Rabbi Binyamin Yuhanan Parashat Shoftim 3

dictated murder a man who hates his fellow and ambushes him and Rises up against him and Strikes him mortally and he dies he shall die the City of Refuge will not help him we take him out we judge him and we put him to death now verse 14 the law about not stealing land you shall not move a boundary of your fellow in addition to stealing movable property we're also not allowed to steal land which means when you build a fence you have to build it exactly on a property line or if you want you can move it to you your side but you cannot move it to his side now we already spoke about a single witness and verse 15 continue uh reiterates it again a single witness shall not stand up against any man for any iniquity or for any error now verse 16 we speak about a special case of false Witnesses called a dim zombie meme conspiring Witnesses if a false witness stands against a man to speak up falsely against him the judges shall inquire thoroughly and behold the testimony was false how do we know it was false because two other Witnesses came and said how is it possible that you are testifying that you saw him doing this in such and such place and such and such time at that time you were not there you were with us in a different place far away you were in this different city and therefore you couldn't have been there where you claim you were and note that they're not saying that your testimony is false that it didn't happen because then it would just be argument between two sets of witnesses but rather the claiming that the event couldn't have happened what you are claiming because you were in a different location at that time so verse 19 says you shall do to him as he conspired to do to his fellow if they wanted to kill someone we kill them instead if they wanted to extract money from someone we punish them with money or we give them lashes now chapter 20 when the Jewish people go to war when you go out to battle the cohencial approach and speak to the people first the kohen who is Anointed for battle he speaks to Jewish people and reassures them inspires them tells them not to be afraid and then the officer says speak to the people and tell that this those soldiers who are exempt from Battle can leave and they are someone who built a new house and did not live in it yet or someone who built a house and started Living in it but didn't live in it for a year you have a year to live and enjoy your new house let him go and return to his house and second exemption is someone who planted a Vineyard but did not redeem it did not enjoy its fruits yet go and return to his house and the third exception is a man who betrothed the woman got engaged to a woman but did not marry her or got married but the first year didn't pass yet he is free from the Army for the first year and then they would say who is the man who is fearful or faint-hearted let him go and return anyone who is afraid that many people are afraid of War it's better not to have them on the Battle Front another law for a war verse 10 when you draw near to a city to wage war against it you shall call out to it for peace before starting a war and this is something the Jewish people always did against all our enemies we first offer them peace now once we start the battle they deny our offer for peace then verse 13 says Hashem shall deliver it into your hand and you shall Smite all its mails by the blade of the sword only the women and small children and the animals and other things in the city may you plunder for yourselves so shall you do to all the cities that are very distant from you but from the cities of these people that used to live in the land of Israel the seven Canaanite Nations you shall not allow any person to live another law of war in verse 19 when you besiege a city to wage a war against it do not destroy its fruit trees for from it you will eat that means that even during a war we have to be mindful Not to cause more damage than necessary and if we need wood to build a ramp or wood to burn and we have a regulatory or fruit tree we should rather cut regular tree and from here we learn that certainly in times of Peace we're not allowed to destroy fruit trees now chapter 21 an unsolved murder if a corpse will be found in the land of Israel and it was not known who smote him then it shall be that the city nearest to the corpse the Elders of that City shall take a female cow which did not yet do any work it didn't give birth yet did not pull a yoke and the elders should bring this cow to a harsh Valley the valley also cannot be worked cannot nothing can be planted there and they shall ax the back of the female cow the neck in the valley this is to show Hashem look this poor man who died he can no longer produce anything for you he cannot grow spiritually he cannot have children this is the cow the cow didn't give birth yet it didn't work yet the valley is desolate nothing grows there it's similar to the man that just died and they say in verse 6. the Elders of the city asked Hashem for atonement the Elders of that City shall wash their hands over the the female cow that they asked in the valley and they shall speak up and say our hands have not spilled this blood and our eyes did not see atone for your people the Jewish people that you have redeemed or Hashem do not Place innocent blood in the midst of your People Israel and now Hashem will accept their uh prayer then the blood shall be atoned for them and of course if they find the murderer later they have to put him to death but you shall remove the innocent blood from your midst when you do what is upright in the eyes of Hashem this concludes parshad shaftim thank you for joining us shabbat shalom um