בס''ד

THE DAILY DAF MESSAGE OF THE BET ZVI DAFactory

The Gatherer Gets a Bush

The Gemara later on (150b) relates the following story: It once happened that a breach was made in the field of a pious man and he decided to fix it. When he recalled that it was Shabbos, he refrained and did not repair it; thereupon a miracle was performed for him – a TZELAF tree (Caper bush) grew up there, from which he and his household derived their livelihood.

The Chida cites the Arizal who says that the aforementioned pious man was a gilgul (reincarnation) of Tzelafchad that had been sent down to this world to correct the Shabbos desecration that Tzelafchad had done. The name Tzelafchad can be separated into two words, TZELAF – CHAD, one caper tree.

It was thus through refraining from fixing the fence, that Tzelafchad's soul was cleansed and the pious man rewarded with a TZELAF bush.