וְנִגְלָ֥ה בְאָזְנָ֖י יְהוָ֣ה צְבָא֑וֹת אִם־יְ֠כֻפַּר הֶעָוֺ֨ן הַזֶּ֤ה לָכֶם֙ עַד־תְּמֻת֔וּן אָמַ֛ר אֲדֹנָ֥י יְהוִ֖ה צְבָאֽוֹת׃ (פ)
און גאָט פֿון צבֿאות האָט זיך אַנטפּלעקט אין מײַנע אױערן: אױב די דאָזיקע זינד װעט אײַך פֿאַרגעבן װערןביז איר װעט שטאַרבן! האָט געזאָגט דער האַר, גאָט פֿון צבֿאות.
Rabbeinu Bahya
Our sages of old considered the sin of submitting inter-Jewish disputes to gentile jurisdiction as consisting of a number of violations of the Torah. The author proceeds to illustrate this by means of an example:
It is generally admitted that murder is one of the most severe offenses that man can commit and the Torah punishes it severely. It is a facet of the seven Noachide commandments concerning which the Torah wrote that he who spills the blood of a human being will have his own blood spilled by the hands of humans (Genesis 9,6). Sanhedrin 37 points out that by killing a single human being, very often all his potential offspring is also “killed,” i.e. prevented from ever being born. In other words, it is impossible to know the number of potential human beings who are denied life through the murder of a single human being. There was a time when Adam was the only inhabitant of the universe. Had someone, even an animal, killed him at that stage the human race would have been wiped out through a single act of murder. This puts into perspective the famous saying of our sages that anyone who kills a single human being is viewed as if he had murdered a whole world full of human beings (Sanhedrin 37). The reverse is true of someone who saves the life of even a single person. By doing so, he may be equivalent to saving the entire human race. All of this brings home to you the enormity of the crime of killing a single human being without due process of law. In spite of the severity of the crime of murder, the crime of robbery and desecration of the Holy Name of G’d is considered as even more serious. The sin of murder is subject to forgiveness if the murderer repents truly as we know from Kayin who murdered his brother Hevel and who repented and was forgiven (compare Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer who takes the words (Genesis 4,13: “my guilt is too heavy to bear” as proof of Kayin’s repentance). Not so the sin of robbery. Repentance does not wipe out the sin of robbery unless the robber had first restored the property in question to the victim. If no restitution is made his sin will never be forgiven. The same applies to the sin of desecrating the name of the Lord. This is a sin more serious than any of those punishable by death at the hands of a human tribunal or even at the hands of G’d, i.e. karet. Our sages (Yuma 86) state that if someone is guilty of a sin for which the death penalty by execution or karet is mandatory (but has not been carried out) and the sinner has repented and Yom Kippur has passed before he died or has been executed, (if there were no witnesses, or similar) then his repentance may achieve a suspended sentence and the afflictions he suffers in this world may eventually wipe out his guilt. If, however, he is guilty of desecrating the name of the Lord, none of these measures will help him achieve atonement. Only his death may eventually atone for his sin. Our sages base this on Isaiah 22,14: “then the Lord of Hosts revealed to my ears; this iniquity shall never be forgiven you until you die.” Anyone who submits inter-Jewish disputes to a gentile tribunal thereby becomes guilty (at least inadvertently) of both the sin of robbery and the sin of desecrating the Lord’s name (whose judges he rejected by implying that G’d’s justice is defective). By going to pagan judges to seek justice one enhances the reputation of pagan religions and their deities in whose name justice is meted out.
The Torah (Deut. 32,31 ) has said: “for their Rock is not like our Rock, yet our enemies judge us.” The Torah means: “when our enemies act as our judges.” Anyone who voluntarily chooses non-Jewish courts and has read the passage we cited displays drunkenness and total confusion in his thinking. This is what Isaiah 29,9 had in mind when he spoke of: ”they are drunk but not from wine, they stagger but not from liquor.” People who act in this manner abandon primary pillars of Judaism in the hope of securing or retaining secondary values (the money or property under dispute). This is considered robbery in the true sense of the word. David (Psalms 16,4) had this to say about this kind of behavior: ירבו עצבותם אחר מהרו, “those who have other gods will suffer many afflictions for the sake of mohar, financial gain” (compare Rashi on that verse).
