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(כט) כִּֽי־יַכְרִית֩ ה' אֱלֹקֶ֜יךָ אֶת־הַגּוֹיִ֗ם אֲשֶׁ֨ר אַתָּ֥ה בָא־שָׁ֛מָּה לָרֶ֥שֶׁת אוֹתָ֖ם מִפָּנֶ֑יךָ וְיָרַשְׁתָּ֣ אֹתָ֔ם וְיָשַׁבְתָּ֖ בְּאַרְצָֽם׃ (ל) הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֗ פֶּן־תִּנָּקֵשׁ֙ אַחֲרֵיהֶ֔ם אַחֲרֵ֖י הִשָּׁמְדָ֣ם מִפָּנֶ֑יךָ וּפֶן־תִּדְרֹ֨שׁ לֵאלֹֽהֵיהֶ֜ם לֵאמֹ֗ר אֵיכָ֨ה יַעַבְד֜וּ הַגּוֹיִ֤ם הָאֵ֙לֶּה֙ אֶת־אֱלֹ֣הֵיהֶ֔ם וְאֶעֱשֶׂה־כֵּ֖ן גַּם־אָֽנִי׃ (לא) לֹא־תַעֲשֶׂ֣ה כֵ֔ן לַה' אֱלֹקֶ֑יךָ כִּי֩ כׇל־תּוֹעֲבַ֨ת ה' אֲשֶׁ֣ר שָׂנֵ֗א עָשׂוּ֙ לֵאלֹ֣הֵיהֶ֔ם כִּ֣י גַ֤ם אֶת־בְּנֵיהֶם֙ וְאֶת־בְּנֹ֣תֵיהֶ֔ם יִשְׂרְפ֥וּ בָאֵ֖שׁ לֵאלֹֽהֵיהֶֽם׃
כי יכרית ה' אלהיך את הגוים. פרשה זו תזהיר האדם שלא לעבוד להקב"ה בעבודת האלילים, ונתן טעם בזה כי כל תועבת ה' אשר שנא עשו לאלהיהם, ואמר ופן תדרוש לאלהיהם לאמר איכה יעבדו הגוים האלה את אלהיהם ואעשה כן גם אני להקב"ה מה שהם עושין לעכו"ם ותחשוב שהיא דרך טובה והקב"ה רוצה בכך, לא תעשה כן, למה, כי כל תועבת ה' אשר שנא עשו לאלהיהם, יאמר הנה הם מחזרים אחר הדברים שהקב"ה שונאן ועושין אותן, וכענין שכתוב ברשעים הכופרים (תהילים ל״ו:ג׳) כי החליק אליו בעיניו למצוא עונו לשנוא, כלומר רומזים בעיניהם ומסתכלין שיוכלו למצוא עון שהקב"ה שונאו ועושין אותו, וכן יאמר בכאן על הגוים האלה כי לא מצאו מכל תועבה קשה לפני הקב"ה כמו שרפת הבנים והנה הם עושין כן, וזהו שאמר כי גם את בניהם ואת בנותיהם ישרפו באש לאלהיהם, כלומר אפילו האדם שהוא מבחר המין שלא ברא הקב"ה עולמו אלא בשבילו הנה הם שורפים אותם באש לאלהיהם. ואמר את כל הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם, הוא ענין הקרבנות ועבודת המקדש, ובא ולמד שהוא שונא את זה ובוחר בזה. ובמדרש כי יכרית ה' אלהיך את הגוים, משל למה הדבר דומה, למלך שנטע כרם בתוך שדהו והיו בתוכו ארזים גדולים וקוצים, הלך המלך וקצץ את הארזים והניח הקוצים, אמרו לו עבדיו, אדונינו המלך הקוצים שהיו נאחזין בבגדינו וקורעין אותם הנחת וקצצת את הארזים, אמר להן אילו קצצתי את הקוצים והנחתי את הארזים במה הייתי גודר כרמי, ולא יפה עשיתי, אלא יעמוד הכרם על עמדו ואני מצית בהן את האור. כך ישראל כרמו של הקב"ה שנאמר (ישעיהו ה׳:ז׳) כי כרם ה' צבאות בית ישראל, הכניס ישראל לארץ וקצץ הארזים שבה שנאמר (עמוס ב׳:ט׳) ואנכי השמדתי את האמורי מפניכם אשר כגובה ארזים גבהו וחסון הוא כאלונים, והניח את בניהם ובני בניהם שם כדי שישמרו את הכרם שנאמר (שופטים ג׳:א׳) ואלה הגוים אשר הניח ה' לנסות בם את ישראל, וכתיב (שם ב) למען נסות בם את ישראל השומרים הם את דרך ה' ללכת בם, וכשיעמוד הכרם על עמדו במשמרת התורה (ישעיהו ל״ג:י״ב) והיו עמים משרפות סיד קוצים כסוחים באש יצתו.
