Shoftim | The Prohibition of "Raising" a Stele, by Rav Yitzchak Etshalom
Why is the matzeiva described as "abhorred by God"?
In the middle of the presentation of the laws of the Beit Din HaGadol (the central national court), the Torah interjects three seemingly disconnected prohibitions - planting a tree near the altar, raising a stele (מצבה) and offering a blemished animal. We address the middle of these passages and note the curious phrasing of the prohibition - אשר שנא ה' אלקיך and observe that both אשר as well as שנא has multiple possible meanings within the verse. We then briefly survey the history of the מצבה in the narrative of the תורה, where it seems to have Divine approval - and then we see three main approaches in the Midrashim and the Rishonim, each with its own difficulties. We then suggest a variation of one of these approaches, based on a careful reading of our text. This shiur was dedicated to the memory of the six חטופים who were murdered, in cold blood, just before their imminent rescue. השם יקום דמם ויהא זכרם ברוך
Source sheet >>
This week is Parashat Shoaf team. This has been an extraordinary difficult week for all of us and We're dedicating our learning to Really everyone who has been killed in this in this really awful series of conflicts but specifically to the six hatu fiem who were murdered in cold blood just before being rescued and And as I put the line here It is our prayer that the the tears of the families and the tears of all on me throughout Really should be heard on high and our quarters brought who should bring an end to this and a successful end to To this just this terrible situation Or call it a Grom whatever we want to call it and Muerta shem very soon we should see all of the hatu fiem brought back safely to their homes and to their families and all of our boys and girls be able to come home from the front safely and And we should see true Shalom virus which of course starts with is very simple. It's been a meaning in the Torah. We mean security In it it's interesting that this week's parashat Shoaf team Which is focused really on all the structures of leadership in the nation both legislative and executive and military and ritual and prophetic oracular ends with the laws of war But the beginning of it Starts famously with the directive to set up but a dean and then there are three Psukim which are just sort of a weird interruption. We're not going to talk about that interruption Anybody's interested look at the sforno at At on these three Psukim hafal habet and pasucal very good Zion You see something beautiful there, but it starts out show to me show to him to give up a whole share a shot I'm not going to have a lot of attention to a tough to amish but said it Low to tell me spot look like you're panema lotika shokad kya shokad ya very nicha hamimi select the great study came Set it said it to dole for mountain here But I start to our to show out the line of a no 10 lock You got at least four bumper stickers coming out of that for those phrases These are just songs. These are great cheers and then you have this weird rejection low tea talah hashi rock hole eights eights of his bachah the money rachah shatah salah the prohibition against planting a tree next to the misbeach and Following the psuk we're going to focus on is low tees bach la the night I'll show us our share You have a mum the prohibition against broffering about mum and then it goes back to the bait team So again, look at the sforno. It's forno is finger looking good. It's beautiful Not we're going to focus on but I didn't want to pass it by without mentioning it but as you can see highlighted here and also by the title the second of these three sort of tangential statements is below takimla kamat seva I share Sanne Agonai lewaha Do not raise for yourself a mat seva mat seva is translated into the Greek as stay lay in English as steel which is a single stone standing up and Don't do not raise it a share Sanne Agonai lewaha now, how would you translate that phrase and I'll tell you why because the word I share the proposition I share is Somewhat negotiable and the word Sanne is also somewhat negotiable So now a share could be read as the read the whole psuk do not raise up a mat seva which Hashem hates or Do not raise up a mat seva in a manner that Hashem hates Which is a huge difference because if you read it the first way it means a mat seva is a hundred percent out If you did the second way There's nothing wrong with a mat seva as long as you don't do it in the way that Hashem doesn't want And then you got to look elsewhere for that information That's as far as the word a share goes, but how would you translate the word Sanne? So we're gonna look into that in part two of the shi'or But part one of the shi'or is the problem with this Because our assumption in reading this is that a mat seva is something which is an abomination to God