Parshas Ki Seitzei - Hangman, Shovels, and Fingers in Your Ears; Kavod Ha'adom vs. Kavod Hashem: Same Difference

Parshas Ki Seitzei

Hangman, Shovels, and Fingers in Your Ears

Kavod Ha'adom vs. Kavod Hashem:

Same Difference

By: Daniel Listhaus

וְכִי יִהְיֶה בְאִישׁ חֵטְא מִשְׁפַּט מָוֶת וְהוּמָת וְתָלִיתָ אֹתוֹ עַל עֵץ: לֹא תָלִין נִבְלָתוֹ עַל הָעֵץ כִּי קָבוֹר תִּקְבְּרֶנּוּ בַּיּוֹם :iהַהוּא כִּי קִלְלַת אֱ־לֹקים תָּלוּי וְלֹא תְטַמֵּא אֶת אַדְמָתְךָ אֲשֶׁר ה' אֱ-לֹקיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ נַחֲלָה

“If a man will have committed a sin whose judgment is death and he shall be put to death, and you shall hang him on a wooden beam. His body shall not remain for the night on the wooden beam, rather you shall surely bury him on that day, for a hanging person is an insult of Hashem...”

-Ki Seitzei 21:22-23

Rashi¹ comments that we do not leave the body hanging because man is made in the image of Hashem, and the Jews are His sons. Therefore, to leave a body hanging would be deemed a degradation of the King. Rashi continues and gives the following moshol (parable): There were two identical twin brothers. One became a king, while the other became involved in thievery and was hung. Whoever would see him hanging would exclaim, “The king is hanging!”

There are a couple of questions on this Rashi which beg to be asked. Granted, man was created with the image of Hashem and we are His children. However, at the end of the day, this guy did an aveirah (sin) deserving of death². Last week's parsha stated many times that we should show no mercy to those deserving of punishment for not following the laws of the Torah³. Why is it then that when it comes to keeping the man hanging, the Torah suddenly seems to show mercy for his corpse? Furthermore, if we take everything this Rashi says literally, then this whole concept seems difficult to understand. Is it really true that if one will see a man hanging that he will say about it that Hashem is hanging? Certainly not! So what exactly is going on here? What is the underlying reason behind why we do not leave the man hanging? And how could we understand Rashi's concern of people immediately associating man with Hashem?

Later on in the parsha, the passukim (verses) resume dealing with the halachos (laws) of going out to battle. The passuk⁴ tells us that in addition to a soldier's weaponry, there is an obligation upon each soldier who goes out to battle to carry a shovel. The reason for this, as the Torah itself tells us, is in order to be able to use it to dig a hole and cover one's excrement.

Let us think for a moment about this strange mitzva. It does not take a military expert to comprehend that when going to battle one must only pack the essentials. A gun⁵ is a good idea. A canteen of water is a good idea. A heavy solid-metal shovel is not a bad idea... it is a TERRIBLE idea! Why tire out an entire army by making each soldier carry such an instrument?⁶

Furthermore, the Gemara⁷ learns out a limud from this passuk. The passuk⁸ says, “There should be a spade among your weaponry”. The Hebrew word for “your weaponry” is “a'zei'ne'cha” which is very similar to the word for “your ears” - “a'za'ne'cha”. With this, the Gemara goes on to say a halacha; that we learn from here that if someone is about to hear something which is not nice [such as lashon harah or nivul peh], one should put his fingers – which are shaped as spades – into his ears.⁹

There is obviously a connection between this halacha and the halacha that each soldier must carry a spade into battle, based on the similarity of words. This alone would certainly allow chazal to make their limud.¹⁰ However, is there perhaps a deeper connection linking these seemingly very different halachos together?

