כי יהיה לאיש בן סורר ומורה
The Torah does not hide circumstances in Klal Yisrael’s history (especially in the Midbar) that portray human vulnerability and moral and spiritual weakness. Some may shock the reader; others may provoke anger, but I think no narrative is as tragic as the story of the ben sorer u‘moreh, the boy who rebels against his parents. What makes the tragedy even more painful is the realization that it was preventable. Chazal teach that the origin of the boy’s spiritual collapse had its roots long before his rebellion surfaced. The sequence of the parshios— yefas to’ar, attractive gentile captive, followed by the…
