meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt/Tanakh/Commentary/Sforno/Torah/Sforno on Leviticus/English/Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009.txt"}
text: Sforno on Leviticus
  ספורנו על ויקרא
  Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009
  
  
  Sforno on Leviticus
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  [If] a man among you (מכם) will bring. מכם implies that you should sacrifice <i>from yourselves</i>, by means of an oral confession and submission, following the idea expressed in the verse: And let us render [for] bulls [the offering of] our lips (Hoshea 14:3). Additionally, it says: The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit (Tehillim 51:19). God has no use for fools that bring sacrifices without previously humbling themselves before Him.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  And he incurs guilt and will bear his iniquity. Chazal received the tradition that this is speaking about an uncertain guilt-offering where he does not know if he sinned or not, and for such a person it says, he will bear his iniquity — according to whether he sinned intentionally or not. However, if he was careless and thereby fell into uncertainty, he will bear the punishment as he deserves.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  Although Nodov and Avihu were relatives for which a regular <i>kohein</i> may become impure, the Torah was strict with Elozor and Isomor because they were anointed, as it says (v. 7), “for the anointing oil of Adonoy is on you.” 
  The entire House of Yisroel shall weep. Because two great righteous men are lacking, and thereby the honor of the dead will not be diminished [if Elozor and Isosmor do not show signs of mourning].
  
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  And it was good in his eyes. He rejoiced over the excellent reasoning of his brother and his brother’s sons who had excelled in perceiving and ruling the correct halachah.
  
  
  
  
  
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  These are the living things. [This was commanded] after the Bnei Yisroel removed the spiritual ornaments that they had acquired during the Giving of the Torah, through which they were worthy that the Divine Presence would reside upon them without any intermediary, as it says (Shemos 20:21), “In every place wherever I permit My Name to be mentioned, I will come to you and bless you.” This is how it will be in the future, as it says, (Vayikro 26:11): “I will set My Sanctuary among you and My spirit will not loathe (reject) you.” After they removed the ornaments Hashem was repulsed from allowing His Divine Presence reside among them any more, until Moshe prayed and achieved some rectification — the Divine Presence would reside among them by means of the Sanctuary and its vessels, its servants and its offerings. They accomplished this and merited that “the glory of Adonoy appeared to the entire people” (9:23) and that the fire came forth from Heaven. Therefore, Hashem saw fit to rectify their temperament so they would be prepared for the light of eternal life; this was by means of rectifying their nourishment and its effect. He prohibited those things that cause impurity to the soul’s character traits and intellect, as it says (11:43), “For you will become unclean because of them,” and (Ibid. 43-45), “Do not make yourselves repulsive … For I am Adonoy who brings you up from the land of Egypt to be your God …” (v. 44) “You shall sanctify yourselves and you shall become holy.” Meaning, you will be eternal, resembling the Creator, as it says (Ibid.), “For I am holy”.
  
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  And you shall become holy. So that you will be holy and eternal, when you recognize your Creator and go in His ways, and this is My desire — that you should emulate Me, for I am holy. All this you will achieve when you sanctify yourselves and guard yourselves from prohibitions, as Chazal said: “A man sanctifies himself a little, and Heaven sanctifies him a lot …” .
  
  
  
  
  
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  On the eighth day shall be circumcised. By this time the ritually unclean menstrual blood from which the embryo was nourished in his mother’s womb has been completely digested and the infant is now pure to enter the holy covenant.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  He shall be brought to the <i>kohein</i>. He is brought to a place close by the outside of the encampment, so the <i>kohein</i> can go to see him in honor and without much inconvenience.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  It is an everlasting statute. Even during the time when the Beis HaMikdash does not exist you shall keep [the commandments of] cessation of work and affliction.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  You shall not take to vex [her]. The Torah is saying that without this reason it would not prohibit his wife’s sister, since she is not born from the wife and she is intrinsically permitted. However, it prohibits her so they will not be rival wives, and therefore she is only prohibited during the lifetime of her sister, which is not so by all the other forbidden relations.
  
  
  
  
  
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  A man — you shall fear his mother and father. It begins to explain honoring one’s father and mother and says, “A man — you shall fear his mother and father,” to teach that honoring them should not ever be done through coarse behavior, even though one honors them with food, drink, and clothing, as mentioned by our Sages (Kiddushin 31a-b): “There is one who feeds his father pheasant and he loses his world …” Instead, our honor of our parents should be like one who honors those he fears due to their higher level.
  
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  If a proselyte comes to live. After it has cautioned about honor for the holy matters it cautions about shaming the lowly, and says, “if a proselyte comes to live with you do not cause him anguish,” even anguish caused by words.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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  A husband among his people. A <i>kohein</i> may only defile himself for a relative because in truth the <i>kohein</i> is “בעל בעמיו,” a master among his people, to understand and give rulings [in the Torah], “For a priest’s lips shall guard knowledge, and teaching should be sought from his mouth” (Malachi 27:7). It is fitting that a person like this should behave in a respectful way so that his words will be heard. He should not profane his state of preparedness to enter the Sanctuary and for its holy matters by honoring the dead that are not his relatives, as the Sages said: The burial and eulogy for the dead are honor for the departed one. However, he is permitted to defile himself for relatives, for their honor is his honor.
  