כי יכרית ה' אלו-היך את הגוים, “When the Lord your G’d will destroy the nations, etc.” This paragraph warns man not to engage in idolatry supplying a rationale for this. The reason the inhabitants of the land of Canaan forfeit their land is that they practiced all the cults which are an abomination to the Lord. The very manner in which they practiced their idolatry was so abhorrent to the Lord your G’d, especially the cult of child-sacrifice. Even the inquiry into details of the former inhabitants’ religious worship is forbidden especially if it is conducted as a prelude to imitating them. One must not delude oneself that these practices were pleasing to the Lord. What these people did has been described in Psalms 36,3 as “because its speech is seductive to him till iniquity be found out and he be hated,” The author of Psalms describes the cumulative effect of Satan’s urgings. The arguments presented by Satan are so seductive sounding that parents take the most precious creature in the universe, their own children, kill them as an act of sacrifice and persuade themselves that they have thereby done the will of the Creator of such sophisticated forms of life as human beings.
את כל הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם, “the whole matter which I command to you;” this refers to sacrificial service and the Temple service. G’d sums up once more that He hates all aspects of pagan worship and none of it must be added to the ceremonies prescribed by the Torah. A Midrashic approach to the words כי יכרית, based on Tanchuma Re'ey 9: We may best understand the need for this paragraph by means of a parable. A king had planted a vineyard in his field, a field which also contained great cedar trees as well as thorns and weeds. The king cut down the trees, but left the thorns untouched. When his servants observed this they remonstrated with the king saying: “our Lord, the thorns which tore our clothing you left untouched whereas the trees which give shade, etc., you cut down!” The king replied: “if I had uprooted the thorns and left the trees standing what would I use to fence off my vineyard?” This would not have been an appropriate way of doing things. The way I have done things provided me with lumber for the fence and provided more sunshine for my vineyard to produce good grapes. Israel is viewed as G’d’s vineyard as we know from Isaiah 5,7: “for the house of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts.” When G’d made the Israelites enter the vineyard, i.e. the land of Israel, He had already cut down the mighty cedars, i.e. the Emorites who lived there, people as powerful as oaks (Amos 2,10), but He left the children and grandchildren of these powerful Emorites in the meantime until the Israelites arrived so that they would tend the land (the vineyard) pending the Israelites’ arrival. We know this from Judges 3,1: “and these are the nations which the Lord left alive there in order to test the Israelites (who had not been alive at the time of the war of conquest).” We find a similar verse in Judges 2,22: “for it was in order to test Israel by them (the remaining Canaanites) to see whether they would faithfully walk in the ways of the Lord or not.” If the vineyard would remain in place as a result of the Israelites observing the Torah the remaining Canaanites would become “burnings of lime, thorns cut down that are set on fire” (Isaiah 32,12).
אֵ֣ת כׇּל־הַדָּבָ֗ר אֲשֶׁ֤ר אָנֹכִי֙ מְצַוֶּ֣ה אֶתְכֶ֔ם אֹת֥וֹ תִשְׁמְר֖וּ לַעֲשׂ֑וֹת לֹא־תֹסֵ֣ף עָלָ֔יו וְלֹ֥א תִגְרַ֖ע מִמֶּֽנּוּ׃ {פ}
לא תסף עליו THOU SHALT NOT ADD THERETO — as, for instance, to place five chapters in the Tephillin, to employ five species of fruit and plants in the fulfilment of the command of Lulab, to recite four instead of three blessings in the Benedictions of the priests (Sifrei Devarim 82:4; cf. Rashi on Deuteronomy 4:2).