Turning to non-Jewish courts is also considered an act of robbery. One commits unknowingly complete robbery if he is awarded money or property by that court. Seeing the recipient of such a reward considers the money so obtained as rightfully his, he will never restore it to the true owner and will remain guilty of this act of robbery. This is why he will never be forgiven.
Concerning the word תשים, “you will place,” an unusual word to say the least, this is to teach the judges to whom this paragraph is primarily addressed, to explain the basis for their judgment to the litigants. They have to explain which proof convinced them to rule as they did. Our sages (Sanhedrin 31) say that the word תשים is equivalent to the loser telling the judge: “please write down for me on the basis of which halachah in the Torah you have decided in favor of my adversary.”
It is generally admitted that murder is one of the most severe offenses that man can commit and the Torah punishes it severely. It is a facet of the seven Noachide commandments concerning which the Torah wrote that he who spills the blood of a human being will have his own blood spilled by the hands of humans (Genesis 9,6). Sanhedrin 37 points out that by killing a single human being, very often all his potential offspring is also “killed,” i.e. prevented from ever being born. In other words, it is impossible to know the number of potential human beings who are denied life through the murder of a single human being. There was a time when Adam was the only inhabitant of the universe. Had someone, even an animal, killed him at that stage the human race would have been wiped out through a single act of murder. This puts into perspective the famous saying of our sages that anyone who kills a single human being is viewed as if he had murdered a whole world full of human beings (Sanhedrin 37). The reverse is true of someone who saves the life of even a single person. By doing so, he may be equivalent to saving the entire human race. All of this brings home to you the enormity of the crime of killing a single human being without due process of law. In spite of the severity of the crime of murder, the crime of robbery and desecration of the Holy Name of G’d is considered as even more serious. The sin of murder is subject to forgiveness if the murderer repents truly as we know from Kayin who murdered his brother Hevel and who repented and was forgiven (compare Pirke d'Rabbi Eliezer who takes the words (Genesis 4,13: “my guilt is too heavy to bear” as proof of Kayin’s repentance). Not so the sin of robbery. Repentance does not wipe out the sin of robbery unless the robber had first restored the property in question to the victim. If no restitution is made his sin will never be forgiven. The same applies to the sin of desecrating the name of the Lord. This is a sin more serious than any of those punishable by death at the hands of a human tribunal or even at the hands of G’d, i.e. karet. Our sages (Yuma 86) state that if someone is guilty of a sin for which the death penalty by execution or karet is mandatory (but has not been carried out) and the sinner has repented and Yom Kippur has passed before he died or has been executed, (if there were no witnesses, or similar) then his repentance may achieve a suspended sentence and the afflictions he suffers in this world may eventually wipe out his guilt. If, however, he is guilty of desecrating the name of the Lord, none of these measures will help him achieve atonement. Only his death may eventually atone for his sin. Our sages base this on Isaiah 22,14: “then the Lord of Hosts revealed to my ears; this iniquity shall never be forgiven you until you die.” Anyone who submits inter-Jewish disputes to a gentile tribunal thereby becomes guilty (at least inadvertently) of both the sin of robbery and the sin of desecrating the Lord’s name (whose judges he rejected by implying that G’d’s justice is defective). By going to pagan judges to seek justice one enhances the reputation of pagan religions and their deities in whose name justice is meted out.
The Torah (Deut. 32,31 ) has said: “for their Rock is not like our Rock, yet our enemies judge us.” The Torah means: “when our enemies act as our judges.” Anyone who voluntarily chooses non-Jewish courts and has read the passage we cited displays drunkenness and total confusion in his thinking. This is what Isaiah 29,9 had in mind when he spoke of: ”they are drunk but not from wine, they stagger but not from liquor.” People who act in this manner abandon primary pillars of Judaism in the hope of securing or retaining secondary values (the money or property under dispute). This is considered robbery in the true sense of the word. David (Psalms 16,4) had this to say about this kind of behavior: ירבו עצבותם אחר מהרו, “those who have other gods will suffer many afflictions for the sake of mohar, financial gain” (compare Rashi on that verse).
