Leviticus Chapter 18

אני ה' אלהיכם I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD — I am He Who spoke on Mount Sinai “I am the Lord thy God" and Whose kingship you then accepted; now, therefore, accept My decrees! Rabbi Judah han-Nasi said: It was manifest and known to Him that in the days of Ezra they would ultimately revolt against restricting sexual relations, He therefore came to them with a decree emphasized by the words: "I am The Lord your God" — understand well Who it is that imposes this decree upon you, — the Judge (אלהיכם) Whose function it is to punish but Who is certain also to give a reward ('‎ה‎) (cf. Sifra, Acharei Mot, Section 8 1).

כמעשה ארץ מצרים AFTER THE DEEDS OF THE LAND OF EGYPT… [SHALL YE NOT DO] — This tells us that the deeds of the Egyptians and the Canaanites were more corrupt than those of all other nations, and that the district of Egypt in which the Israelites had resided (אשר ישבתם בה) was even more corrupt than all the rest of Egypt (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Section 8 3).

אשר אני מביא אתכם שמה [AND AFTER THE DEEDS OF THE LAND OF CANAAN] WHITHER I BRING YOU [SHALL YE NOT DO] — This again tells us that those Canaanitish clans whom Israel subdued were more corrupt than all the others of them (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Section 8 4).

ובחקתיהם לא תלכו NEITHER SHALL YE WALK IN THEIR ORDINANCES — What has Scripture left unsaid when it spoke of the deeds of the Egyptians and Canaanites that it felt compelled to add ובחקתיהם לא תלכו But by these latter words it refers to their social customs — things which have assumed for them the character of a law as, for instance, the frequenting of theaters and race-courses. Rabbi Meir, however, said: These (חקתיהם) refer to the "ways of the Amorites" (superstitious practices) which our Rabbis have enumerated (Shabbat 67a; Sifra, Acharei Mot, Section 8 8; cf. also Tosefta Shabbat 7).

את משפטי תעשו YE SHALL DO MY JUDGMENTS — Matters prescribed in the Torah which are in conformity with the human feeling of justice such as one feels ought to be ordained if they had not been already ordained by the Torah.

ואת חקתי תשמרו AND KEEP MINE ORDINANCES — matters which are decrees of the King (promulgated without any reason being stated) against which the evil inclination raises objections: "Why should we observe them and against which also the nations of the world raise objections, as e. g., the prohibition of eating swine’s flesh, of wearing clothes of a mixture of wool and linen, the purgatory power of "water mingled with the ashes of the Red Heifer" (טהרת מי חטאת) — therefore it is stated: "I", the Lord, have enacted this for you — you are not at liberty to evade the obligation (Yoma 67b).

ללכת בהם TO WALK IN THEM — do not free yourselves from their environment, i.e. that you must not say, I have acquired Jewish wisdom, now I will go and acquire the wisdom of the other peoples of the world in order to walk in their ways.

'ושמרתם את חקתי וגו‎ YE SHALL THEREFORE KEEP MY ORDINANCES — [This is not a mere repetition of v. 4 but is intended] to include other details of the laws mentioned in this chapter which Scripture does not expressly mention. Another explanation is: Scripture makes this repetition in order to attach the commands of “observing" (שמירה) and "performing" (עשיה) to the חוקים, and the commands of שמירה and עשיה to the משפטים, for in v. 4 it uses the term עשיה only in connection with the משפטים, and that of שמירה only with reference to the חוקים (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Section 8 10).

וחי בהם means, THAT HE SHALL LIVE THROUGH THEM in the world to come (eternal life). For if you say it means that he shall live in this world, is it not a fact that in the end he must die! (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Section 8 10; cf. also Targ. Onkelos)

'אני ה‎ I AM THE LORD, Who am faithful to pay you your reward (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Section 8 10).

לא תקרבו NONE OF YOU SHALL APPROACH TO [ANY THAT IS NEAR OF KIN TO HIM] — The intention is to admonish women as well as men (in respect to this general prohibition of unchastity); on this account the plural is used (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 13 1).

