Komentarz do Powtórzonego Prawa 22:1

והתעלמת [THOU SHALT NOT SEE ANY OF THY BROTHER'S HERD … GO ASTRAY] AND HIDE THYSELF [FROM THEM] — i.e. one, as it were closes his eyes tight as though one does not see it.

THOU SHALT NOT SEE THY BROTHER’S OX OR HIS SHEEP RUNNING AWAY. This is a commandment explanatory of what He stated in the Torah, If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.¹²²Exodus 23:4. Here he added [that the commandment to return lost property refers also to an animal that was] running away, for going astray¹²²Exodus 23:4. implies that it merely strayed from its path and he can turn it [back] into the path without great effort; and now he mentioned running away, meaning that it escaped from him and is distant from the owner. He mentioned the term sheep for that is liable to be lost,¹²³Psalms 119:176: I have gone astray like a lost sheep. and therefore he explained here, And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, and thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it home to thy house.¹²⁴Verse 2. He stated, And so shalt thou do with his ass,¹²⁵Verse 3. Ramban attempts to show why each particular loss is specified by Scripture. He explains that in each case we may have reason to think that its return is not required either because it would be too inconvenient for the finder or not important enough for the loser. which is an unclean animal; and so shalt thou do with his garment,¹²⁵Verse 3. Ramban attempts to show why each particular loss is specified by Scripture. He explains that in each case we may have reason to think that its return is not required either because it would be too inconvenient for the finder or not important enough for the loser. even though a garment is not as dear to its owner as are living creatures, and [total] loss is not as common in a garment as it is in animals which may die. And so shalt thou do with every lost thing of thy brother’s which he hath lost,¹²⁵Verse 3. Ramban attempts to show why each particular loss is specified by Scripture. He explains that in each case we may have reason to think that its return is not required either because it would be too inconvenient for the finder or not important enough for the loser. meaning any of his household vessels even though they are not as dear to him as his garment with which he covers himself. And according to the interpretation of our Rabbis he added here many things, such as and thou hide thyself from them,¹²⁶Verse 4. which the Rabbis interpreted to mean:¹²⁷Baba Metzia 30a. “Sometimes you are permitted to hide yourself from them [and ignore the lost article such as where the finder is an elder and it would be degrading for him to attend thereto, as for example to drive an ass back to its owner]. ‘Hasheiv’ (returning),¹²⁸In Verse 1 before us. you are to do it even a hundred times; ‘teshiveim’ (thou art to return them),¹²⁸In Verse 1 before us. even to his garden or deserted house” [i.e., the finder is not obligated to notify the owner that the article has been returned. The requirement that] return be made by [identification of the lost item and description of] its distinctive marks, and other matters are also derived from this section.

The rabbis interpreted (Brachot 19b), with regard to the laws of returning a lost object, it is stated: “You shall not see the ox of your brother or his sheep go astray and ignore them; return them to your brother” (Deuteronomy 22:1). The baraita explains that the seemingly extraneous expression and disregard them must be understood to give license that at times you disregard lost objects and at times you do not disregard them.

לא תראה את שור אחיך או את שיו נדחים, "You shall not see the ox of your brother or his sheep cast off, etc." This paragraph is an allusion to the need for the scholars to admonish the plain people in order for them to become the true people of the Lord. The term used by the Torah to describe these morally upright righteous people is אחים, brothers. I have already explained to you that this appellation is reserved for the finest group of individuals (compare Shemot Rabbah 52,5). It is these people whom G'd commanded that when they see an "ox" who is lost, i.e. a human being on a lesser moral level who is compared to a beast, to engage in rescuing him. The reason the Torah speaks of "ox and sheep" instead of donkeys, for instance, is that the Jewish people whom the Torah alludes to by the words "ox or sheep" are basically sacred, fit for the altar as opposed to such animals as the donkey. The word אחיך, "your brother," is a simile for G'd who "owns" all of us. The reason that Moses employs this unlikely sounding simile is that the Torah wanted to make plain to which one of His holy people the commandment to restore lost Jewish souls applies, i.e. to the righteous, the Torah scholars.