(7) If your brother, your own mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your closest friend entices you in secret, saying, “Come let us worship other gods”—whom neither you nor your ancestors have experienced — (8) from among the gods of the peoples around you, either near to you or distant, anywhere from one end of the earth to the other: (9) do not assent or give heed to any of them. Show no pity or compassion, and do not cover up the matter;
Menashe of Judah
In 701 BCE, after claiming to have conquered 46 fortified cities and some smaller towns in Judah, Sennacherib focused on conquering Jerusalem. For reasons that are still not wholly known – the Bible describes the spread of a plague that devastated the Assyrian troops besieging the capital – Jerusalem was not conquered, but Judah was left in ruins and only a few years later Hezekiah died. His successor was his 12-year-old son Manasseh. The difference between father and son could not have been more dramatic.Manasseh ruled Judah for 55 years, from 698-642 BCE, longer than any king of Judah. If we rely on the prophetic portions of the Bible alone, the portrait that is painted is of an evil man – a mass murderer and idol worshiper whose reign was so tainted it would later be the cause of the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BCE.
Manasseh promoted idolatry throughout his kingdom, built pagan temples and even sacrificed one of his sons in the fires of Moloch worship. There is an old tradition in Judaism that Manasseh executed the prophet Isaiah. While the later biblical books of Chronicles depict Manasseh as repenting, this does not seem to fit the character of the man described in the Books of Kings. There is less than one chapter devoted to Manasseh’s reign despite the fact that he ruled for more than half a century. The Bible tells us: “He did what was displeasing to the Lord, following the abhorrent practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites. He rebuilt the shrines that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he erected altars for Baal and made a sacred post, as King Ahab of Israel had done.” This comparison of Manasseh to the northern king Ahab is a damning indictment of the southern ruler. For their failure to worship in Jerusalem alone – the Northern Kingdom built temples at Dan and Bet El – the northerners were punished with exile. According to the Bible, Manasseh’s heirs would meet the same fate in the future.
Manasseh reigned for 55 years – there must be something more to say about him than all the evil he perpetrated. During Manasseh’s reign, dramatic geo-political developments were taking place, including the beginning of the end of the Assyrian Empire as the region’s mighty military machine. Archeology reveals that under the Assyrians, Judah recovered from the policy of rebellion of Hezekiah and even flourished. We do not know whether Manasseh’s promotion of idol worship was an act demanded by the Assyrian overlords or was simply the free will of Hezekiah’s son to overturn the gains his father made in the religious realm. There is no way to know, but the historical and archeological consensus is that idolatry was not forced upon Judah by the Assyrians.
See: The evil king Manasseh: Idolatry and politics, By ELI KAVON JULY 11, 2016
Jeroboam
The tribes of Judah, with its vassal tribe Simeon, and of Benjamin remained loyal to the house of David. The union between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin had become very close during the preceding reign, and there were more Benjaminites than Judahns in Jerusalem. Relying upon the support of these tribes, Rehoboám began to make preparations to reduce the rebel tribes to obedience by force. Jeroboam, in anticipation of such an event, had meantime succeeded in convincing the
rebel tribes of the necessity of selecting a king of their own who was to defend them against the attack of Rehoboam. As he was the only man of the ability and daring, and an Ephraimite at that, the Ephraimites readily fell in with his scheme, induced the other tribes to join them, and Jeroboam accordingly made king over the ten northern tribes (about 977-955).
To obviate the need of pilgrimages to the temple of Jerusalem to which the people had been accustomed and in which there lurked a political danger, Jeroboam hit upon a mischievous scheme which was to lead Israel back into idolatry. During his sojourn in Egypt, Jeroboam became acquainted with the animal worship of the Egyptians, and learned the stupefying effect it had upon the peoThe introduction of the Apis worship in Israel would have the same effect upon the Israelites, would render them more tractable, and, in addition, would raise Jeroboam in the favor of the Egyptian Moreover, Jeroboam determined to pose as a restorer of the ancient religion of Israel and not as the creator of a new one. In Egypt, and later in their own country, the Israelites had worshiped the sacred bulls, the symbol of God. The imageless worship of the temple of Jerusalem was Solomon's own innovation; Jeroboam came to restore the ancient cult of Israel. This shrewd scheme Jeroboam carried into execution. He forbade pilgrimages to the temple of Jerusalem and ordered the erection of the images of the God of Israel in the shape of a young bull (calf). These he placed in Bethel and Dan, which were already regarded as holy places, and which would serve the convenience of both the northern and southern tribes. Pointing at the image, Jeroboam exclaimed: This is thy God, O Israel, who brought thee out of Egypt." To wean the Israelites further
away from participating in the harvest festival at Jerusalem, he instituted such a festival in the
eighth instead of in the seventh month. The people, on the whole, did indeed regard Jeroboam's
innovation as a restoration of their ancient cult; nor did this cult conflict with their deep-seated
conviction of the unity of God. Jeroboanm did not introduce polytheism; he simply symbolized God
in the form of a bull, the embodiment of power and fertility. This visualization of their God rather
pleased them; the spirituality of God was less comprehensible to them than his unity. Moreover, no
acts of immorality and debauchery were connected with the new cult as they used to be with the Baal
worship. The people, therefore, gradually accustomed themselves to visit Dan or Bethel where the
king himself officiated on the occasion of the great festival. Otherwise, they offered their sacriñces
either at home, or at the nearby shrines. Jeroboam accomplished his purpose; the people were stupe-
fied and yielded slavish obedience. "Ephraim has become like a silly dove, without understanding.
