HOWEVER, THERE WILL BE NO NEEDY

AMONG YOU, FOR THE LORD WILL SURELY BLESS YOU IN THE LAND THE LORD, YOUR GOD,

IS GIVING YOU FOR AN INHERITANCE TO POSSESS.

(Devarim

15:4)

FOR THERE WILL NEVER CEASE TO

BE NEEDY WITHIN THE LAND. THEREFORE, I COMMAND YOU, SAYING, YOU SHALL SURELY

OPEN YOUR HAND TO YOUR BROTHER, TO YOUR POOR ONE, AND TO YOUR NEEDY ONE IN YOUR

LAND.

(Devarim

15:11)

However, there will be no

needy among you – This relates to the later verse, if there

be needy among you, and the word "however" [efes] is like ve'ulam

that I commanded you not to exact repayment of loans from your neighbor [in the

seventh year] it can be inferred that there will be needy people among you in

need of loans, and this will be difficult for you to accept since God promised

to bless all the work of your hands. Therefore this verse says you should know that

the original [divine] intention was that it was improper for there to be any

needy among you at all, since that was the goal of the Lord shall bless you

in the land… but all of that would only happen if you truly hearken,

etc. (verse

5), for then the blessing with which

the Lord blessed you would be realized, and then you will lend to many

nations, etc (verse 6). However, if

it occurs at some time that Israel does not perform God's will, then there will

be needy among your bothers… Behold, I command you not to strengthen your

heart (verse

7), but rather surely open.

And if you come back and ask how there can be a commandment whose application

is put into doubt by the possibility that Israel will observe God's laws

forever so that there will be no needy people – that is why He added for

there will never cease to be needy within the land… therefore I command you (verse11). That is to say, it was already known and

revealed to God that Israel would sin in the future. This is the correct

reading of the verses, and it concurs with the Sages' dictum…

Needy [evyon] – this term refers to one who yearns and

desires for all [of life's necessities] and cannot find anything. He is not

like the poor person who usually finds what he seeks. The world cannot exist

without the poor, even if everyone is righteous, since that would nullify the

commandments of charity, giving, loaning, and the like. Here, however, He

guarantees that there will be no needy among you if you truly hearken, etc.

And it is entirely possible for there to be rich and poor in the Land of

Israel, but the poor will be able to satisfy their needs and make do, and so

there will be no needy.

(R.

Yitzhak Shmuel Reggio 15:14)

… Those who willingly accept

the yoke of Torah and commandments do not have the right to exempt themselves,

to remove from themselves these obligations and pass them on to He who opens

His hands and satisfies the desire of every living thing. We are charged with a

great mission, to make great efforts to strive always towards a reality in

which there will be no needy and poor in the Land and in the world.

(Y.

Leibowitz: Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parashat ha'Shavu'a, p. 836)

Dedicated to the memory

Of my grandmother, Ada bat Naftali Hertz ve'Blumah z"l

Who passed away on the 4^th of Av, 5766.

However, you shall not eat the blood; you shall spill it on the ground

like water (Devarim 12:16)

Deborah Greniman

The words

"blood" [dam] and "spill" [shafakh] form a

pair which appears throughout the Five Books of the Torah. We find them first

in Bereishit (9:4-7):

But,

made man.¹

This

pair of words makes its last appearance in the Torah in parashat Shoftim, when

they are spoken by the elders of the town located closest to the place where a

murdered corpse is found in a field (21:7): Our hands did not spill this

blood and our eyes did not see. In between these two extremes, the spilling

of blood appears in two other contexts: in the fourth chapter of Vayikra, where

the blood of the sin offering is spilt on the base of the olah altar,

and in both Bamidbar and Devarim in connection with the cities of refuge: and

innocent blood [of the unintentional killer] shall not be spilled in your land

(Devarim 19:10). And note: the verb shafakh appears in the Torah almost

always in the context of spilling blood – human or animal. However, it is clear

from the contexts in which it appears, and from the way it is used in other

parts of Scripture, that it is not only used in connection with blood.

