DEUT1263 See [[EXOD272]] Exodus 17:15 Amalek LOC 149-50

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DEUT1264 See [[EXOD549]] Exodus 21:14 neighbor SPERO 126-30

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DEUT1265 If a slave ran away, it was forbidden to return him to his master [this verse]; in the [American] South, it was a crime not to return him, and in the infamous Dred Scott decision of 1857, the Supreme Court ruled--in direct contravention of the Bible--that a runaway slave who had achieved freedom in the North could be forcibly returned to the South and to slavery.

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DEUT1266 The Torah commands nations as well as individuals to be hospitable. Three thousand years before the American Supreme Court ruled that slaves who fled to freedom in the North should be forcibly returned to slavery (Dred Scott decision, 1857), the Torah commanded precisely the opposite [this and preceding verse]. In modern times, this ancient biblical law would seem to mandate granting political asylum (the ultimate act of hospitality) to those fleeing dictatorial and totalitarian regimes [In context, Maimonides understands this law as applying to a non-Hebrew slave of a Hebrew master who wishes to move to Israel (see "Laws of Slavery" 8:9–10). In Onkelos's translation of the Torah, he interprets the verse as referring to a non-Hebrew slave of a Gentile master who flees to Israel. While the Torah, written many thousands of years ago, obviously it did not offer specific legislation for a society such as the United States, it would seem that the ethical upshot of this verse, "You shall not turn over to his master a slave who seeks refuge with you from his master," would apply to a society such as ours, and certainly to the Jewish community in Israel.

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DEUT1267 See [[EXOD549]] Exodus 21:14 neighbor SPERO 126-30

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DEUT1268 Do not mistreat slaves who flee to the Holy Land. Key concept: See [[EXOD638]] Exodus 22:20 abuse CHINUCH 41-2, the prohibition on wronging a convert. We are forbidden to wrong any Jew, but because converts feel alone, having no family to turn to for help, the Torah adds an additional prohibition to make us particularly careful to not offend them or harm them. For this reason, the Torah adds yet a further prohibition on mistreating their slave who has fled his master and seeks refuge in the Land of Israel. His position is more disadvantageous than other converts. Cold, unscrupulous people are even more likely to scorn and deride him. [These additional provisions apply only when the convert is a ger tzedek, and when the slave underwent circumcision and ritual immersion in the name of the halachic standing of a slave.]

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DEUT1269 This refers to verbal oppression (Sifrei)

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DEUT1270 This is an exhortation against homosexuality, it being written here: "and there shall not be a harlot" [masculine], and, elsewhere (I Kings 14:24): "And also a harlot [masculine] was in the land; they did according to all the abominations of the nations" [and homosexuality, specifically, is called "abomination" (Leviticus 18:22)] (Sanhedrin 54b)

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DEUT1272 One of the general aspects of Jewish holiness involves not the specific action that is permitted, but, rather, the proper time, place, and purpose surrounding the action. The same action can be wholly or unholy, depending on factors of time, place, and purpose. In fact, the Torah's word for prostitute [this verse] is kideishah, which has precisely the same letters as kedushah, in the same order as the Hebrew word for holiness. Thus, the sexual act itself is neither wholly or unholy. If sex is performed with a stranger for money, it is abhorrent in Judaism and unholy. The same act with one's spouse at the correct time of the month converts a person into a partner with God in the creation process, the holiest actor of all.

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DEUT1274 The Torah [this verse] calls the prostitute kideishah, from the same root word as holiness, kedushah. There is minute difference between the two words (the letters are identical) in that one vowel has three dots instead of two. This very subtle difference in words between a Jewish act of ugliness and a Jewish act of holiness is symbolic of the minute difference between the two in Judaism. It is the same action, but the purpose and context changes it from something holy into something repulsive.

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