This week we are privileged to read the portion of Ki Seitzei. This portion discusses many mitzvohs. The laws of returning a lost object, tzitzis, shatnez (prohibition of wearing linen and wool in the same garment),
laws of marriage and divorce and many more mitzvohs are discussed in this portion.
The beginning of this weeks portion discusses the laws of a ben sorer umore - a young rebellious man (13 years of age), who strayed from the path and began to disobey his parents steals drinks..... The Torah says he shall be stoned and we should get rid of the evil.... While we're ahead we should kill him, for later he would kill people to feed his bad happens. The Talmud actually discusses whether it ever happened that a boy was punished as a ben sorer umoreh. There are many details needed to qualify for this terrible status. However, there are many lessons learned from this short paragraph.
The Torah states (Devorim 21/ 20) and they (the parents) say to the elders of his city this son of ours is wayward and rebellious, "does not hearken to our voice", he is a glutton and a drinkard. Our sages teach us (Sanhedrin 71a) that from the words that "he does not hearken" we derive that if the parents were deaf the son can not become a ben sorer umoreh. This seems difficult to understand, for we are talking about the boy not listening, why does the parents being deaf have any relevance to the child's lack of listening?
The Imrei Emes explains: one can not expect for anyone to hear/accept his/her rebuke if he/she doesn't hear him/herself. If you want your words of rebuke to be accepted begin first with hearing it yourself. If the parents can't hear, what they are saying, the boy will certainly not hear either.
Gut Shabbos,
The beginning of this weeks portion discusses the laws of a ben sorer umore - a young rebellious man (13 years of age), who strayed from the path and began to disobey his parents steals drinks..... The Torah says he shall be stoned and we should get rid of the evil.... While we're ahead we should kill him, for later he would kill people to feed his bad happens. The Talmud actually discusses whether it ever happened that a boy was punished as a ben sorer umoreh. There are many details needed to qualify for this terrible status. However, there are many lessons learned from this short paragraph.
The Torah states (Devorim 21/ 20) and they (the parents) say to the elders of his city this son of ours is wayward and rebellious, "does not hearken to our voice", he is a glutton and a drinkard. Our sages teach us (Sanhedrin 71a) that from the words that "he does not hearken" we derive that if the parents were deaf the son can not become a ben sorer umoreh. This seems difficult to understand, for we are talking about the boy not listening, why does the parents being deaf have any relevance to the child's lack of listening?
The Imrei Emes explains: one can not expect for anyone to hear/accept his/her rebuke if he/she doesn't hear him/herself. If you want your words of rebuke to be accepted begin first with hearing it yourself. If the parents can't hear, what they are saying, the boy will certainly not hear either.
Gut Shabbos,
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