'אני ה I AM THE LORD, who am faithful to pay you your reward (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 13 13.

אביך‎ ערות‎ THE NAKEDNESS OF THY FATHER, [AND THE NAKEDNESS OF THY MOTHER SHALT THOU NOT UNCOVER] — This refers to intercourse with thy father's wife (no matter whether she is thy own mother or thy stepmother). Or perhaps this is not so, but ערות אביך has to be taken literally (as sodomy)?! Scripture, however, uses the expression ערות אביך here, and it is said later on (Leviticus 20:11) “And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath uncovered his father's nakedness (״(ערות אביו גלה. Now what is the meaning of ערות אביו there? It refers to one's fathers wife! so does ערות אביך here also refer to one's father's wife (Sanhedrin 54a).

וערות אמך AND THE NAKEDNESS OF THY MOTHER [SHALT THOU NOT UNCOVER] — This is intended to include in the prohibition the marriage of one's own mother although she be not the wife of one's father (Sanhedrin 54a).

ערות אשת אביך THE NAKEDNESS OF THY FATHER'S WIFE [SHALT THOU NOT UNCOVER] — This is intended to include in the prohibition of union with one's father's wife already mentioned v. 7. even the doing of this after his death (Sanhedrin 54a).

בת אביך [THE NAKEDNESS OF THY SISTER] THE DAUGHTER OF THY FATHER [OR THE DAUGHTER OF THY MOTHER… THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER] — Also the daughter of a woman raped by one's father is implied by the term מולדת בית או מולדת חוץ.

. בת — WHETHER SHE BE BORN IN THE HOUSE OR WHETHER SHE BE BORN OUTSIDE THE HOUSE — This means, thy sister, thy father's daughter, whether according to the law we can say to thy father, "Keep her mother as your wife" or whether we have to say to him, "Divorce her mother", as, for instance, when she is a ממזרת (the issue of a union forbidden in the Torah under the penalty of כרת) or a נתינה (the daughter of a Gibeonite woman, cf. Joshua 9:27, forbidden under the penalty of מלקות) (Yevamot 23a).

ערות בת בנך THE NAKEDNESS OF THE DAUGHTER OF THY SON [OR THE DAUGHTER OF THY DAUGHTER THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER] — When it states "thy daughter״ Scripture is speaking of his daughter born of a woman whom he had outraged (similarly "the daughter of thy son" means, the son born of such a woman). This must be so, for that one is forbidden to marry one's daughter or the daughter of one's daughter who was born of one's wife we may learn from the prohibition (v. 17) in the verse beginning אשה ובתה ערות "the nakedness of a woman and her daughter" of whom it is stated "thou shalt not uncover" and which thus implies the prohibition to marry one's daughter (and forbids one's marriage with one's daughter's daughter; for Scripture continues there: “neither shalt thou take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter) whether she be begotten by him or by another man (cf. Yevamot 22b and Rashi von v. 17).

ערות בת בנך THE NAKEDNESS OF THY SON'S DAUGHTER [… THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER] — Since even thy son's daughter (the former being born from an אנוסה) is forbidden, the prohibition concerning thy own daughter born of thy אנוסה could be derived by a conclusion a minori ad majus (ק״ו). But because there is a rule אין מזהירין מן הדין “no prohibition can be derived by a logical conclusion" they (the Rabbis) derived it in Treatise Yevamot 3a by an analogy (גזירה שוה) based on the similar expression הנה — הנה used here and in v. 17.

ערות בת אשת אביך THE NAKEDNESS OF THY FATHER'S WIFE'S DAUGHTER… [THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER] — This teaches us that one is not liable to excision for a union with one's sister (on his father’s side) who was born of a maid-servant or a non-Jewess. It is for this reason that Scripture instead of simply saying "thy sister" uses the circumlocution "the daughter of thy father's wife" i. e. a woman who is fitted for Kiddushin (one with whom a marriage may be legitimately entered into, which is not the case with a שפחה ונכרית) (Yevamot 22b).

