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NUMBERS — 15:35 death

NUM170 In a world where life was cheap and Jewish lives considered [by non-Jewish sovereigns] of virtually no worth whatsoever, it is even less surprising that Jews were extremely reluctant to seek death as a means to punish other Jews. Even a casual reader of the Torah, however, would discover that Jewish tradition considered capital punishment to be an unremarkable part of the Jewish justice system. The death penalty was prescribed for a whole range of offenses that would seem to us to be fairly petty crimes, or hardly criminal at all. In Numbers 15:32-35, for instance, God tells Moses to stone to death a man who was discovered gathering wood on Shabbat. Certainly, though, the untimely clearing of brush is not considered a criminal offense, capital or otherwise, in any state that I have ever heard of. For a civilization that so highly values life, this carelessness with capital punishment stands out at best as an anachronism, and at worst as a moral failing that calls into question that compassion and love of the divine author of Jewish law. The Rabbis apparently agreed with that assessment and went to considerable lengths to read capital punishment out of the Torah. They parsed the verses with precision to restrict capital punishment to rare cases. For example, they defined the “disloyal and defiant” son who was to be publicly put to death as required by Deuteronomy 21:21, as being a male who was disobedient after eating gluttonously from partially cooked meat and making himself drunk on partially diluted wine. Even then, he was still only considered a “disloyal and defiant” son if he had eaten the meat and gotten drunk in the first three months after turning thirteen years of age, and only if the wine and meat were purchased cheaply with stolen money--and so forth. The requirements that the Rabbis constructed from their careful reading of just a few verses in the Torah lead them to conclude that there never was, nor would there ever be, a situation in which a “disloyal and defiant” son could be lawfully executed. The early Rabbis did not see themselves as being empowered to change the substantive law. To them, the Torah was God-given and of unquestionable authority, defining offenses and setting their punishments. But the Rabbis could and did alter procedural requirements to tilt the playing field sharply against the imposition of capital punishment. In the oft-quoted formulation from the Mishnah from Makkot 1:10, if a court imposed more than one death sentence in seven years, it was considered murderous. Another Rabbi responded that if a court imposed more than one such sentence in seventy years, it was to be considered murderous. Rabbi Akiva and his colleague Rabbi Tarfon, both giants of the early Rabbinic era, then stated that had they been members of the court, no defendant would ever have been executed. And yet, the last word in this Mishnah was given to Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel, who became the president of the Sanhedrin (the rabbinic High Court) and was a key figure in the formation of post-Temple Judaism. He said of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Tarfon that “they too increase the murderers in Israel.” With that, the Mishnah turned its attention to other matters, leaving later generations to draw their own conclusions about a question that was not practical, but entirely academic, given the lack of a properly constituted rabbinic court sitting in session on the steps of a functioning “Third Temple” in Jerusalem. According to Jewish tradition, only such a court could properly render a capital verdict.

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NUMBERS — 15:38 fringes

NUM172 Rabbi Yose said … Prepare yourself for the study of Torah, for it is not given to you as an inheritance… Pirkei Avot, Perek II, mishnah 17. Scripture states: "The Torah which Moses commanded us is the inheritance (morashah) of the community of Jacob." (Deuteronomy 33:4). And the Sages comment: "Do not read morashah but rather m'orasah, betrothed" (T.B. Pesahim 49b). ... Rabbi Yode may have in mind the same thought. The person who falls heir to an "inheritance" is apt to treat the estate he never built and the money he never worked for, in a rather offhand and flippant manner. An inheritance is yours to squander or spend as you like. It comes to you easily, and you may choose to let it go easily. A betrothal, however, is quite another matter. In Jewish law a betrothal is the first part of a binding marriage, and for the man it means a serious obligation to cherish, maintain, and provide for his bride. Our Sages wisely envisioned the people Israel as "betrothed" to the Torah. In our fast-progressing, forward-looking age it would mean little to appeal that the ways of Torah be kept because they are hoary with antiquity and represent "beautiful old customs and traditions." It is foolish to ask for loyalty to Judaism because it is our "civilization" that we have inherited from our grandfathers. My grandfather ate with a wooden spoon. Should I, therefore, eat with a wooden spoon? My grandfather traveled by horse and buggy. Must I go by the same form of transportation? I wear tzitzith not because my father or grandfather wore them, but because the Almighty, Creator of the world, has commanded me to do so [this verse]. Over 1,500 years ago the Sages realized this important truth: We must not and cannot regard thee Torah as an inheritance, but only (speaking symbolically) as a bride to whom we have plighted our troth in a solemn covenant of betrothal. And the covenant directly and personally binds the present generation, as it obligated the past generations.

