## Sifrei Devarim Paragraph 207

###### Sifrei Devarim 207:1
[Sifrei Devarim 207:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/207:1)

(דברים כא ד) **וְהוֹרִידוּ זִקְנֵי הָעִיר הַהִיא** – מִצְוָה בְּזִקְנֵי הָעִיר הַהִיא.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
**Pisqa’ 207**³⁶⁴
1. **“Now, *the elders of that city* shall bring the calf down” (Dt. 21:4)—**
**this is the obligation of the *elders of that city*.**

footnotes:
³⁶⁴ H:221-222; JN2:101-102.


###### Sifrei Devarim 207:2
[Sifrei Devarim 207:2](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/207:2)

**אֶת הָעֶגְלָה אֶל נַחַל אֵיתָן** – כְּמַשְׁמָעוֹ, קָשֶׁה; וְאַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאֵינוֹ אֵיתָן – כָּשֵׁר.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
**“To a river-bed of *rapids*” (Dt. 21:4)—**
**in the sense that it is *difficult* [to navigate].**
**But even if it is not a rapids,**
**the rite is fit.**


###### Sifrei Devarim 207:3
[Sifrei Devarim 207:3](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/207:3)

עוֹרְפִים אוֹתָהּ בְּקוֹפִיץ מֵאֲחוֹרֶיהָ, וּמְקוֹמָהּ אָסוּר מִלִּזְרוֹעַ וּמִלַּעֲבוֹד. יָכוֹל יְהֵא אָסוּר לִסְרוֹק שָׁם פִּשְׁתָּן וּלְנַקֵּר שָׁם אֶת הָאֲבָנִים? תַּלְמוּד לוֹמַר: **אֲשֶׁר לֹא יֵעָבֵד בּוֹ וְלֹא יִזָּרֵעַ**, זְרִיעָה בִּכְלָל הָיְתָה, וְלָמָּה יָצָאת? לְהַקִּישׁ אֵלֶיהָ – מָה זְרִיעָה מְיֻחֶדֶת שֶׁהִיא עֲבוֹדַת קַרְקַע; יָצְאוּ אֵלּוּ, שֶׁאֵין עֲבוֹדַת קַרְקַע.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
**They behead the calf**
**from the back of its neck**
**with a cleaver.**
**And the spot [at which it is killed]**
**is forbidden from being sown or**
**from being worked in any way.** ³⁶⁵
Is it possible to say that
it is forbidden as well to comb flax there
or to chisel stones there?
The Teaching states:
“Which had *never* been worked and had *never* been sown” (Dt. 21:4)—
*sowing* [should be conceived] as an aspect of *working.*
Why, then, is it singled out for special mention?
To facilitate comparative inquiry:
Just as *sowing* is distinctive,
as work connected to the soil,
this excludes from the rule these,
which are not connected to the soil.

footnotes:
³⁶⁵ =M. Sotah9:5.


###### Sifrei Devarim 207:4
[Sifrei Devarim 207:4](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/207:4)

**וְעָרְפוּ שָׁם**, נֶאֱמַר כָּאן עֲרִיפָה וְנֶאֱמַר לְהַלָּן (שמות יג יג) עֲרִיפָה, מָה עֲרִיפָה הָאֲמוּרָה כָּאן – עוֹרְפָהּ בְּקוֹפִיץ מֵאַחֲרֶיהָ, וְקוֹבְרָהּ, וַאֲסוּרָה בַּהֲנָיָה, אַף עֲרִיפָה הָאֲמוּרָה לְהַלָּן – עוֹרְפָהּ בְּקוֹפִיץ מֵאֲחוֹרֶיהָ, וְקוֹבְרָהּ, וַאֲסוּרָה בַּהֲנָיָה.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
2. “And they shall *behead* it there” (Dt. 21:4)—
Here, *beheading* is mentioned, and
elsewhere [in connection with the Firstling of an ass] (Ex 13:13) *beheading* is mentioned. Just as the *beheading* mentioned here (Dt. 21:4)
requires beheading at the neck,
and requires beheading with a cleaver,
and requires beheading from behind,
and requires burial of the carcass,
and is forbidden for any benefit—
So, too, the *beheading* mentioned elsewhere,
requires beheading at the neck,
and requires beheading with a cleaver,
and requires beheading from behind,
and requires burial of the carcass,
and is forbidden for any benefit.


###### Sifrei Devarim 207:5
[Sifrei Devarim 207:5](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Sifrei%20Devarim/r/207:5)

**בַּנָּחַל** – אַף עַל פִּי שֶׁאֵינוֹ אֵיתָן.

**Trans. by Marty Jaffee, 2015:**
“In the river-bed” (Dt. 21:4)—
even if it is not *a rapids*.