Deuteronomy Chapter 22

והתעלמת [THOU SHALT NOT SEE ANY OF THY BROTHER'S HERD … GO ASTRAY] AND HIDE THYSELF [FROM THEM] — i.e. one, as it were closes his eyes tight as though one does not see it.

לא תראה … והתעלמת THOU SHALT NOT SEE … AND HIDE THYSELF [FROM THEM] — “thou shalt not see it, that thou hide thyself from it” (i.e. you see it only to hide thyself from it), this is the plain sense of the verse. Our Rabbis, however, said that the omission of the particle לא before the verb והתעלמת (one would expect כי תראה … לא תתעלם) suggests: There are times when you may hide yourself from it, etc. (Sifrei Devarim 225:4; Bava Metzia 30a).

עד דרש אחיך [AND IT SHALL BE WITH THEE] UNTIL THY BROTHER ENQUIRES [FOR IT] — But would it ever enter your mind that one could give it back before he enquires for it (Scripture distinctly states that you do not know to whom the animal belongs)?! But the meaning of the verse is: Thou shalt make diligent enquiries of him that he should not be a fraudulent claimant (Bava Metzia 27b. 28a; cf. Sifrei Devarim 223:4).

והשבתו לו AND THOU SHALT RESTORE IT TO HIM — it is necessary that there be some restoration — that it (the animal) should not eat in your house to its own value, and you claim this from him (in which case there is no actual restoration of what has been lost). From here, they (the Rabbis) derived the law: Whatever works and requires food (as, for instance, oxen, etc., the cost of whose food is set off by the value of its labour) should work and eat; whatever does not work but requires feeding (as, for instance, sheep) should be sold and the money restored to the man who lost it (Bava Metzia 28b).

לא תוכל להתעלם THOU MAYEST NOT HIDE THYSELF — i.e. You must not cover your eyes, pretending not to see it.

הקם תקים [THOU SHALT NOT SEE THY BROTHER’S ASS OR ANY OF HIS HERD FALL DOWN BY THE WAY, AND HIDE THYSELF FROM THEM] THOU SHALT SURELY RAISE UP — This refers to the duty of loading — to re-load the burden that fell from it.

עמו [THOU SHALT SURELY UPLOAD] WITH HIM — i.e. with the owner. But if he goes aside and sits down and says to him, “Since it is a duty for you to load it, if you want to load, go ahead and load!” — [“I” am not commanded to do it”], he is exempt from doing it (cf. Bava Metzia 32a).

לא יהיה כלי גבר על אשה THE APPAREL OF A MAN SHALL NOT BE ON A WOMAN — so that she look like a man, in order to consort with men, for this can only be for the purpose of adultery (unchastity) (cf. Sifrei Devarim 226:1; Nazir 59a).

ולא ילבש גבר שמלת אשה NEITHER SHALL A MAN PUT ON A WOMAN’S GARMENT in order to go and stay unnoticed amongst women. Another explanation of the second part of the text is: it implies that a man should not remove the hair of the genitals and the hair beneath the arm-pit (Nazir 59a).

כי תועבת FOR [ALL THAT DO SO ARE] AN ABOMINATION [UNTO THE LORD THY GOD] — This implies that the Torah forbids only the wearing of a garb that leads to abomination (unchastity) (cf. Sifrei Devarim 226:1).

כי יקרא IF [A BIRD’S NEST] CHANCE TO BE [BEFORE THEE IN THE WAY … THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE MOTHER WITH THE YOUNG] — If it chance to be, this excludes that which is always ready at hand (in thy court yard) (Sifrei Devarim 227:1; Chullin 139a).

לא תקח האם THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE MOTHER so long as she is sitting upon the young.

למען ייטב לך וגו׳ THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH THEE etc — — If in the case of an easy command which involves no monetary loss, Scripture states “Do this in order that it may be well with thee and thou mayest prolong thy days”, it follows à fortiori that this at least will be the grant of the reward for the fulfilment of commands which are more difficult to observe (Chullin 142a).

כי תבנה בית חדש WHEN THOU BUILDEST A NEW HOUSE, [THEN THOU SHALT MAKE A BATTLEMENT FOR THY ROOF] — If thou hast fulfilled the command of שלוח הקן (of letting a mother bird go when the nest is rifled), you will in the end be privileged to build a new house and to fulfill the command of “making a guard-rail”, for one good deed brings another good deed in its train, and you will attain to a vineyard (v. 9), fields (v. 10) and fine garments (vv. 11—12). It is for this reason (to suggest this) that these sections are put in juxtaposition (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Teitzei 1).

מעקה means, a fence around the roof — Onkelos renders it by תיקא; the fencing is like a casing (תיק) which guards things that are within it.

כי יפל הנפל [THAT THOU BRING NOT BLOOD UPON THY HOUSE] IF ANY MAN FALL FROM THENCE — (The words may be taken to mean: if he that is to fall (הנופל) falls from it). This suggests: this man deserved to fall to his death (on account of some crime he had committed), nevertheless his death should not be occasioned by your agency, for meritorious things are brought about through the agency of good men and bad things only through the agency of evil men (Sifrei Devarim 229:7).

כלאים [THOU SHALT NOT SOW THY VINEYARD] WITH DIVERSE KINDS OF SEEDS — i.e. wheat and barley together with kernels of grapes with one and the same hand-throw (Berachot 22a; Kiddushin 39a; Chullin 82b).

פן תקדש LEST IT BECOME קדש — Take it as the Targum does: lest it become unclean (unfit for use); to anything for which a man has repugnance to come into contact with, be it on account of its sublimity as, for instance, holy things, or be it on account of some bad quality, as, for instance, something that is forbidden, the term קדוש is appropriate, as, in the latter sense, e.g., (Isaiah 65:5) “Come not near to me for I make thee קדוש".

