Kommentar zu Wajikra 20:3

אתן את פני ‎ is taken in the sense of, פנאי שלי, My leisure — I shall turn away from everything else that I am occupied with, and will busy Myself with him alone (Sifra, Kedoshim, Section 4 13; cf. Rashi on Leviticus 17:10).

BECAUSE HE HATH GIVEN OF HIS SEED UNTO MOLECH, TO DEFILE MY SANCTUARY — “The congregation of Israel which is sanctified unto Me.” This is Rashi’s language. I have already hinted at this,²⁰⁷Above, 18:21. how on account of one man’s sin the congregation of Israel which is sanctified to His Great Name can become defiled. And the Sages have [also] already hinted at this in their homiletic interpretations when saying:²⁰⁸Berachoth 35 b. “He who enjoys anything of this world without saying a benediction, is considered as if he had robbed the Holy One, blessed be He, and the congregation of Israel, as it is said, Whoso robbeth his father or his mother, and saith: ‘It is no transgression,’ the same is the companion of a destroyer.²⁰⁹Proverbs 28:24. The expression his father refers only to the Holy One, blessed be He, and his mother refers only to the congregation of Israel. The same is the companion of the destroyer, he is a companion of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin, against their Father in heaven.”²¹⁰I Kings 12:28-33; 14:16. For the purpose of Creation was that people should offer their benediction over [its bounties] to the Great Name, assuring thereby the existence of the world, but if that is not done, the Great Name is raised on high and the Divine Presence is removed from Israel, and surely this happens all the more so when a person offers his seed to the Molech, and thereby causes that He abhor the pride of Jacob²¹¹Amos 6:8. and His dwelling place [i.e., the Sanctuary]. This is the meaning of the expression, the people of the Land shall stone him with stones,²¹²Verse 2. for He did not say: “he shall surely be put to death; they shall stone him with stones,” as is mentioned in all such cases,²¹³Further, Verse 27: they shall surely be put to death; they shall stone them with stones. Also ibid., 24:16. but instead mentions the people of the Land, meaning to say that all the people of the Land — all Israel — are obliged to precede to stone him, for [having given of his seed to Molech] he has harmed everybody, because he has caused that the Divine Presence be removed from Israel. It is for this reason that Onkelos translated [the expression, the people of the Land]: “the people of the house of Israel,” for the term the Land alludes to the whole Land of Israel, not merely the land wherein the worshipper [of the Molech] happens to reside, this being similar [to the expression], for all the earth is Mine.²¹⁴Exodus 19:5. See Ramban there (Vol. II, pp. 273-274). The secret thereof you will also be able to understand from that which Scripture mentions with reference to [the punishment of] excision for worshipping the Molech, I also will set My face against that man,²¹⁵Verse 3 before us. and again, then will I set My face against that man,²¹⁶Verse 5. meaning that My Great and Fearful Name will cut him off. The word “I” He did not mention in the case of excision for practicing the sorcery of the ov or the yide’oni,²¹⁷Further, Verse 27. See “The Commandments,” Vol. II, pp. 9-11. nor in the case of any other such punishment. I have already stated the reason for all this to all who understand.²¹⁸See above, 18:21.

ואני אתן את פני באיש ההוא, if he does not refrain from carrying out his evil intention and does not become a בעל תשובה, a repentant sinner. Otherwise, even his judicial execution will not expiate for his sin.

ואני אתן את פני באיש ההוא, "And also I Myself will set My face against that person, etc." What further punishment does G'd have in mind seeing the guilty party has already been executed by a human tribunal?

ואני אתן את פני באיש ההוא, “and as for Me, I will give My special attention to that man;” Ibn Ezra writes that this statement presupposes that the sin was committed in the privacy of the sinner’s house or secretly, as otherwise judicial steps have to be taken by the court. Some commentators understand this wording to imply that G’d is going to single out the offspring of that person for extinction.

ואני אתן את פני באיש ההוא, “and I will set My face against that man.” Nachmanides points out that this is the only time in the entire Torah that the attribute אני for G’d appears in connection with the karet penalty. The reason is that G’d feels that by following this abominable cult the sinner has defiled the great Name and thereby defiled the entire concept of כנסת ישראל, what the Jewish people symbolize.
Our sages in Berachot 35 have compared someone enjoying the fruits of this world without first reciting a benediction giving thanks to G’d for the availability of such fruit as stealing from G’d. They based this on Proverbs 28,24: ”whoever robs his father and mother and says: ‘it is no sin,’ is a companion of a destroyer.” The “father” Solomon speaks of may be understood as our father in heaven. The “mother” Solomon refers to is the כנסת ישראל, the spiritual concept of the Jewish people. We have seen the prophet Isaiah 50,1 use that simile for the Jewish people when he said: “ובפשעכם שלחה אמכם, “on account of your sins your mother was dismissed.” The words “companion to the destroyer” refer to King Jerobam who caused Israel to become corrupted to their father in heaven. If Jerobam who merely blocked the way to Jerusalem is described in such terms how much more so must a father who offers his children (fruit of his loins) as a sacrifice to the Moloch cause estrangement between G’d and His people! Thus far Maimonides. In the course of his remarks Maimonides explained to us that in most instances when the Torah mentions the name of אני it refers to the attribute of Justice, whereas in this instance it represents the attribute of Mercy because it is written in connection with the word פני, “My face.” We find a similar example of the word אני as the attribute of Mercy in Genesis 6,17 as there too it is written in connection with the word לפני in verse 13; a similar construction occurs in Exodus 6,5 where the name אני evidently refers to the attribute of Mercy. It is clear there from the context that the word אני does not refer to the attribute of Justice. [When G’d said there that He had heard the pleas of the Israelites this is equivalent to saying that their pleas had come לפני, “before Me.” Ed.]

