Комментарий о цитате к Йешайау 56:11

A Kabbalistic approach: “what does the whetting of a dog’s tongue have to do with the plague of the dying of the firstborn?” It is a well known fact that the dog is a totally materialistically oriented animal which is never satiated. Isaiah 56,11 confirmed this when he said: “moreover the dogs are greedy; they never know satiety.” The greed of the destroyer (Satan) is similarly never satiated. Proverbs 30,15 describes him as הב, הב, “constantly demanding: “give! give!” Seeing that the animal which died of natural causes as well as the one which was torn by wild beasts (נבלה וטרפה) died due to the power of said “destroyer,” the Torah commanded to throw such carcasses to the dogs (compare Exodus 22,30) so that two species of the same category should meet. This is the mystical dimension of our verse here. Seeing that it is the nature of the dog to constantly attack and cause damage, it was appropriate that just as the celestial destroyer (Satan, the angel of death) did not attack the Jewish firstborn so its terrestrial counterpart would not make any threatening noises either. The tongue is characteristic of the original serpent which inflicted its damage upon the world and upon man by the indiscriminate use of its tongue. This is why the tongue of the dog is singled out by the Torah in this connection.
The most concentrated power of the destroyer is emanated to it by the attribute of Justice which killed all the firstborn of Egypt. This attribute is at its most powerful at midnight. This is why the dying of the firstborn had to occur at midnight. The Torah informs you here by inference that the dogs used to bark halfway through the second משמרת, “watch” (out of a total of three) of the night. In other words, it was customary for the dogs to bark at midnight. This was the time when the angel of death would normally reap its harvest in Egypt. Baba Kama 60 states that when the dogs wail it is a sign that the angel of death has arrived at that time. On the other hand, when the dogs make happy sounds it is proof that the prophet Elijah has arrived in that town (in the absence of bitches). We have a further statement in Berachot 50 that the night watch is to be divided into three sections. During the first watch the donkey brays, a sign of the attribute of Mercy, kindness. (The donkey was never mentioned by name until the advent of Avraham who represents the attribute of loving kindness). During the second watch the dogs bark; this is an allusion to the presence of the attribute of Justice. During the third watch a wife engages in intimate talk with her husband and the infant suckles at the breast of its mother. This is an allusion that this is the time G’d arranges the livelihood for every creature at this hour.
Solomon alluded to this in his famous poem אשת חיל (Proverbs 31,10-31). He wrote (verse 15) “she rose when it is still night and supplied provisions for her household and the daily fare for her maids.” The “infant” mentioned in Berachot is a reference to the universe at large, i.e. G’d’s “infant.” The “breast of its mother” is a reference to the conversation between wife and husband. Our verse here tells us that at the same hour when the dogs were barking at the Egyptians, not a single one barked at an Israelite. The Torah added: “in order that you shall know that Hashem will have differentiated between Egypt and Israel.”

באמת איש; according what the Refaim had adopted as their standard cubit, i.e. a much longer one than that of average sized citizens. Such subjective, as opposed to standard. measurements, are mentioned in Isaiah 56,11 where the prophet speaks of איש לבצעו מקצהו, “every one has done his own thing.” The word איש also occurs describing such individual feats in Kings I 20,20 ויכו איש אישו, “each man struck the opponent facing him.” There are other verses in which the word איש does not mean “man,” but is a simile for the individual nature of something, No doubt there were many “cubits” other than the one described here as 9 times the length of the cubit of an average sized individual. The reason the Torah relates this historically hardly important information is to impress the reader with the extraordinary size of these Refaim. The strength of such giants can be imagined once we are aware of their size. The fact that the Ammonites had been able to defeat a nation whose warriors were of such proportions gives us a clear indication that it must have been G’d’s will that they were able to do so. (compare our commentary on 2,21).

HATING UNJUST GAIN. “Men who disdain their own money in a law-suit, just as we say:¹¹⁵Baba Bathra 58b. ‘Any judge from whom money is collected by a judgment is not qualified as a judge.’” Thus Rashi’s language. By this, Rashi meant to explain that they disdain all money which they know can be collected from them by law, and return it themselves even though it is truly theirs, such as the case wherein one bought a slave without witnesses,¹¹⁶And the owner comes to reclaim him. Now even though the slave is rightfully the buyer’s, the latter knows that because he has no witnesses who can attest to the sale, the original owner will regain possession of the slave in a law-suit. The buyer therefore voluntarily returns the slave to the original owner. See my Hebrew commentary, p. 381, as to why Ramban mentioned such a specific case. or a similar example.
But the text in the Mechilta is not so, [i.e., as Rashi commented]. Rather, this is the way it is taught there:¹¹⁷Mechilta on the verse here. “‘Hating unjust gain. I.e., those who, when sitting in judgment, disdain to accept money.’ These are the words of Rabbi Yehoshua. Rabbi Eleazar of Modi’im says: ‘Hating unjust gain. I. e., those who disdain their own money. If they disdain their own money, how much more will they despise the money of their friends!’” The explanation [of this text of the Mechilta] is that Rabbi Yehoshua interprets the expression hating ‘botza’ as meaning “hating bribery,” the usage of the word [betza] being similar to: Every one is greedy for ‘botza’ (gain);¹¹⁸Jeremiah 6:13. Each one ‘l’bitzo’ (to his gain), one and all.¹¹⁹Isaiah 56:11. Rabbi Eleazar of Modi’im explained that hating ‘botza’ means that they despise abundance of money and have no desire to increase their silver and gold, something like the verse, If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much.¹²⁰Job 31:25. Money [or profit] is called betza [in Hebrew]: What ‘betza’ (profit) is it if we slay our brother?¹²¹Genesis 37:26. Is it any ‘betza’ (gain) to Him, that thou makest thy ways blameless?¹²²Job 22:3. And thou shalt devote ‘bitz’am (their gain) unto the Eternal, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.¹²³Micah 4:13.
Again, I have seen in the Yelamdeinu:¹²⁴See Sifre, Devarim 17. For the name Yelamdeinu, see Seder Bo, Note 196. “Hating unjust gain [means] those who disdain their own money, and needless to say, they disdain the money of others. They are the ones who say, ‘Even if this man will burn my stack, even if he will destroy my plants, I will render judgment correctly.’” This is the intent of Rabbi Eleazar of Modi’im, who said that they disdain their own money, meaning that they pay no regard to their property when sitting in judgment, that is, if they will suffer a loss of money on account of it. Moses further admonished them on this, saying, Ye shall not be afraid of the face of any man.¹²⁵Deuteronomy 1:17. [Thus according to the Yelamdeinu], betza means money, as I have explained. Onkelos rendered it: “those who hate to receive money.” But the word “money,” [as Onkelos uses it], does not mean a bribe, [which of course is forbidden in itself]. It means rather that they should never accept money from people as a gift or loan, so that they should show them no favoritism at the time of judgment. It is similar to what the Rabbis have said:¹²⁶Kethuboth 105b. “A judge who is in the habit of borrowing things [from his neighbors] is forbidden to act as judge in a law-suit involving them.”
In line with the plain meaning of Scripture, men of truth, hating ‘botza’, means those who love the truth and hate “oppression.” When they see oppression and violence, they cannot tolerate them, their whole desire being only to deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor.¹²⁷Jeremiah 21:12.