YOU SHALL NOT STEAL. YOU SHALL NOT DENY FALSELY. YOU SHALL NOT LIE, ONE MAN TO HIS FELLOW.

(Vayikra 19:1)

 

You shall not steal - This is formulated in the plural in order to teach you that one who sees [an act of theft] and remains silent is a thief, just as is the person who took possession of the stolen goods.

(Hizkuni on Vayikra 19:11)

 

You shall not steal - ...if it has said here, You shall not steal, You shall not deny falsely, etc. in the singular, then these words would be addressed to the individual, as are the Ten Commandments; they would speak of literal theft, lying, and false swearing. Condemnation of those sins is not the concern of the passage dealing with holiness. If one merely avoids stealing and swearing falsely he remains far from being holy. However, when these prohibitions are expressed in the plural they address the nation as a whole. Now it becomes impossible to say that they refer to gross crimes, since the entire nation or even a majority within it would not do such things. They can only occur in any national society as isolated phenomena, and the whole of the nation will move to counter them, using its sovereign powers. Rather, here the Torah is talking about the kinds of theft, lies, and false swearing that can seep into commercial and social life in general. They can even become the dominant character of the nation - since everyone is involved with them they lose the mark of disgrace associated with crimes. They even come to be thought of as an art deserving praise and honor. However, in God's eyes they are lowly and despicable, as are literal theft, lying, and false swearing. Here God's word, which comes to sanctify His people, warns against them... that which is true of commercial life is also true of social life. You shall not steal includes "stealing knowledge" [genevat da'at = deliberately creating a false impression]. An upright Jew will acquire a friend and gain his fellowship - but he will not "steal" his heart.

(Rabbi S.R. Hirsch, ad loc)

 

You shall be holy - on Human Responsibility and the Meaning of the Commandments

Gili Zivan

Parashat Kedoshim begins with the command: Speak to the entire congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them, You shall be holy, for I, the Lord, your God, am holy (Vayikra 19:2). This command and the command, And you shall do that which is just and good in the eyes of God (Devarim 6:18) are stylistically different from the other commands found in the Torah. The latter make concrete demands and their practical significance is clear, while the former are exceedingly general and may be understood in a variety of ways. Many exegetes have tried to explain the intention of those verses and the interpretations they offer can serve as an entrée towards understanding their worldviews regarding human responsibility and the meaning of the commandments.

In other words: the question whether You shall be holy refers to specific commandments or whether it is a meta-principle that stands above any particular commandment - is not merely an exegetical issue. The solution to this problem will have far-reaching implications for our understanding of personal responsibility:

Is a "good Jew" merely required to observe the 613 commandments or must he go beyond that and exercise his own judgment and decide how to obey them and how to realize their underlying moral principles in every new historical situation? In other words: Must we seek the values which shape the Torah's practical demands and implement the commandments by the light of our understanding of those values? Or should we avoid asking about the intentions of the commandments and observe them in the spirit of, "When you see something like this, sanctify it" (Kazeh re'ei ve'kadesh - i.e., "Do as you are told.") in every time and situation without considering the consequences and influences of performing the commandment?

Following the midrash Vayikra Rabbah, Rashi interprets our verse:

You shall be holy Separate yourselves from sexual immorality and from sin, for wherever one finds a barrier against sexual immorality, one finds holiness, [for example:], [They (the priests) shall not take in marriage] a woman who is a prostitute or one who was profaned... I, the Lord, Who sanctifies you [am holy] (Vayikra 21:78); and, he shall not profane his offspring... I am the Lord, Who sanctifies him (Vayikra 21:15); and, They shall be holy... [They shall not take in marriage] a woman who is a prostitute or one who was profaned (Vayikra 21:67). (Judaica Press translation)

Rashi lends the general command You shall be holy a more detailed meaning. The verse comes to warn us against all of the prohibitions related to sexual immorality. RaMBaN disagrees with this interpretive tradition and suggests a completely different understanding of the command:

You shall be holy - ... in my opinion this is not the abstinence of abstaining from illicit sex, as the rabbi [Rashi] says... The point is that while the Torah prohibited illicit sexual relationships and banned certain foods, it also permits intercourse between man and wife and the consumption of meat and wine. Thus, a voracious person can find room to be awash in sensuality with his wife or many wives, to be drunk with wine and stuffed with meat, and will speak as he wishes about all disgusting things, for there is no prohibition of this in the Torah. And so he shall be a scoundrel with the Torah's permission.

