Parshas Ki Tetzei
This is in the merit of my grandmother Esther bat Mazal. May she have a speedy and complete recovery.
A note: Comments within double brackets, [[abc]], are notes I write for myself so that when I look back later on the topics I discussed, I see all the sources I looked at and how I understood them. Readers are encouraged to skip them.
If readers have any comments, especially critical ones, they would be most appreciated.
Question:
“Fathers shall not be put to death for the children and the children shall not be put to death for the fathers: every person shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:16)
“…I keep in mind the sin of the fathers for [their] descendants, to the third and fourth [generation]” (Exodus 20:5)
How do we resolve this contradiction?
Keeping the Torah
“When you wage war against your enemies, God will give you victory over them, so that you will take captives. If you see a beautiful woman among the prisoners and desire her, you may take her as a wife. In such a case, when you bring her home, she must shave off her head and let her fingernails grow. She must take off her captive's garb and remain in your house a full month, mourning for her father and mother. Only then may you be intimate with her and possess her, making her your wife. If you do not desire her, however, you must send her away free. Since you have had your way with her, you may not sell her for cash or keep her as a servant.” (Deuteronomy 21:10-14).
In this passage, the Torah seems to say something insane, that Jewish soldiers are allowed to take females captive. With all of its emphasis on family purity and self control, how could we be allowed to do this?
And yet, it is not a blanket permission for soldiers to do whatever they want. The Torah requires that the soldier wait a period of time while the woman shaves her hair and lets her nails grow. If the soldier still desires the woman after the wait, and despite her bald head and long ugly nails, he can marry her.
G-d understood the power of a soldier’s passions in battle and created a mechanism to control the situation. It is only after certain requirements are met that the soldier can marry her. And if he chooses not to marry her, he must let her go.
This is exactly what Rashi says:
“and desire her, you may take her as a wife. The Torah [in permitting this marriage] is speaking only against the evil inclination. For if the Holy One, blessed is He, would not permit her to him, he would take her illicitly…”
[[The whole concept that mitzvos sometimes are concessions to our nature seems very strange. How does the Sefer HaChinuch (and Rav Soloveitchik) who say we simply can control our emotions deal with this? Also, will we keep these concessions in the messianic age? (And this one particularly, one can maybe imply from that it still is a sin because sin causes sin and he will hate her and father a rebellious son. I am unsure if this is correct. Rashi makes no mention of sin causing sin and though hating one’s wife I bet is a sin, is fathering a rebellious son a sin?)]]
Last year, spending Shabbas at Yeshivat Lev HaTorah, I heard R. Natanel Lebowitz cite the Chofetz Chaim who, based on this, said that since only here G-d makes concessions for our human nature and expects us only to go through this process rather than simply not take the woman at all, it means that everywhere else, G-d, knowing who we are, expects us to keep His Torah because we can do it!
Elsewhere, the Torah says:
This mandate that I am prescribing to you today is not too mysterious or remote from you. It is not in heaven, so [that you should] say, 'Who shall go up to heaven and bring it to us so that we can hear it and keep it?' It is not over the sea so [that you should] say, 'Who will cross the sea and get if for us, so that we will be able to hear it and keep it?' It is something that is very close to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, that you can keep it. (Deuteronomy 30:11-14).
Although we can keep the Torah, G-d does not expect us to be perfect immediately. If He did, why would He allow for atonement? (http://www.messiahtruth.com/eternal.html) Returning to G-d is a long road which we are must walk.
[[Rav Dessler and Free Will]]
I heard that Franz Rosenzweig would, when asked if he performed some mitzvah and he did not keep that mitzvah, respond, no, I do not do that yet. He did not say, I don’t do that, rather he said, I don’t do that yet.
This is an important idea to remember as we approach the High Holidays.
Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai
This is in the merit of my grandmother Esther bat Mazal. May she have a speedy and complete recovery.
A note: Comments within double brackets, [[abc]], are notes I write for myself so that when I look back later on the topics I discussed, I see all the sources I looked at and how I understood them. Readers are encouraged to skip them.
If readers have any comments, especially critical ones, they would be most appreciated.
Question:
“Fathers shall not be put to death for the children and the children shall not be put to death for the fathers: every person shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deuteronomy 24:16)
“…I keep in mind the sin of the fathers for [their] descendants, to the third and fourth [generation]” (Exodus 20:5)
How do we resolve this contradiction?
Keeping the Torah
“When you wage war against your enemies, God will give you victory over them, so that you will take captives. If you see a beautiful woman among the prisoners and desire her, you may take her as a wife. In such a case, when you bring her home, she must shave off her head and let her fingernails grow. She must take off her captive's garb and remain in your house a full month, mourning for her father and mother. Only then may you be intimate with her and possess her, making her your wife. If you do not desire her, however, you must send her away free. Since you have had your way with her, you may not sell her for cash or keep her as a servant.” (Deuteronomy 21:10-14).
In this passage, the Torah seems to say something insane, that Jewish soldiers are allowed to take females captive. With all of its emphasis on family purity and self control, how could we be allowed to do this?
And yet, it is not a blanket permission for soldiers to do whatever they want. The Torah requires that the soldier wait a period of time while the woman shaves her hair and lets her nails grow. If the soldier still desires the woman after the wait, and despite her bald head and long ugly nails, he can marry her.
G-d understood the power of a soldier’s passions in battle and created a mechanism to control the situation. It is only after certain requirements are met that the soldier can marry her. And if he chooses not to marry her, he must let her go.
This is exactly what Rashi says:
“and desire her, you may take her as a wife. The Torah [in permitting this marriage] is speaking only against the evil inclination. For if the Holy One, blessed is He, would not permit her to him, he would take her illicitly…”
[[The whole concept that mitzvos sometimes are concessions to our nature seems very strange. How does the Sefer HaChinuch (and Rav Soloveitchik) who say we simply can control our emotions deal with this? Also, will we keep these concessions in the messianic age? (And this one particularly, one can maybe imply from that it still is a sin because sin causes sin and he will hate her and father a rebellious son. I am unsure if this is correct. Rashi makes no mention of sin causing sin and though hating one’s wife I bet is a sin, is fathering a rebellious son a sin?)]]
Last year, spending Shabbas at Yeshivat Lev HaTorah, I heard R. Natanel Lebowitz cite the Chofetz Chaim who, based on this, said that since only here G-d makes concessions for our human nature and expects us only to go through this process rather than simply not take the woman at all, it means that everywhere else, G-d, knowing who we are, expects us to keep His Torah because we can do it!
Elsewhere, the Torah says:
This mandate that I am prescribing to you today is not too mysterious or remote from you. It is not in heaven, so [that you should] say, 'Who shall go up to heaven and bring it to us so that we can hear it and keep it?' It is not over the sea so [that you should] say, 'Who will cross the sea and get if for us, so that we will be able to hear it and keep it?' It is something that is very close to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, that you can keep it. (Deuteronomy 30:11-14).
Although we can keep the Torah, G-d does not expect us to be perfect immediately. If He did, why would He allow for atonement? (http://www.messiahtruth.com/eternal.html) Returning to G-d is a long road which we are must walk.
[[Rav Dessler and Free Will]]
I heard that Franz Rosenzweig would, when asked if he performed some mitzvah and he did not keep that mitzvah, respond, no, I do not do that yet. He did not say, I don’t do that, rather he said, I don’t do that yet.
This is an important idea to remember as we approach the High Holidays.
Have a good Shabbas,
Mordechai
posted by Mordechai18 at 11:07 AM
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