Friday, May 8, 2009

Emor- "They placed him [by himslef]"

י וַיֵּצֵא, בֶּן-אִשָּׁה יִשְׂרְאֵלִית, וְהוּא בֶּן-אִישׁ מִצְרִי, בְּתוֹךְ בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל; וַיִּנָּצוּ, בַּמַּחֲנֶה, בֶּן הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִית, וְאִישׁ הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִי.  יא וַיִּקֹּב בֶּן-הָאִשָּׁה הַיִּשְׂרְאֵלִית אֶת-הַשֵּׁם, וַיְקַלֵּל, וַיָּבִיאוּ אֹתוֹ, אֶל-מֹשֶׁה; וְשֵׁם אִמּוֹ שְׁלֹמִית בַּת-דִּבְרִי, לְמַטֵּה-דָן.  יב וַיַּנִּיחֻהוּ, בַּמִּשְׁמָר, לִפְרֹשׁ לָהֶם, עַל-פִּי יְהוָה
When the son of Shlomit bat Divri and an Egyptian man "blessed" the name of Hashem, he was placed under guard until his fate could be clarified. Rashi explains that they had placed him under guard alone, for this occurred at the same time as the incident with the man who gathered wood on Shabbos and was therefore chayav mittah. They were placed separately because the mechalel Shabbos was certainly chayav mittah, but the manner of death was unknown. Whereas by this man who was mechalel Shem Hashem, it was a safek whether he is chayav mittah in the first place. The Siftei Chachamim explain that this is because we do not want to worry someone that he will be put to death by placing him with someone who is known to be chayav mittah, if this is not be his fate as well. 

The Da'at Zekainim m'Ba'alei HaTosfot says that they went to go learn out this mans fate because they were not sure if he was chayav mittah from a kal v'chomer of one who curses his parents, or if what he did was so terrible, that he doesn't even deserve death as a kaparah like by one who gives all of his children over to molech. That was what they were uncertain of. 

It is amazing that even when a person has trespassed so greatly on the mitzvot and rebelled against Hashem, so much so that even when he might not even deserve to get the kaparah of death, Bnei yisrael still treat him with such consideration that he is not placed with someone else on death-row until his fate is clarified! Every member of Klal Yisrael must be treated with such care and consideration no matter what. There should be no excuse for a lack of Ahavat Yisrael between us. If Bnei Yisrael then treated such a sinner in this manner, kal v'chomer just imagine how considerate and kind we must be towards our friends, not friends, enemies, and any other Jew you come across!   

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