Shoftim 5775:             Clean Hands

By Rabbi Joshua (culpably known as The Hoffer) Hoffman

Parshas Shoftim ends with the laws of the eglah arufah, the calf whose neck is broken to atone for the death of a murder victim whose corpse is discovered in a field. The elders of the city preside over the procedure, and at one point they wash their hands and declare, “Our hands have not spilled this blood… Atone for Your people Yisroel whom You have redeemed, Lord... Then the blood shall be atoned for them” (Devarim 21:7-8). There is a range of approaches among the commentators regarding the nature of this declaration and the implications for its role in the procedure.

Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch says that the declaration is actually an expression of triumph. The elders are able to say with a clear conscience that they have faithfully fulfilled their duties in educating the people and can say in all honesty that they have no responsibility for the unfortunate death of the deceased whose corpse was found among them.  In this sense, they are truly able to say that their leadership justifies God having redeemed the Jewish people from Egypt.

Abarbanel takes a different approach. The rabbis have already commented, in the Talmud, that it would not occur to anyone to say that the elders actually shed the blood of the victim. Rather, they are saying that they did not let the person leave town without provisions for the road, which would thus lead him open to attack by hooligans. The Abarbanel says that, by extension, the elders must engage in some soul–searching to see if there was anything in the functioning of the community that could, in some indirect way, have led eventually to the tragedy that occurred. The adequacy of their leadership and educative system is thus opened for examination.  

Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, in his Sichos Mussar, takes the most extreme position in regard to the declaration of the elders, saying that there is definitely a direct admission of guilt in what they say. The fact that such a horrendous event could happen in their midst indicates that, at some point in the city’s history, going back to the redemption from Egypt, something was done wrong in leading the community, and this led eventually to the murder that occurred there.

The approach of Rav Shmuelevitz adds meaning to the comment of the Sifrei, that the phrase “atone for Your people whom You have redeemed” teaches us that the dead require atonement. This is the basis of the custom of Yizkor, the memorial prayer for the dead. The idea behind it is that we need to realize the influence that the people who came before us have had on us, and, when that influence is negative, it requires atonement. When, on the other hand, it is positive, and we continue to follow those ways, we can bring merit to the departed.

The Talmud in Gittin says that some descendants of Haman taught Torah in Bnei Brak.  Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky explained that even though Haman’s plan to annihilate the Jews was nefarious, it led eventually to the repentance of the Jews, and, for that, a reward was granted.  Rav Yochanan Zweig explained differently.  He said that the fact that the plan resulted in something good indicates that there was a spark of good in it from the very beginning. This would seem to be the reverse side of the coin to the explanation of Rav Shmuelevitz in regard to the declaration of the elders.