In

our own parasha, the motif of blood-spilling appears in the context of animals

being slaughtered not for sacrificial purposes, but in order for human beings

to enjoy eating them:

However,

the ground like water. (12:15-16)

And

again:

When

the Lord. (12:20-25)

As

the researcher Jacob Milgrom has pointed out in the article on

"Blood" in Encyclopedia Judaica, this prohibition is unique to

the People Israel; unlike the sacrificial rite, it is not found among other

peoples of the ancient Near East. Various rationales have been given for the

prohibition on eating blood. RaMBaM cites medical considerations (Guide of the Perplexed

3:48). Other commentators point

to the connection between the eating of blood and magical rites or the worship

of strange Gods.² In his commentary on Bereishit 9:4, Rabbi S.R.

Hirsch refers to our parasha while discussing the prohibition:

For

the blood is hadam, the prototype of the body (the word dam

itself indeed really means the symbol, the metaphor, the representative), it is

the blood by means of which all the working of the soul on the body is carried

out, therefore, For it is the blood that atones for the soul (Vayikra 17:11), it effects atonement, not on itself, but

through the soul which it represents. Only in Mishneh Torah (Devarim 12, 23 etc.) where with repeated warnings the

prohibition against eating blood is given, and it is pointed out how our

well-being and that of our children is connected with it, there it says – apparently

materialistically – but in connection with the context of all the preceding

verses surely metaphorically, actually for the blood is the soul, so

that we and our children should realize with the most definite certainty how

eating blood would incorporate animal desires and tendencies into us.  (Levy translation)

Near

this passage, Rabbi Hirsch mentions that no comparison can be made between the

soul – the living spirit – and the material blood, but blood is the

"material representative of the soul" in that it is the means by

which the soul controls the body. Therefore, the prohibition on eating blood

does not apply to humanity in general, because in general, "the body of

the animal can be transformed into the body of the human" (as when meat is

eaten and assimilated). This prohibition applies only to the Israelites – on

the one hand, because of the atoning function of blood spilt (or thrown, or

sprinkled) upon the altar, and, on the other hand, in order to protect the

Israelites away from animalistic tendencies. Commenting on our own parasha,

Rabbi Hirsch has this to say about the words you shall spill it on the

ground, like water:

All

blood that is not designated for the altar – blood that is spilled on the

ground – is treated like water and it facilitates the sprouting of seeds,

as does water.

These

words are a continuation of his comments on Vayikra 17:13 (and he shall

spill the blood and cover it with dust):

However,

once the blood is released from the animal's body it can serve a function only

in the plant realm: its place is in the dust which sustains plants.

It

seems to me that since Rabbi Hirsch was himself aware of the scientific

advances of his age and even boasted of them – as we can see in his

commentary's discussion of the blood's function in the body – it would not be

amiss if we point to connections between his comments and our own present

situation. Hirsch was careful to formulate a sharp distinction between the

human soul, which, he says, originates from God's spirit, and the souls of

animals, which originate from the ground. It is precisely because of this

distinction that the great care taken in dealing with animal blood can

guarantee the preservation of human spirituality. In addition, Hirsch points to

the ecological function taken on by the blood when it is spilled on the ground,

where it re-enters the cycle of life.

While

today's ritual slaughter is supposed to also reflect these values, contemporary

reality distances us (both meat-eaters as well as vegetarians such as myself)

from them, inasmuch as the raising and slaughter of animals intended for

consumption as food takes place far away from our eyes. Does someone who buys

meat from the supermarket freezer remain aware of the industrial processes that

stand behind the cellophane wrapped packages – processing that neglects both the

animal's soul as well as its ecological role, and that even neglects the souls

of those human beings who come into contact with the animal in the course of

their work? Stories such as those recently revealed in a kosher slaughter and

meat packing plant in Pottsville, Ohio, USA show us how distant these matters remain

from the eye and the heart.

And

what of the connection alluded to by the Torah between the spilling of animal

blood and the spilling of human blood? Consider, in particular, the words of

Vayikra 17:3-4:

Any

his people.

We

also try to keep the spilling of human blood outside our range of vision – and

sometimes even beyond the range of our soldiers' eyes – when it is accomplished

through bombing from a distance, by airplanes, by missiles and long-range

artillery, so that we can even avoid noticing phenomena such as the use of

cluster munitions in populated areas. The use of such weapons, which have an

important role in preserving the lives of our troops, requires that we remain

alert to the spilling of blood that occurs far out of our sight and which can

easily be forgotten. We who observe prohibitions, must take care that innocent

blood not be spilled in our land.

