Parashot veH'agim ParashatKi-Tetse - Shabbat 9 Elul 5762 - 08/17/2002

PARASHAT KI TETZE Written and edited by Simcha Raz Pre-emptive War "When you go forth to war against your enemies, and the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand." (Deuteronomy XXI, 10) In the Book of Numbers, on the other hand, we read: "And if you go to war in your land against an enemy who oppresses you, then you shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and you shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and you shall be saved from your enemies." (Numbers X, 9). From this, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk deduced: "If Israel sit in inaction when the enemy around oppresses them and do not launch offensive warfare until the war is already "in your land", they must then have recourse to trumpet blowing and sounding alarms until salvation comes. If, however, they are alert and go to war, with the battle being waged outside the land, in the territory of the enemy, then they will not have need for all this. "When you go forth to war" to a pre-emptive war, then, immediately, "and the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand." "That you hide not yourself from your own flesh" (Isaiah LVIII, 7) "You shall not watch your brother?s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide yourself from them [i.e. ignore them]; you shall surely restore them to your brother." (Deuteronomy XXII, 1) The sages, of blessed memory, commented on the words "and hide yourself from them": "Sometimes you may hide yourself, and sometimes not. How could this be? E.g., if one (the finder of the lost article) was a priest, whilst it (the lost article) was in a cemetery [which is out of bounds for a priest]; or [if the finder was] an old man, and it was inconsistent with his dignity [to lead the animal home] (or the lost article was a sack or large box and it is unbecoming for an important personage to carry them through the public domain); or if his own [work] (the time of the finder for return of the lost article) was more valuable than that of his neighbor [the owner of the lost article] ? therefore it is said: "And you shall hide yourself." (Talmud, Tractate Baba Metsia 30a). It is related that Rabbi Elijah Hayyim Meisel (1873?1912), the rabbi of Lodz in Central Poland, was once in a neighboring town on a legal matter. When the case was over, he asked to be taken to visit a certain widow in the town who was a relative of his. They said to him: Our Rabbi, is it dignified for a Torah scholar to drag himself to visit this sorry widow in her home? Let the Rabbi send his servant to summon his relative to come to him. He replied: It says in the Torah about something lost (Deuteronomy XXII, 3) "you may not hide yourself". The sages, of blessed memory, remarked: "and hide yourself from them" (Deuteronomy XXII, 1): "Sometimes you may hide yourself, e.g. if the finder was an old man, and it is not dignified for him" (Talmud, Tractate Baba Metsia 30a). But, with respect to relatives, it is said: "That you hide not yourself from your own flesh" (Isaiah LVIII, 7). We do not find [in the case of relatives] that it is said anywhere "and hide yourself from them", and the sages, of blessed memory, did not say [of relatives]: "Sometimes you may hide yourself....". Consequently, even an old man and a rabbi "for whom it may not be dignified" is not allowed to hide himself from his relatives. And if this is the case for any relative, how much more is it so for a relative who is a poor widow... Seeing Eye "... with every lost thing of your brother?s, which he has lost, and you have found, shall you do likewise; you may not hide yourself." (Deuteronomy XXII, 3) Why did the Torah not use here the imperative form, as with all the other commandments? Why does it say "you may not hide yourself"? If a person without integrity finds a lost article, he could say to himself: It is beneath my dignity to deal with restoration of the lost article to its owner. I will pretend that I have not seen it. Be it known, therefore, that "you may not hide yourself". Even if you hide yourself from other people, you may not hide yourself from the Holy One, blessed be He, before Whom all mysteries are revealed. It is told about Rabbi Israel Meir Hacohen of Radin that he was once traveling by cart, to distribute copies of his book "Hachafetz Chaim" (which is about guarding one's tongue from words of slander) to whomsoever was interested. He passed near an attractive park, full of fruit trees. The driver was overcome by desire, stopped the cart and got off to pick some fruit, which was visually desirable and good to taste. When the rabbi saw what was happening, he immediately called out aloud: "You can be seen; you can be seen!" The driver was scared and returned to his seat. Having done so, and after he had calmed down, he looked around and saw no-one, so he asked the rabbi: "Why did you shout like that? There is no-one in the whole vicinity! "You are mistaken," replied the