## Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy

###### Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:4:1
[Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:4:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Deuteronomy/r/24:4:1)

**אחרי אשר הטמאה.**פרש"י לרבות סוטה הנסתרה פי' וזנתה אבל סתירה לבד ולא נודע שהיא טמאה אינה אסורה לבעלה. וכתב הרמב"ן על דרך הפשט אחרי אשר הוטמאה לבעל הראשון דבורה (שבעת?) שידעה האחרון נחשבת טמאה לראשון. וטעם הלאו הזה שלא יחליפו נשותיהם לכתוב לה גט בערב ובבקר היא שבה אליו וזה פי' ולא תחטיא את הארץ כי זה לחטאים גדולים. ובסיפרי ולא תחטיא את הארץ להזהיר ב"ד על כך:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
אחרי אשר הוטמאה, “seeing she had already become defiled;” *Rashi* understands this verse as also applying to the *Sotah,* the wife suspected by her husband of marital infidelity. He means a woman whose infidelity had not been proven, but whose conduct by secluding herself with a man other than her husband, had led to such suspicions. As long as her infidelity had not been proven she would not be forbidden to her husband. The critical word here is הוטמאה, that her infidelity had been proven.
 Nachmanides writes that when looking at the text without seeking hidden meanings, what the verse tells us is that the original husband cannot remarry her, as she had become defiled (not legally) in his eyes, he being aware that she had in the interval been sleeping with another man.
 The rationale behind this legislation is to prevent legalized sleeping around by husbands, each divorcing their wives in order to enable “wife swapping” to become a legalized habit. The divorce would be written in the evening and in the morning the original husband would remarry his erstwhile wife, assuming that she had meanwhile been divorced by her latest “husband.” This is the meaning of the additional words ולא תחטיא את הארץ, “so that you do not bring sin upon the Land.” In the *Sifri,* these words are understood as having been addressed by Moses to the courts, which are warned not to tolerate such practices if they develop in parts of the society.


###### Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:5:1
[Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:5:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Deuteronomy/r/24:5:1)

**ולא יעבור עליו לכל דבר.**פי' ר' אברהם ל' של לכל נוספת. והרמב"ן פירש לא יצא בצבא ולא יעבור עליו פי' על הצבא הנזכר לכל דבר כמו שאמרו רבותי' שאינו צריך לספק להם מים ומזון וזהו לא יעבור על הצבא לא להיות פקיד על אנשי הצבא או להיות מצביא את העם לכל הצריך להם כגון סיפוק מים אלא לא ישגיח רק בשמחתו:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
ולא יעבור עליו לכל דבר, “nor shall he be obligated to anything.” Ibn Ezra understands the letter ל in the word לכל as extraneous. Nachmanides reads together the line לא יצא בצבא ולא יעבור עליו, as meaning that “not only will he not be recruited for duty on the battlefield, but during that year he will not be drafted for auxiliary duties,” such as bringing up the supplies. During that year, the newly wed husband is to devote himself exclusively to making his bride happy.


###### Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:6:1
[Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:6:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Deuteronomy/r/24:6:1)

**לא יחבול רחים ורכב.**מקרא קצר הוא ופירושו לא יחבול החובל. ועל דרך הדרש אתי שפיר שחוזר על למעלה ושמח את אשתו לא יחבול וגו' פי' לא ימשכן בתשמיש למונעו ממנה כמו ויהי הוא טוחן:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
לא יחבול רחים ורכב, “he must not take an upper or lower millstone as a pledge;” the Torah abbreviated, failing to tell us who the subject is. He is the creditor, who after the loan is overdue, wants to secure his loan with some collateral.
 If one wants to view this from an *aggadic* standpoint, the words as they are fit in with the Torah’s directive for the newly wed husband to devote himself to entertaining his bride; a warning to the groom when performing his marital duties not to behave to his wife as if he were grinding mustard seeds.


###### Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:7:1
[Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:7:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Deuteronomy/r/24:7:1)

**גונב נפש מאחיו.**וגם אדום נקרא אחיו לכך פי' מישראל:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
גונב גפש מאחיו, “kidnapping a person from among his brethren;” The reason why the Torah added the words מבני ישראל, is that Esau, and his descendants are also “brethren,” and would have been included in this legislation unless specifically excluded.


###### Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:9:1
[Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:9:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Deuteronomy/r/24:9:1)

