בבא בתרא קיט

A father whose daughter was engaged to be married, approached ר׳ שלמה זלמן of Vilna, a תלמיד מובהק of the גר״א, and expressed concern that the חתן and his family will find out that his daughter is several years older than the חתן.  The רב told him: “In פרשת מסעי, the תורה tells us ותהיינה מחלה תרצה והגלה ומלכה ונעה בנות צלפחד לבני דדיהן לנשים.   Here, רש״י explains, the תורה lists them according to their ages, while elsewhere it lists them according to their חכמה.”  The reason for this, he explained, can be found in today’s דף, which says that even the youngest of them didn’t get married before reaching the age of 40.  Therefore, before they were married, the תורה focused on their חכמה and didn’t want to list them according to their ages.  However, once they were married, there was no concern about revealing their ages.

06/10/2021