It asks counsel of a stick of wood, and of a staff they inquire the future." (Hosea, 7:II; 4:I2.)
Popular History of the Jews, Volume 1 By Heinrich Graetz, Max Raisin · 1919 pp 86-88
For more on Heinrich Graetz see: https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/graetz-heinrich
DEUTERONOMY HOLDS A UNIQUE POSITION, AND SPEAKS WITH A UNIQUE VOICE, IN THE literature of the Torah. .... That time, in the opinion of most biblical scholars over the past two centuries, was the middle of the reign of King Josiah (ruled 640–608 B.C.E.) of Judah, the southern kingdom (Israel, the north, had been overrun by Assyria a century previously). The Assyrian Empire, dominant in the region for three hundred years, was on the wane, and Josiah took advantage of this decline of power to expand his kingdom northward. He also—at about the time of the death of Ashurbanipal, the last powerful king of Assyria—began a wide-ranging reform that consisted largely of destroying the local “high places” of pagan worship that had figured so prominently in the reign of his grandfather, the notorious Manasseh (ruled 687–642). II Kings 23 describes the purge in great detail, noting both places and priests that were now rendered inoperative in favor of the centralization of the cult in Jerusalem.
The Lost Kiddush Cup
The story is told by Dov Genachowski, a well-known journalist, talmudic scholar, economist, and amateur researcher of the history of Jerusalem. Dov is the scion of a Lithuanian family of rabbis and scholars. His father, Rabbi Eliyahu Moshe Genachowski, was a member of Knesset on the ha-Poel ha-Mizrahi list. The Genachowski family lived in Bnei Brak, in the Givat Rokah neighborhood, near the home of Rabbi Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz, better known as the Hazon Ish. The
Genachowski family was friendly with the Hazon Ish, and Dov, as a young man, would often spend time at his home. The families already knew each other in Lithuania: Dov's mother's grandfather, Rabbi Shneur Zalman Hirschowitz (an outstanding student of Rabbi Israel Salanter), was once the havrutah (study partner) of the Hazon Ish's father, Rabbi
Shmaryahu Karelitz, the Rabbi of Kossovo. During the early 1950s, a new Halakhic concept began to spread
throughout Haredi society: the shiur (measuring standard) of the Hazon Ish. Within a very short time, the concept became so entrenched that in halakhic applications, the shiurei Hazon Ish have become an accepted norm among nearly all sectors of Haredi society. The concept of shiur and its halakhic implications are as follows: A shiur is a measure of volume, area, length, or width which is critical to the performance of major precepts.
When the concept of shiur Hazon Ish began gathering mnomentum in yeshiva circles, Dov Genachowski was a typically audacious young Sabra. He took the Kiddush cups out of the closet and presented them to the Hazon Ish at the latter's home. The Hazon Ish refused to react, but would not relent, either. Numerous anecdotes circulate in the religious
community concerning the Hazon Ish's "revolution." For example, Rabbi Yitzhak L. Rabinowitz remembered the daughter of the Hafetz Hayim complaining that her sons would not use their grandfather's cup for Kiddush because "it doesn't hold a shiur Hazon Ish." The Hafetz Hayim, it should be recalled, was the author of the Mishnah Berurah.
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://faculty.biu.ac.il/~mfriedma/Lost-Kiddush.pdf See also The Uses of Tradition: Jewish Continuity in the Modern Era (Jewish Theological Seminary) Paperback – February 1, 1999, by Jack Wertheimer (Editor) and Changing the Immutable: How Orthodox Judaism Rewrites Its History Hardcover – May 1, 2015 by Marc B. Shapiro (Author)