Chidushei Shaarei
under the spiritual leadership of the Bostoner Rebbe
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It says in the first Rashi in this weeks parsha, that the reason why the parsha that deals with dinim is next to the parsha that deals with the mizbeach, is to teach us that the Sanhendrin were located adjacent to the Beis Hamikdash. One might think that the Sanhendrin would not need to be close to the Beis HaMikdash as they dealt with common disputes and arguments between people. However, they met close to the Beis Hamikdash to show that it is all part of Torah. Similarly, as we see in Maseches Brochos, we learn from the Possuk in Tehillim "B'kerev Elokim Yishpot'" - "In the midst of judges He gives Judgment." Although a person might think that a Beis Din is just a peacemaker, and Hashem is not found there, it nevertheless is Divrei Torah. We learn from all of this that no matter how many arguments we get into with our fellow B'nei Yisroel, Achdus is just as important as all of the other mitzvos in the Torah.
BEN GRANAT
Among the categories of laws contained in the Torah, are the chukim. Because the reasons for these laws are not clearly stated, some Jews consider them irrelevant, and refuse to perform them. However, they forget that these laws come form hashem, and He knows the full reason for all of His commandments. Therefore, our ignorance of His purpose should not lead us to believe that these mitzvos are unimportant. It is only our lack of perspective that keeps us in the dark about them.
This is similar to a man observing a painting in a museum. He notices crowds gathering in front of the painting, and admires its beauty and design. However, to the man, the painting appears to be just a series of dark and ugly blotches, and he can not understand the paintings popularity. As he complains that the painting is dark and ugly, someone notices that the man's glasses are dirty, thus altering his perception of the painting. Likewise, we do not always see the beauty of the Torah's logic, but that does not imply a lack of beauty, only our inability to see it.
The Rambam says that if two people own a slave, and one kills him, then the owner that killed him is killed. Why? We have a ruling that a condemned person is not punished twice for the same sin. As such, if a slave owner kills his slave, he is not killed, for to do so would mean depriving his family of their money earner, in addition to killing him. Normally if the slave survives for "a day or two" (21;21), the murderer is still killed, but if the killer is the slave's owner, then the owner is exonerated.
The answer here, is that this case is different. The owner that did the killing is also killed, because here, he also deprived the slave's other owner of a monetary source. As such. the master that did the killing is killed, since he deprived his co-owner of money, his family is also deprived of money.
The Torah punishes one who wounds his father with death through strangulation. One who curses his father (using Hashem’s name) is punished with stoning. The Ramban explains two reasons for this. One is the seriousness of the second offense since it involves the use of Hashem’s name. The second reason he gives is that since cursing is very common among many people, the Torah wanted to emphasize the fact that such behavior is improper and prohibited and therefore it increased the severity of the punishment. From this we can learn that one should be extra careful when using the excuse that "everyone does it" since not only does this not mitigate the responsibility for the transgression but rather increases it.
RABBI SHAUL GUTSTEIN
The Yeshiva would like to take this opportunity to wish a Mazal Tov to...
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