1. When

combined with the next verse, And you, be fruitful and multiply; swarm upon

the earth and multiply thereon, we find here the first occurrence of the

slogan, "Make love not war."

2. See the

article on "Dam " in Avraham Sternberg's (editor), Enziklopedia haHilkhatit

Refu'it.

Deborah

Greniman edits Nashim: A Journal of Jewish Women's Studies & Gender

Issues. She works as an editor for the National Academy of Sciences and is

a translator and author.

The Connection between "Expansion of Boundaries", Distancing

of "the Place", and the Appetite for Meat

When the Lord enlarges your territory, as He has promised

you, and you say, "I shall eat

some meat – teaches that man yearns [to satisfy] his appetite only upon excess

expansion, "The lion does not roar unless he has a vessel full with

meat" (Berakhot 32). Therefore He said: When the Lord enlarges your territory – this will lead to the

tearing away of the mask of shame from your face to the point where you

outspokenly declare, I shall eat some meat. This is somewhat similar to

the throwing off of the yoke of heaven and to investigate the place of

sacrifices. The reason for all this is the place where the Lord has chosen to

establish his name is too far from you – the closer one is to God's sanctuary, the greater

is his fear of the Kingdom of Heaven, as is written, And you shall

be in awe of My sanctuary. This means that the sanctuary will be the source of your awe of the

Kingdom of Heaven. The place… is too far from you distances God from your

inner organs, and therefore you will constantly have a voracious appetite, and

you will not be ashamed to say I shall eat some meat, so I permit it to you, and you may

slaughter from your cattle… as I have instructed you – not at all times, but only

occasionally, when the appetite is overwhelming.

(Kli

Yakar, Devarim 12:21)

Why

Did the Torah Not Specify the Holy Site?

…In my opinion, there is also no doubt that the

place singled out by Abraham in virtue of prophetic inspiration was known to

Moses our Master and to many others. For Abraham had recommended to them that

that place should be a house of worship, just as the translator [Onquelos] sets

forth when he says: Abraham worshipped and prayed in that place and said before

the Lord: Here the generations will worship, etc. The fact that this place is

not stated explicitly when mentioned in the Torah, but only hinted at by means

of the words Which the Lord shall

choose… is due in my opinion to three wise considerations.

The first – lest nations hold fast to the place and fight for it with great

violence, knowing as they do that this place is the final purpose of the Law on

earth. The second – lest those who then owned the place ravage and devastate it

to the limit of their power. The third, and the strongest – lest every tribe

demand that this place be within its allotted portion and seek to conquer it,

which would lead to conflict and sedition, as happened with regard to the

priesthood. Therefore the command was given that the Chosen Temple will be

built only after the elevation of a King, so that only one would be qualified

to give commands and quarrels would cease…

 (RaMBaM, Guide

for the Perplexed, III, 45)

…It is true that only after the establishment of the monarchy in Israel, and King David's conquering of Jerusalem

from the Jebusites, did he decide on the basis of his considerations to

establish it as the chosen place and to order that the Temple be erected there.

The deciding factor in

this case was the royal command. Had the Torah decreed at the outset that the

temple was to be built in the portion of a specific tribe, it might have led to

quarrels and bloodshed because of tribal envy. Therefore the Torah refrained

from setting aside and specifying which would be the tribe in whose portion the

Temple was to be constructed.

(Y.

Leibowitz, Sheva Shanim shel Sihot al Parashat haShavua, pp. 828-829)

Dangerous

and Bloody Religious Wars

Cain said to Abel when

they were in the field… What were

they talking about? They said: "Come let us divide up the world" –

one took land, the other, all movable property. One said, "You are

standing on my land." The other said, "You are wearing what is mine."

This one says: Undress, and the other said: Fly away. During the argument, Cain

rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

Rabbi Yehoshua of Sakhnin

said in the name of Rabbi Levi: Both took land, and both took movables. What

were they arguing about? This one said: "The Temple will be built on my

property," and the other said, "It will built on my property,"

as is written (Micha 3) Zion will be plowed as a field. Subsequently, Cain

rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

(Bereishit

Rabba 22)

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