Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Bilang 18:20

In the two verses quoted above Solomon informed us of the penalty for stealing from the poor. It is well known that there are four categories of people concerning whom the Torah has expressed especial concern, asking people to be merciful towards them and not to inflict any harm upon them. They are: the poor, the orphans, the widows and the proselytes. Indeed we find that the Torah expresses a warning against discrimination against the aforesaid in one and the same verse in Deuteronomy 16,14 where we read: ושמחת בחגיך, אתה ובנך ובתך ועבדך ואמתך והלוי והגר והיתום והאלמנה אשר בשעריך. “You are to rejoice on your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male servant and your maid servant, the proselyte, the orphan and the widow in your cities.”
Our sages as quoted by Rashi comment: “these four are Mine (G’d speaking). If you will give joy to those who are Mine, I will provide joy for those that are yours.” Mention of the Levites is equivalent to mentioning the poor as the Levites have no source of income other than the generosity of the Jewish farmer. G’d Himself is their portion as we read in Numbers 18,20 אני חלקך ונחלתך, “I am your share and your inheritance.” When the Torah legislated the treatment of the poor it did so both as a positive as well as a negative commandment. It is written (Deut. 15,10) נתון תתן, “you shall surely give (repeatedly),” (15,8) “and you shall repeatedly open your hand for him (the poor).” The negative counterpart of this commandment is found side by side (15,10), לא ירע לבבך בתתך לו, “your heart must not feel bad when you give him.” We also find another basic aspect of this commandment in Deut. 15,7 לא תאמץ את לבבך ולא תקפוץ את ידך מאחיך האביון, “do not harden your heart or close your hand against your destitute brother.”
Seeing that the Torah legislated against stealing altogether already in the Ten Commandments as well as in Leviticus 19, 19,13, there was no need to stress a prohibition against stealing from the poor. The instruction to give to the poor would have been sufficient to make it plain that it is forbidden to steal from the poor instead of giving to the poor. The fact that the Torah nonetheless writes words prohibiting this prompted Solomon to tell us that the penalty for stealing from the poor is far harsher than that for stealing from ordinary people. It was not Solomon’s habit to repeat commandments which have been spelled out in the Torah already and to simply repeat them in his volume משלי, Proverbs. Whenever he does so, he does so only in order to reveal an additional dimension to such a commandment. After all, who is so great that he could arrogate to himself to add to the Torah something Moses had not already thought of or been told by G’d to write down? Solomon, in common with later sages, only added “fences” to the Torah, i.e. warned against conduct which might lead to infringing Biblical commandments. This is why he said: “do not steal from the poor because he is poor,” i.e. stealing from him is so commonplace seeing that the poor is defenseless, that we must be warned not to exploit his weakness. The poor does not have protagonists such as the rich have. Everybody hates the poor and keeps his distance from him, even his relatives. This is why Solomon emphasises that the temptation to steal from the poor is great precisely “because he is poor.” Solomon therefore warns us not to think that because the poor do not have defenders of flesh and blood that they are without recourse. On the contrary, G’d Himself is their advocate and will see to it that they do not suffer because they are being exploited due to their poverty. He will go out of His way to administer punishment to anyone who steals from the poor. Contrary to the penalty for thieves who do not steal from the poor specifically, whose penalty the Torah expressed in terms of financial restitution and penal charges, someone who steals from the poor will endure chastisement of body and soul. This is the meaning of the words וקבע את קובעיהם נפש, “he will put in their places those who have tried to put the poor in their place.”
The Torah warns us in many places not to disadvantage orphans and widows, i.e. כל אלמנה ויתום לא תענון, ”do not oppress any orphan or widow” (Exodus 22,21). Our sages in the Mechilta comment on this verse: “even the widow of a king (presumably wealthy and influential) is included in this commandment.” The same applies to children of a king left orphaned. The reason is that in spite of their financial resources, the state of mind of such widows and orphans is one of melancholy and they are apt to cry at the slightest provocation. It is unfortunately a fact of life that people do take advantage of orphans and widows. The Torah goes on to say: אם ענה תענה אותם.....והרגתי אתכם בחרב והיו נשיכם אלמנות ובניכם יתומים, “if indeed you will persecute them..then I will kill you and your wives will become widows and your children orphans.” The Torah conditions this harsh punishment on the assumption that the victim cried out to G’d for vengeance. Generally speaking, people faced with unfair treatment put their faith in seeking recourse from a human tribunal. The orphan and widow have no other recourse than G’d Himself. This is why G’d listens specifically to their outcries and fights their battles for them.