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NUMBERS — 15:38 tzitzis

NUM173 Place tzitsis on a four-cornered garment. Key concepts: So that at all times, we remember Hashem's mitzvos. When a King wants his subjects to remember Him, the best thing he can do is place his emblem on their clothing, for they wear clothing all the time and the emblem catches their eye. Our Sages teach that the word tzitsis alludes to the 613 mitzvos of the King of kings, for its numerical equivalent is 600, and on each corner of the garment there are eight strings and five knots (8+5=13), so the total is 613. Also, the mitzvah reminds us that each person belongs to Hashem, body and soul. The white of the tzitsis alludes to man's body, which Hashem created out of earth that He fashioned from snow that is beneath His Throne of Glory. The threads allude to a person's body, which after conception is like strings. The techeiles (bluish) thread of the tzitsis alludes to the soul, which comes from the upper realms of the blue skies. As our Sages teach, “The techeiles is like the sea, and the sea is like the sky, and the sky is like the Throne of Glory.” Although one is a obligated in the mitzvah of tzitsis only if he actually wears a garment that has four corners [or more], still, our Sages warned us repeatedly that one should make every effort to obtain and wear such a garment in order to fulfill the mitzvah. Our Sages teach that he who is careful about the mitzvah of tzitsis will have many servants to attend to his needs. Also, he was careful about tzitzis, to tefillin and mezuzah is assured that he will not sin.

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NUMBERS — 15:39 explore

NUM176 "You must not explore after your heart and your eyes" (this verse). We have herein been admonished not to contemplate [the previous paragraph involved fantasizing, which can bring one to a state of impurity. The current prohibition has greater ramifications; it forbids thought directed toward actually committing a sin, which can lead to one's intentionally performing the sin.] committing a transgression, any form of inequity or sin, as the pasuk says (Mishlei 24:8): "One who thinks of doing evil," one must also not reflect upon the words of heretics, lest he stumble and be drawn towards them. When one impresses on his heart that Hashem explores the heart and examines man's innermost thoughts, will he dare defile his heart by filling it with lawlessness? [Tehillim 41:9]. Shlomo, a"h, also said (ibid., 9) "the thoughts of a fool are sin"; and he further said (ibid., 6:16-18), "These six Hashem hates, and for the seventh He holds a deep abhorrence… a heart that contemplative sinful thoughts." [this is actually the fourth listed in the verse; the seventh is "one who sows discord among brothers."]

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NUMBERS — 15:39 eyes

NUM179 There are also many who stumble and are ensnared [in sin by] profaning the more significant of the senses – – the senses of sight and of sound. Concerning the sense of sight, the pasuk [this verse] says, "You must not explore after your heart and your eyes." Herein we have been admonished that one must not gaze at a married woman or any other woman where relations are forbidden, lest he stumble [in sin] with them.

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NUMBERS — 15:39 eyes

NUM178 [And among these twenty-four (deterrents to repentance) there are five for which the transgressor is not apt to repent, in that they are taken lightly by most people, so that the sinner does not actually regard them as a sin: ... (3) immodestly gazing [at a woman], the gazer thinking that he is guilty of no wrong, saying to himself: "Have I fornicated or approached her?"--Not realizing it is written [this verse]: "And do not go astray after your heart and after your eyes";

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