dsc@mtgzz.UUCP (d.s.chechik) (08/28/85)
Dvar Torah - Ki Saytsay
This week's parasha contains 44 mitzvos (29 negative, 15
positive). One of the negative commandments in this weeks
sedra is not to "turn away an Egyptian [from converting]
because you lived in his land". Rashi tells us, "Even
though they threw your males into the sea. Why? Because
they were your hosts in a time of need." The torah obligates
us to overlook our negative experiences in Egypt and to be
grateful for the hospitality shown to us by the Egyptians
during our bondage there. The torah places value on the
results of one's actions despite any lack intention or even
reverse intention.
The theme of receiving credit for the results of one's
actions even if one did not intend them is a common theme
running throughout the torah. We list several more
examples. In Bereshis when Moshe saves Yisro's daughters
from the shepherds, they report back to there father, "Ish
Mitzri...", An Egyptian saved us. The Medrash Rabbah asks,
"Was Moshe an Egyptian"? The Medrash answers with a parable
to a man that is bitten by a snake and runs to the river to
wash his wound. There he finds a child drowning and saves
him. The child is very grateful for having been saved but
the man says, "Do not thank me, thank the snake. For if it
were not for the snake, I'd not have found you." Similarly,
Moshe was only able to save Yisro's daughters because he was
running away after having killed an Egyptian. So his
daughters were giving some of the CREDIT for their being
saved to the Egyptian that was the cause of Moshe being
there.
The idea that one is responsible for the results of one's
actions even without intent is demonstrated clearly by the
story of Dovid and Yonasan in the haftorah normally read on
Shabbos when Rosh Chodesh is on Sunday. In it, Dovid and
Yonasan devise a plan to find out whether Shaul intends to
harm Dovid. Yonasan, at great personal risk, finds that
Shaul intends to harm Dovid, secretly meets him in the
fields and tells him of Shaul's plans and helps him to
escape. Dovid runs away and starving goes to Nov, a city of
Kohanim, where he is given food. Shaul finds out that Dovid
has been helped by Nov and kills the Kohanim that live
there. This causes Shaul and Yonasan to later be killed.
The gemorah in sanhedrin, places some of the blame for the
dire consequences on Yonassan, because he did not supply
Dovid with food when he helped him to escape. Despite his
intentions, he bears some of the responsibility for his
actions.
Later on in the book of Shmuel, we are told that there is a
famine. Dovid the king finds that the cause of the famine
is the unavenged death of the Givonim. And the story goes
on to how Shaul's decendants suffer cruelly for Shaul's
killing of the Givonim. The talmud tells us that Shaul did
not himself kill the Givonim but that they were the
suppliers of the city Nov and when Shaul killed the
residents of Nov, he removed the source of their livelyhood
and is therefore as responsible for killing them as if he
did the dirty deed himself.
The lesson of all these stories is the same, the torah holds
us responsible for and also gives us credit for our actions
despite what our intentions are. It isn't sufficient to
mean well.
Dovid Chechik
AT&T Information Systems Labs
Lincroft, NJ
(201)576-6393
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