A wayward son and a teacher
Shalom Rabbi, regarding a rebellious son and teacher:
- It is said that he was condemned for his end, that he would go out into evil culture and become a robber or a murderer. But at this moment he is neither a robber nor a murderer, but only a glutton and a glutton, and how is it possible that he was condemned to death because of fear that he would become a criminal?
- The halakha details clearly unrealistic conditions for the fulfillment of this law, to the point that the Sages raise doubts about whether they will ever be fulfilled or will ever be fulfilled. But how is it possible that all of these conditions are true? If they were true, this would effectively make the entire story of the rebellious son and the teacher redundant from the Torah, and as if the matter was not written in the Torah at all. Was the Torah's intention that this matter not be fulfilled? And if so, why write it?
לגלות עוד מהאתר הרב מיכאל אברהם
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0 Answers
1. Here the battered example of the lovable and laughing baby Adolf comes to mind. If you saw him in the cradle and knew what was going to come out of him, would it be unreasonable to kill him as a baby? But in light of Section 2, this is a hypothetical question anyway.
2. Rabbi Israel of Salant in his article Law and Justice offers a very interesting explanation. The Gemara itself asks why these verses were written (for the same opinion that Ben Sorer did not exist and will not exist), and answers: "It is necessary and will receive a reward." The Rabbis asks, "Have we exhausted all the rest of the Torah that we need to provide us with verses that are not applicable so that we will receive a reward for studying them?" And he answers: These verses were written to teach the principle of "it is necessary and will receive a reward," that is, the principle that we do not study in order to apply, but in order to learn. Learning is a value in itself, and this is the main lesson of Parasha Ben Sorer. This Parasha also teaches about the applicable Parashas whose study is not intended to be carried out, but is a value in itself. Study is our way of adhering to God, through adherence to His will (=halakha). Of course, if we have the opportunity, then we should also carry it out, but this is not the purpose of studying (otherwise we would have to constantly deal with the applicable parts of the Torah, or at least not move on to other parts until we have mastered them perfectly).
There is much to be said about this, and there is no room here.
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