meta: {"file": "/data/tomer/Sefaria-Export/txt/Tanakh/Commentary/Kli Yakar/Torah/Kli Yakar on Leviticus/English/Sefaria Community Translation.txt"}
text: Kli Yakar on Leviticus
  כלי יקר על ויקרא
  Sefaria Community Translation
  
  
  Kli Yakar on Leviticus
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  “Should any person from you bring forward to the Lord an offering” - It begins in singular and finishes in plural “you shall bring forward your offering.”  Rashi’s interpretation that two people may donate an elevation offering in partnership does not satisfactorily address this verse and its neighbor, nor the beginning and the end, for we don’t know the limits of this idea [of partnership]. And it seems to me that the text wanted to warn all those bringing an offering to God not to stumble in the two ways that Cain and Abel stumbled, who were the first people to offer an offering.  For Cain stumbled in that he brought from the lesser and tawdry crops though he planted grain.  Those who err mortally needed to bring the life of an animal in exchange for their life.  And for [cases of] distress, the Holy One Blessed be He allowed for a poor person to bring a grain offering lacking life and offer it as if that person was offering an animal, as Rashi explains on the verse, “Should a person bring forward a grain offering” (Leviticus 2:1). Abel, even though he brought an offering from the choicest of his sheep, nevertheless, he did not do well either for the offering did not emerge from himself and he did not move quickly to do this commandment on his own accord.  Only after he saw Cain offer an offering did he become jealous of him and Abel from an offering as well to match him.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verse 1
  
  
  
  Verse 2
  
  
  
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  Then you shall bring an offering of new grain to the Lord: It is a sign for the day of the giving of the Torah, since the Torah must be new to a person on every day, as if he received it on Mount Sinai [that day]. And that which it is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah that this day is [the day of] the giving of the Torah, and so [too] it is not mentioned explicitly in the Torah that Rosh Hashanah is the day of judgement, the reason for both of them is [the same], as I have written in my essay, Ollalot Ephraim: That about the giving of the Torah, God did not want to limit [it] to one specific day, since it must be similar to a person as if each and every day of the year, he received it on that day from Mount Sinai. As in truth our rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Eruvin 54b) that the Torah is compared to a breast: that all the time that the infant presses on it, it brings out a new flavor; so [too] the Torah - any one who ponders it brings out a new explanation every day. Therefore it is correct that it be similar to him as if he received it today at Mount Sinai. And, if so, every day is the [day] of the giving of the Torah for those that ponder it. Therefore, it is not fitting to limit its giving to one specific day. And therefore, our rabbis, may their memory be blessed, said (Sifrei, Veetchanan 6:6) that words of Torah should be new to you, and not like an old thing that the heart of a person is sick of. And, in truth, you find a novelty in it on each and every day. And therefore the day of its giving is [nowhere] elucidated in the Torah more than that which is hinted in the bringing of the new offering - to teach that the Torah is a new offering on each and every day.
  
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  Verse 1
  
  God said to Moses on Mt. Sinai: What is the connection between Shemittah and Mt. Sinai? etc. The meaning is that when Moses went up Mount Sinai after seven weeks, that Israel counted 49 days from Pesach to Shavuot, then that mountain was sanctified, and forbidden from ploughing and sowing on the 50th day, on which the Torah was given. And this is the length of time of the Jubilee, to call for liberty and freedom to all of Israel, freedom on the tablets, by means of the voice of the shofar of the giving of the Torah. At that moment God told Moses the matter of Shemittah and the Jubilee, saying that through the number 7 and the number 49 I am giving this holiness to all the land of Israel. For this has a similarity and connection with Mt. Sinai from the side of there being an air that makes people wise (B. Baba Batra 158b). And the Torah [in general] is not like the Torah of the land of Israel and Mt. Sinai. Therefore it was appropriate to give also to that land the holiness of Mount Sinai after the number 49 years, and thus with the number 7. Or in order to make a memorial of the standing at Sinai through the calling of liberty and the blowing of the shofar. This joins to all the other reasons that there is to this mitzvah. Therefore it was said on Mount Sinai, and this is the correct meaning.
  
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  Verse 36
  
  That which it says, "Do not take from him," implies that it is permitted to take from the wealthy. Likewise in Parshat Mishpatim (Exodus 22:24), it states, "If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you... exact no interest from him." Hence the Torah wrote in Deuteronomy 23:21, "Do not take interest from your brother" - do not take interest from anyone who is your brother, and even though the borrower profits from it. For the main reason for the prohibition of interest is because it erodes the trait of trust [in God]. As anyone engaged in business has his eyes lifted towards God, since he is in doubt whether he will make a profit or not. But one who gives with interest has his profit known and designated. So he will rely on his surety and remove his heart from God. And that which the borrower also transgresses the negative commandment is because he causes the creditor to sin and erodes his trait of trust. This is known from [observing] those that lend with interest. As most of them have little faith, and are 'stubborn-hearted and distant from charity' because of their lack of trust in God. This is the reason for the prohibition of interest in every place...
  And it mentioned the word, "interest (literally, bite)," [as well as] "increase"; as it is called, "bite," to the borrower, since it is is similar to [the bite of] a snake - in the way that if it bites his heel, it results in a small scratch; but it [then] proceeds to rise and swell to his skull. At first, it is not noticeable until its fever rises and cannot be cured. But to the creditor, it is called increase, as it increases his wealth and property...