How To Make Yourself Into a Better Person |
The English name of Sefer Devarim, Deuteronomy, derives from the Greek and means “repetition of the law.” The fact that many of the laws are repeated in Devarim, sometimes with significant variations in language and detail, provided the sages with an opportunity to scrutinize those differences and derive ideas that became essential to their religious and legal outlook.
Consider, for example, the following law:
“You shall not see your brother’s ox (shor achikha) or his sheep slipping away and ignore them. You shall surely return them to your brother.” (Deuteronomy 22:1)
This commandment has a counterpart earlier in the Torah:
“Should you encounter your enemy’s ox (shor oyevkha) or his donkey wandering, you must surely return it to him.” (Exodus 23:4)
The Torah itself does not explain why one passage speaks of a “brother’s ox,” while the other speaks of an “enemy’s ox.” The sages, however, seized upon this difference and sought to account for it:
“Your brother’s ox” (Deuteronomy 22:1) — I might infer that the rule applies only to your brother’s ox! On what........