  
  
  
  
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  For it is his bread. He is not required to wait for his atonement before eating his bread, as it says previously — at sunset he may eat <i>terumah</i>.
  
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  Who will bring his offering. After the Torah spoke about the <i>kohanim</i> who offer the sacrifices and their holiness, it speaks about the stipulations of the animals being offered. It says, “For any of their vows or for any of their free-will-offerings … To gain acceptance [it must be] an unblemished male” — even though someone offering free-will offerings might think whatever he offers will be acceptable, even a blemished animal, [nevertheless, it must be unblemished]. Some of Israel made this mistake until the prophet admonished them (Malachi 1:8): “When you offer a blind [animal] for a sacrifice, is there nothing wrong? And when you offer a lame or a sick one, is there nothing wrong? Were you to offer it to your governor, would he accept you or would he favor you?”.
  
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  You shall make (offer) it as a free-will-offering. Although these animals have very visible blemishes, and someone might think that they are not even fit for the repair of the Temple, the Torah declares they are fit for the Temple’s repair, as we find in the Tradition. Since the animal does not belong to the Altar at all, and the only holiness it has is the consecration for its value, it is sold [and the proceeds go for the upkeep of the Temple] and the animal becomes un-consecrated.
  
  
  
  
  
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  A remembrance of the sounding. A remembrance of the sounding of the King, in which they rejoice with their King, as it says (Tehillim 81:2): “Sing praises to the God Who is our might, sound the shofar.” This is because He is sitting then on the Throne of Judgment, as we know from Tradition, and as it says (ibid. 4): “Sound the shofar on the New Moon, on the appointed time for the day of our festival. For it is a statute for Yisroel, the judgment of the God of Yaakov.” It is fitting that we rejoice more at that time because He is our King and He will tilt towards Kindness and acquit us when He judges us, as it says (Yeshayahu 33:22): “For Hashem is our judge; Hashem is our ruler; Hashem is our king; He shall save us”.
  
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  Indeed, on the tenth. On the rest of the holy assemblies it is fitting to rejoice and enjoy oneself with food and drink as well, as it says (Nechemiah 8:10): “Go, eat fat foods and drink sweet drinks and send portions to whoever has nothing prepared, for the day is holy to our Lord.” Nonetheless, the tenth of the month is the Day of Atonement to confess and regret our sins. It is not a day of rejoicing and enjoyment but rather a day of affliction, as it says, “And you shall afflict yourselves and you shall bring a fire-offering,” which is the Kohein Godol’s offerings and the congregation’s offerings that come for atonement.
  
  
  
  
  
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  Aharon shall arrange it. Although in all the generations an ordinary <i>kohein</i> is permitted to light the lamps [of the menorah] and also perform the continual incense burning, as the tradition received by our Sages, nevertheless, in both these cases it specifies “Aharon.” This is because during the entire period of the wilderness the everyday affairs of the <i>mishkon</i> were like its affairs on Yom Kippur for the generations, concerning which it says (16:2): “For in a cloud I shall appear on the Ark-cover.” This is because during the entire period in the wilderness it says (Shemos 40:38), “For the cloud of Adonoy was upon the <i>mishkon </i>by day and there was a fire in it by night.” Therefore, it was appropriate that the incense burning and lighting the menorah in the <i>mishkon</i>, which were done inside the Sanctuary, should be done by the <i>Kohein Godol</i>, as required for the generations on Yom Kippur.
  
  
  
  
  
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  On Mount Sinai. The Torah only mentions the place where a mitzvah was given when some novel event occurred at that time in that certain place. Here, however, the explanation is that at the time Hashem said at Sinai (Shemos 23:11): “But on the seventh [year] you must let it rest, and abandon it, and let the needy among your people eat it” — He then explained to Moshe all the laws of the seventh year that are stated here. This teaches that the same applies to all the rest of the mitzvos, for although only sparse verses were written regarding some of them, the explanation given then was very expansive, in full clarification. This follows what the Sages said: “What has the matter of <i>shemittoh</i> [to do] with Mount Sinai? Were not all the mitzvos<i> </i>said at Sinai? Rather, [this comes to teach that] just as <i>shemittoh </i>its general rules, details, and explanations were said at Sinai, so [too] all the <i>mitzvos</i> were said at Sinai [including] their general rules, details, and explanations.” Moshe mentioned this <i>parshah</i> in this place because he thought they would immediately enter Eretz Yisrael, as he indicated when he said (Bamidbar 10:29): “We are journeying to the place.” And he cautioned about <i>shemittoh</i> of the land in particular, for if they would sin in keeping this mitzvah they would be exiled from the land, as the verse testifies (26:34): “The land will then be appeased for its Shabbosos.” Similarly, it testifies at the end of Divrei HaYamim (II 36:21): “Until the land was appeased for its Shabbosos; [for] all the days of its desolation it rested until the completion of seventy years”.
  
