6, Tamar 5)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

The rehabilitation of Nevuchadnezzar, and the reaction of the Sages

Hi,

"R' Yitzchak said: Molten gold should be poured into the mouth of that wicked one [King Nevuchadnezzar, who praised Gd at the end of the third chapter of the book of Daniel]. Had a malach not slapped his mouth, he would have put all of the songs and praises of David in Tehillim to shame!"

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 92b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Vegetarianism is better for you

Hi,

"Meat and wine, although nourishing and strengthening, certainly produce many illnesses from immersion in them. However, seeds are more simple, and therefore more healthy. Therefore, at the start of Creation, when people ate only plants and drank water, their lives were longer.

"When Noach came and meat was permitted, and he added drinking wine, their lives became shorter, to the boundary that exists today. This was certainly so when Daniel and his colleagues [Daniel 1] received Divine attention; due to their righteousness and propriety, and the piety of their request, Gd's pledge was fulfilled: 'You will serve HaShem your Gd and He will bless your bread and water, and I will remove illness from your midst.'"

(Don Isaac Abarbanel, Maayanei haYeshuah 5:3)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Why did Daniel write in Aramaic?

Hi,
"The words of the Chaldeans and their kings, which were stated in Aramaic, and the words Daniel spoke to them in their tongue as well, he saw fit to record as they were stated. This is because errors and many forms of mistakes fall into translation from one tongue to another."

(Don Isaac Abarbanel, Introduction to Maayanei haYeshuah on Daniel)

Have a great day,
Mordechai