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20 ‎[1] **The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: **
‎[2] **And to the children of Israel you shall say: Each man from the children of Israel, or from the strangers that reside in Israel, who gives of his offspring to **the worship of **Molekh **, 31 **he shall be put to death; the people of the land, **the community, **shall stone him with stones **. 32
‎[3] Meanwhile,
33 **I shall direct My attention to that man and will excise him from the midst of his people, because he gave of his offspring to Molekh, in order to defile My Sanctuary, and to profane My sacred name. **Aside from the actual sin of idol worship, this act constitutes a severe desecration of God’s name.
‎[4] **If the people of the land avert their eyes from that man, when he gives of his offspring to Molekh, and do not put him to death; **that is, if they do not fulfill their duty to execute him, such as in a case where the judges share the same false beliefs as those on trial,
‎[5] **I will direct My attention to that man and to his family, and I will excise him and everyone who strays after him, to stray after Molekh, from the midst of their people. **
‎[6] **The person who turns to the mediums or to the necromancers, **who communicate with the dead, 34 **to stray after them **by seeking their council, **I will direct My attention to that person and will excise him from the midst of his people. **The verse does not state that such individuals are punished by the court; rather, they are punished by God. 35 Other early commentaries maintain that one who turns to a medium is not punished by excision, but has indeed transgressed a prohibition. 36
‎[7] In general,
**you shall sanctify yourselves, and you shall be holy. **This statement refers both to the previous verses and the following ones. Some of these statutes apply specifically to the children of Israel and are not universal, while others are universally considered repulsive. In any case, the main focus of this passage is the special level of sanctity that the nation of Israel must uphold. **For I am the Lord your God, **and therefore you must be committed to this sanctity.
‎[8] **You shall observe My statutes and perform them: I am the Lord who sanctifies you. **I am the One who bestows upon you a unique status, and therefore you must observe My commandments, both the simple, understandable ones, and those which may appear to you as the arbitrary decrees of a King.
‎[9] **For each man who curses his father or his mother, **even if he does not harm them in any other way, **shall be put to death; he cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him, **on his hands. He is guilty and shall be punished for his transgression in this world. The obligation to honor one’s parents also appears in the Ten Precepts. 37 Here, however, the verse emphasizes the severity of dishonoring one’s parents and the accompanying punishment. In other cultures as well, it is considered inappropriate to curse another, let alone one’s parents. However, in the framework of the sanctity of Israel such behavior is absolutely intolerable. One who curses his parents is therefore sentenced to death.
‎[10] **A man who commits adultery with the wife of a man, **that is, **who commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. **The repetitive language of the verse points to the dual aspects of the crime of adultery: Transgression of a prohibition, as well as injury to one’s neighbor. The prohibition against adultery with the wife of a man points to the religious aspect, while the prohibition against committing adultery with the wife of one’s neighbor points to its social aspect. Not all prohibitions of a sexual nature directly affect a third party, but the adulterer sins against both God and his fellow man.
‎[11] **The man that lies with his father’s wife, he has uncovered his father’s nakedness, **the act is shameful and disgraceful to his father; **both of them shall be put to death; their blood is upon them. **
‎[12] **If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have performed a perversion; their blood is upon them. **Alternatively, the verse means: Father and son have mixed up one woman between them. 38 This prohibition parallels the previous one, as lying with the wife of one’s father and lying with one’s daughter-in-law are two sides of the same coin. However, in the instance of lying with one’s father’s wife, there is an aspect of shaming one’s father, while in the instance of lying with one’s daughter-in-law, the verse stresses the repulsive intermingling and partnering.
