Pensée juive sur L’Exode 34:26

Since there is a conceptual affinity between witchcraft and harlotry, the laws about witches follow at this point. The injunction to stamp out witches is more than a one time effort. You have to bring them to trial and condemn them to death. If a conviction cannot be obtained, you cannot reopen the trial, but the injunction of ridding the country of witches remains in effect. All idolatry is intimately intertwined with the practice of withcraft, an attempt to manipulate certain forces of nature considered the ultimate arbiter of man's fate. Canaan was especially prone to this. (Leviticus chapter 18) Therefore the need to eradicate all traces of such practices. Similarly, pederasty and other sexual perversions are to be eradicated, and its perpetrators are to be put to death. Only the former is mentioned in our Parshah. Apparently, such practices also formed part of witchcraft. The reason that "he who scarifices to deities" follows, is to emphasize the quasi religious nature that some of the sexual perversions practiced by the Canaanites had assumed. Any deities which had been worshipped in this fashion are especially abominable in the eyes of G-d. Only He who is pure and whose servants are pure, deserves to be worshipped. The desire of G-d is not that man indulge himself in all kinds of perverted physical gratifications, but rather that he get his satisfaction out of helping people less fortunate than himself, such as widows and orphans. He should help restore their lives to a level equal to that of their more fortunate peers. Our own experience in Egypt- if nothing else- should provide us with sufficient motivation. (12) Just as G-d had listened to our outcry then, He will listen to the outcry of the stranger, the orphan and the widow, should they feel compelled to appeal to Him on account of our callousness. This concept is extended in that we are to help people in need with loans etc., without becoming oppressive creditors. Concerning the giving of money outright, "let your heart not be hard when you give, even repeatedly". You are expected to support your fellow Jew who has fallen on hard times. Give adequately, not niggardly, so that the recipients' need for further hand outs can be eliminated. If the needy used to be a person of means, we need to help such a person to maintain his former standard of living. "Do not curse a judge!" Judges who function in lieu of G-d, must not be cursed. Similarly, the leader of the nation, or other notables who occupy positions of legitimate authority. G-d has seen fit to share His power and glory with them, ergo you have to accept this. In the last analysis you are supposed to become anshey kodesh, men of holy purpose, and this is the only way to attain such a status. This will express itself even more in how discriminating you are in what you eat, even of the categories of animals permitted to you as food. (no treyfah) There follow instructions to judges to preserve the unassailability of their office by not doing anything that makes them appear prejudiced. No false testimony, no preferences for rich or poor litigants, no collaboration with known criminals or sinners. (even if the purpose is to arrive at the truth). You must not assume that the majority can never be wrong. When you know that the majority is wrong, then the fact that they are in the majority does not absolve you from your duty to speak out. Neither are you to follow the senior judge's opinion automatically, just because he is senior and presumably wiser. (13) After this detour, the main topic is resumed with the injunction not to bend the law, not to be guilty of untruthful decisions due to careless examinations of the facts and arguments. Should you reason that G-d would anyways not allow a perversion of justice to occur, and that therefore any judicial murder would have been due to the victim having been guilty of another crime for which he had not been tried, and which society had not been aware of, such reasoning does not exonerate the judge from blood guilt if he was not thorough enough. Do not accept a bribe, even in order to pronounce fair judgment. Do not oppress a stranger even in matters in which applying pressure to naturally born Jews is permitted. You know the psyche of a stranger; it is different from one who feels at home and secure in his country. A stranger (convert) is liable to interpret all pressure as someone taking advantage of his inferior status. Once we are on the subject of excercising pity,we switch to the laws of shmittah the year the fields are to lie fallow, of one's duty to relinquish one's claim over one's property every seventh year, in order to share the proceeds with the poor. Also the Sabbath legislation has at least partially the function of providing a respite for one's staff and beasts of burden. Since other deities have never done anything for those who believed in them, their names should not even be mentioned by Jews as deities. The fact that only G-d is to be worshipped, is connected with the three annual pilgrimages to the temple. Since there are times when man is most aware of G-d’s bounty, that is the time to demonstrate one's appreciation, and acknowledge Him publicly. There are also times when the farmer is temporarily relieved of his more demanding chores, and the journey to Jerusalem presents no economic hardship at such times. The kid which kicks the mother that feeds it, deserves to be boiled in the mother's milk as punishment, (figuratively speaking). Similarly, all who display ingratitude, deserve similar treatment. To remind us of the importance of gratitude, the Torah places this prohibition at this juncture. Its position in Parshat Ki Tissa is after the sin of the golden calf. The Yalkut Parshat Re-ay, item 892, explains this in a similar vein. Apart from our sages' comment on the reason why this prohibition is repeated three times at different places in the Torah, a major reason may be that to do so, i.e. boil the kid in the milk of its mother, would display a certain sense of insensitivity on our part. Even the right to use animals for our own purposes should not be taken for granted to such an extent; it would reveal that we possess a cruel streak.

For the major part of Torah and of reward for its observance is subsumed in the decrees of the sages and their measures relating to things which cannot be derived from the Torah itself, as is concluded from the following (Gittin 60b): R. Elazar said: 'The greater part of Torah is written and the lesser part, oral, as stated (Hosea 8:12): "Though I write for him the multitudes of My Torah, they are reckoned as a strange thing."' R. Yochanan said: 'The greater part is oral and the lesser part is written, as stated (Exodus 34:26): "…for through [lit., "through the mouth of"] these words I have made a covenant with you."' But what does R. Yochanan do with "Though I write for him the multitudes of My Torah"? He sees it as an expression of wonder, viz.: "Shall I write for him the multitudes of My Torah? Are they [even the little that I have written] not reckoned as a strange thing?"

Chukkim. — Arbitrary or apparently inexplicable Statutes. — The same thoughtful regard which you show to man, show as well to every lower being; to the earth which bears and sustains all; to the world of animals and plants, to your own body, to your own mental faculties, to your "ego," that which is most of all your own. It is the same justice which you owe to other human beings. What in the case of the Mishpatim results from the concept of identical personality, flows here from the fundamental notion of equal subordination to God, who defends all which is lower in order and subject to you against your caprice and the ebullitions of unregulated will. Your duties towards humanity are more intelligible to you simply because you have only to think of yourself, your own views and feelings, in order to recognize and sympathize with the demands and needs of your fellow-man. Could you put yourself as thoroughly in the place of other beings, could you even understand the conditions of the union and the combined activity of your own body and soul, you would find it as easy to comprehend Chukkim as Mishpatim. They ask of you to regard all beings as God's possessions; destroy none; abuse none; waste nothing; employ all things wisely; the kinds and species of plants and animals are God's order; mingle them not. All creatures are servants in the household of creation. Respect even the feelings and desires of beasts. Respect the body of man even when the personality has departed. Respect your own body as receptacle, messenger and instrument of the spirit. Limit and subdue your impulses and animal actions under the law of God that they be used in a manner truly human and holy for the upbuilding of the holy purpose of the human race, that man sink not into a mere beast. Respect your soul in nourishing your body; give the latter only so much and such food as will permit it to be a pure, obedient messenger of the world to the soul, of the soul to the world, but not such as to produce sluggishness or sensuality. Therefore conceal and elevate, do not esteem too highly thy animal part, in order that in the end all contradictory dispositions be eliminated from you, and even the beast-like become truly human. Finally, respect yourself in your purest emanation, your word.