Comentario sobre Deuteronómio 23:10

כי תצא וגו׳ ונשמרת WHEN [THE HOST] GOETH FORTH [AGAINST THINE ENEMIES], THEN KEEP THEE [FROM EVERY EVIL THING] — because Satan accuses men in time of danger (Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 2:6; Midrash Tanchuma, Vayigash 1 on Genesis 42:4; cf. Rashi on that verse and our Note thereon).

WHEN THOU GOEST FORTH IN CAMP AGAINST THINE ENEMIES, THEN THOU SHALT KEEP THEE FROM EVERY EVIL — “because Satan indicts [people] in the hour of danger.” This is Rashi’s language.
The correct interpretation regarding this commandment appears to me that Scripture is warning of a time when sin is rampant. The well-known custom of forces going to war is that they eat all abominable things, rob and plunder, and are not ashamed even of lewdness and all vileness. The fairest of man by nature comes to be possessed of cruelty and fury when the army advances against the enemy. Therefore, Scripture warned, then thou shalt keep thee from every evil. And by way of the simple meaning of Scripture this is an admonition against doing anything forbidden. And in the Sifre it is stated:²⁷¹Sifre, Ki Theitzei 254. “I might think that Scripture is speaking of the laws of defilements and purities and tithes. It therefore says ‘ervah’ [an unseemly thing, which refers to unchastity].²⁷²Further, Verse 15: and that He see no ‘unseemly thing’ in thee. Whence do I know to include idolatry, lewdness,²⁷³“Lewdness.” In our Sifre this term is not mentioned here, and rightly so, since it has already been expressly forbidden, as explained above. bloodshed, and blasphemy? Scripture therefore says, then thou shalt keep thee from every evil. Or perhaps the verse is speaking of defilements and purities, and tithes? It says ervah (an unseemly thing):²⁷²Further, Verse 15: and that He see no ‘unseemly thing’ in thee. just as ervah uniquely represents a deed for which the Canaanites were driven from the Land²⁷⁴Leviticus 18:24. and which removes the Divine Presence [from Israel], so all deeds for which the Canaanites were driven from the Land and which remove the Divine Presence [from Israel] are included in the admonition of this verse. When Scripture states davar [thing, but literally ‘word’ — then thou shalt keep thee from every evil ‘davar’] it includes also ‘evil talk.’” This also is included in the purport of the verse we have explained, that besides the [specific] admonitions which are stated concerning these stringent sins, he added yet a [special] prohibition to an army that we guard against any of these sins so that the Divine Presence withdraw not from the Israelites who are there, just as he said, For the Eternal thy G-d walketh in the midst of thy camp²⁷⁵Further, Verse 15. Thus he who commits any of the great sins while in the army, those about which it is written, they have set their detestable things in the house whereon My Name is called to defile it,²⁷⁶Jeremiah 7:30. [he causes the Divine Presence to withdraw from Israel]. Moreover, [we are to avoid these sins] in order that the enemy should not overpower us because of our committing the very deeds that cause them to be driven from before us, this being the sense of the expression, and to give up thine enemies before thee.²⁷⁵Further, Verse 15. The Sages [in the Sifre] added evil talk [as derived from this admonition] in order that contention should not increase among them and smite them with a very great plague, [even] more than the enemy [will inflict upon them].

כי תצא מחנה על איביך, "When a camp goes out against your enemies, etc." The Torah means that although there are nuances of transgressions which G'd does not go out His way to punish you for, and even if He does decide to punish you the punishment is very mild, the Torah informs us that at a time when there is general danger, such as when one goes out to war, one needs to be careful not to become guilty of violating even the smallest detail of G'd's commandments, i.e. מכל דבר רע, "from anything which is evil." The word דבר includes even causes which bring about evil. The Torah follows this up with the example of a soldier who became ritually unclean due to an involuntary nocturnal seminal emission. Our sages in Ketuvot 46 explain that sexual fantasies one has during the day often are the cause of such emissions during one's sleep. The reason the Torah wrote these two veרses next to one another is to warn us not to entertain such fantasies during the day so that we would not become defiled during the night.

