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Sunday, April 21, 2024

An Eye for an Eye ???

The Jerusalem Post and other places report that Israeli official security and governmental sources told The Jerusalem Post on Friday: "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Israel retaliated where they were attacked.”

Could somebody please teach some Torah to Israeli official governmental sources..... "an eye for an eye" is not meant to be taken literally.  



עַיִן תַּחַת עַיִן "An eye for an eye" [Mishpatim 21:24]

The term "eye for an eye" explain Chazal [Bava Kamma 84a] is not meant to be taken literally - one who causes another the loss of an eye is not punished by having to lose his own eye.  Rather, it means that the responsible party must pay the monetary value of an eye.

Chazal's interpretation of this halachah, said the Vilna Gaon, is alluded to in the words of the verse.  Why does the verse state "Ayin tachas ayin" - which literally means "an eye beneath an eye" - and not "Ayin be'ad ayin" - which means "eye for an eye"?

The Torah, explained the Gaon, is hinting to us that in order to discover the true meaning of the verse, we must look at what is "beneath" the ayin, that is the letters that follow the word "ayin" עין:

The letter ayin ע is followed by the letter pei פ
The letter yud י is followed by the letter kaf כּ
The letter nun is ן followed by the letter samech ס
These letters form the word keseph - כּסףmoney !


Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein

3 comments:

  1. https://vinnews.com/2024/04/18/report-vizhnitzer-rebbe-tells-deri-that-israel-should-not-attack-iran/

    ReplyDelete
  2. London Male: I received this via an email address I no longer use, but I have notifications for it turned on....anyway I don't know how you got that email address, and it was a really weird form of message [not the content, just the message details].. anyway I'm just a bit confused but I'll publish it as a comment here.


    Might you have a "Please daven for" section on Shirat Devorah?

    I just read that an IDF soldier is very injured and needs prayers.

    Dor Zimel, ben Sharon.

    Have a Chag Sameach!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Devorah,

    Sadly that young soldier was niftar today.
    He died of injuries sustained by a Hezbollah attack this week.

    I suggested a "To daven for" list of names of people in poor health or in desperate need as a section on your blog.
    That way regular readers can use it, rather than making individual posts on separate blogs which might get "lost in the mix".

    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete

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