Raising a mat seva is just a disgusting terrible thing and Indeed Avraham didn't raise a mat seva. Yeah, you talked didn't raise a mat seva With one exception well shed and raise a mat seva. We're gonna see that exception But famously Yaakov raised not one but four mat sevot The first one of course is in the famous story of Beitel where he sleeps and Then he wakes up in the morning after the vision He he gets a middle of night and he says Ainsai keem Beitel oem and then he gets up early in the morning and here We see in source too by kakata evanosh asam mirashot aba yasam otam mat seva He takes the rock that he had put either under his head or around his head near his head and he raises it up as a mat seva And then he makes a vow and what's the vow? If a shem takes care of me and brings me back to the ratara then by evanosh asot asher samty mat seva ya Beitel oem This rock that I made it to mat seva will be a Beitel oem Will be a house of God place of worship Okay, so it sounds like well a mat seva is something that Yaakov thought was pretty okay So how can we say that Hashem hates the mat seva? So there's a few ways to negotiate it One way could it could be I don't know this might sound odd, but maybe Yaakov made a mat seva and said Hashem was happy with it Maybe mat seva to really bad and Yaakov made a mistake shouldn't have made a mat seva. That's possibility one We'll see that that won't work Possibility true is that Yaakov made mat seva to the mat seva is a good thing and it's a beautiful thing And at some particular point Hashem decided doesn't like mat seva to any more We're gonna see Rishonim will take that direction, but we're gonna see why that's very difficult All right, the third thing might be that we'll look at Yaakov and we'll have to see maybe what the context of the mat seva is And maybe context of a mat seva means everything Unlike certain abominations which are inherently bad made me a mat seva is only bad when used a particular way We'll see Rishonim will take that direction as well Statically we see that Yaakov raises other mat seva when he's on his way back from Lavon after escaping He Lavon says to him that you know I could have hurt you, but I shut your God showed up to me last night and said I better not mess with you and then Sorry, and and so therefore you see in source for by khaki alcove avan by your mail mat seva Yaakov raises up a mat seva When Yaakov gets to bait el which is the site of the original mat seva He sets up another mat seva. It's the spot where I show him it appeared to him and said I'm giving you this land and a little further south from there big debate how far south Raquel goes into childbirth gives birth to Benjamin and dies and they have save Yaakov mat seva alcove rata Now you could still make the argument based on sources to four five and six that mat seva Vote are not anything God likes. Maybe God doesn't like a mat seva And every then Yaakov was doing it and that was his own business The problem is source to source three in source three which is happens when Yaakov's in haran in Padanaram and Decides to leave and decides to leave because several things first of all he sees that Lavon is no longer his friend he leaves because Benel Ivan are making trouble and he leaves because Hashem says to leave that's a pretty good reason and In his telling of the story to his wives to convince them to leave. He tells them the following story I had a dream and the vision a malach was there and he said to me Yaakov Yaakov and he introduced himself as follows and he was telling me to go back on oh he ha El Beit El I am the word God of Beit El Ashar my shakta sham mat seva you anointed a mat seva there Shana dartha lisham nad there and you made a nadir to me now get up and go back and essentially go back and fulfill your nadir now that puts a chink in the armor of the argument that says that a mat seva is a bad thing because God here is Confirming the mat seva and saying you made you set up a mat seva that's a significant act now go back and fulfill what you Promised with the mat seva He would have thought that if a mat seva was something that God didn't like he would have either ignored it Or he would have punished Yaakov for doing it or certainly wouldn't have mentioned it as a reason to go back Maybe go back and destroy it if you will but not in this way So it seems pretty clear that the mat seva that Yaakov set up certainly the first mat seva I set up was a positive thing Which takes us back again to the question about what does it mean for us to hate it? Now when we come to the to the there's one other mat seva and it's not one, but it's 12 mat sevot that are set up Between Yaakov and Parsat Shrif team and they're set up by Moshe Rabbi Nuh And they're set up at the foot of Harsi Nai when Moshe builds that means Bayak where he brings the the Olotans Vachim and they do the safe for our breed that whole