“Free time.” Rashi is answering the question that on the contrary, it would be a favor if the Holy One directs his face to him. Also, it is His way to direct His face only onto the righteous. Therefore he explains that it is not connected with the word “face,” [rather it means “free time”].

ואני אתן את פני, “and I will turn My face against that man;” G-d will do this if he cannot be brought to court as there were no witnesses, or if he had not received legal warning of the consequences of committing the sin he had been warned not to commit. (Ibn Ezra)

באיש AGAINST THAT MAN — but not against the whole congregation if they thus sin (Sifra, Kedoshim, Section 4 13), for the community as a whole is never punished with excision.

והכרתי אותו, seeing he has already been executed, these words refer to G’d excising this man’s soul’s share in the hereafter.

למען טמא את מקדשי, ”(he had done what he did) in order to defile and desecrate My Sanctuary, etc.” Rashi feels that in this instance the word מקדשי refers to the whole of the Jewish people, seeing they have been declared a holy people, עם קדוש, by G’d Himself. Conduct, such as that of the person who worships the Moloch deity, results in the presence of the Shechinah leaving the Jewish people, thus depriving them of their status of being a holy nation. This is also the reason why in this instance the Torah demands that the death penalty by stoning be administered by the עם הארץ, “the people for whose sake the earth had been created,” whereas in other similar executions the Torah simply writes באבן ירגמו אותו, “they are to stone him,” without appending a specific subject to who those “they” are. Seeing that the man worshipping the Moloch had put at risk every single Israelite’s status in the eyes of the Creator, they all have to demonstrate their disapproval of that sinner by throwing a stone or stones at him.

And not [a congregation]. (Nachalas Yaakov). This is stated in Toras Kohanim. I think it means as follows: If the entire congregation give of their children to Molech, they are not cut off. You cannot say it means that the whole congregation is not cut off because of the sin of the individual, since that is obvious as even his family is not cut off. See more over there.

I believe the Torah informs us that in addition to the physical death of that person by execution there is further punishment in store for his soul. This is alluded to by the words והכרתי אותו מקרב עמו, "I will cut him off from amongst his people." This is a reference to the holy root from which all Jewish souls emanate. The Torah explains the reason for these two punishments and writes: 1) "for he has given of his seed to Molech in order to defile My Sanctuary" 2)…"and to desecrate My holy name." The execution of the sinner's body is the retribution for defiling the Sanctuary, the destruction of the sinner's holy roots is retribution for profaning the Lord's name.

כי מזרעו נתן למלך BECAUSE HE HATH GIVEN OF HIS SEED TO THE MOLECH — These words appear to be redundant since in v. 20 the nature of the sin is already mentioned, but because Scripture states (Deuteronomy 18:10) “[There shall not be found among you] any one that maketh his son or his daughter pass through the fire", one might think that this law applies only to ones children; whence do we know that it applies also to one’s son's son and one's daughter’s son? Because Scripture states here, “because he hath given of his offspring to the Molech". Whence do we know that illegitimate offspring are also included in this law? Because Scripture states again (v. 4) “when he giveth of his seed to the Molech” — whether legitimate or not (Sifra, Kedoshim, Section 4 6-7; Sanhedrin 64b).

למען טמא את מקדשי, by removing My presence from Israel, resulting in the people deserving to be stoned. ולחלל את שם קדשי, therefore I will turn My face against him even though he did not actually engage in idolatry.

From where [do we know this of] illegitimate offspring? Rashi explains in Sanhedrin (64b) that these two verses, “for he gave of his children to Molech” and “when he gives of his children to Molech” are superfluous. Therefore, the rabbis expound that one is to include “his son’s son and his daughter’s son,” and one is to include “illegimate offspring.”

למען טמא את מקדשי TO DEFILE MY מקדש — This means the “Congregation of Israel" which is sanctified to Me. The word מקדש does not imply the Sanctuary only but anything that is holy to God, as in the expression (Leviticus 21:23) “that he profane not my holy things (‎‎‏מקדשי‎).

Which is sanctified to Me. But not the actual Sanctuary, because what has the defiling of the Sanctuary to do with [this] sinner? Re’m writes, “You might ask how can the Community of Israel become defiled by one person who sinned?” It seems to me that because he served idolatry, the Shechinah leaves the land, and by the Shechinah leaving, evil spirits enter the land and automatically, [the Community of] Israel is defiled. The Zohar discusses these matters at length and there is no need to discuss this at length.