Ki Teitzei 5775:          The Final Fall

By Rabbi Joshua (inexorably known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

Ki Teitzei contains more mitzvos than any other Sedra in the Torah. Although many of them seem to be disparate and unconnected, the midrashim and commentators note that they are connected through the principle of mitzvah goreres mitzvah, aveirah goreres aveirah, meaning, one mitzvah leads to, or drags, another, and one sin drags another.  The concept behind this principle, says the Maharal, is that the Torah constitutes one unified whole, so that each component is linked to each other one, and so one inevitably leads to another.  My teacher, Rav Aharon Soloveitchik, zt”l, added that the mitzvos in the parsha move back and forth between those between man and God, and those between man and man, to demonstrate that both categories are part of a unified whole. With this approach in the background, we can analyze an interesting comment of the Abarbanel in regard to the connection between certain mitzvos at the beginning of the parsha.

The Torah presents us with the laws of the wayward and rebellious son, who does not listen to the voice of his parents, and who overindulges in food and drink, for which a punishment of execution is prescribed. The rabbis explain that even though the son has not yet done anything that would seem to warrant such a punishment, he is on a path that will lead to murder, and thus it is better for him to die now, before he commits that crime. What will inevitably happen if he continues on his path of sin, say the rabbis, is that, in order to indulge himself he will rob and kill. Therefore, bes din executes him before he kills anyone. Shortly after these laws, the Torah tells us that if we see the ox or sheep of our brother straying on the road, we should try to return it to its owner, and if his ox or donkey are falling on the road, we should raise them up. The Abarbanel says that these laws follow the laws of the rebellious son as a contrast. While the rebellious son is destined to rob and kill people, the Torah teaches us that the proper thing to do is to help our brother, to return his lost property and protect it from difficulties. More generally, he says, we are being taught that in contrast to the rebellious son, who focuses only on himself, we should dedicate ourselves to helping our fellow man.

The Abarbanel's remarks take on added meaning when we think of a Yerushalmi (Sanhedrin 8:7), cited by Rav Aharon Kotler in his Mishnas Rav Aharon, which says that the rebellious son will rob, kill and forget his learning.  Rav Aharon points out that, on this list the ultimate crime seems to be that the son will forget his learning.  How can this be so?  Rav Aharon explains that as long as there is some trace of Torah embedded in the recesses of the wayward son’s memory there is hope that he will reverse his course. Once he is totally devoid of Torah, however, there is nothing to stop him from his self-indulgent lifestyle and ultimate determination.

With the background of the comment of the Abarbanel and the teaching of Rav Aharon, we can better appreciate a story about Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l, that we have mentioned in the past. When the question came up whether Mesivta Tiferes Yerushalayim (aka MTJ), Rav Moshe’s yeshiva, should, following the lead of another school, change the curriculum and have beginners study the tractate of Maseches Berachos instead of the second chapter of Bava Metzia, Rav Moshe said that the yeshiva would continue in the traditional way.  He later explained to his son, Rav Reuven, shlita, that in beginners Talmud, not that many pages are covered. Rather, the same few pages are repeated over and over again, to teach the students the skills of reading and understanding a page of Talmud. Since the second chapter of Bava Metzia deals with the laws of returning lost objects, the student has drilled into his head that he is not to take anything that doesn’t belong to him.  This is the kind of learning that remains, and, hopefully, guards from precipitous fall such as of the wayward son.