Shemos - HARMFUL REBOUNDS

 

Shemos 2.13 HARMFUL REBOUNDS

ויאמר לרשע למה תכה ריעך - It is interesting to note the use of the word ריעך  here, where seemingly these people were far from being called friends. Rashi notes this and says the victim was not his comrade but  רשע כמותך. Perhaps we may also glean from here that often we fight, hit, insult and hurt those are closest to us because of the safe assumption that it won't really affect anything. We think to ourselves, "They'll come around. We're family. He needs me. She'll bounce back." But similar to the one who raised his hand but did not physically harm his fellow, is deemed a Rasha, the Torah is teaching us that WITHOUT  any apparent damage and with no permanent effects visible, you might think "no harm done". But it is not so. An innocuous invisible damage HAS taken place. And the assailant is called a Rasha even with היזק שאינו ניכר.

SHEMOS - ESCALATION IN DISPUTE

 ESCALATION IN DISPUTE 

Shemos 2.13

ויאמר לרשע - We are all familiar with the Rashi based on the gemara Sanhedrin 58b, that one who lifts his hand to hit another Jew is called a Rasha even without actually hitting his victim. 

This always seemed a bit extreme and thus difficult to properly digest and learn from.

 

However, it is brought in Shulchan Aruch חו''מ ל''ד ד'  as psak Halacha from the Rema, that one who does so is disqualified מדרבנן from testimony!

One who actually hits another Jew is disqualified מן התורה as he pro-actively transgressed a לא תעשה that would be deserving of makkos. This renders the title רשע  upon him and he is therefore passul for eidus.

 

However, R' Yechiel Michel Stern asks why the Rasha in our case is only Rabbinically disqualified? One who raised his hand against another is unequivocally called a Rasha by the Torah itself, without having to come onto the normal route of transgressing a lo sasseh to get there!

 

I would like to suggest a new approach that also has a very clear lesson to learn as well. 

 

We find a concept of צדיק באותו דין  regarding the judgement of Rosh Hashanah. In which a person who may generally be considered a Rasha, but in the specific judgement of חיים  or מות  of that year he is deemed Tzaddik and lives. The reverse is true as well. Similarly, the concept is clear in the passuk which the gemara makkos 2b uses as a hint to עדים זוממים defaulting to get makkos - והצדיקו את הצדיק והרשיעו את הרשע… . The simple understanding of this passuk is in a dispute between two individuals and one is found to be in the right and the other is found to be in the wrong. This is not a general description of character, but a relative title in the specific dispute.

 

Based on this we can safely explain that our passuk is not extreme at all and is informing us of a very practical lesson. 

When two people are arguing it may be that one is right and the other wrong, both may have valid points or both may be wrong. But as soon as one lifts his hand to hit the other, he has escalated the dispute from just verbal to the realm of physical. And even without actually harming the other, his escalation deems him the wrong one in this dispute and the other is in the right since he remained in the realm of just arguing with words. 

Vayechi – Chevrah

 Vayechi – Chevrah 

R' Chaim Kanievsky brings from a Medrash, that when Yakov spoke to Reuven as ראשית אוני , he prophesied about the men of shevet Reuvein who would join Korach in the claim for Kehunah.  Only און would be saved from amongst them as his wife would separate him as one would separate challah from dough. Hence, ראשית - like the separation of challah ראשית עריסותיכם - אוני  will designate און to be My און.

 

There is a tremendous lesson to be learned here. The metaphor of Hafrashas Challah brings to mind the example that dough serves in the separation of Klal Yisrael from the Egyptians at Yetzias Mitzrayim. The Torah describes the wonderous extraction of  גוי מקרב גוי  as a unique event that only Hakadosh Baruch Hu could do. Separating און from the group of 250 tribesmen was a virtually impossible task. The draw of social connection and sense of belonging is so powerful that disrupting און's friendship, and severing his bond from this unified group just could not happen. 

Except through his wife. 

The way to pull some sticky dough apart from the rest can only be with something even more sticky attaching itself and pulling in the other direction. Only the greatest bond of an אשת חיל  who is אשתו כגופו  can draw her husband from the mire and muck of negative friendships and relationships. רעים אהובים  can have a stronger pull than all the mussar, tochacha and warnings in the world.

 

This is a tremendous lesson in the dangers of bad friendships and social connections and importance of building positive ones. And it is an empowering message to the N'shei Chayil of Klal Yisrael that their unique bond can be smartly used to overcome the greatest challenges that we face in our surroundings. 

 

p.s. It's interesting to note that און's wife who used a bit immodesty to save her husband from wrogly pursuing Kehunah, returned as the mother of 7 sons who served as Kohanim gedolim in the second bes Hamikdash, in the merit of her meticulous modesty. Her name, reminiscent of hafrashas challah, was קמחית.