פרשת נח תשי"ז - ברכת ה' לנח לאחר המבול

And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it; and at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, will I require the life of man.

ומיד האדם AT THE HAND OF MAN — At the hand of one who kills with premeditation, when there are no witnesses to the murder, will “I” require it.

מיד איש אחיו AT THE HAND OF EVERY MAN’S BROTHER — At the hand of a man who loves him like a brother and slays him accidentally will “I” require it, unless he go into banishment (in one of the Cities of Refuge) and pray for forgiveness for his iniquity. For even one who kills another by accident needs atonement: therefore if there are no witnesses to the deed to make him liable to banishment and he does not humble himself, the Holy One, blessed be He, will require it of him, just as our Rabbis explain the text, (Exodus 21:13) ‘‘But God causes it to come to hand”, in Treatise Makkot (Makkot 10b): The Holy One, blessed be He, causes them (the man who killed by accident and had not expiated the murder and the man who killed with premeditation) to meet at the same inn. The former in ascending a ladder falls upon the latter and kills him and has therefore — the accident having been seen by men — to go to banishment.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

For whatsoever man there be that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him.

And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it; and at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, will I require the life of man.

And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it; and at the hand of man, even at the hand of every man’s brother, will I require the life of man.

ואך את דמכם HOWEVER YOUR BLOOD — Although I have permitted you to take the life of cattle yet your blood I will surely require from him amongst you who sheds his own blood (see Bava Kamma 91b).

לנפשותיכם YOUR LIFE — Even though one strangles himself (Genesis Rabbah 34:13) so that no blood flows from him yet I will require it from him.

Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man.

Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God made He man.

ויאמר להם, to the sons of Noach, indirectly, who communicated the blessing to his sons. [seeing that Noach did not have any children after the deluge, the blessing had not included him. Ed.] Alternately, we must assume that Noach’s sons had prophetic status so that G’d communicated with them directly.

כי בצלם אלוקים עשה את האדם, for he has been set apart from all other creatures in the universe, so much so that G’d personally made עשה, him in His image by endowing him with an intelligent brain. This is why humans are also held responsible for killing fellow humans, as they, no less than the animals, destroy a creature that had been made in G’d’s own image. If man had been forbidden to kill inferior creatures for food until given special permission to do so now after the deluge, how much more sacrosanct is the life of a human being who was created in G’d’s image. Remember that it required a special permission by G’d for man and beast to use even the plants as food for themselves, although the plants are inferior even to the animals. Keeping all this in mind, it is clear that in order for any creature being allowed to destroy a human being a special directive from G’d ordering this was required. This is why Moses in the chapters dealing with the retribution for the Jewish people, both in Bechukotai, and in Ki Tavo¸describes that G’d will issue such instructions to the beasts, just as He had done during the plagues (#4) in Egypt when the wild beasts invaded human habitations and wreaked havoc. When man, due to his own deeds, forfeits his claim to wearing the image of G’d on his face, the beasts no longer seeing such an image, feel free to attack such humans. An unborn fetus does not possess this divine image, i.e. it has no discernible intelligence. Intelligence is that which makes a slave obey his master, seeing that he would suffer if he did not; therefore when a human being disobeys his master (G’d), he displays lack of intelligence, i.e. can no longer demand to be treated like human being. [I have paraphrased the last few lines. Ed.]

עשה את האדם, He appointed man on earth to be judge so that fellow man would be deterred from committing sins and crimes.