DEUT1023 See [[DEUT989]] Deuteronomy 20:10 peace DORFF-RUTTENBERGWAR 102-3

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DEUT1024 Observe the law of breaking the heifer’s neck. Key concept: Create dismay over the murder. When the residents of the nearest city see their elders and the judges of their highest courts involved with this large animal, taking it to a valley and killing it violently, they will be jolted. They will not stay silent if they know something that might lead to the murderer’s capture. Hearing the cries of the heifer as its neck is being broken, they will be awakened to the depth of the tragedy and will divulge any piece of information that they have. Hopefully, the procedure will lead to the capture of the killer, and thereby, the world will be cleansed of another wicked person. A further benefit of the mitzvah is that it widely publicizes that the elders, judges and other people with wisdom greatly desire to apprehend the killer and bring him to justice.

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DEUT1025 Th[e] regard for the innate dignity of the human being extends in Judaism beyond his lifespan. The human body in death, although now abandoned by the soul, must still be accorded respect and reverence. This is the underlying principle reflected in the Jewish rituals and practices of burial and mourning. Scripture tells of a meth mitzvah: If a human corpse is found in a field, the nearest community is obligated to bury him [Deuteronomy 21:1-9; see T.B. Baba Kamma 81b). The Talmud rules: Should the body of an unknown person be found even at a time when everyone is intent on observing some mitzvah, such as reading the m'gillah on Purim, which must be done at that specific time (Purim eve), the dead man must nevertheless be buried first. Imagine a synagogue packed with impatient men, women and children, and many of the adults have fasted all day (the Fast of Esther): how impatiently they wait for the Purim m'gillah to be read. Yet, they must all wait. The dignity of man, even in death, comes first (T.B. Megillah 3b).

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DEUT1026 See [[DEUT33]] Deuteronomy 1:17 partial LEHRMAN 264-5

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DEUT1027 There is a ruling in the Torah (Deuteronomy 21:1-8) that if a corpse was found in a field, the leaders of the nearest community as well as national representatives were obligated to bring a heifer and to make a confession that they were in no way involved in the shedding of this blood. The rabbis ask in astonishment, “Can we imagine that the leadership of the Jewish community was responsible for the shedding of this blood?” So the discussion perforce centers around the community's responsibility for the social infrastructure that made possible such a terrible crime as murder. Communal leadership is responsible because it did not, in the words of the Talmud, provide for the stranger, thus forcing him to have to go out and attempt to steal in order to survive, such attempted theft leading either to his own death or to the death of the potential victim. However, it is possible that the murderer was a member of the community. Since he was not given a proper education and preparation for a productive life he turned to brigandage, and it was this brigandage that resulted in the murder of the corpse before them-- and for this the leaders were responsible. Mishnah, Sota, chapter 6, chapter 9; Talmud Bavli, Sota 45b. See also Rashi on Sota 46b; Talmud Yerushalmi, Sota, chapter 9. Such a notion, along with the attitude toward full employment discussed in a previous section of this chapter, would seem to indicate the necessity of public financing for secular and vocational training. The absence of a definite halachic ruling, however, leaves the issue of public financing, in a Jewish state, for universities and technical schools an area still to be resolved.

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DEUT1028 (Continued from [[DEUT703]] Deuteronomy 15:2 remission LEHRMAN 181-3). When R. Johanan b. Zakkai abolished the laws governing the Sotah (The unfaithful woman whose Ordeal by the Bitter Waters is described in Numbers v.), on account of the spread of immorality in his day (Sotah 47a), he followed a natural process of growth and expansion whereby Judaism developed into a living religion that aimed to regulate all the details of daily life. When this renowned Rabbi saw that murder was raising its head among the dissident groups (sicarii) embittered by the fall of the Second Jewish State, he abolished the laws of the Red Heifer (Deuteronomy xxi. 1-9). His aim was to show that Jewish law is elastic and pliable; but he made one important caveat. This was: provided such changes were undertaken by a trusted Rabbinical Court ever mindful of the original purpose of the Torah and eager to adapt the divine principles to the fluctuating circumstances of the age.

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DEUT1029 While Jewish laws overwhelmingly mandate sensitive treatment of animals, there are a few laws that fall into the category of what Rabbi Natan Slifkin terms "commandments of insensitivity to animals." Generally, these laws permit brutal treatment of animals in order to convey spiritual lessons to human beings. For example, the Torah rules that when the body of a homicide victim is found in the open country and the identity of the killer is unknown, the elders of the town nearest to the corpse are obliged to take a heifer to an overflowing wadi, and break its neck. After doing so, they make a declaration: "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it done" (Deuteronomy 21:1-9). In this case, the heifer was sacrificed as a form of atonement, to underscore that the elders, although not guilty of murder, bore a certain measure of responsibility for not maintaining a safe environment in their city and its environs. Rabbi Slifkin asks: "How can the same Torah that contains so many commandments teaching us sensitivity to animals, also contain commandments that involve such brutality? The answer is that that this is the whole point. These procedures are supposed to be horrific in order to have the desired effect upon the people performing them. When a murder takes place and justice cannot be performed, then the calf having its neck brutally axed impresses upon the elders of the city that they were negligent in their leadership. The…slaughter of animal sacrifices impresses upon us that we may be worthy of such a fate if we do not improve our ways.… these brutal rituals are the exceptions that prove the rule--that the Torah, in general, commands us to treat animals with great sensitivity." Slifkin, Man and Beast, 150. Do I find this explanation fully satisfying? No. Perhaps no explanation is adequate. But what is important to emphasize is that part of reason these laws disturb us is because the Bible itself has sensitized us to high standards of respect for animal life. In large measure, it is only because of the biblical laws commanding us to let our animals rest on the Sabbath, not muzzle an animal working for us, and not slaughter an animal and its young on the same day (laws that are still observed, which is not the case, for example, with the law concerning the breaking of the heifer's neck) that the idea took root in the Western world that animals should be treated with compassion; that is why these laws bother us. But, as Princeton philosopher Walter Kaufmann wrote about the bloody wars waged by Joshua against the ancient Canaanites, "to find the [distinctive] spirit of the religion of the Old Testament in Joshua is like finding the distinctive genius of America in the men who slaughtered the Indians." (Kaufmann, Faith of a Heretic, 193, 260-1).

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DEUT1030 See [[NUM427]] Numbers 35:33 expiation COHON 287

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DEUT1031 Do not work or plant the land where city elders break a heifer’s neck after a murder. Key concept: So that everyone who passes by will be reminded that because a Jew was murdered, a heifer was killed to publicize the tragedy. Everyone will see that the land where the heifer was killed has remained desolate, and so it shall remain forever, just as our hearts should be forever desolate, for a Jew’s life was tragically cut short. The land’s desolation will serve to cause the nation to be repulsed by the idea of murder, so no Jew will ever think to wantonly take another person's life. This is the main idea of the entire procedure--to make us abhor murder and to detest its evil.

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DEUT1032 Respect for others was fostered by the teaching that man was created alone. The world should be reminded that to save the soul of one person is equivalent to preserving humanity. Did not all "the families of the earth" proceed from Adam? We mourn the dead with such customs as Keriah, Shivah, Kaddish, Yahrzeit and Yizkor, for these emphasize the importance of the soul that has winged its flight heavenwards. When a man was found slain outside the boundaries of the nearest city, the elders thereof had to declare in all solemnity: "Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it." [this verse and vv. 1-9]. This was not because they were suspected of being directly concerned with the murder, but because they must clear their conscience before the entire assembly that the death was not the direct consequence of a failure on their part to provide shelter and hospitality for the wayfarer.

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