Intentional and Unintentional Holiness

(1) If you see your fellow Israelite’s ox or sheep gone astray, do not ignore it (alt. Fox "hide yourself from them"); you must take it back to your peer. (2) If your fellow Israelite does not live near you or you do not know who [the owner] is, you shall bring it home and it shall remain with you until your peer claims it; then you shall give it back. (3) You shall do the same with that person’s ass; you shall do the same with that person’s garment; and so too shall you do with anything that your fellow Israelite loses and you find: you must not remain indifferent (alt Fox: "you are not allowed to hide yourself")

והתעלמת [THOU SHALT NOT SEE ANY OF THY BROTHER'S HERD … GO ASTRAY] AND HIDE THYSELF [FROM THEM] — i.e. one, as it were closes his eyes tight as though one does not see it.

לא תראה … והתעלמת THOU SHALT NOT SEE … AND HIDE THYSELF [FROM THEM] — “thou shalt not see it, that thou hide thyself from it” (i.e. you see it only to hide thyself from it), this is the plain sense of the verse. Our Rabbis, however, said that the omission of the particle לא before the verb והתעלמת (one would expect כי תראה … לא תתעלם) suggests: There are times when you may hide yourself from it, etc. (Sifrei Devarim 225:4; Bava Metzia 30a).

Rabbi Shimon Ben Lakish said, do not pass over a commandment.

"and (you shall) ignore them": Sometimes you do ignore them and sometimes you do not ignore them. How so? If he were a Cohen and it were in the cemetery, (which a Cohen is forbidden to enter), or if he were an elder and it were beneath his dignity, or if his labor were greater than that of his neighbor (i.e., if the finder was to return the item, reimbursing him for his lost wages would cost more than the value of the item;), he is exempt, it being written "and you ignore": Sometimes you do ignore and sometimes you do not.

לא תוכל להתעלם THOU MAYEST NOT HIDE THYSELF — i.e. You must not cover your eyes, pretending not to see it.

(19) When you reap the harvest in your field and overlook a sheaf in the field, do not turn back to get it; it shall go to the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow—in order that your God ה׳ may bless you in all your undertakings.

Our God and God of our fathers remember us favorably before You and be mindful of us for deliverance and compassion from the eternal high heavens. Remember in our behalf, Adonoy, our God, the covenant, the kindness and the oath which You swore to our father Avraham on Mount Moriah, and let there appear before You the binding with which our father Avraham bound his son Yitzchak upon the altar, and how he suppressed his compassion to do Your will with a whole heart; so may Your compassion suppress Your anger against us, and in Your great goodness turn Your fierce anger away from Your people, and from Your city, from Your land, and from Your territorial heritage. And fulfill for us Adonoy, our God the promise You made in Your Torah, through Your servant, Moshe, from the mouth of Your glory, as it is said: “I will remember for them the covenant with their forefathers whom I took out of the land of Mitzrayim, before the eyes of the nations, to be their God; I am Adonoy.” For He Who remembers all forgotten things from eternity, are You, and there is no forgetfulness before the Throne of Your Glory; and the binding of Yitzchak— on behalf of his descendants— may You remember it today with compassion. Blessed are You Adonoy, Who remembers the covenant.

(6)One does not mention verses of Remembrance, Kingship, and Shofar that have a theme of punishment.

(6) If, along the road, you chance upon a bird’s nest, in any tree or on the ground, with fledglings or eggs and the mother sitting over the fledglings or on the eggs, do not take the mother together with her young. (7) Let the mother go, and take only the young, in order that you may fare well and have a long life.

כי יקרא IF [A BIRD’S NEST] CHANCE TO BE [BEFORE THEE IN THE WAY … THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE MOTHER WITH THE YOUNG] — If it chance to be, this excludes that which is always ready at hand (in thy court yard) (Sifrei Devarim 227:1; Chullin 139a).

CHANCE. The word yikkare (chance) is similar to nikro nikreti (As I happened by chance) (II Sam. 1:6). These words have the meaning of chance. It is close in meaning to “meet.”

IF A BIRD’S NEST CHANCE TO BE BEFORE THEE. This also is an explanatory commandment, of the prohibition ye shall not kill it [the dam] and its young both in one day, because the reason for both [commandments] is that we should not have a cruel heart and be discompassionate, or it may be that Scripture does not permit us to destroy a species altogether, although it permits slaughter [for food] within that group.
Now, he who kills the dam and the young in one day or takes them when they are free to fly [it is regarded] as though he cut off that species.


Thus the Rabbis have explained that even the palm-branch, the Booth, and the phylacteries concerning which He commanded that they shall be for a sign upon thy hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes; for by strength of hand the Eternal brought us forth out of Egypt — are not ordained to honor G-d, blessed be He, but to have compassion on our souls.


And the Sages have already arranged it for us in the [Closing] Prayer on the Day of Atonement, stating: “Thou hast distinguished man from the beginning, and hast recognized him [to be privileged] to stand before Thee, for who shall say unto Thee, ‘What doest Thou?’ and if he be righteous what can he give Thee?”


Similarly, it states in the Torah, which I command thee this day for thy good, as I have explained. So also, And the Eternal commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Eternal our G-d, for our good always. And the intent in all these expressions is “for our good,” and not for His, blessed and exalted be He! Rather, everything we have been commanded is so that His creatures be refined and purified, free from the dross of evil thoughts and blameworthy traits of character.
So, too, what the Rabbis have stated, “Because he treats the ordinances of G-d like expressions of mercy, whereas they are decrees” means to say — that it was not a matter of G-d’s mercy extending to the bird’s nest or the dam and its young, since His mercies did not extend so far into animal life as to prevent us from accomplishing our needs with them, for, if so, He would have forbidden slaughter altogether. But the reason for the prohibition [against taking the dam with its nest, or against killing the dam with its young in one day] is to teach us the trait of compassion and that we should not be cruel, for cruelty proliferates in man’s soul ...

For the sin we committed before You intentionally and unintentionally.