Women and Torah

A thought I had with regard to women learning Torah. There is a lot of discussion today about the concept of "Tiflus" and if it should restrict women from getting a Torah education and to what extent if any.

The Gemara in Ketuvot 28A (approximately) brings a meimrah from R' Yehoshua Ben Levi that you are not allowed to teach your Eved any Torah. I saw that at least some Poskim say that it is for the same reason that women are not allowed to learn Torah because it is considered Tiflus. I have not seen any other reason suggested. It seems that, at face value at least, the prohibition is even for men that are chayav in mitzvot like women even though they are not women. This would indicate a much more fundamental issur for women even today.

Forgiveness of Sins - Red to White

"Im Yeheyu Chataeychem Cashanim" The Gemara in Shabbat 89B asks that the word "Cashanim" should be "Cashani" in singular rather than plural. The Gemara answers that it is a hint to "Years" that even if your sins are so vast as the years since the beginning of creation they will still become white like snow. the obvious question is when we are looking for a large number we can say as vast as the stars in the sky or the sand on the beach or something that reaches the billions not the years since creation which reach only into the thousands. We are obviously not referring to only a quantitative measure here but some kind of qualitative analogy. We can explain according to the derech of the Maharal, we know that once you do an avaira again and again it is much harder to stop because in your mind it loses its severity and second nature becomes a habit. The ultimate second nature is if you do something again and again since the beginning of time until the end of time. The Navi is telling us that even if you have sinned in a certain fashion and it has become part of who you are because of the repetitiveness of the the sin you can still be forgiven.

Tochacha and Love

Talmud Shabbat 89b Rava states that which it says in the pasuk in Yeshaya "Go  and Admonish says God" in future times God will tell Israel to go to their forefathers so that they can be reprimanded. Israel will say to God Who shall we go to? To Avraham to whom you said Yadoah Teidah that your children will be foreigners in Egypt and he didn't ask for mercy? To Yitzchak? He blessed Eisav and didn't ask for mercy. Yaakov didn't either ask for mercy etc. To whom can we go? Only to God! At which point God responds that since Israel put their faith in him he will erase their sins like red wool turning to snow.
The interesting point is that God sent Israel to their forefathers specifically for admonishment because of their love for their children. Israel's response was that even our forefathers love is not strong enough for us to feel that their admonishment is truly coming from the right place. Israel states that they need a stronger bond of love from their reprimander to fully accept it, and that can only come from God. This show of love to God is what allowed them to have their sins forgiven.
Even when you know that the reprimand is correct it will only really be absorbed if there is a bond between the admonisher and admonished. The stronger the bond the better accepted it will be