A false prophet, or one who entices
others to worship idols, should be put to death; an
idolatrous city must be destroyed. The identifying
signs for kosher animals and fishes, and the list of
non-kosher birds (first given in Leviticus 11) are
repeated.
A tenth of all produce is to be eaten in Jerusalem,
or else exchanged for money with which food is
purchased and eaten there. On certain years this
tithe is given to the poor instead. Firstborn cattle
and sheep are to be offered in the Temple and their
meat eaten by the Kohen (priest).
The mitzvah of charity obligates a Jew to aid a
needy fellow with a gift or loan. On the Sabbatical
year (occurring every seventh year) all loans are to
be forgiven and all indentured servants are to be
set free.
Our Parshah concludes with the laws of the three
pilgrimage festivals -- Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot
-- when all should go to "see and be seen" before
G-d in the Holy Temple.
FROM THE WORDS OF OUR SAGES ON
THE PARSHAH:
--Open, open your hand to him... (15:8)
Turnusrufus asked Rabbi Akiva: "If your G-d loves
the poor, why doesn't He feed them?"
Said [Rabbi Akiva] to him: "So that we should be
saved from purgatory (in the merit of the charity we
give)."
Said he to him: "On the contrary: for this you
deserve to be punished. I'll give you an analogy: A
king got angry on his slave and locked his away in a
dungeon, and commanded that he not be given to eat
or to drink; and a person came along fed the slave.
When the king hears of this, is he not angry at that
person...?"
Said Rabbi Akiva to him: "I'll give you an analogy:
A king got angry on his child and locked his away in
a dungeon, and commanded that he not be given to eat
or to drink; and a person fed the king's child. When
the king hears of this, does he not reward that
person...? (Talmud, Bava Batra 10a)
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