ערות אחי אביך לא תגלה THE NAKEDNESS OF THY FATHER'S BROTHER THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER — and what does this "uncovering of his nakedness" mean אל אשתו לא תקרב? THOU SHALT NOT APPROACH TO HIS WIFE.

אשת בנך [THE NAKEDNESS OF THY DAUGHTER-IN-LAW THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER; SHE IS] THY SON'S WIFE — By using the apparently redundant words: “she is thy son's wife" Scripture says, as it were: I command this about such a woman only when thy son has a legal matrimonial relation (אישות) to her, thus excluding a woman who has been raped by him (אנוסה) or a Canaanitish maid-servant, or a non-Jewess (cf. Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 10 10)).

ערות אשה ובתה THE NAKEDNESS OF A WOMAN AND HER DAUGHTER [THOU SHALT NOT UNCOVER] — Scripture forbids this only if the union with the first of these (whether it be the woman or her daughter) came about through a legal marriage. That is why Scripture uses the term לא תקח, the expression employed for "taking to wife in a legal way". Similarly with reference to the punishment for such a union it states, (Leviticus 20:14) "And if a man take (יקח) a wife and her mother, [it is wickedness; they shall be burnt with fire]" — an expression for "taking" to wife in a legal way. But if one has raped a woman he is permitted to marry her daughter (Yevamot 97a).

שארה הנה means, they are closely related to one another.

זמה means, an evil plan, as the Targum renders it‎ עצת חטאין, "a sinful plan"; the term is used because it is your evil inclination which counsels you to sin.

‎ אל אחתה ‎[NEITHER SHALT THOU TAKE A WIFE] TO HER SISTER — both at the same time.

לצרר is connected with the word, צרה — a rival (cf. I Samuel 1:6). Thus the verse signifies “thou shalt not take a wife to her sister", to make (i. e. making) the one the rival of the other.

בחייה DURING HER LIFE-TIME — This teaches you that if he divorced her (his wife) he is not allowed to marry her sister so long as she (the former) is still living (Yevamot 8b).

למלך [AND THOU SHALT NOT LET ANY OF THY SEED PASS THROUGH THE FIRE] TO MOLECH — This was an idol the name of which was "Molech", and this was the manner in which it was worshipped: that he (the father) handed his child (lit., his son, but it applies to his daughter also; cf. Deuteronomy 18:10) over to the priests of the idol. These lit two large pyres one opposite the other and made the child to pass on foot between the two pyres (Sanhedrin 64b).

לא תתן refers to “the handing over of the child” to the priests.

להעביר למלך — this refers to the “passing through the fire".

תבל הוא THIS IS CONFUSION — תבל is an expression used for unchastity, incest and adultery. Similar is (Jeremiah 10:25) “Mine anger because of their depravity (תבליתם)". Another explanation of תבל הוא: it is an expression denoting the mingling (root בלל) and fusion of the human seed and the animal seed.

ולא תקיא הארץ אתכם THAT THE LAND VOMIT NOT YOU OUT — A parable! This may be compared to the case of a prince (i. e. a sensitive, refined person) to whom one gives a disgusting thing to eat which he cannot retain on his stomach but vomits it out thus Eretz-Yisrael is unable to retain sinners on its soil (Sifra, Kedoshim, Chapter 12 14). The Targum renders it by: ולא תרוקן a term for ״emptying out״ — it (the earth) empties itself of them.

העשת‏‎ הנפשות ‎‏‎‎EVEN THE SOULS THAT SHALL DO THEM [SHALL BE CUT OFF] — Both men and women are implied by the plural הנפשות (in contrast to the sing. יעשה in the beginning of the verse) (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 13 20).

ושמרתם את משמרתי THEREFORE SHALL YE KEEP (OR, WATCH OVER) MY CHARGE — This is intended to caution the court regarding this (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 13 22).

ולא תטמאו בהם אני ה' אלהיכם AND IF YE DEFILE NOT YOURSELVES THEREIN, I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD — If, however, you do defile yourselves I shall no longer be your God (אלהיכם) since you have cut yourselves off from following after Me. What use then can I have of you? Consequently you deserve annihilation! That is why Scripture states: I am the Lord your God (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 13 22).