In the middle of this week’s parsha, Ki Seitzei, we find a very interesting few lines (chapter 22, verses 23-27). It talks about a man who abuses a married woman in a city and that both the man and woman are put to death. The man is put to death because he took advantage of the woman and the woman because she did not scream (and therefore it shows that she did not disagree with what he was doing). It then continues and says that if this happened in a field instead of a city, only the man is put to death but not the woman. The reason is because the woman screamed.

I don’t know if this bothered anyone else, but I was annoyed that screaming determines if this married woman lives or dies. If the woman screams, then she deserves to live, but if she does not, then she deserves to die. What is so important about screaming?

I saw the following thought in the sefer Sichos Mussar by Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz. Rashi compares Noach to Avraham (Abraham) and says that Avraham is a much greater person than Noach (Rashi also says that others hold that Noach was greater but let’s put that on the side for a different time). Why is Avraham greater? Because when Hashem told Avraham that He was going to destroy Sodom, Avraham cried out and said, “no way, dude” (he may have used different words, though). Hashem told Noach that he was going to destroy the entire world except for him and what did Noach say… nothing. Therefore, Avraham is better.

Think about this for a moment. If Hashem came to you and told you to do something, would you argue with Him? I would not! Then why is Avraham seen as greater for arguing with Hashem and Noach is seen as an uncaring person for agreeing with Hashem? The answer, says Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, is that when a person is in pain, they scream out. They cry out.

Avraham was in pain that a fellow human being would be hurt. Noach must not have been in pain. If Noach was in pain, he would have screamed out.

This answers our above question: why does the Torah state that if the woman screams, she is not guilty and remains alive but if she doesn’t scream, then she deserves death. The answer is now simple. If she screams, it shows that she is in some type of pain. This is something she does not want. If she does not scream, though, then she is not in pain and it must not be anything that bad to her.

There’s a great lesson for all of us in these words. People scream out when they are in pain and need help. The situation of the world today, as we know, is not always the best. I am not trying to be pessimistic, but sometimes it does not look good for our Jewish brothers and sisters. Therefore, we need to scream out for help when we see them in pain. And there’s only one way for us to scream out — we MUST pray with as much concentration as we can. We MUST pray with all our might that the suffering for our brothers and sisters comes to an end. Our prayers show that we care and we want a change.
May Hashem hear our prayers and answer our prayers speedily in our days.

Good Shabbos!

-yes

Any questions or comments can be sent to [email protected].
By Rabbi Yaacov Seltzer
[email protected]
(305) 652-0186
By Rabbi Yaacov Seltzer
[email protected]
(305) 652-0186