That is why after delineating the absolute prohibitions Scripture came and commanded the general principle that we should limit ourselves regarding that which is permitted to us... This general commandment comes to deal with these and similar matters, after [the Torah] detailed all of the transgressions that are entirely prohibited... This is the manner of the Torah, to give details and to include cases similar [to the detailed cases]. After warning about the details of laws governing commercial transactions between people: do not steal, do not rob, do not cheat, and so on, it says And you shall do that which is just and good (Devarim 6:18), that one should include in this positive commandment the just and the good, and the equitable, and all manner of going beyond the letter of the law as his fellow would want him to, as I shall explain when I get to its [the verse's] location, the Holy One Blessed be He willing..(Partially based on Chavel translation).

Indeed, the RaMBaN is remains consistent and when he arrives at the verse, And you shall do that which is just and good in the eyes of God, in order that it may be well with you, and that you may come and possess the good land which the Lord swore to your forefathers (Devarim 6:18), he writes:

And you shall do that which is just and good in the eyes of God - The simple understanding of the plain reading of the text is: Observe God's commandments and his admonitions and his laws, and, by doing them, intend to do that which is good and just in His sight alone. That it may go well with you - a promise, saying that by your doing that which is right in His eyes, it will go well with you, for God does well by those who are good and straight in their hearts. Our rabbis explained this in homiletic fashion, saying that this refers to compromise and to acting beyond the letter of the law. The meaning is this: Initially He said that you should observe his laws and his admonitions which He commanded; now it says that even with regard to that which He did not command you, give thought to do that which is good and straight in His sight, because He loves that which is good and just.

This is a very important matter, because it would have been impossible for the Torah to mention all behavior of man with his neighbors and friends, all his dealings, and all local and national regulations in their entirety. But, after having mentioned many of them, such as Do not go about as a talebearer among your countrymen, You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge, Do not stand upon the blood of your fellow, You shall not insult the deaf, You shall rise before the aged, etc., the Torah establishes a general rule, decreeing that one should do that which is good and just in all matters, e.g., compromise and behavior beyond the letter of the law - such as the law of bar metzra [The right of pre-emption. When a field is sold, the owner of the neighboring field has first right of purchase.] and even that which they said (Yoma 81a, paraphrased) "His personality is without blemish and his speech with others is gentle," so that - in all matters - he will be considered a blameless and upright person.

The founders of the Religious Kibbutz Movement viewed RaMBaN's interpretation as a proof-text for their claim that socialism and communal living are a religious challenge. They understood the kibbutz life with its economic and social cooperation and the equal division of common property as constituting a broad interpretation of Scripture springing from the spirit of the social commandments. R. Yeshayahu Shapira, known as the ADMoR HeHalutz (the "Pioneer Rebbe") was one of the first people to formulate this approach. As a girl growing up in the Religious Kibbutz Movement, I became acquainted with ideas in various ideological seminars.

Yeshayahu Shapira was born to a Hassidic family in 1891. He became a fervent Zionist in his youth and eventually became one of the leaders of the Mizrachi movement in Poland. He encouraged the formation of three groups of Hasidim that were to settle in the Land of Israel. Two of these groups later founded Kfar Hassidim and the third founded Kfar Atta. Yeshayahu Shapira moved to the Land of Israel in 1920. He was one of the founders of the Hapoel HaMizrahi movement, and led it for several years. He died in 1945.

His article, Ve'Asita et HaTov ve'et Hayashar ("And you shall do that which is just and good" - published in Yalkut Ma'amarim al Ra'ayon Torah Va'Avoda, Jerusalem, 5691, pp. 38-43) became a cornerstone of the early Religious Kibbutz movement:

One who wishes to observe the Torah in its entirety cannot be satisfied with observance of the explicit laws; he must also investigate deeply after the lofty goal implied by those laws and to strive to achieve that goal... there are really some things that are permitted by the law and have been prohibited only because of And you shall do that which is just and good in the eyes of God... Now, when we are returning to our land and wish to establish authentic Jewish life here, it is our obligation to again set up for ourselves this goal of sanctifying life in all its depth and breadth. We must create here a way of life that will not only be permissible according to the law, but also in terms of You shall be holy as well as you shall do that which is just and good.

