๐พ Archived View for scholasticdiversity.us.to โบ scriptures โบ jewish โบ t โบ Or%20HaChaim%20on%20Levitiโฆ captured on 2024-05-10 at 12:45:55. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
30 โ[1] ** ืืช ืฉืืชืชื ืชืฉืืจื, "You shall observe My Sabbaths, etc."** Why did the Torah repeat here a commandment already written at the beginning of our *Parshah* (19,3)? Here is how *Torat Kohanim* explains this: "I might have thought that the commandment to build the Holy Temple supersedes that of not working on the Sabbath. The Torah therefore repeats that you must observe "My Sabbaths" to teach us that the Sabbath legislation takes precedence even over the commandment to build the Holy Temple." The words of *Torat Kohanim* do explain why the subject of building the Temple and the subject of Sabbath observance appear side by side; they do not, however, address the question why the Torah could not then have dispensed with mentioning this commandment in 19,3? Or, the commandment of building the Holy Temple should have been written in verse 3 instead of here.
โ[2] I believe that the commandment to observe the Sabbath is connected to what was written before rather than to the commandment to build the Holy Temple. Whereas the Torah commanded the father not to desecrate his daughter by instructing her to practice harlotry, the fact remains that some girls engage in that profession without being urged by their fathers to do so. When they do that they do not only desecrate their own name but they bring shame on the name of their fathers as well even though the father was quite innocent in the matter. This is why the Torah commanded the father to keep strict control of the movements of his daughter so that she will not prostitute herself. The Torah blames the father, i.e. the person who begot the child for the eventual misdemeanours of the child. The fact is that there are three separate causes which may be to blame for the delinquency of children. 1) If at the time of conception the father was bent on the physical pleasure of the union with his wife instead of being motivated purely by the desire to fulfil G'd's commandment to be fruitful when they had marital relations. As a result, the child born from such a union may inherit a tendency to engage in sex for gratification of a biological urge. 2) The cause may be the mother; if the deeds of the mother are not morally good, "the lamb will tend to become like the sheep which has given birth to it" (compare *Ketuvot* 63). 3) If both father and mother had forbidden thoughts at the time they conceived the child. The classic example is King Chiskiyah and his wife (the daughter of the prophet Isaiah) who produced two great sinners from that union (compare *Sanhedrin* 104). The tragedy of that incident is the fact that though both father and mother were pillars of piety they nonetheless produced such issue.
โ[3] The words ืืช ืฉืืชืืชื ืชืฉืืจื are addressesd to possibility number one, similar to something the *Zohar* explains on Isaiah 56,4: ืืกืจืืกืื ืืฉืจ ืืฉืืจื ืืช ืฉืืชืืชื, "as to the eunuchs who have chosen to observe My Sabbaths" (volume 2 page 89). The "eunuchs" referred to are the righteous people who make eunuchs of themselves by refusing to have marital relations with their wives except on Friday nights, and who, as a result, produce only morally elitist children by ensuring that they are all born with holy souls. Thus far the *Zohar* on that subject. The lesson we derive from that is that if someone wants to make sure that the children he sires are of that holy level, he must first learn how to control his libido and put it exclusively into the service of performing G'd's commandment to be fruitful. In other words, "do not have relations with your wife except on Friday nights." When you have achieved this level of conduct you may be certain that your daughter will not engage in harlotry or anything similar to it. Concerning the second reason we have listed which may be to blame for a child turning out to be delinquent, namely that its mother had sensual thoughts which the daughter inherited, the Torah writes ืืืช ืืงืืฉื ืชืืจืื, "and revere My Holy Temple." This is a warning to be afraid to violate the sanctity of the Temple, i.e. to ensure that a daughter will never become a ืกืืื, a wife suspected of infidelity who can clear her name only by drinking the ืืื ืืืืจืจืื, the waters described in Numbers chapter 5 which have to be drunk on hallowed ground and which bear within them a deadly disease if the suspected woman drinking them had been guilty of the suspicion her husband cast on her. Finally, (verse 31) concerning the third reason which may be responsible for even the most elitist fathers and mothers producing children they will be ashamed of, the Torah writes **ืื ืชืคื ื ืื ืืืืืช ืืื ืืืืขืื ืื, "do not turn to the ghosts and to familiar spirits;"** these phenomena are manifestations of different kinds of spiritual impurity whose natural tendency is to stick to people's souls much like leeches stick to their bodies.
โ[4] The word ืืืืช is from the root ืืื, in the sense of Deut. 23,6 where G'd is depicted as not **willing** to listen to Bileam. The word ืืืขื ื contains an allusion to ืืืืข, something one knows, is familiar with. A person should not claim that seeing he is familiar with these kinds of phenomena that he is immune to them. As soon as one establishes the kind of intimacy with such phenomena that enable one to claim that one knows all about them, one has already become victimised by these spiritually negative phenomena and their manifestations.
โ[5] **ืื ื ืืณ ืืืืงืืื, "I am the Lord your G'd."** The Torah writes these words as the reason for prohibiting contact with these forms of soothsaying. Seeing that G'd, i.e. something divine, dwells inside every Jew, contact with such manifestations of Satan and what he represents would result in the divine within us leaving us. We would lose whatever sanctity we had possessed and become part of the evil represented by these forces. Anyone who does not take care of these three commandments will only have himself to blame if his daughter profanes herself or the father himself took the first step by displaying her.
Version: Or Hachayim, trans. Eliyahu Munk
Source: http://www.urimpublications.com/or-hachayim-commentary-on-the-torah-5-vols.html
License: CC-BY