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“And they shall speak and say: ‘Our hands have not shed this blood.'” (21:7)

The eglah arufah ceremony is shrouded in mystery. When the body of a murder victim is found between two cities, the elders of the city closest to the body must perform the ritual of eglah arufah. The commentaries cite various reasons for this rite. During the ceremony the elders must say, “Our hands have not shed this blood.” Rashi comments that obviously no one suspects that they had anything to do with this violent crime. Their declaration only reinforces the fact that they did not permit the victim to leave the city without accompaniment or without food. Rashi apparently equates…

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“This is the matter of the murderer who shall flee there and live.” (19:4)

Chazal derive from the word hju “and [he shall] live,” that we must provide every opportunity to sustain the inadvertent murderer in a manner that goes above and beyond mere existence. He must live with vitality. What is the meaning of life for a Jew ? How is true chiyus, living, defined in Torah vernacular ? The Torah in Devarim 30:20 states, “For it (the Torah) is your life and the length of your days.” A Jew’s chiyus is Torah, his breath of life is Torah study. As life has no trade-off, so, too, does the Torah have no trade-off….

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“And he shall not have too many wives, so that his heart may not turn astray; and he shall not greatly increase silver and gold for himself.” (17:17)

The Yerushalmi, Sanhedrin 2:6, explains why Shlomo Ha’Melech was deposed. Chazal comment that the “yud” of the word vcrh came before Hashem and “complained” that Shlomo Ha’Melech was rejecting a Torah prohibition. The Torah states that the king may not increase his wives, and Shlomo had done just that. Hashem responded that a thousand Shlomos would come and go, but never would a single letter of the Torah be eliminated. We must endeavor to understand why, specifically, it was the “yud” that complained. Why did not any of the other letters voice their opinion ? What underlying message did the…

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“If a matter of judgment is hidden from you, between blood and blood, between verdict and verdict, between plague and plague, matters of dispute in your cities.” (17:8)

There are a number of homiletic interpretations for this pasuk. The Pardes Yosef offers an explanation which places emphasis on the need for character refinement. He interprets the pasuk to mean, “If judgment is hidden from you,” if you have difficulty in reaching a conclusion in a halachic dispute, if the halacha seems hidden from you; it is because you do not properly distinguish between “blood and blood.” You are more concerned regarding questions involving your blood and do not seem to be sensitive to the blood of others. This is the antithesis of Chazal’s dictum in the Talmud, Sanhedrin…

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“You shall not plant for yourselves an idolatrous tree, any tree near the altar of Hashem your G-d.” (16:21)

The idolators were accustomed to plant beautiful trees called “asheiros” at the entrance of their temples. To separate us from this idolatrous custom, the Torah prohibits the planting of any tree in the Bais Ha’Mikdash or, as Chazal have added, even on the entire Har Ha’Bayis. In the Talmud, Sanhedrin 7b, Chazal explain the juxtaposition of the prohibition of planting an asheirah to the injunction to appoint judges. They say it teaches us that one who appoints an unqualified judge is regarded as if he had planted an asheirah. The commentators offer a number of reasons for equating appointing an…

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