Midrash sa Levitico 20:17: Pesikta DeRav Kahana, Sifra & Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

"Righteousness (tzedakah) elevates a people, and chesed to the nations is a sin" (Prov. 14:34).^*Note that the second clause can also be rendered, "sin is chesed to the nations." Although chesed usually means "kindness" (i.e., "kindness to the nations is a sin" or "sin is a kindness to the nations"), there is a secondary meaning of "reproach" or "shame," which indeed is how this verse is generally translated ("...and sin is a reproach to the nations"). As both meanings are employed here, this translation leaves "chesed" untranslated where the meaning is ambiguous. Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua and the Rabbanim: Rabbi Eliezer said, "Righteousness elevates a people" -- that is Israel. "And chesed to the nations is a sin" -- those [of other nations] who perform acts of kindness (chesedim), they bring sin to the nations, for they are [merely] aggrandizing themselves through [these acts]. Rabbi Yehoshua said, "Righteousness elevates a people" -- that is Israel. "And chesed to nations is a sin" -- it is pleasing (i.e., an act of kindness) to the nations of the world any time that Israel sin, for they return and enslave them. And Rabban Gamaliel says, "Righteousness elevates a people" -- that is Israel. "And chesed to the nations is a sin" -- an act of kindness that the nations of the world perform is a sin for them, for so did Daniel say to Nebuchadnezzar, "And let your sin [committed] through righteousness be broken off" (Dan. 4:24). Rabbi Elazar ben Arach says, "Righteousness elevates a people, and [so does] kindness (chesed)" -- that is Israel. But they (i.e., righteousness and kindness) are [considered] sinful to the nations of the world. Said Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai, I prefer the words of Elazar ben Arach to their words (cf. Avot 2:9), for he bestows [both] righteousness and kindness to Israel, and sinfulness to the nations of the world. Avin b'Rabbi Yehuda says, "Righteousness elevates a people" -- that is Israel. "And the reproach (chesed) of the nations is [brought about by] sin" -- Israel are the objects of reproach (chisudim; see Lev. 20:17) of the nations of the world when they engage in sin. For thus did Ravshakeh say to Hezekiah, "Did I now -- without Hashem -- come up upon this land [to destroy it? It is Hashem who said to me, 'Come up upon this land, and destroy it.']" (see 2 Kings 18:25). For thus [too] did Nebuzar'adan say to Jeremiah, "Now Hashem has brought and done unto you that which He spoke" (Jer. 40:3). The thing [that Hashem spoke of] is written [thereafter].^*"Because you (pl.) sinned against Hashem, and you did not hearken to His voice, this thing (i.e., the destruction) has come upon you" (Jer. 40:3). Rabbi Nechuniah ben HaKaneh says, "Righteousness elevates a people" -- that is Israel. "And kindness (chesed) to the nations is a sin" -- acts of kindness that the nations of the world perform, it is a sin to Israel. From where do you learn that? From Mesha -- "And Mesha the king of Moab was a noked (2 Kings 3:4). What is a "noked"? A shepherd. "And he delivered to the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs, and a hundred thousand woolly rams" (ibid.). What are "woolly rams"? Rabbi Abba bar Kahana says, "flocks of sheep" (p'rovitya). What did he do? He brought all of his astrologers and he said to them, "Should I wage war together with all the nations against Israel, and be victorious [along] with them, or should I wage war alone against Israel so that the victory is mine alone?" ^*The translation from "They replied" through "upon Israel" follows Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 5:5 (Berman tr.)They replied: “Israel had a patriarch called Abraham who was given a child when he was one hundred years old, and he offered him as a sacrifice.” He asked them: “Was the sacrifice completed?” “No,” they answered. He replied: “He offered a sacrifice that was not completed and yet He performed miracles for them, how many more miracles would He have performed if the sacrifice had been completed. Now, since I have a firstborn son who will rule in my stead, I shall offer him as a sacrifice, and perhaps a miracle will be performed in my behalf.” Hence it is written: "Then he took his eldest son that should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for a burnt-offering upon the wall, and there came a great wrath upon Israel" (2 Kings 3:27–28). "Upon the wall" is written -- for he would bow down to the wall. And what is written thereafter, "And there came a great wrath upon Israel." Said the Holy One Blessed be He to Israel, "My children, the nations of the world, who know not My power, rebel against Me, while you know My power, yet you [nonetheless] rebel against me." Said Rabbi Mana, were it not for the merit of the wife of Obadiah, Israel would have been destroyed at that time. What is the reason? "And one of the wives of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha saying, 'My husband was your servant, etc." (2 Kings 4:1).^*In other words, her righteousness and diligence in following the words of the Elisha caused the wrath of God to dissipate. ... And Rabbanim say, "Righteousness elevates, etc." -- through the generosity that Israel brought [gift-offerings] for the work of the Tabernacle and for the Tent of Meeting, a "suspended head (rosh)" (i.e., a suspended sentence) was granted to them through Moses, and [thus] it says, "When you will raise up the head (or 'take away [the guilt] from the head') of the Children of Israel, etc." (Ex. 30:12).

10) (Vayikra 20:17) ("And a man who takes his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother, and sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is chesed. And they shall be cut off before the eyes of their people. The nakedness of his sister he has revealed; he shall bear his sin.") "And a man": to exclude a minor. "who takes his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother": This tells me only of the daughter of his father, who is not the daughter of his mother, or the daughter of his mother, who is not the daughter of his father. Whence do I derive (for inclusion his sister) both from his father and from his mother? From (the repetition of) "his sister" — in any event. — But even without the repetition, I would derive it a fortiori, viz.: If he is liable for his sister from his father, who is not the daughter of his mother, and from his mother, who is not the daughter of his father, how much more so (is he liable for his sister) both from his father and from his mother! — But if you say this, you have punished by means of an a fortiori argument — wherefore it is written "his sister," to teach that there is no punishment by means of an a fortiori argument.

Rabbi Miasha said: Cain was born, and his wife, his twin-sister, with him. Rabbi Simeon said to him: Has it not already been said, "And if a man shall take his sister, his father's daughter, or his mother's daughter, and see her nakedness, and she see his nakedness; it is a shameful thing"? (Lev. 20:17). From these words know that there were no other women whom they could marry, and these were permitted to them, as it is said, "For I have said, The world shall be built up by love" (Ps. 89:2). With love was the world built up before the Torah had been given. Rabbi Joseph said: Cain and Abel were twins, as it is said, "And she conceived, and bare (with) Cain" (Gen. 4:1). At that hour she had an additional capacity for child-bearing (as it is said), "And she continued to bear his brother Abel" (Gen. 4:2).