From: JoshHoff@aol.com
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2008 2:02 AM
To: JoshHoff@aol.com
Cc: Kisenf@aol.com; tlb710@yahoo.com
Subject: Netvort:parshas Re'eh,5768
Watch Your Language
By Rabbi Joshua (linguistically known as The Hoffer) Hoffman
In this week's parsha, we learn of the 'meisis,' or the inciter, who tries to
convince Jews to worship idols ( Devarim,13,7:13).. The Torah tells us to have
no compassion on him, and to mete out to him the penalty of sekillah, literally
'stoning,' but actually ( Hollywood notwithstanding) a process of being
pushed off a two -story platform, and , if that does not cause his death,
subsequently rolling a stone on his chest until he dies.This form of capital
punishment is, according to the majority opinion in the Talmud, the most severe
of all death penalties, and is reserved for particularly heinous crimes. In
addition, many of the usual halachic procedures that are applied when pursuing
justice do not apply in the case of the inciter. Thus, witnesses can be hidden
from the sight of the inciter, and his supposed victim can lead him on to
attempt to entice him. His attempt to sway his fellow Jew to worship idols is
considered to be such a terrible crime that almost any means necessary can be
used to find him guilty and put him to death. It is therefore very interesting
to find that , according to the Yerushalmi in Sanhedrin, as cited by Rav Moshe
Sternbuch in his commentary Ta'am Va Da'as to parshas Re'eh, the inciter
is only given the death penalty if he uses the Hebrew language in his attempt.
Why should this be so? What difference does it make in which language he
speaks, as long as his purpose is to cause his fellow Jew to worship
idolatry?
Rav Sternbuch cites an answer given by the late Satarer Rebbe, Rav Yoel
Teitelbaum, zt'l, whose twenty-ninth yahrzeit occurred recently. He says that
the Hebrew language is holy, and, so, the use of the Hebrew
language in inciting Jews to worship idolatry constitutes the use of
holiness in this despicable endeavor. The inciter tires to appeal to the
holy nature of the Jew in getting him to do something which is the exact
opposite of holiness, and this is why his punishment is so stringent. If he
entices through using another language, hsi crime is not as serious, and he
does not receive sekillah. I would like to suggest an alternative answer, which
is actually somewhat related to that of the Satmarer Rebbe.
The Rambam, in his Moreh
HaNevochim ( Guide for the Perplexed, 3:8, ) discusses why Hebrew is referred
to by the rabbis a a holy tongue. He says that this is because there are no
words in this language that refer directly to the male or female sexual organs,
or to the actual act of intercourse. According to the Rambam, then, there is no
inherent, essential difference between Hebrew and other languages. but, rather,
conventional, as can be seen from parshas Bereishis, when man gives names to
the various animals based on their perceived utility and function. Ramban, in
his Torah commentary to parshas Ki Sisa( shemos,30:13),cites this Rambam, and
disagrees with him. He says that Hebrew is called the holy tongue because it
was the language that God used to give the Torah to His people, and in which he
bestowed prophecy to his prophets. Thus, Hebrew, according to the Ramban, is a
language particularly fitted for the Jewish people, to whom the Torah was given
and to whom the prophets were sent. Perhaps the idea is that a holy language ,
namely Hebrew, is inherently so, because it is particularly suited to a holy
people, namely, the Jewish nation. Rav Yehudah HaLevi, in several places in his
Kuzari ( see for example 2: 67 ff), follows a similar approach, and extols the
inherent superiority of the Hebrew language to all others ( for more on this topic,
see Menachem Kellner's work, Maimonides' Confrontation with Mysticism,
chapter five: The Hebrew Language. My thanks to my friend Rabbi Yechiel
Greenbaum of Jerusalem for informing me of this source).
Rabbi Sternbuch points out, interestingly, that the Rambam, in his Mishneh
Torah, does not mention the Yerushalmi's limitation of the penalty of sekillah
for the inciter to one who uses the Hebrew language to incite. Based on
the approach of Ramban and the Kuzari to the Hebrew language, however, we can
better understand this opinion of the Yerushalmi. Since,as they teach, the
Hebrew language forms part of the essence of the Jewish nation,
the inciter who uses that language for the purpose of causing Jews to
worship idolatry is using an essential aspect of the nation for a purpose which
is diametrically opposed to its essence. Rav Ahron Koltler, zt'l, in his
Mishnas Rav Aharon to the Torah, notes that according to Chazal,
good things come from God in a proportionally much greater amount
than bad things. This being so, he continues, if one tries to
encourage his fellow Jews to worship God, instead of enticing them to worship
idols, his reward is vastly greater than the punishment that the inciter
receives. Perhaps we may add that, following the opinion of the
Yerushalmi, this would apply to an even greater degree if
he uses the Hebrew language in his endeavors. Moreover, perhaps, the
very effort to teach Hebrew to a fellow Jew also has great value, since it
better enables the Jew to tap into his own essence. The great crime of the
inciter, then, is that he uses the very means that a Jew has to reach into his
soul to actually destroy his soul.
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