לא תראה את שור אחיך, “You shall not see (without helping) the ox of your brother, etc.” Nachmanides writes that this verse is necessary, seeing that elsewhere the Torah had written that: “you must restore the ox or donkey of your enemy when it is lost, you must restore it to him.” (Exodus 23,4) Moses now adds the expression נדחים, a different kind of dilemma that these animals find themselves in. You could have thought by reading Exodus 23,4 that all you have to do is point the erring animal in the right direction towards its owner. Here Moses goes beyond this, demanding that you ensure that the animal gets back safely to its master. This may, on occasion, involve far more time and effort on your part.

Avert your eyes as if you do not notice it. Because you cannot say [it means] that the person conceals from telling that he found them, because if so, if should have said “and conceal them,” which would imply that he is concealing [the fact] that he has them. But because it is written “and conceal yourself from them,” it implies that he conceals his eye from seeing it.

V. 1. לא תראה וגו׳. Die hier ausgesprochene Pflicht der Bergung und Zurückgabe eines dem Eigentümer verloren gegangenen Tieres, oder wie V. 3 die Bestimmung auf alle sonstigen in Verlust geratenen Güter erweitert wird, tritt nur ein, wenn, wie es hier von Tieren heißt: נדחים, wenn die Umstände keinen Zweifel darüber zulassen, dass das Tier verlaufen oder das Gut verloren sei. Erscheint es aber als hingelegt und mit Bewusstsein des Eigentümers an dem Fundort, oder selbst, wenn darüber Zweifel obwaltet, darf es nicht von dem Orte entfernt werden. Hat man es aber an sich genommen und sich so von dem Fundort entfernt, dass inzwischen der Eigentümer wieder hingekommen sein könnte, darf man es nicht wieder hinlegen, sondern hat es für den Eigentümer zu bergen und, wenn eine Legitimation desselben möglich (siehe V. 3), zur Öffentlichkeit zu bringen. כל ספק הינוח לכתחלה לא יטול ואם נטל לא יחזיר (B. M. 25 b; siehe ׳תוספו daselbst und nähere Bestimmungen Ch. M. 260, 10 Anm.).

לא תראה את אחיך או את שיו נדחים, “do not inactively watch the ox or sheep of your brother which has gone astray” (voluntarily or against its will); this law applies even in war time when you are on the way to the front; what applies to these categories of domestic animals applies to all categories of domestic beasts.

לא תראה … והתעלמת THOU SHALT NOT SEE … AND HIDE THYSELF [FROM THEM] — “thou shalt not see it, that thou hide thyself from it” (i.e. you see it only to hide thyself from it), this is the plain sense of the verse. Our Rabbis, however, said that the omission of the particle לא before the verb והתעלמת (one would expect כי תראה … לא תתעלם) suggests: There are times when you may hide yourself from it, etc. (Sifrei Devarim 225:4; Bava Metzia 30a).

You may not observe it, etc. Rashi is answering [a difficulty]: The verse seems to be saying, “Do not see, rather conceal, etc.,” which implies that one is permitted to conceal himself [and this is not so].

נדחים, "gone astray;" the word is used in a similar sense in Deut 4,19: "and you are drawn astray." Someone who violates G'd's commandments is considered as having gone astray. The Torah commands that we must not ignore such people but bring them back to one's "brother" i.e. to G'd. The reason the Torah repeats the instruction השב תשיבם, "you shall surely restore them" is that if you will make the first move in setting such people on the right path they will complete the journey back to G'd under their own steam.

For example, a respected elder for whom it is socially inappropriate [to chase after an ox, is exempt from this mitzvah.] And similarly, someone may be exempt in the manner described by the rabbis (Avot 4:18), "Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says...do not seek to see your friend at the time of their humiliation." For there is no distinction between physical or financial humiliation, they are equivalent in the circumstance when it is impossible to rescue them [from that humiliation] and return whatever it is that has wandered off.

