Torah Community Connections

Week 137 - Wednesday - 10 July 2002

PIRKEI AVOT: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 8

Seven kinds of punishment come upon the world for seven categories of transgressions: When some give tithe and some do not give tithe, a famine due to drought ensues: some suffer hunger, while others have their fill. When all resolve to withhold the tithes, famine due to turmoil and drought ensues. When all resolve not to separate hallah, an all-consuming famine ensues. Pestilence comes upon the world for death penalties pronounced by the Torah, whose execution, however, is beyond the competency of a human court; and for the abuse of the produce of the Seventh year. The sword comes upon the world for the delay of justice, and for the perversion of justice, and because of those who interpret the Torah not according to Halakhah.

Kehati

Our Mishnah enumerates various kinds of grave calamities, which come upon the world as Divine retribution for severe transgressions, on the lines of measure for measure.

Seven kinds of punishment come upon the world for seven categories of transgressions - according to Midrash Sh'muel, goofei averah means cardinal and grave transgressions. Others maintain that our Mishnah deals with sins of the community, which are more severe than those of the individual: for unlike personal error, the established trespasses of the community assume tangible form, that of goofei averah (Be'er Avot).

When some give tithe and some do not give tithe -on their produce in order to render to the Levites and priests the portions due to them, a famine due to drought ensues - when rains are rare, and the scanty produce is available only at exorbitant prices, some suffer hunger, while others have their fill- measure for measure. In the words of our Sages (Shabbat. 32b): "Through the sinful neglect of terumot and tithes, the heavens are restrained from pouring down dew and rain, high prices prevail, wages are lost and people seek a living but fail to attain it."

When all resolve to withhold the tithes - as ordained in the Torah; famine due to turmoil and drought ensues - in addition to drought, the upheaval or war is also inflicted and, in the resultant panic, agricultural activity ceases and all are stricken with hunger. Alternatively, mehuma, "turmoil", denotes that those who eat fail to be satisfied (Rashi). The Midrash comments (Bereshit Rabba. 40): In the time of Elijah there was famine due to drought; but in the time of Elisha there was famine due to turmoil.

When all resolve not to separate hallah - a portion of the dough due to the priest, an all consuming famine ensues - an acute drought which ruins the inhabitants of the land and many die. Some commentators claim that this refusal to offer the hallah is in addition to the withholding of tithes (Tosefot Yom Tov). Others hold that the Mishnah refers to hallah separately, the disregard of hallah being more severe than that of tithes, seeing that one can refrain from offering hallah by kneading less than the liable minimum amount of dough (see Eduyot Chapter 1:2). Failure to respect this requirement, indicates a brazen denial of a Divine commandment, and punishment therefore, is all the harsher (Midrash Shmu’el).

Pestilence comes upon the world - sudden epidemics which cause many deaths; for death penalties pronounced by the Torah, whose execution, however, is beyond the competency of a human court - this includes sins punishable by karet ("cutting off"), or mitah bey'dei Shamayim (death at the hands of Heaven), or mitat bet din (death by a human court), which the court could not execute for lack of the prescribed warning to the criminal; because of these sins pestilence comes as a Divine retribution measure for measure.

And for the abuse of the produce of the Seventh Year - fruit which grew during the Sabbatical Year of Rest for the land, was sold as a commodity, and not treated with the sanctity required by the Torah (Lev. 25:6): "But you may eat whatever the land during its sabbath will produce," which the Rabbis interpreted: "you may eat but not sell" By not abandoning ownership of this produce (hefker), to be freely drawn upon by the poor, he causes death by starvation; therefore, pestilence comes upon the world as a measure of Divine retribution (Hameiri). Tiferet Yisrael comments that the failure to abandon the Sabbatical produce, as required by the Torah, leads to the abandonment of the sinners' lives to the angel of death, as a Divine infliction, measure for measure.

The sword - of war, comes upon the world for the delay of justice - even when the verdict is clear to the judges and the case requires no further deliberation; -and for the perversion of justice acquitting the guilty and punishing the innocent; because of those who interpret the Torah not according to Halakhah – to forbid the permitted and permit the forbidden. The infliction of the sword also reflects poetic justice, since the victim of perverted justice naturally resents his plight and consequently seeks to eliminate his oppressor.

Thus, perversion of justice, the delay in executing justice, and interpreting contrary to Halakhah, all fall into the same category of transgression (Hameiri). In the Gemara we read (Shab, 32b): "If you see a generation which suffers many troubles, go and investigate the judges of Israel; for all punishment comes upon society solely because of the judges of Israel… God does not allow His presence to rest upon Israel until the wicked judges and court officers have been eliminated, as it is written (Is. 1:26): "And I will restore your judges as of old, and your counselors as at the beginning; afterward you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city."

PIRKEI AVOT: CHAPTER 5: MISHNAH 9

Wild beasts come upon the world because of false oaths, and for the desecration of the Divine Name. Exile comes upon the world because of idolaters, for incest, for bloodshed, and because of (neglect of) the (Sabbatical) release of the land. Pestilence increases at four periods: In the fourth year; in the seventh year; in the year after the seventh year; and at the conclusion of the Feast each year. In the fourth year, because of the Poor man's Tithes in the third year; in the seventh year, because of the Poor man's Tithes in the sixth year; in the year after the seventh year, because of the seventh year produce; and at the end of the Feast each year, for robbing the gifts of the poor.

