ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף שמות 22:27

(1) Since Jacob did not recognise Reuben, the firstborn son of Leah as the rightful heir to a double portion of his estate,- although he had explained the reasons,- the Torah warns that other fathers must not act in a similar fashion. Should the firstborn son be a sorer umoreh, he loses much more than merely his share in the father's estate. Death for such a person is decreed "because of future developments." It is a preventive penalty, protecting both the son's relative innocence, and society against what would surely have led to greater calamities had such a teenager been allowed to grow up to maturity. (2) Since this is the general tenor in our attitude to the "glutton," the Torah calls him by that name. After all, the objective of thievery is to enable the thief to gratify his physical urges, gluttony amongst them. (3) It is natural for people to feel pity when they come upon a corpse hanging from a tree, and they are apt to curse the perpetrator of such a deed. Since, in this instance, such a curse may inadvertently be aimed at G'd by whose decree the slain person has been hung, the corpse is to be lowered by nightfall, so that those who had been unaware of the judicial execution that preceded the hanging, will not violate the commandment not to curse G'd. (Exodus 22,27) Up to this point, our Parshah lists a series of mitzvot which could be summed up under the heading "one sin brings another in its wake." Now the Torah switches direction, concentrating instead on such mitzvot of which the opposite principle, that of "one good deeds leads to another," holds true. The first in such a series is the commandment of restoring lost property to the loser. The Torah clearly discusses two distinct and separate possibilities here. Either the finder knows the owner of the lost object or animal, and is aware that the owner lives some distance away, or he is unaware who is the owner of the animal he found. At any rate, he must then keep the animal in trust for the owner. (4) The Torah makes the point that when the enemy's animal suffers by not being attended to at once, you must assist. This is the normal situation. Our sages elaborated that at all events one must assist the enemy's animal first, even when the friend's animal suffers by being unloaded later.

When all the trees are described as "pleasant to look at and good to eat," the two physically oriented life forces are referred to. The chomer and nefesh, raw material and animalistic life-force, are sustained by the intake of the fruit from all these trees. The four rivers emanating from the garden represent four forces at the command of man. 1) the Pishon, the urge to understand the why, wherefore, where, and when of rainfall and similar phenomena. All of these natural phenomena are constant testimony to the glory of their Creator; 2) Gichon, symbolizes the ability to understand the earth, i.e. farming and food production; 3) Chidekel, represents the ability to reason clearly, logically, and thereby arrive at the underlying reasons for things. It is an analytical ability. Prophecy uses this ability to divine higher truths; 4) Perat, the Euphratus, is the force that enables theological reasoning, philosophy. Many people drink from the waters of this river, some become enlightened by it, others intoxicated by it, are led astray spiritually.

The same applies to Jonathan, the son of Saul, who sought to do something that no wielder of sword and spear had ever done before — to smite, together with his arms-bearer, a great multitude, and also to pass through a narrow opening through which thousands upon thousands could not readily flee, as the verse testifies (I Samuel 14:4): "And between the passes…," and as is seen from his being constrained to move through the pass on his hands and feet. When it occurred to him to undertake this great act of heroism, he sought to know whether they [the Philistines] were courageous or fearful. If he found them to be courageous, he would not attempt it, but if he found them to be fearful, he would know their natures not to be predisposed to heroism. For the "movements" of fear and of heroism are opposites. The movement of fear is from the outside to the inside, whereas that of heroism is from the inside to the outside. The reason for the difference is that fear is engendered by thin, cool, watery blood. Because of its coolness and thinness, outward movement is difficult for it and movement from the outside to the inside easier. It is for this reason that it is quickly impressed by fear-inspiring objects. The movement of heroism, on the other hand, is engendered by thick, hot, non-sluggish blood, which in the abundance of its heat and thickness generates a strong current which facilitates its movement from inside to outside and renders its possessors insusceptible of fear and anxiety. These responses are foreign to those of heroic nature, for anxiety consists in the impression of the feared image upon the imagination, and those of heroic nature, because of the swiftness and strength of their impulse to revenge are invested with the image of its fulfillment, which image drives out that of danger. This is the intent of (Leviticus 19:14): "Do not curse the deaf." This is not limited to the deaf, for our sages have stated (Mechilta Mishpatim 19): "How do we know that all men are included? Because it is stated (Exodus 22:27): '…among your people do not curse.'" The intent is, rather, as follows: When the psyche is aroused to revenge upon the wronger in accordance with the image impressed upon the imagination, that arousal is not allayed until revenge has been taken commensurate with the image of the wrong affixed there, such compensation causing a remission of the arousal and the vanishing of the image from the imagination. Sometimes this compensation is achieved through curses and oaths alone, so that the arousal undergoes remission to the extent of the wrong's reverting to the wronger in the form of vilification. Sometimes, however, the wrong is more severe, so that the arousal is not allayed until it has taken the life of the wronger and cast it out of existence, this being its ultimate end. But there are other times when the psyche's arousal is too weak to demand punishment for the wronger (this because of the smallness of the wrong) and it is appeased by shouting (or, in the most extreme form, cursing) alone [i.e., even without the wronger's awareness]. So that lest we get the impression that the Torah forbade cursing a Jew only because of the suffering and pain he feels upon hearing himself cursed but that cursing a deaf man is not forbidden — lest we get this impression, the Torah informed us that it was solicitous not only of the man being cursed but also of the utterer of the curse — that he not accustom himself to the seeking of revenge and thus orient his nature to moderation. But this is, in fact, the characteristic feature of the heroic man, who is naturally oriented in this direction! Therefore, Jonathan sought to learn whether they were predisposed to heroism or to flight. And when he discovered that they were predisposed to fear and terror, he rose up against them, and wrought, and succeeded. This was not augury, but intellect probing "the way of the world." As to the statement: "Any augurer who is not like Eliezer, etc.," this is to be understood as meaning that anyone who does not place the same kind of implicit trust in forbidden augury as Eliezer and Jonathan placed in their stipulations in the realm of the permitted — any such person is not to be regarded as an augurer. And when Rav tested propitiousness by means of a ferry, he was not placing implicit trust in these tests.