Our Gemara on Amud Aleph tells us of a sad and frustrating interlude where the servants of the Exilarch stole an elderly lady’s wood and made it into Schach. She was demanding justice be served, and truthfully according to the letter of the Torah law the actual stolen object must be returned. Financial payment is insufficient, so long as the object is unchanged and available. This is true even if one built an entire house and the one main support beam was a stolen object.  In such a case, the whole house would have to be torn down in order to fulfill the commitment of returning the stolen object. However, the rabbis instituted a special abrogation of the Torah law in order to facilitate penitents. Through the power of rabbinic law to appropriate property, the rabbis decreed that the stolen object built into a home becomes the property of the thief, and he would only be required to return payment. 

The rabbis were so committed to keeping this institution, that even in this particular case where the woman was understandably angry that her schach was stolen, they would not allow her to lay claim to the boards of wood and tear down the Succah. Instead, all she was entitled to was payment.  This is especially significant because obviously, the Exilarch was wealthy and could indeed have afforded to tear down his succah if necessary.

While she was lodging her complaint, she did make a notable statement that is recorded by the Gemara, and therefore must have significance. In an apparent effort to identify herself as royalty and deserving as much respect and attention as the Exilarch, she mentions that her father is a great man with 318 servants. Rashi explains that this was a clever allusion to Abraham, who, according to the Midrash, rescued his nephew Lot who was taken captive, with 318 soldiers. 

However, this is not enough to explain this woman’s cryptic remark. We can understand why she mentioned being a daughter of Abraham, because she wanted to emphasize that she too was royalty, and deserved as much consideration as the Exilarch. However, what was the reference to the 318 servants?

The Chida (Rosh David, Balak) explains that the sitera achara (literally, “the other side”, the evil force in the universe) can, at times, “steal” a soul. That is, in some way lay possession of what would have been a righteous soul. However, when it comes time to rescue that soul, literally “all Hell breaks loose”. That is, just as a stolen object is retrieved even if the entire building must be torn down, so too the soul is retrieved no matter the casualty. Thus, Abraham and his 318 soldiers merited to rescue Lot, even at the cost of fully defeating the kingdoms who captured him.

The woman was arguing, “You see, to rescue Lot, Abraham invoked the requirement to tear down whatever is necessary. So too, I am entitled to the schach. Unfortunately for her, in the current situation the practicalities of the Rabbinic edict trumped her claim. The rabbis were so interested in prompting and allow teshuva, that they stuck to the edict, even when on a local, micro-level, clearly justice was not served. Nevertheless, this woman did receive a consolation prize. Because she proposed such a clever argument the Gemara recorded her dvar Torah for posterity.

I will add a point al derech derash.  This Gemara is self-reflective.  That is, the very concept of abrogating Torah law in order to allow a person to do teshuva is an enactment of this kabbalistic principle.  It is indeed tearing the house down in order to rescue a soul from the Sitera Achera.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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