Our Gemaraq on amud aleph discusses financial responsibilities when someone with a bordering property builds a fence that will benefit the other person as well, since the back of the fence will also protect the other property:

 

הַמַּקִּיף אֶת חֲבֵירוֹ מִשָּׁלֹשׁ רוּחוֹתָיו, וְגָדַר אֶת הָרִאשׁוֹנָה וְאֶת הַשְּׁנִיָּה וְאֶת הַשְּׁלִישִׁית – אֵין מְחַיְּיבִין אוֹתוֹ. רַבִּי יוֹסֵי אוֹמֵר: אִם עָמַד וְגָדַר אֶת הָרְבִיעִית – מְגַלְגְּלִין עָלָיו אֶת הַכֹּל. 

 

With regard to one who surrounds another on three sides, that is, he owns parcels of land on three sides of the other person’s field, and he built a partition on the first, the second, and the third sides, the court does not obligate the neighbor who owns the inner field to contribute to the construction of the partition if he does not wish to do so. Rabbi Yosei says: If he arose and built a partition on the fourth side of the field, the court imposes upon the owner of the inner field the responsibility to pay his share for all of the partitions.

 

The Gemara (Megillah 7a) hears a number of prooftexts for the scriptural source that indicates Megillas Esther is of divine origin, written under the influence of the holy spirit. The Amora Shmuel offers a proof as well:

 

אָמַר שְׁמוּאֵל: אִי הֲוַאי הָתָם, הֲוָה אָמֵינָא מִלְּתָא דַּעֲדִיפָא מִכּוּלְּהוּ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: ״קִיְּמוּ וְקִבְּלוּ״ — קִיְּמוּ לְמַעְלָה מַה שֶּׁקִּיבְּלוּ לְמַטָּה. 

 

Shmuel said: Had I been there among the tanna’im, I would have stated a matter that is superior to them all, as it is stated: “They confirmed, and took upon themselves” (Esther 9:27), which was interpreted to mean: They confirmed above in heaven what they took upon themselves below on earth. How did the author of Megillas Esther know that the matter was confirmed in heaven? Clearly, it is only through divine inspiration that this could have been known, ergo the Book of Esther was written with Ruach Hakodesh.  Tosafos (Megillah ibid) asks, Shmuel’s derasha could also be refuted, because those verses come to teach as they were interpreted in Gemara Shabbos (88a):

 

״וַיִּתְיַצְּבוּ בְּתַחְתִּית הָהָר״, אָמַר רַב אַבְדִּימִי בַּר חָמָא בַּר חַסָּא: מְלַמֵּד שֶׁכָּפָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עֲלֵיהֶם אֶת הָהָר כְּגִיגִית, וְאָמַר לָהֶם: אִם אַתֶּם מְקַבְּלִים הַתּוֹרָה מוּטָב, וְאִם לָאו — שָׁם תְּהֵא קְבוּרַתְכֶם. אָמַר רַב אַחָא בַּר יַעֲקֹב: מִכָּאן מוֹדָעָא רַבָּה לְאוֹרָיְיתָא. אָמַר רָבָא: אַף עַל פִּי כֵן הֲדוּר קַבְּלוּהָ בִּימֵי אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ, דִּכְתִיב: ״קִיְּמוּ וְקִבְּלוּ הַיְּהוּדִים״ — קִיְּימוּ מַה שֶּׁקִּיבְּלוּ כְּבָר. 

 

The Gemara cites additional homiletic interpretations on the topic of the revelation at Sinai. The Torah says, “And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the lowermost part of the mount” (Exodus 19:17). Rabbi Avdimi bar Ḥama bar Ḥasa said: the Jewish people actually stood beneath the mountain, and the verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, overturned the mountain above the Jews like a tub, and said to them: If you accept the Torah, excellent, and if not, there will be your burial. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: From here there is a substantial caveat to the obligation to fulfill the Torah. The Jewish people can claim that they were coerced into accepting the Torah, and it is therefore not binding. Rava said: Even so, they again accepted it willingly in the time of Ahasuerus, as it is written: “The Jews ordained, and took upon them, and upon their seed, and upon all such as joined themselves unto them” (Esther 9:27), and he taught: The Jews ordained what they had already taken upon themselves through coercion at Sinai.

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These verses are reserved to teach such a significant matter, that the Jews, in their gratitude and wonder at the miracles of Purim, ultimately confirmed their original acceptance of the Torah which they could have claimed was forced upon them. If so, this should certainly refute Shmuel’s derivation!

 

The Gra (Maor Hagadol, Megillas Esther) uses the principle in our gemara about making the final wall, and how that signifies acceptance and buy-in of the original three walls, as a way to answer Tosafos’ question.  Due to the great miracle and celebratory attitude, the Jewish people instituted a new ritual and holiday.  This was equivalent to adding the fourth wall, which then nullifies any prior claims or objections. By making the holiday of Purim, the Jews were accepting the entire Torah.  Once they did that, the heavenly response was to sanction it as well, thus Shmuel’s derasha and the Gemara Shabbos’ derasha are the one in the same.

 

The idea that we were originally compelled to accept the Torah against our will, “for our own good”, but later came to realize its benefits, is a significant spiritual archetype, and should be understood. The most basic institution of life and society is parenting.  It can be fairly said, that every parent must initially coerce, even force a child to learn or to behave in certain beneficial ways that child will only appreciate as an adult. Additionally,  the Midrash metaphorically compares the giving of the Torah to a wedding between God and the Jewish people (see for example, Sifri Devarim 345.)  Whether we dated litvish style, or had more of an arranged marriage, many of us rightfully feel that we chose our partners when we were “young and dumb.”  It is not uncommon to have feelings that societal and internal pressures coerced a person to choose a marriage partner before he or she was ready.  There are times where this leads to tragic and unfair entrapments, but it also can be said, the sad alternative to not marrying young and dumb may be becoming old and lonely. There are many who would say, years later, they feel “״קִיְּמוּ וְקִבְּלוּ הַיְּהוּדִים״ — קִיְּימוּ מַה שֶּׁקִּיבְּלוּ כְּבָר. We now come to fully accept what we did originally with less self-awareness.