Kommentar zu Dewarim 13:7
כִּ֣י יְסִֽיתְךָ֡ אָחִ֣יךָ בֶן־אִ֠מֶּךָ אֽוֹ־בִנְךָ֨ אֽוֹ־בִתְּךָ֜ א֣וֹ ׀ אֵ֣שֶׁת חֵיקֶ֗ךָ א֧וֹ רֵֽעֲךָ֛ אֲשֶׁ֥ר כְּנַפְשְׁךָ֖ בַּסֵּ֣תֶר לֵאמֹ֑ר נֵֽלְכָ֗ה וְנַֽעַבְדָה֙ אֱלֹהִ֣ים אֲחֵרִ֔ים אֲשֶׁר֙ לֹ֣א יָדַ֔עְתָּ אַתָּ֖ה וַאֲבֹתֶֽיךָ׃
Wenn dein Bruder, der Sohn deiner Mutter oder dein Sohn oder deine Tochter oder die Frau deines Busens oder deines Freundes, das ist wie deine eigene Seele, dich heimlich verführt und sagt: „Lass uns gehen und anderen Göttern dienen , 'was du nicht gewusst hast, du noch deine Väter;
Rashi on Deuteronomy
כי יסיתך IF [THY BROTHER …] ENTICE THEE — The term יסת always denotes to “stir up”, “to incite”, as it is said, (I Samuel 26:19) ”If it be the Lord that hath stirred thee up (הסיתך) against me” (Sifrei Devarim 87:2); inciter in O. F., Engl, to incite — i.e. that he induces one to act thus.
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Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy
כי יסיתך אחיך, "If your brother entices you, etc." In this paragraph the Torah teaches that enticement to sin is not only due to external sources but may be due to something within us, in fact some force born within us from the day we see the light of day. Our sages in Sanhedrin 91 derive this from Genesis 4,7: "sin rests at the door."
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Rashbam on Deuteronomy
יסיתך, every advice the end result of which leads to disaster is called הסתה; examples of such meanings of the word הסתה occur in Job 2,3 ותסיתני לבלעו חנם, You have incited me against him for no reason.” Or, Kings I 21,25 אשר הסתה אותו איזבל אשתו, “at the instigation of his wife Izzevel.” Or, Chronicles II 18,2 ויסיתהו לעלות אל רמות גלעד, “he incited him to march against Ramot Gilead’ (a campaign which failed and cost Achav’s life)
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Tur HaArokh
אשר לא ידעת אתה ואבותיך, “that you did not know, and that your forefathers did not know either.” Moses mentions “your forefathers,” so that in the event that someone close to you, as close as your friend, i.e. even your own father, would try and seduce you to follow idolatrous ways, enquire from the other ”fathers” if they had ever heard of such deities as your own father now proposes that you should worship. They will confirm that your father is lying to you.
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Rabbeinu Bahya
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Siftei Chakhamim
The word הסתה always denotes inciting ... He seduces him, etc. You might ask: At first Rashi explains, “The expression הסתה always denotes inciting,” but afterwards he writes, “He seduces him, etc.,” which denotes to mislead. This question has already been answered by Re”m in Parshas Bereishis regarding the verse (3:13), “The serpent seduced me.” He writes: Although the term הסתה usually means, “to mislead,” nevertheless Rashi explains here [in Re’ey], “The word הסתה always denotes inciting ... he seduces him, etc.” This is because inciting is only accomplished through words that are misleading. And the meaning of [Rashi’s words], “He seduces him into performing the act,” is, “he misleads him into performing the act.”
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Rav Hirsch on Torah
V. 7. כי יסיתך וגו׳. Das Gesetz hebt die innigsten Beziehungen, die Bande des Blutes, der Ehe und der Freundschaft hervor, zeigt eben damit, welchen Wert und welche Berechtigung es deren Einfluss auf Stimmung und Gesinnung der Gemüter zuerkennt, und will eben diesen berechtigsten und mächtigsten Banden gegenüber die Gottestreue sicherstellen. Kiduschin 80 b wird auf die besondere Hervorhebung בן אמך hingewiesen, um zu zeigen, wie das Gesetz ein vertrauliches Zusammenfinden der Söhne bei der Mutter voraussetzt. Denn von einer solchen intimen Vertraulichkeit, יחוד, ist hier die Rede: בסתר.