‎[13] **A man who lies with a male, in the manner that one lies with a woman, **willingly and with consent, **both of them have performed an abomination. **Just as in the cases involving relations between a man and a woman, this prohibition applies equally to both the active and passive participants. **They shall be put to death **by stoning; **their blood is upon them. **
‎[14] **A man who takes a woman and her mother, **or a woman and her daughter, as the order makes no difference, **it is lewdness **. 39 While the case where two male relatives have relations with one woman is described by the verse as a perversion, the case where one man has relations with two related women is described as lewdness. This lewdness stems from the fact that both women are intermingled in his thoughts, his imagination, and his life. **He and they shall be burned in fire, and there shall be no lewdness among you. **
‎[15] **A man who copulates with an animal, he shall be put to death; and the animal you shall kill. **Obviously, an animal does not possess mental competence and cannot be considered guilty of a transgression. Nevertheless, it is put to death due to the shame that was brought upon the children of Israel through it, and because it was a stumbling block for people. 40 In other words, the man is put to death for his transgression, while the animal is killed because it was used in the performance of the transgression, just as vegetation or vessels used for idol worship must be destroyed. 41
‎[16] Similarly,
**a woman who approaches any animal **in order for it **to copulate with her, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They shall be put to death **by stoning; **their blood is upon them. **
‎[17] The verse now turns to prohibitions for which a punishment to be administered by the courts is not prescribed; rather, one who transgresses these prohibitions is liable to receive excision:
**A man who takes his sister, daughter of his father or daughter of his mother, **meaning even if she is his half-sister, **and he sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace [ *h **· *]. ***Ĥesed *resembles the Aramaic term *ĥisuda *, disgrace. Note that *ĥesed *, which **usually means kindness in Hebrew, is a contronym, a word with two opposite meanings. **And they shall be excised in the sight of the members of their people; he has uncovered his sister’s nakedness; he shall bear his iniquity. **By describing a scenario in which each sibling sees the nakedness of the other, the verse makes it clear that it does not refer to a case where a young sister falls victim to incestuous rape by her older brother, but to a mutual act in which two consenting adults are aware of their actions and proceed deliberately. 42
‎[18] **A man who lies with a menstruating woman, and he uncovered her nakedness, he has probed, **specifically in a negative, sexual sense, **her source **of blood, **and she has exposed the source of her blood. **Once again, the verse stresses the participation of each side, as it is possible for this act to occur at the hands of the man alone, e.g., in the case of a man who forces himself on his wife who is menstruating. 43 If the woman uncovers her nakedness knowingly and willingly, then **both of them shall be excised **by the hand of Heaven **from the midst of their people. **
‎[19] **The nakedness of the sister of your mother and the sister of your father you shall not uncover; for he exposed his kin, **as they are blood relatives; **they shall **both **bear their iniquity. **
‎[20] **A man who lies with his aunt, **the wife of his father’s brother or mother’s brother, **he exposed his uncle’s nakedness, they shall bear their sin; they shall die childless. **
‎[21] **A man who takes his brother’s wife **as a wife for himself, even if she is no longer married to the brother, e.g., they divorced or the brother died, **it is **an **abhorrent **act; 44 **he exposed his brother’s nakedness; they shall be childless. **
‎[22] The chapter concludes with a general commandment:
**You shall observe all My statutes, **My commandments that are not subject to human judgment, **and all My ordinances, **namely, the instructions to the courts, stated in this passage and the previous one; **and you shall perform them, and the land to which I am bringing you to live there will not spew you out. **It may be inferred that if you do not observe My statutes and ordinances, you will indeed be spewed out of the land.
‎[23] **And you shall not follow the practices of the nation, which I am sending forth from before you; as they, **those nations, **did all these **prohibited acts, **and I abhorred them. **
‎[24] **I said to you: You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to inherit it, a land flowing with milk and honey. **Your inheritance of the land serves a dual purpose: On the one hand, it is the fulfillment of My promise to you; on the other hand, I will thereby expel the sinful nations who are unworthy of residing in the land. **I am the Lord, **who has the authority to perform these actions, and I am also **your God, who has distinguished you from the peoples. **The inhabitants of the Land of Israel are guilty of transgressing the prohibitions enumerated above; in response, God has rejected them and will remove them from the land. Some of these prohibitions, however, apply only to the children of Israel, due to their distinction from the peoples.
‎[25] O
**you shall distinguish between the pure animal, **that which is permitted for consumption, **and the non-pure, **which may not be eaten, **and between the non-pure birds and the pure. **The list of pure and non-pure animals and birds appears in an earlier chapter (11:1–31). They are referenced here in the context of the distinction between Israel and the other nations, even though these prohibitions are less severe than the forbidden sexual relations. **And you shall not render yourselves detestable by means of **consuming **the animals, or the birds, or by **consuming **any creature that creeps on the ground, which I have distinguished for you to deem non-pure. **The soul of a member of Israel is polluted in some manner by consuming non-kosher animals.
‎[26] **You shall be holy to Me, **and distinguished in various ways, **for I, the Lord, am holy. **The holy is that which is situated beyond the boundary. To be holy, then, means to separate oneself. **And **I **have distinguished you from the peoples to be Mine. **
‎[27] The concluding verse of this chapter seems quite puzzling. Perhaps it is related to the concept of the exclusivity of the unique bond between God and Israel:
**A man or a woman, if there is among them a medium or a necromancer, they shall be put to death; with stones they shall stone them; their blood is upon them. **The verse is not referring to those who seek the council of such individuals (see 19:31), but to the mediums and necromancers themselves.
Version: The Steinsaltz Tanakh - English
Source: https://korenpub.com/collections/the-steinsaltz-tanakh/products/steinsaltz-tanakh
License: Copyright: Steinsaltz Center