Solomon also addresses the plight of orphans and widows in this chapter, and this is why he said (Proverbs 23,10-11) אל תסג גבול עולם, ובשדי יתומים אל תבא. כי גואלם חזק. הוא יריב את ריבם אתך. “Do not remove ancient boundary marks; do not encroach upon the field of orphans. For they have a powerful redeemer; he will fight their battles against you.”
The Torah also takes up the plight of the proselytes (strangers, immigrants to the land of Israel) on many occasions For instance, we find in Exodus 22,20 וגר לא תונה ולא תלחצנו כי גרים הייתם בארץ מצרים. “And do not taunt or oppress a stranger (convert) for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” The Torah cites an additional reason for treating the proselyte fairly when it writes (Exodus 23,9) כי אתם ידעתם את נפש הגר, “for you are familiar with the mentality of the stranger.” Significantly, the Torah did not speak of your “knowing the stranger,” but of your being familiar with נפש הגר, the soul, the mentality of the stranger. You know that the mentality of strangers is one of feeling subdued, humbled, etc., so that his eyes are constantly turned towards G’d seeing he lacks in self-confidence.
The Talmud (Baba Metzia 58) speaks of the prohibition of reminding a proselyte or even his son of his former deeds or the deeds of his father. When such a proselyte comes to study Torah one is not to say to him: “ how can the mouth which used to enjoy all manner of forbidden foods presume to qualify to study the holy Torah.” The reminder of the Torah that when the Jewish people were still enslaved in Egypt their status was not superior to the recent proselyte is an example of the Rabbinic dictum מום שבך אל תאמר לחברך, “do not speak to your fellow man about a blemish as long as you yourself are afflicted with a similar blemish.” (Baba Metzia 59). In fact we find that the righteous themselves are referred to as גרים, strangers, the expression גר being derived from גרגיר, something that has been separated from its origin. The righteous is in the habit of viewing himself as distinctive, a loner, in the sense that he is different from the majority. For instance, he does not view his residence on this earth as something other than temporary. This is what King David had in mind when he said (Psalms 119,19) “I am only a stranger on earth, do not hide Your commandments from me.” He viewed himself as a tourist who has already been invited to commence a journey though he does not know the time of departure. Seeing that he does not know when he will depart, he must accumulate provisions for his journey to guard against a sudden and unprepared departure. What do these “provisions” consist of? The observance of G’d’s commandments. This is what David meant when he asked G’d not to hide His commandments from him. We also note that all of the patriarchs have been referred to as גרים on different occasions. Avraham said of himself (Genesis 23,4) “I am a stranger or a resident stranger amongst you” when he prepared to buy a burial ground for Sarah. Yitzchak was commanded by G’d to remain in the land of Canaan during the famine, albeit as a stranger. The wording is גור בארץ הזאת, “sojourn in this land on a temporary basis” (Genesis 26,3). Yaakov is referred to as a stranger in our verse (first verse of our portion וישב) as well as in Genesis 47,4 and when he described his long stay at Lavan’s as that of a stranger in Genesis 32,5.