[המלאה — This is the fullness and increase which the seed produces].

לא תחרש בשור ובחמור THOU SHALT NOT PLOUGH WITH AN OX AND WITH AN ASS [TOGETHER] — The same law applies to any two different kinds of animals in existence; the same law applies also to merely driving them together (when not ploughing) whilst they are yoked together as a pair carrying any load (Sifrei Devarim 232:1-2; cf. Kilayim 8:2 and 3; Bava Metzia 8b).

שעטנז is an expression for a mixture — Our Rabbis explained it to mean a material that is calendered (pressed, שוע), or woven (טווי), or twisted (נוז) together (Sifrei Devarim 232:1); (שעטנז is taken to be an abbreviation of these words; cf. Rashi on Leviticus 19:19 and our Note thereon).

גדלים תעשה לך THOU SHALT MAKE THEE TASSELS [UPON THE FOUR CORNERS OF THY VESTURE] — be they even from a mixture of wool and linen; for this reason Scripture puts them (the prohibition of שעטנז and the command of צצית) in juxtaposition (Yevamot 4a).

ובא אליה ושנאה [IF ANY MAN TAKE A WIFE] AND COME UNTO HER AND HATE HER, the end will be,

ושם לה עלילת דברים that HE WILL IMPUTE ACTIONS UPON HER BY MERE WORDS (i.e. he will slander her); one sin brings another sin in its train: if he transgresses the prohibition “thou shalt not hate [thy fellow]” (Leviticus 19:17), the end will be that he will fall into slander (cf. Sifrei Devarim 235:3).

את האשה הזאת THIS WOMAN — Hence we derive the law that one must not speak anything to the judge except in the presence of the opposing party (Sifrei Devarim 235:6).

אבי הנערה ואמה [THEN SHALL] THE FATHER OF THE DAMSEL, AND HER MOTHER [TAKE AND BRING FORTH etc.] — Let those who have reared this depraved child (lit., “evil plant”) be exposed to contempt because of her (Sifrei Devarim 235:9).

ואמר אבי הנערה AND THE DAMSEL’S FATHER SHALL SAY [UNTO THE ELDERS] — although both parents appear before them, yet the father alone shall speak — this teaches that a woman is not allowed to speak in the presence of her husband (if he, too, is concerned in the matter) (Sifrei Devarim 235:10).

ופרשו השמלה AND THEY SHALL SPREAD THE CLOTH [BEFORE THE ELDERS OF THE CITY] — This is a figurative expression: they must make the matter as white (as clear) as a sheet (Sifrei Devarim 237:1; Ketubot 46a).

ויסרו אתו [AND THE ELDERS … SHALL TAKE THE MAN] AND CHASTISE HIM — i.e. with lashes (Sifrei Devarim 238:2; Ketubot 46a; cf. Onkelos).

ואם אמת היה הדבר BUT IF THE THING BE TRUE — proven by evidence of witnesses and after legal warning that she had committed adultery after her betrothal (Ketubot 44b).

אל פתח בית אביה [THEN THEY SHALL BRING THE DAMSEL] TO THE ENTRANCE OF HER FATHER’S HOUSE — suggesting: “See what a child (lit., a plant) you have reared!” (Ketubot 45a).

אנשי עירה [AND] THE MEN OF HER CITY [SHALL OVERWHELM HER WITH STONES] — This means, the witnesses shall stone her, all the men of her city standing by (Sifrei Devarim 240:1; cf. Rashi on Leviticus 24:14).

לזנות בית אביה TO PLAY THE WHORE “IN” HER FATHER’S HOUSE — The word בית is equivalent to בבית.

ומתו גם שניהם THEN THEY SHALL BOTH OF THEM DIE — The redundant words גם שניהם are intended to exclude a case of unnatural intercourse from which the woman derives no gratification (Sifrei Devarim 242:4; Sanhedrin 66b).

גם is intended to include those persons who commit adultery with one of this pair after them (i.e. after this pair had been found guilty) (Sifrei Devarim 242:5). Another explanation of גם שניהם is: these words are intended to include in the death penalty the embryo: that if the woman was pregnant the execution is not deferred until after she gives birth (cf. Targum Jonathan on; Arakhin 7a).

ומצאה איש בעיר [IF A DAMSEL THAT IS A VIRGIN BE BETROTHED UNTO A MAN] AND A MAN FIND HER IN THE CITY [AND LIE WITH HER] — (Because he found her outdoors) therefore he lay with her: a breach in the wall invites the thief; if she had remained at home (as becomes a chaste Jewish girl) this would not have happened to her (Sifrei Devarim 242:2-3).

כי כאשר יקום וגו׳ FOR AS WHEN A MAN RISETH [AGAINST HIS FELLOW MAN, AND SLAYETH HIM, EVEN SO IS THIS THING] — According to its plain sense the following is what it implies: there is in the damsel no sin deserving death, because she was coerced and he, (the man) attacked her with violence, just as when a man attacks his fellowman to kill him. — Our Rabbis, however, gave it (the verse) a Halachic interpretation as follows: Behold, this simile is intended to elucidate the law in question but at the same time turns out to be itself elucidated by that law (lit., this comes as a teacher and is found to be a learner) (Sanhedrin 73a).

"You shall not see without...." (Deut 22:4), in parshat Mishpati the language if the verse describes a positive commandment and a negative commandment, as it teaches in the Mechilta: "In Exodus it describes the donkey of someone whom you hate and here the donkey of your kinsman, becuase it is forbidden to hate him. Rather it is only the yetzer hara that brings about hatred between them...