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Daat Zkenim on Deuteronomy
כי יסתך אחיך בן אמך, “If your brother, son of your mother, will attempt to entice you (to worship an idol);” The reason that the Torah adds the words: “son of your mother,” here is that it is likely that brothers of the same mother, i.e. the same womb, are closer to one another than brothers who only share the same father. Furthermore, sons of only the same father are likely to be hostile to one another for reasons of the eventual inheritance.
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Chizkuni
אחיך בן אמך, “your brother, the son of your mother.” The same applies to “your brother, the son of your father;” the reason why the Torah chose as its example the brother, son of your mother,” is that normally the bonds to one’s mother are closer, and one is in the same house with one’s mother all the time, while the father is in the field or elsewhere outside the house, earning his livelihood. Moreover, brotherly love to one another is often tainted by the fact that one has to share the father’s inheritance with one’s brother of the father, but not with a brother of the same mother.
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Rashi on Deuteronomy
אחיך THY BROTHER — means, thy brother on the father’s side (Sifrei Devarim 87:4).
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Siftei Chakhamim
Maternally. A vav is lacking, [and it means as if it said] ובן אמך (or your mother’s son). It is not correct to say that only a brother from the same father and mother is intended. For we find the term “brother,” indicates even a paternal brother, as in (Bereishis 42:13), “Your servants are twelve brothers,” and (below 25:5), “If brothers reside together.” Rather, the verse must be understood as if it said, “or.” [“Your mother’s son,” is written] because one’s paternal brother is more beloved to him than his maternal brother.
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Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy
There is an additional internal "enticer," i.e. the spiritually negative force man creates every time he sins. This is the mystical dimension of Avot 4,2 that "one sin drags another in its wake." Kabbalists have talked at length about this subject explaining that every sin creates an accuser which in turn increases the power of the original evil urge within us. The more man sins the more powerful the forces which urge him to sin become. This is the meaning of Berachot 34 that מקום שבעלי תשובה עומדים אין צדיקים גמורים יכולין לעמוד, "that it is not possible to draw a valid comparison between the forces of evil to which a repentant sinner is exposed and to similar forces to which the person who is totally without sin is exposed."
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Rav Hirsch on Torah
אשר לא ידעת kann schwerlich eine bloße Unbekanntschaft im allgemeinen bezeichnen sollen, heißt es doch im folgenden Verse ausdrücklich auch הקרובים אליך, womit doch auch ein Bekanntsein vorausgesetzt ist. Vielmehr glauben wir, dass hier und so auch oben V. 3, Kap. 11, 28 u. 13, 13, sowie Jirmija 7, 9 der schneidende Gegensatz zu allen Göttern des Heidentums hervorgehoben werden soll. Die Realität Gottes, des einzig Einen ist dir durch unmittelbare Tatsachen eigenster Erfahrung zur höchsten Evidenz der Überzeugung gebracht worden. Dein Wissen von Gott hat den höchsten Grad der Gewissheit, während für das Gottsein alles dessen, was sonst Menschenwahn göttlich verehrt, nicht eine einzige Tatsache dem verstehenden und vernehmenden Urteil gegeben ist, aus welchem der Menschengeist sein "Wissen" zu konstruieren hat.
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Daat Zkenim on Deuteronomy
בסתר לאמור, “secretly, saying:” the Torah uses an example that is commonplace, i.e. forbidden matters are usually discussed under a mantle of secrecy. Rabbi B’chor shor sees in the Torah’s use here of the expression בסתר, “secretly,” the Torah’s answer to what Solomon said in Proverbs 11,13: הולך רכיל מגלה סוד, “a talebearer reveals secrets,” i.e. condemnation of revealing secrets; there is one exception to his rule and that is when worship of idols is being planned in secret. Then it becomes a positive commandment to reveal the people planning this to the authorities. Verse 9 even adds the fact that concealing such information is equivalent to transgressing a negative commandment also.
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Rashi on Deuteronomy
בן אמך THE SON OF THY MOTHER — i.e., thy brother on the mother’s side. (The meaning of the Hebrew words is: thy brother or the son of thy mother) (Sifrei Devarim 87:5).
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Rabbeinu Bahya
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Siftei Chakhamim
This refers to your father, etc. [Rashi is referring to the term, “soul mate,” and] the verse is lacking the word “or.” For a father is never referred to as ריע (neighbor).
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Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy
There is a third dimension to the personality of a person who indulges in sin. By doing so he acquires an additional soul, as it were. Just as we have a principle that he who observes the Sabbath is granted an additional soul (spiritually positive force) on that day, the reverse holds true for the habitual sinner.