כאשר דבר לו AS HE SPOKE TO HIM i.e., to Aaron [saying],“You shall not inherit in their land… I am your portion [and your inheritance, among the children of Israel].”- (Numbers 18:20)

V. 2. Aus der Mischna (Menachot 78a) erfahren wir, daß המילואים היו באין כמצה שבתודה חלות רקיקין ורבוכה, daß die hier genannten Brotarten den Wajikra 7, 12 beim Dankopfer vorgeschriebenen drei Arten ungesäuerten Brotes entsprechen. Es sind dies: חלות ,רבוכה und רבוכה .רקיקין, hier לחם מצות, V. 23 und Wajikra 8, 26 חלת לחם שמן, genannt, war ein Kunstbrot. Alle drei Bereitungsarten: Kochen, (חליטה, eigentlich: Brühen mit siedendem Wasser), Backen (אפיה) und Braten (טיגון), wurden, nachdem es mit Öl angeknetet war, zu seiner Herstellung verwendet. Es kam auch doppelt so viel Öl dazu, als zu jeder der beiden anderen Arten: רביעית לוג לרבוכה שמינית לחלות שמינית לרקיקין. Die Bereitung war somit reicher und künstlicher. Sie war dieselbe wie die der täglichen חביתי כהן גדול. (Wajikra 6, 13 u.14). — Das בלולה בשמן ist daher wohl auch auf ולחם מצות zu beziehen. חלות מצות בלולת בשמן, das ככר לחם des V. 23, waren in der Bereitung und im Ölgehalt einfacher. Sie wurden mit dem halben Quantum Öl geknetet und einfach im Ofen gebacken. Noch einfacher waren רקיקין, es waren dünne Mazzot, die nach dem Backen mit Öl bestrichen wurden. Alle drei waren מצה, ungesäuert, trügen daher den Stempel der Unselbständigkeit, sie waren Dienstbrot, in Unterordnung unter Gott und in seinem Dienste von ihm gewährtes Brot. (Siehe zu Kap. 12, 18.) Wie aber im תודה, zum Ausdruck einer besonderen, Gott zu verdankenden Rettung und Beglückung, zu der geretteten und beglückten Persönlichkeit (קרבן) auch im Mazzaölbrot die materielle Wohlfahrt, Nahrung und Wohlstand der geretteten und beglückten Persönlichkeit als dasjenige Moment hinzutritt, in welchem sich die Rettung und Beglückung größtenteils manifestiert, oder welches doch die Fortdauer des beglückenden Zustandes wesentlich bedingt: so tritt auch hier zu dem im איל מלואים den mit der Kohanimwürde verbundenen Vorzügen zu gewährenden Ausdruck auch das Moment materieller Nahrung und Wohlstandes mit hinzu, in welchem diese Vorzüge ihre konkreteste Verwirklichung finden. Ist doch der Kohen hinsichtlich seiner Existenz ganz auf die mit seinem Amte verbundenen Einkünfte hingewiesen. Spricht doch Gott zu Aaron: "Am Lande der Nation sollst du kein Erbteil nehmen und keinen Anteil in ihrer Mitte haben, Ich bin dein Anteil und dein Erbe in Mitte der Söhne Israels" (Bamidbar 18, 20). Es war aber dieser Anspruch durchaus kein direkter. Außer den von den Opfern den ministrierenden Kohanim überwiesenen Teilen hatte kein Kohen ein bestimmtes Anrecht auf ein bestimmtes Einkommen. Die vom Volke und den Leviten zu beziehenden Spenden konnten von diesen jedem ihnen beliebigen Kohen zugewendet werden, ja, diese Spenden waren zum Teil, wie תרומה und חלה rein symbolischer Natur und konnten gesetzlich, מדאוריתא, mit einem Minimum erledigt werden. Es war somit die Existenz, geschweige der Wohlstand des Kohen ganz auf das Wohlwollen des Volkes hingewiesen und von dem Grade bedingt, in welchem durch die Persönlichkeit des Kohen das göttliche Wort zur leuchtenden Erscheinung ward, und in welchem dieses Göttliche überhaupt im Volke Anerkennung und Hochschätzung fand. Wir begreifen daher, wie der mit der Kohanimwürde verbundene Anteil an irdischen Gütern in verschiedener Abstufung, רקיקין ,חלות ,לחם שמן zum Ausdruck gelangen konnte, und meinen, daß eben durch diese drei verschiedenen Mazzaölbrote, vom ölreichen Kunstmazzabrote bis zur einfachen mit Öl bestrichenen Mazza, dem in Amt und Würde einzusetzenden Aaronsstamme die ernste Warnung zu beherzigen gegeben ward, die mit seiner Amtswürde verbundenen Rechte nicht als Mittel zu irgend einer Üppigkeit zu missbrauchen, vielmehr sich mit der רקיק מצה משוח בשמן ganz so als איל beglückt zu fühlen, wie mit dem reichen לחם שמן und sich mit dem letztern ebenso als מצה, als im Dienste Gottes und in Unterordnung unter den göttlichen Willen zu fühlen, wie mit dem einfachen, Dasein und Kraft versorgenden Brote, überhaupt mit seiner ganzen bürgerlichen Existenz und auf jeder Stufe derselben nicht den מצה-Begriff und מצה: Geist zu verlieren. —