ON THE PARSHA
          Parshas Re'ei

          by Dovid Lipman, Jerusalem


The World Of The Supernatural

     (12:30) "...saying, 'How can these nations serve their false
gods - and let me do so also.' " Why is the Torah afraid that we
might say something so self-contradictory? Why would those who see
the evil of idol worship be tempted to try it? Perhaps this is a
special power of the ancient tempting power of idol worship. The
gemara (Yoma 69b) says that this power was eliminated through prayer
and fasting, in the time of the second Beis HaMikdash. More likely,
however, this is a reality of the power of temptation even today.
The gemara (Nazir 2a) says, "Anyone who sees the Sotah as her adulterous act
is exposed by her horrible punishment - he ought to vow not to
drink wine (which brings one to such sins)." It seems that this
person should be the exception - HE saw the horrible end the sin
leads to, so HE should be immune to temptation in that area! The
truth is inescapable. Temptation's most powerful weapon is simple
exposure - the person is drawn to evil just because he came in
contact with it. So idol worship can be the same - by contemplating
the worthlessness of idols, one can unwittingly fall into the
trap of temptation.

A Time To Laugh

     (12:20) "...whenever you desire to, eat meat." This pasuk
clarifies the Torah's attitude toward vegetarianism. If you
like meat, there's nothing wrong with killing animals to eat it.
(It's impossible to get kosher meat from an animal without
purposefully killing it.) But if you don't LIKE meat, then this
pasuk absolves you from any need to eat it (presumably because
it's only needed to make a meal more enjoyable in the first place).

Worthy Of Note

     (14:1) "You are sons of Hashem; do not scar yourselves (over
someone's death)..." The Zohar explains the connection with a story:
Once a king sent his son, the Crown Prince, to mingle among the
people and learn from the experience how to be their king. The
people enjoyed the honor of the Prince's presence, and loved him
dearly. One day the king decided his son had been away long enough
and was ready to come back, so he summoned him home. The people were
devastated, and they gathered to mourn the day, crying pitifully
over what a tragedy had befallen them. One old man called out, "Why
do you cry so much? This man is a prince! He never belonged here in
the first place - things are now just reverting to the way they should
be!" Similarly, we are Hashem's sons - we belong with him in the
World to Come, and we were only placed in this world for a temporary
assignment. So we mustn't overly react when someone is taken away!
They're only going to where they belonged all along, in the palace...

From the Gemara

     (12:23) Makkos 23a - If the Torah tells us to be strong in
avoiding eating blood, which disgusts people anyway (showing how
valuable it is to keep this mitzvah), imagine how much reward is
to be gained from keeping away from immorality and theft, which
people desire!
     (13:18) Makkos 22a - The prohibition to derive benefit from
the remains of the Idolatrous City is (being deliberaterly worded
ambiguously) the technical source for the general prohibition to
derive benefit from idol-worship (such as the wood of worshiped trees).
     (12:4) Makkos 22a - Since the Torah said to wipe out the name
of false gods, and then says not to do likewise to Hashem, we have
the technical source for the prohibition to erase Hashem's name.

Rare And Unusual Words
     (13:17) "Kalil". The word means 'totally destroyed', and is
'borrowed' from the chapters on the korbanos, where it says the
Olah must be totally burnt - here, too, the Idolatrous City is
completely destroyed. The gemara (Sanh. 111b) infers from the
language that although the act of murder is normally wicked, when
performing this mitzvah to wipe out a city it is considered as
righteous as bringing the Korban Olah (the perfect offering).