Turning to non-Jewish courts is also considered an act of robbery. One commits unknowingly complete robbery if he is awarded money or property by that court. Seeing the recipient of such a reward considers the money so obtained as rightfully his, he will never restore it to the true owner and will remain guilty of this act of robbery. This is why he will never be forgiven.
Concerning the word תשים, “you will place,” an unusual word to say the least, this is to teach the judges to whom this paragraph is primarily addressed, to explain the basis for their judgment to the litigants. They have to explain which proof convinced them to rule as they did. Our sages (Sanhedrin 31) say that the word תשים is equivalent to the loser telling the judge: “please write down for me on the basis of which halachah in the Torah you have decided in favor of my adversary.”
Rabbeinu Bahya
A kabbalistic approach: the word יחי in the line refers to life in the hereafter. The words ואל ימות refer to what would happen to Reuven as part of the system of the transmigration of souls, in order to spare him having to die a second time. This is the meaning of Onkelos’ translation of the words ואל ימות, i.e. יחי ראובן לחיי עלמא ומותא תנינא לא ימות. Onkelos revealed to us here that there is a transmigration of souls when the souls of people who committed certain sins reappear in another body to rehabilitate themselves by a second circuit of physical life on earth. This occurs after they had already once received their reward or punishment in the hereafter after having died, (separated from the body which housed them originally).
This is a concept which is not hard to understand when one considers that the cycles of Shemittah years are something which repeat themselves time and again. A soul returns to a new habitat on earth after having received its initial judgment for how it performed on earth the first time around. [The “shemittah” cycles the author refers to are not the seven year cycles on terrestrial earth we are familiar with, but the cycles of seven times 7,000 years each of which contains as the last one thousand years a period of metamorphosis for the universe, At the end of the 49,000 years an absolutely perfect terrestrial universe will emerge. The author has referred to this in detail repeatedly, the first time on Genesis 2,3 on the words אשר ברא אלו-הים לעשות. Ed.]
According to many views expressed by our sages, this metamorphosis is what is known as תחיית המתים, commonly translated as “resurrection of the dead (bodies).” [The authorities who interpret the concept in the manner we just described base themselves primarily on Isaiah 22,14. They find support for this in the way Targum Yonathan renders that verse in Isaiah. Ed.]
In the Talmud Taanit 2 there is a debate concerning whether rain should already be mentioned in our Amidah prayer on the first day of Sukkot or whether one should wait until the last day of that festival. One of the arguments in favour of the former view is the fact that we mention the resurrection of the dead every day of the year in that prayer, although surely, the time for this event to occur is not daily? It is suggested that an event which could conceivably occur at any time qualifies for such mention in our daily prayers. At any rate, according to a view in the Jerusalem Talmud Yuma 8,7 the verse in Isaiah refers to the second death of the persons referred to (who deny that there is life after death). Their punishment will be that they will not participate in the ultimate resurrection.
At any rate, considering both the comments of Onkelos in our verse and those of Targum Yonathan in Isaiah, it appears that the words of Moses about the tribe of Reuven are a prayer that they should live long enough so as not to need a second round of physical life on earth to rehabilitate themselves. [I wonder whether all this is in view of the tribe of Reuven and the other one and a half tribes on the East Bank of the Jordan having being the first ones to be exiled and being lost to the קהלת יעקב, Ed.]
You will find that David has some very specific comments on the subject of resurrection, transformation of souls, the hereafter, etc. Compare Psalms 103, 3-5: “He forgives all your sins, heals all your diseases. He redeems your life from the Pit, crowns you with steadfast love and compassion. He satisfies you with good things (jewelry?) in the prime of life, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” David mentions a number of experiences which occur after the initial death of the body. Forgiveness of sins; healing of diseases in the second round, a redemption from the grave. All this proves that something happens after death. Subsequently, David describes the goodness the people who have been resurrected will be surrounded with by G’d. The word תעטרני, “You will crown me,” appears to speak of an abstract experience in the disembodied life in the hereafter where one experiences the radiation of G’d’s brilliance, זיו השכינה in the parlance of our sages. This is followed by renewed youth, i.e. life in a body on terrestrial earth.