Zu dem Satze והתעלמת מהם lehrt die Halacha: פעמים שאתה מתעלם ופעמים שאי אתה מתעלם daselbst 30 a), dass das Verbot לא תוכל להתעלם (V. 3) kein absolutes, sondern ein durch die Persönlichkeit des Findenden und die Natur des gefundenen Gegenstandes bedingtes sei, dass z. B. זקן ואינו לפי כבודו, ein angesehener Mann, der sein eigenes Vieh nicht heimtreiben, seinen eigenen Sack nicht heimtragen würde, dazu auch bei einem Funde des Nächstengutes nicht verpflichtet wäre. Es wird da, dem Anscheine nach, das והתעלמת aus seiner syntaktischen Verbindung mit לא תראה gelöst und als ein selbständiger bejahender Satz gedeutet. Näher erwogen, dürfte sich jedoch vielleicht folgendes ergeben. Es heißt nicht: כי תראה וגו׳ לא תתעלם מהם, in welchem Falle das לא תתעלם allerdings ein absolutes Verbot wäre und untersagen würde, sich der Hilfeleistung zu entziehen. Es heißt vielmehr לא תראה וגו׳ והתעלמת, womit das התעלם zu einer Modalität der ראיה und als solche untersagt wird: du darfst sie nicht mit "Dich-nicht-sehen-machen" sehen, darfst dich ihrem Anblick nicht entziehen, darfst dich ihnen gegenüber nicht verhalten, als sähest du sie nicht, als ginge dichs nicht an. Daraus fließt dann sofort: du hast zu tun, als ob es das deinige wäre, somit alles das zu leisten, was du auch bei dem deinigen tätest, wie denn auch in Wahrheit der Kanon lautet: כל שבשלו מחזיר בשל חברו נמי מחזיר וכל שבשלו פורק וטוען בשל חברו נמי פורק וטוען, was, wenn es das deine wäre, du heimbringen, ab- und aufladen würdest, das musst du auch dem Gute des Nächsten und dem Nächsten gegenüber tun (daselbst 30 b). Erwartet wird (daselbst) jedoch, dass charaktervolle Menschen zu rettendem Nächstengute und zu helfendem Nächsten gegenüber nicht bei der "Schnur der strengen Pflicht" stehen bleiben, sondern לפנים משורת הדין das leisten, was sie selbst bei dem eigenen Gute im eigenen Falle nicht tun würden, und dieses Mehrtun als streng genommen das Gesetz dem Nächsten gegenüber verpflichtet, wird gleichwohl als eine so ernste Forderung der Billigkeit und des sozialen Wohlwollens betrachtet, dass dort der bedeutsame Ausspruch niedergelegt ist: לא חרבה ירושלים אלא על שהעמידו דיניהם על דין תורה ולא עבדו לפנים משורת הדין, Jerusalem sei nur zu Grunde gegangen, weil sie im gegenseitigen Verhalten nur die Grundsätze des strengen Rechts und nicht die der Billigkeit und des menschenfreundlichen Wohlwollens hätten walten lassen (siehe auch daselbst 24 b ׳תוספו daselbst; siehe auch Schmot Kap. 18, 20).

והתעלמתם מהם, “and you blithely ignore them or hide from them;” you must not ignore their plight. The examples chosen by the Torah are animals that are too big for you to be able claim that you overlooked them as their owners hid them.

The Rabbis, however, comment: At times, you may conceal yourself, etc. In which case? If he is a kohein and there is a [lost] ox in a cemetery; or if he is an elder and it is not fitting for his honor.

ואם לא קרוב אחיך, "And if your brother is not near, etc." Here the Torah hints that it speaks of a period during our final exile, when we will be quite estranged to our Father in Heaven. The period described is the one of which Bileam spoke in Numbers 24,17 when he said: "I can see it but it is not near." The very fact that the redemption does not seem near at hand is apt to estrange the Jewish people to G'd. Even in the present generation the knowledge that the ultimate redemption is so far away undermines the people's faith in G'd. Nonetheless G'd commands ואספתו אל תוך ביתך, "you are to gather him inside your house." The house the Torah speaks of is the Torah academy, etc. There you will teach him the paths of Torah so that the light radiated by Torah study will save this person spiritually. This process will continue until G'd is placated and will claim him back, i.e. עד דרש אחיך אתו. The words והשבות לו, "and you will return it to him," mean that your concern for the straying Jew will be accounted for you as if you had rescued him from becoming totally lost.

This is what the text is referring to when it literally says, "Do not see the ox of your friend or the sheep that has wandered off," i.e. when they are so completely astray, that they might as well be submerged in the river. In such circumstances, [when the text literally says,] "you should ignore them", [it means that] it is necessary for you to conduct yourself as if you had not seen.

