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DEUTERONOMY — 22:4 brother

DEUT1113 This tells me only of "the ass of your brother." Whence do I derive [as included in the mitzvah] the ass of your foe? From (Exodus 23:5): "the ass of your foe." If so, why is it written [here] "Your brother"? Scripture speaks anent the evil inclination [i.e., "Assist not only the ox of your brother, but even the ox of your foe -- above the protestations of your evil inclination] (Sifrei)

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DEUTERONOMY — 22:4 help

DEUT1114 ... it is clearly forbidden in all cases to pray that another person die. This is so even if one is praying only that some misfortune befall an enemy. Torah commands, for example, that if you see the mule of one who hates you collapse under its burden and you refuse to help, you will be abandoned just as you abandoned the animal (this verse). Torah is concerned here that you not cause the animal's owner any material loss. How much more is Torah concerned that you not cause your enemy to lose his life. ... There is another prohibition involved, namely, that this kind of curse, in fact any curse of one's fellow, is forbidden. This is so even if done without explicitly naming the intended victim. In fact, if one pronounces a curse on another by name, the cursor is flogged. Hayyim Palaggi, Responsa Hikkeke Lev, Terumah 4b; Maimonides, Mishneh Torah-Book of Judges, "Sanhedrin" 26:1.

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DEUTERONOMY — 22:4 help

DEUT1117 We must help someone with a heavy load. 1) If you see someone who needs help in loading or unloading an animal, you are obligated to help him. Failure to do so is a violation of a Torah prohibition. (Choshen Mishpot 272:1). 2) The Chinuch (540-1) adds that the same applies when we see a person carrying a load that he is unable to handle himself. Therefore, if you see someone carrying a heavy package or suitcase, you should give him a helping hand. 3) If someone needs help loading an animal, and another person needs assistance in unloading an animal, you are obligated to help unload first. The reason for this is that when it is necessary to unload, the animal also suffers. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 32b) states that even so, if your friend needs aid in unloading and someone you dislike needs aid in loading, you must help your enemy first in order to overcome your evil inclination (Choshen Mishpot 272:10). When you aid someone you dislike, your actions will have an effect on your feelings and you will begin to feel love toward that person. (Michtav MaiEliyahu, vol. 1, p. 37). The Minchas Chinuch (80) explains that although this will lengthen the period of suffering of the animal, it is nevertheless permissible. We are permitted to utilize an animal for our physical needs even if the animal might suffer, although we are forbidden to needlessly cause an animal to suffer. All the more so, we are permitted to passively let an animal suffer for a spiritual need, such as overcoming hatred toward a fellow man. 4) If an elderly person or a scholar who would not load or unload an animal for himself sees someone who needs help, he is not obligated to do for someone else what he would not do for himself. If a Torah scholar wants to go beyond the letter of the law and help, there is a difference of opinion as to whether he is permitted to do so. (Choshen Mishpot 272:3). 5) You are obligated to help the same person as many times as needed. (ibid. 272:4). 6) The Aruch Haschulchan (Chosen Mishpot 272) writes that because of this commandment we are obligated to help someone if a wheel of his wagon breaks and he needs assistance in fixing it. This has a very practical application today. Many people are unable to fix flat tires on cars by themselves. It is a very great service to help someone who is stranded on the road with a flat tire. 7) If several people are traveling together on donkeys and the foot of one donkey is injured and therefore it goes much slower than the rest, the travelers are not permitted to go ahead of the rider of the injured donkey. If, however, the injured donkey is completely unable to travel, the others are permitted to continue. (Choshen Mishpot 272:12). The same would apply if several people are traveling together in wagons when there are a number of wagons, each holding a few people. If one wagon is delayed because something needs to be repaired, the other wagons must wait for that wagon. (SMA, Choshen Mishpot 272:20)

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DEUTERONOMY — 22:4 lift

DEUT1118 In considering the implications of Torah legislation concerning animals, Jewish tradition concluded that Tza'ar ba'alei chayyim de-oraita -- the prevention of suffering by animals is a biblical law (Bava Metzia 32b, Shabbat 128b). As such, the Halakhah permitted certain forms of assistance to animals in distress on the Sabbath even though the measures involved were forbidden by rabbinic ordinance. The reason given was, of course, that biblical law supersedes rabbinical law (Activities such as the following, which are ordinarily forbidden on the Sabbath, are permitted for animals in order to relieve discomfort and pain: (1) using pillows and bedding to aid an animal that has fallen into a ditch; (2) certain materials ordinarily considered muktseh could be handled when being used as fodder for living creatures; (3) a non-Jew can be instructed to milk the cows on the Sabbath where not doing so would cause the animal pain; (4) an animal suffering from fresh wounds may be smeared with oils and salves. Orach Chayyim, Hilkhot Shabbat 324 and 332:2). The rabbis pointed in particular to the following laws in the Pentateuch: [Exodus 23:5 and this verse]. Not only is it forbidden to directly inflict pain upon an animal but if you come upon an animal in distress due to its owner's greed or stupidity, even if the owner be your enemy, you are more morally obliged by the Torah to come forward and become involved in bringing relief to the beast.

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DEUTERONOMY — 22:4 lift

DEUT1119 One must also pity beasts, it being forbidden to cause pain to living creatures (Bava Metzia 31a). About this the Torah has said [this verse]: "You shall surely lift them [the fallen animals] up with him." And one must feed his animals before eating himself, as it is written (ibid.11:15): "And I shall give grass in your field to your beasts," followed by: "And you shall eat and you shall be sated" (Berachos 40a).

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DEUTERONOMY — 22:5 clothing

DEUT1121 A man may not wear a woman's garments, nor a woman, the garments of a man [this verse]. The rabbis extended this prohibition to the performance of tasks normally the function of the opposite sex. Thus they barred women from bearing arms (Nazir 59a). The modern trend toward the equality of the sexes has blurred to some extent the distinct outward appearances of each gender. The preference for unisex styles, widely accepted, no longer offends one's sense of morality. Yet the basic ethical perception reflected in the biblical prohibition of altering the hereditary traits of nature continue to pose a challenge. (Continued at [[GEN733]] Genesis 9:11 destroy BLOCH 269)

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DEUTERONOMY — 22:5 clothing

DEUT1123 Women's license to self-beautification did not grant them a right to create the kind of beauty which is calculated to provoke lust. The distinction between demure and vulgar beauty is the dividing line between the ethical and the immoral. The pursuit of beauty, open to women, was barred to men. A male's use of cosmetics or jewelry normally worn by women is considered an act of effemination, banned by biblical prescription [this verse].

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