scene at the end of Parashat Nishpatim He sets up of Mies Bayak and he sets up Shrif Matsibah the Shrif Matsibah the Shrif Tae Yousrael Now again, you could make the claim. Well, who says Moshe Rabbi Nuh is supposed to do that But it becomes a little more difficult First of all with Yaakov you could say it before Matan Torah, but now it's after Matan Torah It's Moshe Rabbi Nuh give me a break You're not gonna tell me Moshe Rabbi Nuh is doing something as part of a Corban to Hashem and it's something that he shouldn't be doing just not likely and so we have lots of support and that's why I put this Matsibah in a blue color to be kind of positive is that Is that we have lots of support for the idea that a Matsibah is a good thing and we got approves of it Which takes us again back to the problem about what does it mean? I share a sine. Now the words seen on Take a look at it in source nine for instance When when in parashat Reh when we're told when we're told them to come into the land We should not do any of the things that the other nations are doing We have this line ki khol to avat al gunayah Shr Sunday a su leh leh leh way haman it's that exact same word in the same form a sine and Here you have to translate it. I think all of the abominations which God hates Not God came to hate, but God hates God essentially hates Now that leads us to a question about what is the word sine amine? Does sine amine a sudden change in mood from love to hate or from apathy to hate or sineah an essentialist statement about how you feel about something Now you could make the argument that sineah is a change in mood. I Used to like it. I don't like it anymore like picture a little kid on the playground I hate you there's a reaction to somebody that they liked till five minutes ago and the like in five more minutes right now they right and We actually see that in Tanakh In the famous terrifying scene of Amnon and Tamar when Amnon takes his half-sister Whatever she might be Tamar and rape sir, and that really is a rape scene After he rapes her and by the way, he is the opening thing is at Tamar a lot of salaam a nea a neo hey, right? He loves tamari candies queen obsessed with Tamar and after he has relations with her It says by East na aha amnon sine agudola he hates her with a very big hatred and Now the line that really kicks it is kegudola sineah sure sineah me ava sure eva His hatred that he hates her with is greater than the love that he loved her with in other words The intensity of feeling of love is overshadowed by the intensity of his hatred now for her Which means sineah can be something that is a change It doesn't have to be all constant which means we can look back at our pasu can say Don't raise up a matseva because I shim now hates it You could say that and we're gonna see again. We're showing him who take that direction The only problem is that that's not gonna work. I'll show you why it's not gonna work When we talk about I'm known I'm known as a human being human beings are fickle human beings have feelings and the feelings change Sometimes their feelings change because of their own issues Sometimes their feelings change because the person where they're interacting with change is also and they changed the way they feel about them That's natural and understandable But when we talk about Hashem Loving or hating it seems to be more sensualist as an example in the beginning of malachie I have to get from the beginning of the wab malachie. I have to get from a mark on our temper my out time What does I have to get them mean doesn't mean? For a while. I loved you or I came around to love you I love you essentially and then base well say Prove that you love us and the answer is hello ach a savli ako aren't a Sauvignaco brothers but oh have it yaku That a sub sonatee Which means from the beginning these are the lines that are set a sav sonate yakuv I hate which by the way fits exactly the rifka model right if you go have a yakuv right and Indeed later on in malachie you find kia any algumai los sonatee, which seems to mean I am a chef. I haven't changed I am why am I am? Yeah, sure. Yeah, my my my likes and my dislikes. Don't change These are abominations and I hate them. These are just acts and I love them These are my people and I love them. These are the enemies of my people and I hate them seems to be first straightforward and We have actually a conundrum in this because in Safer schwelle al of paraktadvav which is the story of Sha'ul and I'm a lake Hashem turns to shmuel and says nicham tikim laktay of shawul amela. I regret having made shawul the king Means I've changed my mind about shawul Which is interesting because a few sukim later shawul says to shawul Lawyu shakar valloyinachim God never changes his mind meaning you can't try to get him back You've already lost it. You can't get him back and that's its own conundrum but It is indeed the