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Rashi on Deuteronomy
חיקך [OR THE WIFE OF] THY BOSOM — i.e. who lies on thy bosom and is attached (מחוקה) to you, affichee in O. F. Similar is the expression (Ezekiel 43:14) “and from the bottom (מחיק) upon the ground” — i.e. from the foundation that is sunk in the ground.
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Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy
When you continue on such an evil path, allowing yourself to be enticed into sin, one eventually integrates one's personality with the forces of evil so much so that instead of merely becoming the victim of enticement one denies the essence of Judaism leading one to embrace idolatry.
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Rashi on Deuteronomy
אשר כנפשך [OR THY FELLOWMAN] WHO IS AS THINE OWN SOUL — Thus refers to thy father (Sifrei Devarim 87:11). Scripture specially mentions all those who are dear to you — that you must not consent unto them nor spare them (v. 9), how much the less should you consent unto others or spare them.
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Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy
When Moses speaks of בי יסיתך אחיך, "when your brother entices you," he describes the evil urge as someone who considers himself as "your brother" from birth. He adds the words בן אמך, "son of your mother," to explain whence the enticer originates, i.e. he is a "son" of our common mother Eve who was responsible for the fact that good and evil are inextricably mixed within us at birth. Concerning the second aspect of evil within us, i.e. the one created by our own sins -as opposed to Eve's- Moses says או בנך או בתך, "or your own son or your own daughter." These are references to the spiritually negative creations which are the result of our own sins. They too are called alien children. The reason that the Torah lists both בנך, "your son," as well as בתך, "your daughter" to describe such creations, is that some sins produce accusers of a masculine type whereas other sins produce accusers of a feminine variety. It all depends on the type of sin one has committed. The greater the sin the more likely that the accuser it creates is of the masculine type. If the sin is relatively minor, the accuser it creates may be described as בתך, "your daughter."
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Rashi on Deuteronomy
בסתר [IF THY BROTHER ENTICE THEE] SECRETLY — Scripture speaks of what usually occurs (but does not intend to exclude one who entices people publicly), for usually the words of the enticer are spoken in secret. Similarly does Solomon say of the strange woman that she practises her art of seduction (Proverbs 7:9) “In the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the blackness of night and the darkness” (Sifrei Devarim 87:12).
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Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy
With regard to the third acquisition i.e. an evil soul which hence-forth accompanies the sinner constantly, Moses describes it as אשת חיקך, "the wife of your bosom," as it now resides inside the sinner and will add to the power of the forces which entice man to sin.
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Rashi on Deuteronomy
אשר לא ידעת אתה ואבתיך [LET US GO AND SERVE OTHER GODS] WHICH THOU HAST NOT KNOWN, THOU, NOR THY FATHERS — This would be a great disgrace for you: for not even the heathen nations abandon that which their fathers have handed down to them, and this man says to you, “Abandon what thy fathers have handed down to you”! (Sifrei Devarim 87:13).
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Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy
Regarding the fourth element which entices man to sin, the opposite of the נשמה יתירה, the "additional soul" a Sabbath-observing Jew is equipped with on the Sabbath, the Torah calls it רעך אשר כנפשך, "your friend who is like your own soul." Once the sinner has been "softened up" by the enticer, the Torah describes the nature of the enticement, i.e. an invitation to serve alien gods.
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Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy
Moses makes a point of describing this enticement as occurring בסתר, "secretly," seeing the enticer is in the habit of hiding his true purpose pretending to love you and to have your true interests at heart.
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Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy
לאמור נלכה, saying "let us go." Moses inserts the word לאמור to make it clear that the enticer does not openly use words such as "let us commit idolatry," but he expresses himself more obliquely; all the while he aims at the eventual objective, i.e. to commit idolatry. When Moses portrays the enticer saying נלכה נעבוד, "let us go and serve, etc," he includes himself in such a way that his victim thinks that he too had never previously served idols. This makes the victim think that his own soul is speaking to him rather than an outside force which he would define as the evil urge against which he would be on guard.
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Or HaChaim on Deuteronomy
אשר לא ידעת, "which you have never known, etc." Moses describes the enticer as marshalling arguments against the undertaking by the Israelites at the time of the revelation not to serve any alien deities. He argues that the undertaking entered into by the Israelites at that time included only the religions which were known at that time. He argues that any religion, i.e. form of idolatry, which did not exist at that time or which the Israelites did not know of at that time, was not something they were committed not to serve. He emphasises his point by stressing אשר לא ידעת אתה ואבותיך, "which neither you personally nor your ancestors were aware of." When your forefathers accepted the prohibition not to serve idols, these idols were not included either in what they undertook not to serve.
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