פרשת ראה תשכ"ד - אבד תאבדון + הפטרה

Ye shall surely destroy all the places, wherein the nations that ye are to dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every leafy tree.

אבד תאבדון YE SHALL UTTERLY DESTROY — Destroy and again destroy! (i.e. utterly destroy). From here we learn that he who eradicates an object of idol-worship must thoroughly uproot it (i.e. remove every trace of it) (Sifrei Devarim 60:1).

אבד תאבדון YE SHALL UTTERLY DESTROY — Destroy and again destroy! (i.e. utterly destroy). From here we learn that he who eradicates an object of idol-worship must thoroughly uproot it (i.e. remove every trace of it) (Sifrei Devarim 60:1).

Ye shall surely destroy all the places, wherein the nations that ye are to dispossess served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every leafy tree.

את כל המקמות אשר עבדו שם וגו׳ [YE SHALL UTTERLY DESTROY] ALL THE PLACES (according to Rashi: FROM ALL THE PLACES) WHEREIN [THE NATIONS …] SERVED — And what shall ye destroy from them? Their gods which are upon the mountains (Avodah Zarah 45a).

And ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods; and ye shall destroy their name out of that place.

And ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods; and ye shall destroy their name out of that place.

destroy their name so that it shall not be mentioned.

And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.

Rabbi Elazar said that Rabbi Ḥanina said: Torah scholars increase peace in the world, as it is said: “And all your children [banayikh] shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children” (Isaiah 54:13). If all the children of Israel are taught of the Lord, there will be peace for all. The Sages interpreted this verse homiletically: Do not read your children [banayikh], but your builders [bonayikh]. Torah scholars are those who build peace for their generation. As it is stated: “Those who love Your Torah have great peace; there is no stumbling block for them” (Psalms 119:165); and “May there be peace within your walls, prosperity within your palaces” (Psalms 122:7), because: “For the sake of my brothers and friends, I shall say: Peace be within you. For the sake of the House of the Lord, our God, I will seek your good” (Psalms 122:8–9), and “May the Lord give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace” (Psalms 29:11).

Behold, they may gather together, but not by Me; Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall because of thee.

Behold, they may gather together, but not by Me; Whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall because of thee.

Are they not beyond the Jordan, behind the way of the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites that dwell in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the terebinths of Moreh?

אחרי [AT THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN,] AFTER — This means: behind the passage of the Jordan much further on in a distance, for that is the force of the expression אחרי, because wherever the term אחרי (in contradistinction to אחר; cf. Rashi on Genesis 15:1) is used it signifies “greatly separated” (Genesis Rabbah 44:5; cf. Sifrei Devarim 56:1; Sotah 33b).

דרך מבוא השמש [AT THE PASSAGE OF THE JORDAN, FAR DISTANT FROM IT] ON THE WAY OF THE SETTING OF THE SUN — i.e. beyond the Jordan towards the West. The accents in the verse prove that they (the word אחרי and the phrase דרך מבוא השמש) are two unconnected phrases since they bear two separate accents of a different character, viz., the word אחרי is marked by a Pashta (a disjunctive accent), and the word דרך is marked by a משפל (our Yetib), and also has a Dagesh. If, however, אחרי דרך formed one phrase, the word אחרי should be marked by a conjunctive accent, a שופר הפוך (our Mahpach) and דרך by a Pashta, while the ד of דרך would be ‘‘weak” (i.e. have no Dagesh; cf. Rashi on Joshua 7:15).