Kehati

This Mishnah amplifies the theme broached in the previous Mishnah.

Wild beasts come upon the world because of false oaths - this includes gratuitous and vain swearing as well as outright perjury; and for the desecration of the Divine Name - by sinning blatantly in public (Bartenura); or by the careless behavior of a prominent personality who serves as a bad example to others, whereupon lesser men proceed to belittle the Torah, saying: This person is surely convinced that there is no substance to the Torah and its Mitzvot and thereby the Divine Name is desecrated by him (Rashi, Shab. 33a). These two transgressions - vain oaths and blasphemy - signify a degradation of God's name, as it is written (Lev. 19:12): "You shall not swear by My name falsely, profaning the name of your God; I am the Lord," which refers equally to vain swearing; and concerning blasphemy it is written (Lev. 22:32):"You shall not profane My holy name, that I may be sanctified among the children of Israel." The Sages said (Shab. 33a): "For the sin of vain oaths, false oaths, the desecration of the Divine Name, and the desecration of the Shabbat - wild beasts increase, domestic animals die out, the population decreases, and the roads become desolate, as it is written (Lev. 26:23): 'And if by these things (be-eleh), you will not be reformed unto Me,' do not read be-eleh, but be-alah" i.e. concerning (false or vain) oaths. And it is written: (ibid. 22): "I will loose wild beasts against you, and they, shall bereave you of your children, and wipe out your cattle. They shall decimate you, and your roads shall be deserted." This is extended to the desecration of Shabbat and blasphemy where the same term of profanation appears. This punishment, too, follows the principle of measure for measure, since by tarnishing God's Name through vain oaths and profanation, man descends to the level of the beasts which thereupon become the executors of Divine justice (Hameiri).

Exile comes upon the world because of idolaters - as it is written (Lev. 26:30-33): "I will destroy your cult places ... I will heap your carcasses upon your lifeless fetishes ... and I will make your sanctuaries desolate…And you I will scatter among the nations.' God said: Since you desire idol-worship, I shall, indeed, banish you to a place where idol worship is prevalent (Avot de Rabbi Natan 38); for incest - as it is written in the Biblical section on incest (Lev. 18:27-28): "For all those abominations were perpetrated by the people who were in the land before you ... So let not the land spew you out for defiling it, as it spewed out the nation that came before you;" for bloodshed - as it is written (Num, 35: 33-34): "You shall not pollute the land in which you live, for blood pollutes the land ...You shall not defile the land in which you live, in which I Myself abide." Hence, if you do pollute it, you will not inhabit it and I shall not dwell in its midst (Shab. 33a).

And became of - the neglect of the (Sabbatical) release of the land - by plowing and sowing in the Sabbatical year, as it is written (Lev. 26:34): "Then shall the land make up for its Sabbath Years, throughout the time that it is desolate, and you are in the land of your enemies." God said to them: Since you do not release your hold on the land, it will release its hold on you; and for as many months as you did not allow it to rest, it will do so of its own accord, as it is written (ibid. 35): "Throughout the time that it is desolate, it shall observe the rest that it did not observe in your Sabbath Years while you were dwelling upon it" (Avot de Rabbi Natan 38).

Pestilence increases at four periods - if pestilence has come upon the land because of the sins listed in the previous Mishnah, it spreads out at these four junctures because of the plunder of the obligatory donations to the poor (Tosefot Yam Tov quoting Midrash Sh'muel). In the fourth year - of the Sabbatical cycle, in the seventh year - the Sabbatical year, in the year after the seventh year - which is the beginning of another cycle, and at the conclusion of the Feast - of Sukkot, each year.

In the fourth year - the pestilence spreads, because of the Poor man's Tithes in the third year - and in the sixth year, substituting the 'Second Tithe' due in the remaining years of the sabbatical cycle. Failure to comply with this precept may spell total starvation to the poor, wherefore pestilence takes its toll of the perpetrators of this crime; in the seventh year, because of the Poor man's Tithes in the sixth year - withheld from the needy, as explained above; in the year after the seventh year, because of the seventh year produce - which was not abandoned and left freely available to all, so that the poor might preserve their lives as specified-in the Torah; and at the end of the Feast - of Sukkot, each year, for robbing the poor of their gifts - set aside by the Torah for the poor from the cereal and grape- harvests: the leket (gleanings of the cereal harvest), shikhehah (forgotten sheaves), pe'ah (the comer of the field), the peret and the olelot (gleanings and gathering of fallen fruit from the grape harvest), of which it is written (Lev. 19:10): "You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger;" and it is written (Prov. 22:22-23): "Rob not the weak, because he is weak, neither crush the poor in the gate; for the Lord will plead their cause, and despoil of life those that despoil them." This punishment is due after Sukkot, since by then all the obligatory donations ought to have been transferred to the poor, “for the agricultural season is at an end by now, and whoever contributed (to the poor) these mandatory grants, has already done so; and he who has not, is guilty of robbery" (Rambam).

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