Ki Seitzei – Page 17 – Peninim on the Torah

“Remember what Amalek did unto you… you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heaven…” (25:17-19)

The closing words of this paragraph “from beneath the heaven” is enigmatic. Is it not obvious that Amalek’s name will be erased from “beneath the heaven”? Is there any other place which is not “beneath the heaven”? Perhaps we may suggest the following homiletic exposition. We live in a period during which the cultures which comprise civilization have reached previously unimagined heights of wisdom. Modern man has become enlightened in all areas of science, medicine, and the humanities. It would seem that such heinous evil as the Amalakim were capable of executing was forever gone. The dark ages of humanity…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Ki Seitzei, Ki Savo, 5752

“This day you became a people (nation).”

Horav Elchonon Wasserman Z”l explains the distinction between the term “am” and the term “goy”, both of which are commonly translated as “nation”. “Goy” connotes an autonomous nation which is settled in its own land under its own governance. In contrast, “am” implies a people or large group of individuals who speak the same language and maintain a common culture. They comprise a “nation” despite their lack of their own land. This differentiation clarifies Moshe’s declaration to Bnei Yisrael, “Today you have become an am”, for they had accepted the Torah, which was written in seventy languages on the…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Ki Seitzei, 5751

“And you will see among the captives a woman of goodly appearance and you will desire her and take her for a wife.” (21:11)

Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin Zt”l notes that unfortunately when the criteria for marriage and the standard for a union is founded upon a “and you will desire her“, an obsessive physical attraction, often the result is “and it shall be if you do not delight in her and you shall send her away”. The Mishna in Avos (5:19) emphasizes the tragedy of a “love which is dependent on a specific charachteristic” as opposed to a love which is pure and not founded on a specific matter or reason. The love of Amnon, the son of Dovid, for his half-sister Tamar…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Ki Seitzei, 5751

“If a man has a son who is disobedient and rebellious, who will not listen to the voice of his father and to the voice of his mother… then they shall lay hold of him and bring him out to the elders of the city.” (21:18-19)

Here we study the law regarding the son who is a complete failure, for whom the Torah makes the parents seek for him an early death at the hands of the law as the only means to save him from complete ruin. This law, which pronounces the death-sentence for a youthful delinquent who is deemed “incurable”, and declares his early demise as being the only means of salvation from future complete degeneration, it fixes that sentence on clearly defined factors of age and behavior, as well as the relationships of the parents to each other and to their child. Rabbi…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Ki Seitzei, 5751

“You shall not sow your vineyard with mixed seeds.” (22:9) – “Do not clothe yourself with shatnez, wool and linen together.” (22:11)

These two admonishments regarding various admixtures, whether it be via planting mixed seeds, or wearing clothes of two specific mixed fabrics are analogous with the Torah‘s admonition’s against the intermingling of various opposites. The Chida Zt”l homiletically explains the Torah’s prohibition of planting mixed seeds as being synonymous with one who mixes the performance of a mitzvah with that of a sin. One should not think that by performing the mitzvah of giving charity he now has license to embarrass his friend or slander him, or that spending time praying and studying in the Bais Hamedrash, will counter-balance going to…

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Rabbi L. Scheinbaum In Ki Seitzei, 5751

“An Ammonite and a Moabite shall not enter the Assembly of Hashem… because they did not meet you with bread and water… and because they hired against you Bilam.” (23:4-5)

The above posuk implies a dual offense attributed to these nations: first, not greeting the Bnei Yisroel with food and drink, and second, for hiring Bilam to curse and destroy the Jews. The question arises, are we to expect kindness and human decency from murderers? We may suggest that when we see murderers bent on destroying a whole nation, it is necessary to be aware of the source of this atrocity. It was not spontanously that such miscreancy was born. Its source is rooted in an enormous lack of human decency and respect. A deficiency in human sensitivity and feelings…

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“Remember what Amalek did unto you… you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from beneath the heaven…” (25:17-19)

“This day you became a people (nation).”

“And you will see among the captives a woman of goodly appearance and you will desire her and take her for a wife.” (21:11)

“If a man has a son who is disobedient and rebellious, who will not listen to the voice of his father and to the voice of his mother… then they shall lay hold of him and bring him out to the elders of the city.” (21:18-19)

“You shall not sow your vineyard with mixed seeds.” (22:9) – “Do not clothe yourself with shatnez, wool and linen together.” (22:11)

“An Ammonite and a Moabite shall not enter the Assembly of Hashem… because they did not meet you with bread and water… and because they hired against you Bilam.” (23:4-5)

YEARS

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