rabbi, "there is and He sees. He who dwells on high sees but is not seen... Cruelty to Animals "You shall not plow with an ox and an ass together." (Deuteronomy XXII, 10) It is related that Rabbi Gershon Hanikh of Radzhin arrived incognito at a certain township. He went into the beit midrash and saw there a band of beggars talking vociferously amongst themselves. - What is all this noise about? asked Rabbi Gershon Hanikh - The richest man in town, members of the band told him, is marrying off his daughter and he has locked the doors of his house to poor people. - Come with me - Rabbi Gershon Hanikh said to them. And he went to the house of the rich man and knocked on the door. - We are receiving no visitors today ? came the answer from within. - I have a question I wish to put to the rabbi who is with you, he said. They let him in because if a Jew wishes to ask a halakhic question, he is not to be prevented. - Rabbi, he said, I have a question to ask. Why did the Torah say: "You shall not plow with an ox and an ass together"? - We do not know ? the rabbi pushed him away ? the reasons for the precepts. It is a decree from the Almighty. - But I, Rabbi Gershon Hanikh said, do know the reason for this precept. Oxen chew the cud and while asses do not. An ass, seeing an ox chewing the cud, would think that the ox is eating food while he, the ass, is not eating any food and he would be upset. The Torah thus had pity on the ass and said: "You shall not plow with an ox and an ass together". And we can make an inference from minor to major. If the Torah had pity on the ass that he should not see his fellow eating and be upset, how much more is this the case with human beings that it is not right that some people should sit and feast, eating and drinking, while these others, the poor people, from the outside, do not taste any food or drink, and they are upset... Examine yourself first "Therefore shall your camp be holy; that He should see no unclean thing in you." (Deuteronomy XXIII, 15) According to the principle that "One is entitled to examine for [and pronounce on] any leprosy except one's own leprosy." (Mishnah Nega'im II, 5), one could think that since it is stated here "Therefore shall your camp be holy", a person could say that, first, I will see to the general social order, to ensure the holiness of the whole of the camp and then I will work on the purity of my own soul, for my own holiness. That is why Scripture says: "that He should see no unclean thing in you". In you! First of all, a person is obliged to make good reckoning with his own deeds before anything else "that He should see no unclean thing in them" and it will then go without saying that "your camp shall be holy". He Who Goes Before You "...and turn away from you." (Deuteronomy XXIII, 15) When a guest is being led into a banquet ? says Rabbi Joseph Hayyim of Levov ? the steward goes before him to show him to his place. When a criminal is led away to prison, the guard goes after him, to watch over him that he not flee. When Israel follow the way of the Lord, the Lord goes before them. But when they sin ? He goes after them. "...that He should see no unclean thing in you, and turn away from you" ? that the Lord should not have to go after you. For that the Rabbi danced "... let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house." (Deuteronomy XXIV, 1) A close associate of Rabbi Meir Simchah Ha-Kohen of Dvinsk (1843?1926) once went round to the Rabbi's home and discovered an unbelievable sight. The Rabbi was dancing in a circle with a husband, wife and their son. The Rabbi ? who was the leader of his generation ? was holding the husband with one hand and the son with the other, and the husband and the son were holding the hands of the wife. The visitor was too overcome by astonishment at such an unfamiliar sight and was totally amazed. When the dance was concluded and everyone had sat down, Rabbi Meir Simchah told him what had happened. The husband and the wife had come to him the previous day to obtain a divorce. The husband presented his complaints and the wife also put forward her complaints. The Rabbi then asked them: - Do you have any children? - Yes, we have one son. - And who will their son live with after they are divorced? With his father or with his mother? The Rabbi pondered aloud and then immediately said to them: Come to me tomorrow with the boy. And indeed, the next day, they came back to him with their son. Rabbi Meir Simchah took the boy, sat him on his lap and began to cry. The brilliant rabbi said to him: "My boy, from now on you remain a living orphan, without a father and without a mother." The boy began to cry and then his mother broke out in bitter weeping. And, with everyone else crying, the father also began to sob. At that moment, they both resolved not to get divorced and then they all began to dance from sheer joy ... SHABBAT SHALOM ¡! WRITTEN AND EDITED BY SIMCHA RAZ Editor-in-chief: Rabbi Yerahmiel Barylka Produced by Ahuva Bar-Lev Translator: Nathan Ginsbury