DEUT1334 During the first year of marriage, a newly married man must make special efforts to make his wife happy. Hashem wants the world that He created to be inhabited by good, moral people born of legal marriages, not promiscuity. For this reason, He commands that when a man takes a wife, he must remain at home with her for their entire first year of marriage. He becomes accustomed to his wife and well acquainted with her mannerisms, personality and total being. As a result, all other women will be to him as strangers, for their behavior and personalities are very different from his wife's. Because of this year with his bride, he will always stay away from other women, and keep his thoughts on his designated mate--his wife. Thereby, the children that they will have will be upright and good, and the world will be settled by the type of people for whom it was created.

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DEUT1343 Do not remove signs of tzara'as. See [[LEV137]] Leviticus 13:33 shave CHINUCH 116-7

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DEUT1353 Lenders shall not forcefully take collateral from borrowers. Men cannot be allowed to prey upon one another, seizing items of value from one another, for such leads to theft and lawlessness. The strong will swallow the weak, ruling over them without fear, for the weak will be too frightened to fight back and demand their rights. Therefore the Torah takes steps to equalize the imbalance between the weak and the strong. Those who lend are forbidden to forcibly seize collateral from those who borrow. Collateral is obtained only through the courts. Thereby, life proceeds in a normal fashion, as the Creator desires. There is order and peace, without the weak living in constant fear of the powerful.

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DEUT1369 Return collateral when the owner needs it back. Hashem wants only good for His creations, and He wants to give them opportunities to earn merit. He wants them to accustom themselves to merciful and charitable behavior, so that they earn merit and deserve His blessings. Such is the intent behind many Torah commandments. See [[EXOD709]] Exodus 22:24 lend CHINUCH 43-4

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DEUT1387 Pay daily laborers their wage at the completion of the work day. Such laborers are usually poor. They need their wages immediately so that they can buy food for themselves and for their families. Therefore, their employers must be punctual in paying their wages. Out of His great kindness, Hashem commands us about the matter to teach us to behave with mercy and concern towards others, and make sure that the needs of the poor are met. Thereby, we perfect our characters and become worthy of Hashem's blessings, which pleases Him, for out of His perfect goodness, He wants to bestow His blessings upon us. See [[LEV369]] Leviticus 19:13 wages CHINUCH 147-8.

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DEUT1398 Relatives of litigants or people on trial shall not serve as witnesses in court. When two people have litigation in court or someone is on trial for an alleged wrong, the case must be decided on the strength of testimony from witnesses. Therefore, it is important that the testimony be clear, unbiased, true and free of any suspicion. For this reason, the Torah disqualifies testimony from relatives, even when the testimony would be incriminating. If the Torah were to allow courts to accept incriminating testimony from relatives, the courts also might wind up accepting favorable testimony from relatives, and such might lead to a perversion of justice and aroused suspicion about the fairness of the courts’ rulings. The perfect Torah keeps the holy nation away from situations that are potentially harmful, so it entirely bans relatives from giving testimony. An additional benefit is that sometimes, because of constant interaction with one another, relatives quarrel. If courts were allowed to accept testimony from relatives, it would invite cases where, because of his anger, a person seeks vengeance on his relative and in a moment of anger decides to give false testimony against him. This precept of the Torah prevents this.

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DEUT1405 Do not take collateral from a widow. Hashem has compassion and mercy on His creations, and wants His holy nation, too, to behave with compassion and mercy. For this reason, He commands us that if we lend money to a widow, we do not take collateral from her. Her heart is broken over the loss of her husband and she is beset by worries. All the ways of the Torah are pleasant, and this precept is just one example.

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DEUT1412 When harvesting, leave forgotten sheaves for the poor. When the grain in our fields is being harvested, the poor look longingly upon it and feel their poverty even more strongly. They watch the field owners bringing in Hashem's bounty and think in their hearts, “If only I, too, could have grain to harvest for myself and my family, even just one sheaf, it would make me so happy!” Due to His mercy upon His creations, Hashem wants to satisfy these longings. Therefore, when harvesting his field, if the owner forgets a sheaf there, he is commanded to leave it there for the poor. An additional great benefit accrues to the field owner when he fulfills this mitzvah, for by leaving such sheaves, he refines his character, for he accustoms himself to behave with mercy and compassion towards those who are less fortunate than him. In truth, for the sake of refining his character and cultivating the trade of generosity, the field owner should not be particular about the forgotten sheaves, and upon generous souls Hashem's blessing rests for all time.

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DEUT1415 Courts must administer lashes for certain transgressions. ... physical punishment is a strong deterrent against sin. It keeps the masses in order. The children of Israel are called the children of Hashem. As a father chastises his son for his wrongs, Hashem chastises us for ours. These punishments are only to bring us back to the path of truth, returning us to Him so that we again are close to Him. We will thus merit His blessings and find our place in the World to Come--the world that is entirely good.

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DEUT1428 Do not overdo physical punishment. If someone has committed a transgression whose punishment is lashes, the court is forbidden to administer the punishment without first estimating how many lashes the person will be able to endure. The court considers that person's age, strength, physical and emotional health and so on. If the court determines that he is capable of bearing thirty-nine lashes, then this is the number that he is given. If the court estimates that he cannot bear thirty-nine, he is given only the number that it appears that he can bear, and no more. Similarly, the court is forbidden to give anyone any more than thirty-nine lashes. An important teaching: If we are forbidden to strike a sinner, all the more so are we forbidden to strike others. In fact, our Sages forbid us to even gesture that we intend to strike a blow to a fellow Jew. They teach (Sanhedrin 58b), “Anyone who raises his hand to strike his fellow Jew is called a wicked man (rasha).” One should never strike a blow to anyone, except if someone has sinned and the court must give him lashes.

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