레위기 15:15의 인용 해설

The following are those who require a ceremony of atonement: the zav, the zavah, the woman who gave birth and the metzora. A “zav” is a man who has an abnormal genital discharge (see Leviticus 15:15) and a “zavah” is a woman with an abnormal genital discharge (see Leviticus 15:29-30). Both must bring sacrifices before they complete their purification process. So must a woman who gave birth (as we learned in 1:3) and a person who had some type of skin disease (Leviticus 14:10ff).

וכפר עליה הכהן, “and the priest shall make atonement for her.” Some people understand this procedure as being in the nature of physical cleansing as in Leviticus 14,19: וכפר על המטהר, “he will cleanse him on account of his uncleanness;” or in verse 53 of the same chapter: וכפר על הבית, “he will make atonement for the house.” In both these verses the subjects are afflictions either on the skin or the house, [neither of which can be considered as “guilty,” so that atonement in the spiritual sense would be required for them. Ed.] We find a similar expression in connection with someone suffering an uncontrollable emission of semen from his sexual organ, i.e. a disease. Clearly, it was not the semen that is at fault and requires purification on that account. (Compare Leviticus 15,15) While it is true that the afflictions in these verses were the result of the person suffering them having committed a sin, it still would sound incomprehensible if their belongings would be “punished.” Furthermore, the expression וחטא את הבית, “he will cleanse the house,” is used in the spiritual sense [seeing the root of the word is חטא sin, so that וכפר and וחטא, can be used both for describing spiritual cleansing and physical cleansing, depending on the context in which these words appear. (Compare Mishnah Negaim, 4,11)

ושפטו את העם משפט צדק, “they shall judge the people with fair judgment.” This may be either a warning to the individual judge or to every individual Israelite not to appoint a judge who is not righteous as well as competent. If they fail to do so each Israelite will be an accessory to perversion of justice if and when it occurs.” The judgment is to be absolute. It is to correspond to Leviticus 15,15 בצדק תשפוט עמיתך, “you are to judge your fellow with righteousness.” Sanhedrin 6,2 phrased this as יקוב הדין את ההר, “let the judgment bore a hole into the mountain.” Rabbi Akiva adds that one does not mix mercy with justice (Ketuvot 84). [The aforementioned quotes mean that the time for possible arbitration is before a matter comes to court; once it has come to court only legal considerations are relevant. Ed.]. The wordמשפט implies something “in the middle,” i.e. a clear-cut decision between opposing claims. Compare Psalms 112,5: ”he conducts his affairs with equity.” Jeremiah 30,11 speaks of ויסרתיך במשפט, “He will discipline you with justice.” These applications of strict yardsticks are valid in the dispensation of justice by a human tribunal.
The expression צדק which also appears in our verses is reserved for application by G’d. G’d combines both attributes when He sits in judgment. This is why we find David say in Psalms 99,4: משפט וצדקה ביעקב אתה עשית, “justice and charity You applied in judging Yaakov.” משפט is known in kabbalistic terms as the קו האמצעי the “middle” line on the diagram of the emanations, and Yaakov is the patriarch who represents this line [to the left of חסד on the right, Avraham’s attribute, and to the right of גבורה ,דין Yitzchak’s attribute. Ed.].
This enables us to understand Jeremiah 10,24: יסרני ה' אך במשפט, אל באפך פן תמיעטני, “chastise me o Lord, but in measure; not in Your wrath, lest You reduce me to naught.” The prophet says that the attribute of Justice which is part even of the tetragrammaton should not be applied to him as otherwise he would not survive the chastisement. [The prophet utters a prayer by his people who are aware that the enemy army is close to capturing Jerusalem. Ed]. משפט as distinct from דין, is perceived as the mild aspect of justice at work, whereas אפך is the harsh aspect of justice at work. Tzedek is the attribute of Justice applied to the world, as we know from Psalms 9,9 והוא ישפוט תבל בצדק, “and He will judge the universe by employing צדק.” This attribute receives its input from a higher source known as elohim. This is the meaning of Psalms 58,12 אך יש אלו-הים שופטים בארץ, “there is indeed divine justice on earth.” The word שופטים in that verse in Psalms and the word שופטים in our verse here are mystically linked together. The Torah’s instructions here are to establish the mechanism demonstrating that there is divine justice on earth. If it sounds as if justice is to be tempered with mercy in a court of law, this is misleading. The truth is if the guilty receives sentence the innocent is exonerated and feels that righteousness has been done for him whereas justice has been done to the other litigant.

לחטת — This lacks the א usually found in it, to indicate that it is not like other חטאות, sin-offerings; for in the case of all sin offerings mentioned in the Torah that are to be brought together with a burnt offering, the sin-offering precedes the burnt offering (i.e. is offered first), since it is said, (Leviticus 5:10) “And the second animal shall he make as a burnt offering,” whilst in this case the burnt offering precedes the sin-offering (Horayot 13a).