Perhaps there is a common denominator between the hanging man, digging excrement, and listening to evil speech. Let us start our analysis with the shovel one is required to carry during battle. From the fact that the Torah demands that it be part of the weaponry, it must be because it is just as important as the weaponry. We could try to understand this based on the following. We know that there are two elements to everything we do: our hishtadlus – the effort we put in, and siyata d'shmaya – aid from Hashem. Certainly the weaponry we bring with us to battle is the hishtadlus we put in. The shovel, on the other hand, is our symbol for siyata d'shmaya. The halacha¹¹ is that it is assur (forbidden) to daven in front of excrement, since it is unfitting for Hashem to come to such a place. Since it is through tefillah (prayers) that we ask for siyata d'shmaya, a spade or shovel is certainly a necessity in order to be able to utilize our real weapon - davening.¹² Looking at this in a broader sense, another way of presenting this idea is that in order to create an environment of “v'haya machane'cha kadosh”¹³ – to keep the camp holy – a milieu of kavod ha'briyos (respect of creations [i.e. humans]) is needed as a prerequisite to an atmosphere worthy of kavod Hashem (honor/respect of Hashem).

Perhaps this is the underlying theme behind the hanging man, digging excrement, and listening to evil speech. All three are commandments guarding the basics of kavod ha'adom (respect of mankind). It is forbidden to say or listen to lashon harah because it is fundamentally disregarding others. Forgetting to exercise kavod ha'adom during battle has a direct positive correlation with not showing kavod Hashem. Therefore, the shechina will not fight alongside the hishtadlus of the army. The same is true when it comes to the death penalty. If the Torah demands the death of an individual, it is certainly mandatory to do so, and, as the Torah says, with showing no mercy. However, when it comes to leaving the corpse hanging for longer than necessary - a most degrading thing, Hashem says things have gone too far. As Rashi¹⁴ states, “Leaving the corpse hanging is a degradation to the King, for man is made in the likeness of His image”. Not showing proper kavod ha'adom automatically means not recognizing proper kavod Hashem.

Respect for humans is something so basic and so necessary, it is required to be rehearsed during the hardest of times, such as war, and even at times when the person being degraded is hanging due to his sins Without a basic understanding of chashivus ha'adom (greatness of man), Hashem will not come to our help in battle and, as in the case where a person is treated improperly – whether alive or dead, will feel degraded Himself – so to speak.¹⁵

Why is this so? Why is it that kavod ha'adom and kavod Hashem are so closely interconnected?

The Alter of Slabodka¹⁶ writes that the passuk¹⁷ in Bereishis tells us that Hashem created man in His image and His likeness. Hashem created man as his own miniature world.¹⁸ Just as the world has a King – Hashem, so too each of our own little worlds has a king – the neshama which Hashem breathed into us. The neshama, which connects every person with Hashem, is so precious that when man was created, the melachim (angels) wanted to sing praises.¹⁹ Within each and every person is an incredible amount of potential waiting to be tapped into. The neshama comes from a limitless place and is ready and waiting to achieve tremendous heights.²⁰ This aspect of man, which is directly connected to kavod Hashem, demands a level of kavod ha'adom.

The Gemara²¹ relates the famous story of a man who came to Hillel and asked him to teach him the whole Torah while standing on one foot. Hillel responded, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah while the rest is commentary; go and learn it.” Hashem, and His Torah, is the source for all kavod. Yet, man resembles Hashem and therefore, kavod ha'adom and kavod Hashem overlap on many fronts. This is perhaps why the Gemara²² has a whole discussion as to which laws we would push away if they would conflict with kavod habriyos. At one point the Gemara even suggests that kavod habriyos should be docheh (supersedes [literally: push away]) a lo sa'aseh (negative commandment)! This is not because kavod habriyos is better than the Torah, rather because it is the Torah and is kavod Hashem.²³ When one honors his fellow man (for the proper reasons), he is in essence honoring Hashem. It is based on this that Rabbi Akiva taught²⁴, “v'ahavta l'rei'acha ka'mocha zeh k'lal gadol ba'torah – You shall love your fellow as yourself. This is a great rule in the Torah.”

