Ten Minutes of Torah

with

Rabbi Chaim Weiner

Ki Teztei - 5766

דברים כב: א

(א) לֹא תִרְאֶה אֶת שׁוֹר אָחִיךָ אוֹ אֶת שֵׂיוֹ נִדָּחִים וְהִתְעַלַּמְתָּ מֵהֶם הָשֵׁב תְּשִׁיבֵם לְאָחִיךָ:

Deuteronomy 20: 1-3

If you see your fellow's ox or sheep gone astray, do not ignore it; you must take it back to your fellow.

If your fellow does not live near you or you do not know who he is, you shall bring it home and it shall remain with you until your fellow claims it; then you shall give it back to him.

You shall do the same with his ass; you shall do the same with his garment; and so too shall you do with anything that your fellow loses and you find: you must not remain indifferent.

RAMBAN

This is an explanatory commandment. He stated in the Torah, ‘If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again’. [Ex. 23:4]

Here he added that the commandment to return lost property refers also to an animal that was running away, for ‘going astray’ implies that it merely strayed from its path and he can turn it back into the path without great effort; and now he mentioned running away, meaning that it escaped from him and is distant from the owner.

He mentioned the term sheep for that is liable to be lost, and therefore he explained here, And if thy brother be not nigh unto thee, and thou know him not, then thou shalt bring it home to thy house.’

He stated, And so shalt thou do with his ass, which is an unclean animal; and so shalt thou do with his garment, even though a garment is not as dear to its owner as are living creatures, and [total] loss is not as common in a garment as it is in animals which may die. And so shalt thou do with every lost thing of thy brother’s which he hath lost, meaning any of his household vessels even though they are not as dear to him as his garment with which he covers himself.

QUESTIONS

1. Ramban Is addressing several different questions in this commentary. What are they?

2. Explain the words: This is an explanatory commandment?

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Ten Minutes of Torah was prepared by Rabbi Chaim Weiner, based on the methods of Prof. Nechama Leibowitz. Rabbi Weiner studied and corresponded with Prof. Leibowitz for several years.

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