case that God may favor somebody and then that person can fall out of favor A classic example of that is you're a van Ben de Vat who God selected to be the king and Then very quickly fell out of favor and then many people like that But there's a different word used in Tanach when God chooses to change his approach to somebody and that is Maas the most is to reject and the implication of rejection is you are formerly in and now you're out Which means if the Torah wanted to express the idea that God Approved of a particular act or structure and now he no longer does The word that would be used would be maas not sunny So now let's take a look with that background. Let's take a look at how the commentaries deal with this problem The see free on the pasu was the source 16 below takim le chamat se va In the element say vat avo dazora Me nyan mat se va avo dazora me nyan vedin who mamat se rasha ova la votes new all the banyam Avodaz or ashes new all our vote denu shite as new all the banyam now the see free takes this position we're gonna see it later explicating in rashi that a mat se va was actually beloved to the avote and the referring their tiyakov and Nonetheless, it's hated to the children meaning that God approved of it earlier and now no longer proves of it I will dazora cover home and they shouldn't be doing the midrash tanayim Takes the same thing and then as a second comment below takim le chamat se va the devarakh here me drash tanayim It's a midrash tanayim antvarim that was publicized by Wtv. Offman or though it's often 19th century Volotakim le chamat se va show may I need a flow of kevra v v mo now? This is going to be a key to helping us. I might think that this means even a mat se va is a tombstone Tom a lo amor I sure sunny al don't either. Oh, that's why it says I share Sunday meaning they mark on Sunday And I'm our lama on Sunday Right meaning that we saw early remember the pursuit that says they do all of these terrible things that our sham hates the to our vote Malal abur al-Zorakim le dabir of Kanma al-Vodazar katubidabir which means according to the second comment in the see in the midrash tanayim The only mat se va which is prohibited is a mat se va used for a vodazara Which by the way is now pretty strange because then you don't have to tell me don't make a mat se va I just say don't do a vodazara and if you use the mat se va for it, that's obviously no good either That's part of the problem with this right Just a side point is this passage in the washa me in abur al-Zara the bioncahne says mat se va colshih yi shidit means be our colshavana moo boat And he's talking actually in the context of the obligation to destroy the mat se va and means behold of the people of the people of the land So mat se va is one single rock. You got to just knock it down. I mean it's bad. There's a bunch of rocks just take some of them out Right and his kiyyas supports that mat se va cave on chin if gamma beat la the minute that you Knock one thing into the mat se va. It's already out means bail. You have to knock each rock out. Okay, or hurt each rock So let's go to the rishonim and see what we've got rashi famously says a share sane source 19 Mise bach habanim mise bach ha the mat se va lassot What's a share sane cuz God told us to make and mise bah hav rocks or mise bah hav earth They had zu sane Now the way rashi's reading it is sort of like well since God said make him his bah hav means any other structure is no good Now kihok hai ta la kina neem. Why is he sane because the kina neem would make him his mat se va The afopi shaita uva lo be mea avot even though God loved the meat mat se vote during the time of the avot again yakov Akshav sane aa mea hai sha sua a lo hoke level dazarah In other words God changed his mind and said God says mat se va used to be good But now that they use it for our vodazara It's I don't like it anymore Now there's several difficulties with this the first one is of course the use of the word sane. It should have said maas second of all think about it if there's an act that God loves and it's a virtuous act of worship and It turns out that some of the avotazara pick it up and they use it also. Why should that make it sour Why should that make it? Foul for us we should still be able to use it and it's both linguistically and reasoning wise. This is difficult The rash ban takes a direction which is the opposite of me drash tana aem that we saw lo takim la kha mat se va la shamayim Meaning don't set up a mat se va to worship God with well hak tear be shot is surha bamot in order to use it When you're not allowed to set up a moat now hashi ala jami's bea kavu ala hai rushat in other words What he's saying is don't think that because you're not allowed to set up means bahot elsewhere Because it's in his sur bamot There's a beta miktash up But you could set up a mat se va and burn some incense on it to Hashem