BH

Questions & Answers for Parsha Re’eh – Rabbi Eliyahu Rapoport

1) How do you understand the words וְנָתַן לְךָ רַחֲמִים in 13, 18?

At face value it can’t merely mean that Hashem will be merciful to you, firstly because that is already stated in the very next word, and secondly because the syntax of this phrase is found in other places in Tanach, and it never means that Hashem will be merciful to you. (E.g. Miketz 43, 14. See Rav Hirsch here who elaborates on this point).

Commentaries (Ohr Hachaim, Netziv here, Kli Yakar Re’eh 12, 25, and others) therefore explain that in this case it means that Hashem will restore to you your natural sense of compassion to others. Nature would dictate that after annihilating the people of the ir hanidachas one’s sensitivity and compassion to others would become compromised. Here Hashem promises that carrying out His command to wipe out all the people of the city will not have any adverse effect on our disposition and that we will remain merciful and compassionate people. (See also similar comments from the Netziv in his coomentary to Pinchas 25, 12.)

In this context we also get an autobiographical comment from the Ohr Hachaim:

כְּמוֹ שֶׁסִּפְּרוּ לָנוּ הַיִּשְׁמְעֵאלִים כַּת הָרוֹצְחִים בְּמַאֲמַר הַמֶּלֶךְ כִּי יֵשׁ לָהֶם חֵשֶׁק גָּדוֹל בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁהוֹרְגִים אָדָם וְנִכְרְתָה מֵהֶם שֹׁרֶשׁ הָרַחֲמִים וְהָיוּ לְאַכְזָר.

“As we have been told by the band of Arabs who murder people by order of the king, that they experience great delight when they kill a person, the trait of mercy had become cut out of them and they became thoroughly cruel”.

We know that the Ohr Hachaim suffered a bitter dispute and informants involving his father in law’s estate. As a result, he spent time incarcerated in Morocco. It stands to reason that this is where he would have conversed with the Kings execution squad.  

2) How many times is the sanctity of a first-born animal referenced in our parsha?

In our parsha we are told four times that we must eat the first-born animal only in the place chosen by Hashem, namely, Yerushalayim. In 12, 5; 12, 17; 14, 23 & 15, 20.

The strange thing is that though in Parshas Korach we learned that the bechor is to be eaten by a cohen, here it is not mentioned at all, giving the impression that anyone can eat it as long as it is brought to the Bais Hamikdash. Rashi clarifies that, although not explicit, the pesukim in our parsha are indeed addressing cohanim. Ibz Ezra is in agreement with Rashi adding that:

וְהַמְּכַחֲשִׁים אָמְרוּ: כִּי הֵם שְׁנַיִם בְּכוֹרִים: הָאֶחָד בְּכוֹר פֶּטֶר רֶחֶם, וְהַשֵּׁנִי בְּכוֹר עֵדֶר. וְאֵין צֹרֶךְ לְהָשִׁיב עַל הֲבָלִים.

The ‘deniers’, namely the Karites, claim that there are two types of bechor; the first is the first child of the mother animal [which is to be eaten by cohanim], the second is the oldest of the flock [which may be eaten by anyone]. Such foolishness need not even be addressed.

While Ibn Ezra found this interpretation to be completely beyond the pale, we do in fact find some of the French Tosafists, (who in general don’t seem to be as preoccupied with rejecting Karaism as Ibn Ezra) actually adopting this interpretation. (See Chizkuni 12, 17; Pane’ach Raza 14, 23).

3) Were the laws of Ir Hanidachas ever carried out?

There is an oft quoted Gemara (Sandhedrin 71a) that says that Ir Hanidachas never has happened and never will happen. The point being that there are so many criteria that have to be met before the city would ‘qualify’ as an Ir Hanidachas, it is practically impossible to happen. The entire purpose of this passage in Torah is for it to be studies and its lessons applied. The same Gemara also records the opinion of R Yonasan who says that he personally visited the ruins of an Ir Hanidachas.

Drawing on a comment by the Yerushalmi, the Rogotchover Gaon writes in several places that Sedom was in fact an Ir Hanidachas. Here are a few parallels that are shared both by Sedom & by Ir Hanidachas (See further discussion in Likutei Sichos vol. 9 pg 106):

• The innocent women and children were also killed.
• The entire city and all items in it are destroyed.
• Two sages (or angels) are dispatched to attempt to inspire the people to repent.
• Unlike all other cases of capital punishment, if the people repent the court will accept their repentance.

4) How many times is Yerushayim mentioned in our parsha?

It is referenced no less than 16 times, but never mentioned explicitly, always just as “the place that Hashem will chose”.  Many reasons are suggested for this and the Kli Yakar says that there is clearly a ‘hidden idea’ here, reminiscent of when Hashem told Avraham to go to the mountain of Moriah but first said “the mountain that I will show you”. I’ll share just a couple of ideas:

The Rambam (Moreh Nevuchim 3, 45) offers 3 reasons:

• Firstly, had the nations known that Yerushalyim was so important to us they would have fought harder to keep it from us.
• Alternatively, they would destroy it to make it harder for us to build there.
• Finally, and this is the Rambam’s preferred reason, that the Jews themselves would fight internally, each tribe vying for that piece of land to be in their territory. Only once a king had been appointed was it safe to publicly designate Yerushalyim as the chosen city.  
• The Sefer Hachayim, authored by the brother of the Mahara”l, writes that the by specifically omitting the name of the geographical location where we are to worship Hashem, the Torah is teaching us that wheresoever a Jew prays, even when he is exiled from the land, if he focuses his thoughts hopes and prayers to the land and to redemption, he is indeed in the “place that Hashem has chosen”. (See Likutei Sichos vol. 2 pg. 617ff for further discussion of this source.)