Anything that goes contrary to the axiom of “v'ahavta l'rei'acha ka'mocha” - the basic principle of loving one's friends as one loves oneself - is by definition against the Torah. It disregards kavod ha'adom and therefore, by definition, kavod Hashem as well. This is why we cannot leave the corpse hanging, must carry a shovel into battle, and are required to stick our fingers in our ears when we are at risk of hearing lashon harah.

An even more basic element contained in v'ahavta l'rei'acha ka'mocha is that each of us has an obligation to love ourselves.²⁵ Only once we respect ourselves for being created in the image of Hashem, realizing our own potential and what we are capable of, could we be prepared to respect others. And only once we have an appreciation for others, could we be ready to fully honor Hashem.

1Devarim 21:23

2See Rashi 21:22 who writes that all those who get put to death through s'kilah (stoning) are hanged afterward. Keep in mind that getting put to death by Beis Din (Jewish courts) means that one is guilty without a shadow of a doubt. There is a whole process required in order to actually prove someone deserving of the death penalty. For example, the person has to have been warned, and the two people who witnessed him doing the action despite his warning go through a strenuous cross examination by Beis Din to verify that their stories match. The Mishna in Makkos (7a) states that because of this process, a Beis Din that killed more than one man every seventy years was known as a “bloody Beis Din”.

3For examples see: Devarim 18:22, Devarim 19:13, and Devarim 19:21,

4Devarim 23:14

5They probably had more swords, spears, and bows and arrows than guns, but that is beside the point.

6The seriousness of the commandment that each solider must carry a shovel, could be seen quite clearly because Rashi explains the passuk to mean, “Take the shovel besides the other implements you use”. The Be'er B'sadeh comments that Rashi uses the word besides instead of in addition to in order to bring out the following point: Even though the solider has other instruments with him which could perhaps be used to dig holes in the ground as well, still, do not rely on those tools because sometimes in battle the ground will be hard and one may choose not to put so much pressure on his weapons and will therefore not make a deep enough hole to fully cover his excrement. We therefore see how extreme and serious the Torah is when it comes to this mitzva.

7Kesuvos 5a-5b

8Devarim 23:14

9See also Sefer Chasidim 72. Another observation that is made is that the earlobe is soft and could be bent in to block one's hearing when in danger of hearing lashon harah.

10See Maharsha in Kesuvos 5b who writes that the limud links this passuk with the one a few passukim earlier (Devarim 23:10) which could be read as “guard yourself from any bad speech” [as if written dibbur (speech) instead of davar (thing)]

11Shulchan Aruch Ohr HaChayim Siman 79

12As we say in Tehillim 20:8 “...Some with chariots and some with horses, but we in the Name of Hashem our G-d call out.”

13Devarim 23:15

14Devarim 21:23

15See S'forno Devarim 21:23

16Ohr HaTzafun Cheilek Alef: “D'mus Ha'adom”

17Bereishis 2:26

18See commentaries on Koheles 9:14 as well as Orchos Tzadikkim: Sha'ar Yiras Shamayim

19Bereishis Rabbah 8

20See Orchos Tzadikkim Sha'ar Yiras Shamayim who suggests that this is the cause for people to want more and more. The neshama is always pushing us to go further. However, depending on the amount control we have over our guf (body) will determine which direction it pushes us in.

21Shabbos 31a

22Berachos 19b

23And even according to the end of the Gemara that kavod habriyos is only docheh a de'rabannan b'kum ve'asheh and de'oraisah only by a shev ve'al ta'aseh, we only come to that conclusion by learning it from a passuk, which the Gemara explains is coming to teach that if there would be a chilul Hashem, we do whatever we must to stop it. But this further agrees with our point. Kavod habriyos and kavod Hashem are the same. So in cases where doing kavod habriyos may cause chilul Hashem, then obviously that would not fall under the category of kavod habriyos.

24Toras Kohanim and Rashi on Vayikra 19:18

25This is obvious because how could we love others as we do ourselves, if we do not love ourselves.