to Hashem Now notice he's taking the opposite direction of the midrash and saying The is sore of the mat se va is an is sore when you're worshiping Hashem It's a lot of Zara. It's already out because of a lot of Zara You take a look at the bahorsure and it says a shear sahne asha amel kaha kohmar the shame of a dazarash Akadosh barokul sahne he takes the exact opposite direction of the of the rash ban and Like the midrash you're not allowed to set up a mat se va for aveau dazarah Because what's he reading back in our original pasuq a Shear sahne remember we said there's two ways to read us share a Share can be that which God doesn't like or in the manner God doesn't like He's reading it as in the manner that God doesn't like in other words Don't set up a mat se va in the manner that God doesn't like which is to do aveau dazarah however critical he says of all the many in the next line mat se va aq farata mate look forward Let's say he set up a tombstone on somebody's when somebody died Kosha sahya kobla rakh help hula's kir shimul kmoshah sahim shalom Let's say you make a mat se va as a monument even for yourself remember afshalom Had kids late in life Absalom David Sun before he had the kids he thought he was going to die childless So he set up a mat se va and he called it Yadav shalom It's not the Yadav shalom we have in Nakhlakid your own. That's a Maka be an era thing, but it's called Yadav shalom That was totally fine She amin mat se va a bhayad vie kare le Yadav shalom Shuchon's vareem or even when you set up a mat se va as a Memorial steel to something that happened there Like for instance the bay got him in a roof and Allah your Dane or like the steels that are set up at Normandy or places like that People set him up say an important thing happened here. So that's done under the van right The even Ezra goes in the same direction we'll take him to come out save our love will dazara and He says what's the proof that that's the problem because yakob set up mat se vote In other words, he's taking the same information rashi has been dealing with it differently Rashi dealt with it based on the midrashan said yakob set up mat say vote They must have been a good thing Why does God hate them because the economy started using them therefore they become hated on The other hand the the even edger says the only mat se va that's prohibited is a mat se va a vav al-Dazara I share sonnet And what's the proof yakob built not mat say what they must be okay? Mosher built mat say what they must be okay mat se vote for a vav al-Dazara and here we have a huge divide Between is a mat se va inherently prohibited. I remember. I'm not said I was a single rock set up straight or is a mat Se va conditionally prohibited meaning depending on its use whether it's for a vav al-Dazara or not So the tour in his commentary the reason I picked this is because he he very quickly summarizes the rambhan's position and And the rambhan asked a question on rashi He says rashi says that because the conanium started using mat say vote for a vav al-Dazara God didn't like him anymore So I'm bound says so then God should prohibit the means pay off also Right because they use that also and so he says by near abbeinai. This is the this is according to the other the rambhan Keqan limo scene bejo ba taha el-o-ham means be ach la criva la la Corbonot They would make him his back and all their temples The evan do lam would say that al-pata habai it and there was a big rock standing at the doorway La amor a la hakom reen that the the priest and ministers would stand on The ilan not to a hutsalau and there was a tree that was planted right outside of it That's the a sheira a shea dara habai imsham begama yom homa al-sincane and then he said the churches seem to do his kind of thing Now shame so they call my say and God hates everything that they do. Yes, sir I'm at say rather she ravily she rock on his back should sort of carbonate And so what happened is God banned all these things that they do because they're all used for a vodazara The one thing he left was never honey to me is back for Corbonot You understand that that's difficult To say God says well, I got to leave something because otherwise we're having a Corbonot I should I sure see Bob. I'll be may our code loan them our dying hook at their little table So there's like a technicality. Remember the oldest on the oldest jokes. How do you know you have to reamak in the tower, right? That's what's the answer? If I ate say yaku remember Shava, you think yaku walk out with that Iamakah? That's all it's an old one. That's very good It's an old one and here he takes kind of a similar thing He says yaku could build a matseva not because matzi what weren't being used for what is are in their times But there was no prohibition against imitating pagan ways And therefore he used to use a matseva for our shaven But now we can't because we