It is significant that the five stages of existence dealt with by David in the three verses we quoted from psalm 103, all end with the letter י, i.e. עוניכי, תחלואיכי, חייכי, המעטרכי, נעוריכי, “your guilt, your disease, your life, your crown, your youth.” These letters י are not part of the nouns in question and have been added by David to allude to certain concepts involved here. They refer to the five names (levels) by which the soul is known. They are נפש, רוח, נשמה, יחידה, חיה. [I have listed them in ascending order. Ed.]
This is a concept which is not hard to understand when one considers that the cycles of Shemittah years are something which repeat themselves time and again. A soul returns to a new habitat on earth after having received its initial judgment for how it performed on earth the first time around. [The “shemittah” cycles the author refers to are not the seven year cycles on terrestrial earth we are familiar with, but the cycles of seven times 7,000 years each of which contains as the last one thousand years a period of metamorphosis for the universe, At the end of the 49,000 years an absolutely perfect terrestrial universe will emerge. The author has referred to this in detail repeatedly, the first time on Genesis 2,3 on the words אשר ברא אלו-הים לעשות. Ed.]
According to many views expressed by our sages, this metamorphosis is what is known as תחיית המתים, commonly translated as “resurrection of the dead (bodies).” [The authorities who interpret the concept in the manner we just described base themselves primarily on Isaiah 22,14. They find support for this in the way Targum Yonathan renders that verse in Isaiah. Ed.]
In the Talmud Taanit 2 there is a debate concerning whether rain should already be mentioned in our Amidah prayer on the first day of Sukkot or whether one should wait until the last day of that festival. One of the arguments in favour of the former view is the fact that we mention the resurrection of the dead every day of the year in that prayer, although surely, the time for this event to occur is not daily? It is suggested that an event which could conceivably occur at any time qualifies for such mention in our daily prayers. At any rate, according to a view in the Jerusalem Talmud Yuma 8,7 the verse in Isaiah refers to the second death of the persons referred to (who deny that there is life after death). Their punishment will be that they will not participate in the ultimate resurrection.
At any rate, considering both the comments of Onkelos in our verse and those of Targum Yonathan in Isaiah, it appears that the words of Moses about the tribe of Reuven are a prayer that they should live long enough so as not to need a second round of physical life on earth to rehabilitate themselves. [I wonder whether all this is in view of the tribe of Reuven and the other one and a half tribes on the East Bank of the Jordan having being the first ones to be exiled and being lost to the קהלת יעקב, Ed.]
You will find that David has some very specific comments on the subject of resurrection, transformation of souls, the hereafter, etc. Compare Psalms 103, 3-5: “He forgives all your sins, heals all your diseases. He redeems your life from the Pit, crowns you with steadfast love and compassion. He satisfies you with good things (jewelry?) in the prime of life, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” David mentions a number of experiences which occur after the initial death of the body. Forgiveness of sins; healing of diseases in the second round, a redemption from the grave. All this proves that something happens after death. Subsequently, David describes the goodness the people who have been resurrected will be surrounded with by G’d. The word תעטרני, “You will crown me,” appears to speak of an abstract experience in the disembodied life in the hereafter where one experiences the radiation of G’d’s brilliance, זיו השכינה in the parlance of our sages. This is followed by renewed youth, i.e. life in a body on terrestrial earth.
It is significant that the five stages of existence dealt with by David in the three verses we quoted from psalm 103, all end with the letter י, i.e. עוניכי, תחלואיכי, חייכי, המעטרכי, נעוריכי, “your guilt, your disease, your life, your crown, your youth.” These letters י are not part of the nouns in question and have been added by David to allude to certain concepts involved here. They refer to the five names (levels) by which the soul is known. They are נפש, רוח, נשמה, יחידה, חיה. [I have listed them in ascending order. Ed.]