ונשמרת מכל דבר רע, “you shall be on guard against anything evil.” Rashi understands this line as a warning that Satan works “overtime” whenever the Israelites find themselves in danger, so that even minor misdemeanours will be exploited by him as the perennial prosecutor of the Jews at the throne of Hashem. Nachmanides writes that in his eyes the true explanation of this line at this particular juncture is that when at war due to the difficult conditions, one tends to become less stringent in one’s ritual observances. Moses therefore warns the people that at that time more than at any other, because one’s life is in danger and one depends on Hashem’s special protection, one must be careful not to become lax in one’s Torah observance. From the vantage point of the plain meaning of the text, the פשט, Moses warns someone who experienced a seminal emission to leave the boundaries of the camp (the subject discussed in the verses following), the reason being that seeing G’d is present in the camp, it is not befitting that someone who is ritually contaminated share that domain with the presence of G’d until he has purified himself. Consciousness of His presence in order to ensure our success in war, will also make the soldier concerned reflect that in the last analysis it is not his prowess as a soldier that ensures success but the help we receive from above. Similar considerations also made our sages decree that a synagogue, or even a private place where prayers are offered must be at least 4 cubits (2.5 meters) removed from a toilet or other place where garbage is dumped. The reason why the Torah decrees that excrement must be covered, although it is not ritually contaminating, is that if visible to the person offering up prayers to his Creator, it will distract from his concentration. Seeing that prayer, unless offered when the heart is “in gear,” is not only ineffective but almost insulting to Hashem, we must take steps to remove from our vision anything that will detract from our concentration.

V. 10. כי תצא מחנה וגו׳. Individuelle Sittlichkeit und internationale sympathische Gesinnungen, das haben die zunächst vorangehenden Gesetze als Grundzüge des zu bildenden jüdischen Nationalcharakters sichern wollen. Es folgen nun Verse 10 — 15 und Verse 16 u. 17 zwei Momente, קידוש מחנה und עבד שברח, in welchen diese beiden Grundrichtungen des jüdischen Wesens sich in besonderer Weise ausprägen.

כי תצא מחנה, “when you go forth in camp, etc.;” this verse was written here as the punitive against Midian was mentioned which had been conducted on account of Bileam’s having caused the Israelites to be seduced into sinning and 24000 had died on account of that. There was a reference to this evil prophet in verse 6 of our chapter.

כי תצא מחנה, selbst wenn du aus den Umschränkungen des gewöhnlichen Familien- und bürgerlichen Lebens hinausgetreten bist und dich in einem wider deine Feinde gerichteten Kriegeslager befindest — (על אויביך, hebt ספרי hervor, כנגד אויביך אתה נלחם, das Gesetz setzt voraus, dass du nur gegen diejenigen zum Kriege ausziehst, die sich dir als אויביך erwiesen haben, von denen du Feindschaft erlitten und Feindschaft zu erwarten hast, gegen welche somit selbst ein Angriff zur Verteidigung wird. Es schließt dies jeden Eroberungskrieg aus) — also, selbst wenn du im Kriegslager dich befindest, wo so leicht die Bande der Zucht und Sitte sich lösen und der Kriegszweck selbst ungebundener Roheit Vorschub leisten könnte: ונשמרת מכל דבר רע, sollst du den selbstbeherrschenden Blick nach innen nicht verlieren, und dich vor jeglichem "Schlechten" hüten. Dieses כל דבר רע, welches im ספרי mit Hinblick auf das ושב מאחריך im V. 16 zunächst auf solche Ausschreitungen, die, wie קללת השם ,שפיבת דמים ,ע׳׳ז ,ערוה, die Gegenwart Gottes verscherzen, מסלקין השכינה und auf לשון הרע bezogen wird, wird (Aboda Sara 20 b) in Zusammenhang mit dem unmittelbar folgenden V. 11 ganz besonders von allem Unkeuschen verstanden, das selbst mit bloßen Gedanken gemieden werden soll, שלא יהרהר אדם ביום ויבא לידי טומאה בלילה. Vor jedem unzüchtigen Gedanken sollen wir uns hüten und soll