True, the kibbutz is no longer the same kibbutz, the cooperation and the equality have changed (and I am not crying over that - to the contrary...) but the words of the ADMuR HeHalutz are more relevant today than ever before. Israeli society is continuously moving into a discourse of "permitted and prohibited" and "legal and illegal." It is losing its ability to engage in a discourse about values and society outside the courtroom's walls or beyond the limits of halakhic rulings.

In a lesson he gave on Parashat Kedoshim four years ago in the Yaakov Herzog Center, Prof. Avi Ravitzky took note of the danger in this approach, and I will end this article with a quote from his concluding remarks (see: Likrat Shabbat - Kriyot Ishiyot beParashat haShavu'a, Yaakov Herzog Center for Jewish Studies, 5766, pp. 184-190):

Today, Israeli society is undergoing two parallel processes, neither of which I find desirable.

On the one hand, society in general is undergoing a process of "juridification" - formal laws, rather than values, ethics, or culture, occupy the center stage of our consciousness. Every public debate of values is decided by the Supreme Court. The purview of those judge's rulings is ever expanding - hakol shafit - everything can be decided in court. In parallel to this, the religious community is undergoing an accelerated process of "halakhazation." If, in the past, we learned that Torah includes halakhah and aggadah, philosophy and midrash, today there seems to be an equation Torah=halakhah, where halakhah means halakhah in which a decisive ruling has been made. Even in those areas of life regarding which traditional halakhah avoided making decisions and to which it did not try to apply halakhic precedents, today we have are given definitive Da'at Torah [the authoritative opinion of Torah scholars]. As long as the general Israeli culture included literature, culture, ethics, and law, and the religious culture included halakhah, philosophy, aggadah, and midrash - many doorways were open between them and they could also maintain a soft common discourse. Given the two parallel processes mentioned above, there is only "black" and "white" - prohibited and permitted - impure and pure. As a result, each blade sharpens the other and the two societies collide. Therefore, I would like to find in the RaMBaN's words a powerful statement against the juridification of Israeli society and against the halakhazation of religious society. Obey the halakhah and obey the law, but do not see in them the entirety of Judaism or the complete realization of humanity.

Dr. Gili Zivan administers the Yaakov Herzog Center for Jewish Studies in Kibbutz Ein tzurim.

 

When a stranger resides in your land, you shall not wrong him.

(Vayikra 19:33)

 

We learned - Rabbi Eliezer HaGadol says: Why does the Torah warn us thirty six times - some say: forty-six times - regarding [mistreatment of] the stranger? Lest you drive him back to evil ways. Why is it written, You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt (Shemot 23:20)? They learned - Rabbi Natan says: Do not point out your own shortcoming [i.e., having been a stranger yourself] in others.

(Bava Metziya 59b)

 

A stranger resides in your land: If he was a stranger in a foreign country where you too are a stranger, it would only be natural to love him, for it is the custom of strangers [i.e. aliens] to love each other (Pesahim 113), and you sympathize with his troubles in order to avoid them yourself. But if he lives in your land, in any case do not wrong him.

(Ha-Amek Davar Vayikra 19:33)

 

One is also prohibited to wrong a stranger in the Diaspora. The expression in your land appears in order to explicate the nature of this wrong: When you dwell in the land, which I have given to you as a possession, you might say, "It was given to us as an inheritance," and you will not be considerate of the stranger who dwells among you, since he has no part or portion in it. You will wrong him with words that humiliate and degrade him. Similarly, the expression to wrong is always used by Scripture to speak of the action of the powerful against the weak, those who benefit from the disadvantage of the weak.

(R. Yitzhak Shemuel Reggio's commentary on Vayikra 19:33)

 

And love your neighbor as yourself

And love your neighbor as yourself - Rabbi Akiva says: This is the great principle of the Torah.

Ben Azzai says: This is the record of Adam's line [When God created man, He made him in the likeness of God] (Bereishit 5:1) is an even greater principle.