**זכור את אשר עשה ה' אלהיך למרים.**פרש"י אם באת ליזהר שלא תלקה בצרע' לא תספר לשון הרע. וכתב הרמב"ן ולפי דעתי שהוא מצות עשה ממש כמו זכור את יום השבת. זכור את היום הזה אשר יצאתם ממצרים. זכור את אשר עשה לך עמלק שהוא אזהרה מלדבר לשון הרע שמצוה במצות עשה שנזכור העונש הגדול שעשה השם לצדקת הנביאה שלא דיברה אלא באחיה ובפניו ולא בפני רבים וכל מעשיה הטובי' לא הועילו לה גם אתה אם תשב באחיך תדבר לא תנצל ולא שיזכור במחשבת הלב אלא בפיו וכן דורש בסיפרי זכור את אשר עשה ה' למרים יכול בלבבך כשהוא אומר השמר בנגע הצרעת לשמור מאוד הרי שמירת הלב אמורה הא מה אני מקיים זכור שתהא שונה בפיך. ואיך יתכן שלשון הרע שהוא שקול כשפיכות דמים לא תהיה בו בתורה לא תעשה גמור או לאו הבא מכלל עשה אבל בכתוב הזה אזהרה גדולה להמנע ממנו בין בגלוי בין בסתר בין במתכוין להזיק ולהבזות בין אינו מכוין להזיק כלל והוא מצוה מכלל התרי"ג מנאה בעל הלכות וכל המונים אחריו:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
זכור את אשר עשה ה' אלוקיך למרים, “keep remembering what the Lord your G’d had done to Miriam, etc.” *Rashi* understands this as a veiled warning that if we do not want to be struck with the affliction of *tzoraat,* we must remember how Miriam was punished for badmouthing her brother Moses.
 Nachmanides writes that in his opinion this verse is a positive commandment ranking parallel to the fourth Commandment in the Ten Commandments זכור את יום השבת לקדשו, “keep remembering the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.” There are other such verses, such as to remember the day we left Egypt as a free nation, (Exodus 13,3) or, at the end of this portion, ”remember what Amalek did to you, etc.” (Deut. 25,17) This is the Torah’s way of underlining the grave sin of badmouthing people by adding a positive commandment to the negative commandment. The positive commandment is to constantly remember how even the illustrious Miriam, Moses’ lifesaver in a certain manner, was punished for saying a few words criticizing him unjustly. She had not done so publicly, and yet all her numerous merits did not protect her against being punished, and that punishment being very public, the whole nation having to wait a whole week before they could move on. It is not enough to remember what happened to Miriam only in one’s heart, but we are required to read the relevant verses with our lips to impress the importance of the problem of badmouthing people. In the last verse the Torah warned us to be extremely careful in matters of the affliction called *tzoraat,* i.e. in that verse we were warned to remember what that affliction is for in our hearts and minds. Now the Torah reinforces this commandment by ordering us to voice the fact that we have committed this lesson to memory. Seeing that in the eyes of our sages the sin of לשון הרע, badmouthing people is equated with the spilling of innocent blood, (compare *Erchin* 15) it is not surprising therefore that the Torah reinforces it. It is quite inconceivable that such a grievous sin should not have been spelled out in the Torah. We therefore regard what is written in verse 8 and verse 9 as a severe warning not to become guilty of such a sin either in public or even in private. The sin is not lessened if the intent of the criticism was not to harm the good reputation of the party discussed. [Miriam’s criticism was in defense of her sister-in-law Tzipporah whom Moses had divorced for no good cause, as she had thought. Ed.] לשון הרע is part of the roster of the 613 commandments, no less so than not to violate the Sabbath.


###### Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:12:1
[Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:12:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Deuteronomy/r/24:12:1)

**ואם איש עני הוא.**קורא אותו עני שאין לו אחרת כיוצא בה שאם היו לו ב' כלים מאותו המין נוטל אחד ומחזיר אחד בין שהוא עני בין שהוא עשיר:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
ואם איש עני הוא, “but if he is a poor man, etc.” Moses calls that man poor, as he has no substitute for the item he had to give the creditor as security. If he had possessed two of the same kind of vessel, he would exchange them for the first one regardless of being poor or wealthy.


###### Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:14:1
[Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:14:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Deuteronomy/r/24:14:1)

**לא תעשוק שכר עני ואביון.**פי' דיבר הכתוב בהווה שהעניים והאביונים והגרים משכירין עצמן. ורש"י פי' לעבור על העני בב' לאוין:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
לא תעשוק שכר עני ואביון, “You must not oppress a poor or destitute hired hand by withholding his wages unduly;” the legislation, of course, also applies to labourers who are comfortably off, but the Torah chooses as its examples the ones most likely as being the victims of such practices. Poor men and proselytes are the ones most likely hiring themselves out. *Rashi* explains that when advantage is taken of a poor man, then the employer has transgressed two prohibitions, hence the words עני as well as אביון, different degrees of poverty and need.


###### Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:15:1
[Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:15:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Deuteronomy/r/24:15:1)

**ביומו תתן שכרו.**פי' הרמב"ן רבותי' דרשו זה בשכיר לילה שיש לו זמן כל היום ולא תלין דבר בשכיר יום שיש לו זמן כל הלילה. ועל דרך הפשט ביאר מה שכתוב לא תלין פעולת שכיר אתך עד בקר כי דרך הפסוקים לדבר בהווה ומנהג לשכור פועל ביום ולערב הוא יוצא טרם בא השמש ומצוה הכתוב לפורעו כשהשלים מלאכתו ביומו מיד ושלא תבא עליו השמש כדי שיקנה בשכרו מה שיאכל הוא ובני ביתו בלילה:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
ביומו תתן שכרו, “you are to pay his wages on the day that he performed the labour.” Nachmanides explains that the wording suggests that a labourer who has worked at night must be paid during the following day, whereas a day labourer must be paid before the night is over.
 The plain meaning of the verse is that the wages of a labourer must not remain with the employer overnight, seeing that the Torah usually chooses the most common examples, and most labourers are hired to work by day. The thrust of the verse is to tell the employer to pay the laborer when he goes home in the evening to eat his supper, and not to require him to come back once more in order to collect his wages. If he were a poor man, what would he use to pay for his supper if he had not yet been paid?


###### Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:15:2
[Tur HaArokh, Deuteronomy 24:15:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Tur%20HaArokh/s/Deuteronomy/r/24:15:2)

**כי עני הוא.**כרובי הנשכרים ואל השכר הזה הוא נושא את נפשו שיקנה בו מזון להחיות את נפשו ובא לבאר למה לא תלין פעולת שכיר אתך עד בקר שאם לא תפרענו ילך לביתו ואין לו מה יאכל וימות ברעב בלילה:

**Sefaria Community Translation:**
כי עני הוא, “for he is poor;” most people hiring themselves out for a day at a time are poor, and depend on every penny they have earned with their labour on that day. By trusting that particular employer to pay them on time, they are, metaphorically speaking, entrusting the employer with their lives, as they depend on that prompt payment to satisfy their most basic requirements. He might die from hunger during that night if he had not been paid and become able to buy food with that money.