השב תשיבם לאחיך, selbst wiederholt החזירה וברחה החזירה וברחה אפי׳ ד׳ וה׳ פעמים חייב להחזירה (B. M. 30 b), und zwar läge nach daselbst 81 a die unbegrenzt wiederholte Verpflichtung schon in dem aoristischen Ausdruck השב, als Infinitiv. Die Beifügung תשיבם erweiterte nur den Begriff der השבה, dass es genüge, das Tier in einen geschützten Raum des Eigentümers zu bringen und die Pflicht nicht obliege, den Vorgang dem Eigentümer zum Bewusstsein zu bringen דלא בעינן דעת בעלים, eine Verpflichtung, die bei der Zurückgabe eines gestohlenen oder zur Hut anvertraut gewesenen Gutes allerdings obliegt, הכל צריכין דעת בעלים חוץ מהשבת אבדה שהתורה רבתה השבות הרבה (daselbst 31 a). Es ist bei diesen die Rückgabe noch nicht vollzogen und bleibt der Dieb oder der Hüter noch verantwortlich, bis das Wiedervorhandensein des zurückgebrachten Gutes dem Eigentümer zur Kenntnis gekommen, damit er es in gehörigen Gewahrsam nehmen könne, und zwar bei lebendem Gute selbst dann, wenn ihm die Abwesenheit gar nicht zum Bewusstsein gekommen war, weil inzwischen das Tier sich an andere Örtlichkeit gewöhnt hat הואיל ואינקטי נגרי ברייתא (B. K. 118 b wörtlich: es sind ihm Schritte nach außen angewöhnt worden).

השב תשיבם לאחיך, “you must make every effort to restore these animals to your brother.” The Torah is so serious about this demand that it repeats it with slightly different wording in the verse immediately following.

Alternatively, the meaning of the verse is that the Jewish people must engage the common people in the study of both halachah and Mussar, religious law and religious morals, until the day one dies, i.e. we are recalled by G'd. The Torah is particular about describing this as והשבת לו, to warn that if we remain inert in this matter we will be responsible for such people winding up in Hades instead of in the Eternal Life in the hereafter.

Certainly, when the verse says, "you must take it back", it is teaching us that if you have the means to take them back, if they are not so completely astray, but rather it is possible for you [individually] to return that which has wandered away, then you shall return them to your fellow; you are obligated to try to see, in order to rescue them.

וכן תעשה, "And similarly you shall do, etc." These additional examples of animals or objects gone "astray," are due to the fact that man is composed of three components. 1) the composition of the body ; 2) the spiritual part of man; 3) the part of Torah to which every Israelite is "betrothed." The Torah writes כן תעשה לחמרו, "so you shall do to his donkey" as a simile for the body. It writes כן תעשה לשמלתו, regarding the spiritual part of man; we have been told in Shabbat 152 that the spiritual part of man is called שמלה "garment," when the Talmud recounts a parable about a king who has given garments to his various servants. Finally, the Torah describes the part of Torah every Israelite is betrothed to as אבדה when our verse speaks of אבדת אחיך. In Kidushin 2 Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai tells a parable explaining why it is that although the Torah describes a betrothal as something initiated by a man the Talmud describes it as something happening to a woman, According to Rabbi Shimon the Torah considers that man when searching for a wife searches for a part he has lost, i.e. אבדה. It is not woman who has to search for what man had lost i.e. the "rib" G'd had taken from Adam when He created woman. Seeing man's betrothed is the Torah, he has to consider it as a lost object if he has strayed from the path of Torah. It therefore is part of our duty to ensure that this lost object is restored to all those Jews who have lost it.

לא תראה את חמור אחיך..נפלים בדרך, "You must not observe the donkey of your brother falling down, etc." This verse speaks of a state of estrangement from tradition which is far greater than that which the Torah spoke of when it referred to נדחים, "straying," in verse one of our chapter. The Torah warns that one must not use this degree of one's fellow's estrangement from G'd and the Torah as an excuse to remain aloof reasoning that any attempt to bring such people back to the fold would end in failure anyway. As long as the "fallen" Jew co-operates in efforts made to rehabilitate him, i.e. עמו, we are not allowed to ignore him; if; however, he refuses to co-operate in such attempts to lead him back into the fold we are allowed to leave him to his own devices. This is what Solomon had in mind when he wrote (Proverbs 9,8): "Do not rebuke a scoffer, for he will hate you."