(Sifra, Kedoshim 2)

 

It cannot be understood literally, since it is well-known that "your life takes precedent over that of your friend." Rather, the RaMBaM (Hilkhot Avel 14) explains it as meaning "[doing for your friend] as you would wish your friend would do for you." It is obvious that no one would expect his friend to love him as much as he loves himself, but rather to the proper extent taking into account good manners and how close the people are to each other - to that same degree you must love other people. That is why it [love your neighbor...] appears immediately after the preceding admonition [You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge]. Just as in the case when you wrong someone, you would not want him to take vengeance, but you would rather have him forgive your sin, so you should treat your neighbor as well. This is how the juxtaposition of the passages is to be interpreted according to the RaMBaM.

I learned another explanation of their juxtaposition from the Jerusalem Talmud (Nedarim 9:4), which states:

It is written; You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against your kinsfolk. How does this work? If one cuts meat [with one hand] and accidentally cuts [the other] hand would he then cut the ["offending"] hand? And love your neighbor as yourself. Rabbi Akiva says: This is the great principle of the Torah.

This means that one who takes vengeance against his fellow is like someone who cuts meat. The hand holding the knife is negligent and cuts the other hand. Could someone imagine striking the hand that cut to avenge it? Similarly, love your neighbor as yourself follows you shall not take vengeance. Even though one's own life and well-being take precedence over those of one's friend, in any case it is as if the two were one in the same person - even though it be proper for one limb to strike the other, in any case if the damage is already done there is no point to taking vengeance against the offending limb. Similarly, one should not take vengeance against one's fellow who has already harmed him, since he is just like you, all of Israel being a single soul.

(NeTziV MiVolozhon's Ha-Amek Davar, Vayikra 19:18).

 

And love your neighbor as yourself - Not that one should love every person as he actually loves himself, for that is impossible, and Rabbi Akiva already taught that "Your life takes precedent over your friend's life." Rather as yourself in the sense of [your neighbor] who is like you - as in [the verse] for you are like unto Pharaoh. So here too as well Love your neighbor who is as yourself; he is equal to you and similar to you in that he was also created in the image of God, he is a human being just as you are, and that includes all human beings, for they were all created in the divine image. The Torah concluded [in the passage] everything with this commandment, just as it began with each man shall fear his mother and father, because one who honors the human image and considers it excellences treats himself and all other people well.

(R. Yitzhak Shemuel Reggio on Vayikra 18:19)

 

 

 

If you enjoy Shabbat Shalom, please consider contributing towards its publication and distribution.

• Hebrew edition distributed in Israel $700
• English edition distributed via email $ 100

Issues may be dedicated in honor of an event, person, simcha, etc. Requests must be made 3-4 weeks in advance to appear in the Hebrew, 10 days in advance to appear in the English email.

In Israel, checks made out to Oz VeShalom may be sent to Oz VeShalom-P.O.B. 4433, Jerusalem 91043. Unfortunately there is no Israeli tax-exemption for local donations.

US and British tax-exempt contributions to Oz VeShalom may be made through:

New Israel Fund, POB 91588, Washington, DC 20090-1588, USA

New Israel Fund of Great Britain, 26 Enford Street, London W1H 2DD, Great Britain

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE NEW ISRAEL FUND IS NO LONGER ACCEPTING DONATIONS UNDER $100.

PEF will also channel donations and provide a tax-exemption. Donations should be sent to P.E.F. Israel Endowment Funds, Inc., 317 Madison Ave., Suite 607, New York, New York 10017 USA

All contributions should be marked as donor-advised to Oz ve'Shalom, the Shabbat Shalom project.

 

About us

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom is a movement dedicated to the advancement of a civil society in Israel. It is committed to promoting the ideals of tolerance, pluralism, and justice, concepts that have always been central to Jewish tradition and law.

Oz Veshalom-Netivot Shalom shares a deep attachment to the land of Israel and it no less views peace as a central religious value. It believes that Jews have both the religious and the national obligation to support the pursuit of peace. It maintains that Jewish law clearly requires us to create a fair and just society, and that co-existence between Jews and Arabs is not an option but an imperative.

5,000 copies of a 4-page peace oriented commentary on the weekly Torah reading are written and published by Oz VeShalom/Netivot Shalom and they are distributed to over 350 synagogues in Israel and are sent overseas via email. Our web site is www.netivot-shalom.org.il.