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  You shall make a proclamation with the <i>shofor</i>. This proclamation is for the rejoicing of the freedom of the slaves and the return of the fields to their owners.
  
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  It shall be holy to you. I prohibited the landowners from using the fields for planting and harvesting, and they may not gather all the field’s produce as they do the other years, as it says (v. 11), “You shall not reap crops that grew on their own; and you shall not gather.” Nevertheless, I did not prohibit them from eating its produce like any other person, as in the Sabbatical year.
  
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  Each man shall return to his ancestral land. It is permitted for the owners that return to the ancestral land to take control over it as their estate, and to build houses, dovecotes, or pens for their flocks, and other things, except for working the soil and watching over the fruits.
  
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  You shall increase its purchase price. You should pay more to purchase the land than it would cost to rent it for those years, because when you buy it for many years until the jubilee you can make pens for your flock, dovecotes, and the like, besides the produce, for many years. 
  You shall decrease its purchase price. You should not purchase it for a small amount of years for the price of renting, and certainly not for [the price of] buying it. The reason is: “since it is the number of produce-seasons that he is selling to you” — when you buy for only a few years you may only use the field for produce but not for something that weakens the soil in a way that it will not be replenished by the time the field returns to the owner, as the Sages said: “One who receives a field from his fellow man for a small amount of years may not plant flax”.
  
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  You shall not cheat. Even with words, deception, or bad advice, and even without any monetary loss.  
  For I am Adonoy, your God. The God of the buyer and of the seller, and I am exacting about either one of them cheating.
  
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  My statutes. The matters of the Sabbatical and Jubilee years. And My laws. In the matters of selling and buying for the years of the jubilee, and the rest. There should not be any cheating in those matters. 
   And you will then live in the land in security. You will not be exiles from it, the opposite of (26:34): “The land will then be appeased for its Shabbosos all the days of its desolation,” and also the opposite of (Yeshayahu 57:17): “For the iniquity of his thievery I became wroth”.
  
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  And you will eat your fill. The produce will be abundant in nourishment, as it was with the <i>omer</i> [of manna], which was enough for a grown-up just as for a child, as the Sages said: “One eats a little and there will be a blessing in one’s stomach.” The produce of the sixth year will be sufficient for the seventh year as well. And you will live securely on it. 
   You will not bear the humiliation of hunger among the nations of the world, for you will not need to travel to other countries to buy produce.
  
  
  
  
  
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  You shall keep My <i>Shabbosos</i> — even during the days of your exile from the land of your forefathers.
   And you shall fear My Sanctuary. This refers to the holy places after the destruction of the Temple, which are synagogues and Torah study halls, as it says (Yechezkel 11:16): “I have become for them a minor sanctuary in the lands where they have come,” and the Sages said: “These are the synagogues and Torah study halls.
  
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  And establish My covenant with you — that covenant in which I said (Bereishis 17:7), “To be to you for a God and to your seed after you”.
  
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  I will walk among you. Walking connotes someone who walks to and fro and not to any place in particular. If so, when it says here “I will walk among you” it means the influence of Hashem’s Honor will not descend to one place alone. This is the way it was concerning the Mishkan and the Beit HaMikdash, as it says (Shemos 25:8), “They shall make a Sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell in their midst.” This means I will dwell with you in this manner and in this place alone, as clearly expressed in the verses (ibid. 30:6), “Where I will meet with you there,” and (ibid. 25:22), “I will set My meetings with you there.” However, here the Torah emphasizes: I will walk among you and My Honor shall be seen in every place you will be, for in fact in every place the generation’s righteous men will be is holy, My lofty Sanctuary.
  
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  I will set your corpses — when they are in a city under siege, as it was related regarding Eliyahu the righteous who found a starving child. When he told him, “Say Shema Yisrael and you will live,” the boy answered, “Hush. One must never mention the name of Hashem.” He then took his idol out of his bosom and kissed it and died upon it.
  
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  I will turn your cities into ruins. By means of the king of Babylon and his ministers.
  And bring your Sanctuaries into desolation. By means of Nebuzaradan (the chief executioner).
  I will no longer scent the fragrance of your offerings. At that time there were Kohanim, the sons of Tzaddok, who undoubtedly offered sacrifices with a scent of fragrance (favorably). Nevertheless, it was not acceptable due to the people’s guilt.
  
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  The land will then be appeased. It shall be paid and avenged.
  For its Shabbosos. The Sabbatical and Jubilee years, as the verse elucidates (Divrei HaYamim II 36:21): “Until the land was appeased for its Shabbosos; [for] all the days of its desolation it rested until the completion of seventy years”.
  
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  They will confess. A few of them, such as Daniel, Ezra, and the like.