have to avoid pagan ways, right? I want to cut to the chase on this because as you can see The rishonim are quite divided Both on the nature of the esur is in an essentialist esur of having a matseva And is the reason for it either because it was always used by the cananim But now that the torah was given we have to avoid their behavior even more or suddenly they started using it So therefore we have to respond by moving away from it Or is it a conditional prohibition which is don't do use it for what is are and you can use it for other things like marking a spot I think if we take a look back in the text itself, we can find perhaps some help What is a matseva? What is it? But the word means as a standing stone From the word mutsab which means standing so matseva is a thing that's standing up What's the verb you would use to describe putting one up So what what verb does the torah use here to prohibit it Okay, like he means to raise something's down you raise it like him But take a look at what words are used to describe yachob's matsevo When he wakes up in the morning He takes the rock by yasim ota matseva He places it as a matseva And he refers to it that way in his oath by eva azota sure santim matseva And then when ashem refers to it in the vision He refers to it as asham matseva you anointed a matseva in the Next case when yachob sets up the matseva and haragulad It's vayiri meha matseva La harim is not the same as la haqim we'll talk about why la harim is simply a physical action which is to bring something up And now what are the two words the two the word that used twice in the case of yachob's third and fourth matsevo By atsev yachob matseva. That's the verb of matseva. That's very simple um In the case of moshirabenu there isn't even a verb associated But you could argue that vayivan But notice that none of these Use the word la haqim what's the difference La haqim doesn't just mean a physical action of raising something up It implies setting something up As a significant place as a significant item It's really supposed to have some sort of a permanent imprint La haqim something it's ka'yam When ashem prohibits what is he prohibit La haqim leha matseva Meaning don't make this permanent matseva that's there for its own sake Then hashem is always hated Every place is a place you can worship me and there's one particular place where you can bring korba note But bachoma komashir is kirach miyha boya theha veratecha we talked about that a few years ago But here la haqim leha matseva don't make a permanent structure matseva thing That's la haqim And that's the prohibition So it's not so much the issue of the context like the bachoshir And like the like the benesra say that it's only when used for abledazarah But it kind of is Because when somebody puts a stone over where somebody died They're not doing it to sanctify the spot. What are they doing it for? To create a memory of something special that happened there It's a very different take The matseva that the Torah prohibits is when somebody takes a spot and says i'm sanctifying the spot And i'm making the sanctity um imminent with this rock That's the prohibition. That's what I shall hate Because even amis bach Is not used for that. I mean it's bad because i'm not saying he said i'm his back And now this place becomes holy. He said i'm gonna be bad because an opportunity to bring korba note to ashim And so the prohibition of the matseva is really part of trying to sanctify a location Which no particular location should be sanctified except for the mishkhan And now look at the pasuk beforehand Loti talah ha'ashirah call eight so you can't plan a tree you can plan lots of trees trees are nice It's lemise bachashin In other words, don't try to turn this location into a location of inherent sanctity It's not And therefore lo takim lecha matseva don't set up a rock that is going to market is saying this is an inherently holy place That ashim hates Ashim loves it when you have a military victory and you want to set up an MDARTa to remember the victory beautiful You want to set up a tombstone to remember some loved one who passed away That's all beautiful to set up a stone and declare it. This is an inherently holy place That is what ashir sana ashram lo kaha independent of whatever the kani may have done And it's not a change that took place. It is something that ashim has always hated Because ashim told us bachal ha'makum ashirah as kirach shrimi avoy alah kograftirah You can make any place sanctified and every every dunam of land every step of land in arach israel Is a sanctified place There will be one place that I will choose to bring my name rest there and that will be a sanctified place All right, so hopefully we got a little more clarity into this odd phrase Ashir sana ashram lo kaha after reviewing through the rishonim perhaps a Different way in which we can understand this as well
