📜 Daily Chumash & Rashi Acharei Mos Kedoshim Shevi’i: Punishments for sins

Post Views: 7

*The article below is an excerpt from the above Sefer

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from  qualifying purchases.

Donate
Buy in Paperback or Kindle
Buy on Apple Books
Purchase on our website
Sign up for Daily Distribution

Shevi’i when connected to Acharei Mos

  • You are to guard my commands and perform them, I am Hashem your G-d.
  • One who curses his father and mother is to be put to death.
  • Punishments for adultery and incest: One who sleeps with a married woman, both are to be put to death.
  • One who sleeps with his father’s wife has revealed his father’s Erva, both are to be put to death.
  • One who sleeps with his daughter in-law has done Tevel/perversion and both are to be put to death.
  • One who sleeps with a male has done an abomination, both are to be put to death.
  • One who sleeps with his mother in-law has done Zima/depravity, they are to be put to death.
  • A man who sleeps with an animal, both are to be put to death.
  • A woman who sleeps with an animal, both are to be put to death.
  • One who sleeps with his sister has done a disgrace. Both will be cut off from their nation, as he has revealed his sisters Erva.
  • One who sleeps with a Niddah, if he has performed Hearah [penetration], both will be cut off from their nation.
  • One may not sleep with his aunt, and if they do so they will carry their sin. If one sleeps with his aunt, they will both die without children.
  • One who sleeps with his brother’s wife has committed Niddah, an offense, and both will die childless.
  • One is to guard all My commandments and perform them and in this way the land of Israel will not repel you.
  1. Final Mitzvos and tidings:
  • Not to follow the ways of the gentiles: Do not walk in the statutes of the gentiles, as I have despised them. I have inherited their lands to you, a land of milk and honey. I am Hashem your G-d who has separated you from the nations.
  • Kashrus: You shall distinguish between the pure and impure animals and birds. You shall not defile your souls with eating these forbidden animals and birds and the creeping creatures. You are to be holy to me as I am holy and I have separated you from the nations so you be mine.
  • Ov and Yidoni: A man or woman who is an Ov or Yidoni will be killed through stoning.

📘 Rashi Q&A — Vayikra 20:8–27

 

20:8 — Sanctification Through Observance

Q1. What does “וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת־חֻקֹּתַי” require?

A: To safeguard and fulfill God’s decrees and ordinances.

 

Q2. What is emphasized by “אֲנִי ה’ מְקַדִּשְׁכֶם”?

A: God sanctifies Israel through their observance of His commandments.

 

20:9 — Cursing Parents

Q3. Why does Scripture repeat “אָבִיו וְאִמּוֹ קִלֵּל”?

A: To include one who curses his parents even after their death.

 

Q4. What does “דָּמָיו בּוֹ” mean?

A: His death is his own responsibility; the punishment is death by stoning, and no one else bears guilt for it.

 

20:10 — Adultery

Q5. Why does the verse begin “וְאִישׁ”?

A: To exclude a minor, who is not liable.

 

Q6. What is excluded by “אֵשֶׁת אִישׁ”?

A: The wife of a minor, because a minor cannot marry.

 

Q7. What is excluded by “אֵשֶׁת רֵעֵהוּ”?

A: The wife of a non‑Jew, since a non‑Jew has no legal marriage to a Jewish woman.

 

Q8. Which death penalty applies here?

A: Strangulation, since no specific mode of execution is stated.

 

20:11 — Father’s Wife

Q9. What does “גִּלָּה עֶרְוַת אָבִיו” mean?

A: He had relations with his father’s wife, which constitutes uncovering his father’s nakedness.

 

20:12 — Daughter‑in‑Law

Q10. What does “תֶּבֶל עָשׂוּ” mean here?

A:

  • It means shameful conduct, or
  • Intermingling the seed of father and son.

 

20:13 — Male Same‑Sex Relations

Q11. What is meant by “מִשְׁכְּבֵי אִשָּׁה”?

A: Intercourse defined by penetration, like inserting an applicator into a tube.

 

20:14 — A Woman and Her Mother

Q12. What is meant by “יִשְׂרְפוּ אֹתוֹ וְאֶתְהֶן”?

A:

  • Primary explanation: He married two women who were both prohibited to him (a woman and her mother).
  • Alternative opinion: Only one of them is included; “הֶן” is Greek for “one.”

 

20:15–16 — Bestiality

Q13. Why must the animal be killed?

A: Because it caused a human being to stumble into sin.

 

Q14. What moral lesson does Rashi derive from this?

A: If an animal is destroyed for causing sin, all the more a human who causes another to sin is punishable.

 

20:17 — Relations with a Sister

Q15. What does “חֶסֶד הוּא” mean?

A:

  • Plain meaning: Disgraceful conduct.
  • Midrashic meaning: Cain’s marriage to his sister was a temporary kindness to populate the world.

 

20:18 — Menstruant

Q16. What does “הֶעֱרָה” mean?

A: Exposure, the act that defines forbidden relations.

Q17. How do the Sages define this exposure?

A:

  • Some say external contact.
  • Others say partial penetration.

 

20:19 — Aunts

Q18. Why are both maternal and paternal aunts mentioned?

A: To prohibit relations in all familial configurations, whether on the father’s or mother’s side.

 

20:20 — Uncle’s Wife

Q19. What does “עֲרִירִים” mean?

A: Childless, as Onkelos translates “without offspring.”

 

Q20. What distinction does Rashi draw between “יִהְיוּ” and “יָמֻתוּ”?

A:

  • “יִהְיוּ” → they remain childless.
  • “יָמֻתוּ” → they lose their children during their lifetime.

 

20:21 — Brother’s Wife

Q21. What does “נִדָּה הִוא” mean here?

A: The relationship is repulsive and forbidden, comparable to a menstruant regarding exposure.

 

20:22 — Observance and the Land

Q22. Why must Israel observe these laws?

A: So that the land not vomit them out, as it did the previous nations.

 

20:23 — Disgust at the Nations

Q23. What does “וָאָקֻץ” mean?

A: God was repulsed by the deeds of those nations.

 

20:25 — Distinguishing Between Species

Q24. Why is differentiating animals necessary?

A: Not to distinguish obvious species like cows and donkeys, but to distinguish subtle halachic differences, such as whether slaughter was valid by a margin as small as a hairbreadth.

20:26 — Separation

Q25. What does “וָאַבְדִּל אֶתְכֶם מִן־הָעַמִּים” teach?

A: Israel belongs to God only if they remain distinct by keeping His commandments.

 

Q26. What did Rabbi Elazar ben Azaryah teach here?

A: One should not say, “I find this disgusting,” but rather,
“I desire it, but God decreed otherwise.”

 

20:27 — Spirit‑Divination

Q27. Why is the death penalty restated here?

A: To distinguish between:

  • With witnesses and warning → stoning
  • Intentional without warning → excision
  • Unintentional → sin‑offering

About The Author

Rabbi Yaakov Goldstein is a 6th generation descendent of the famous Chief Rabbi of Izhmir, Rav Yehoshua Avraham Krispin, who authored a number of Sefarim, and was a colleague of Rav Chaim Falagi, and father in-law of the Pesach Hadvir. He currently lives with his wife Shayna, and twelve children K”H, in Tzfas, Israel. Rabbi Goldstein received Semicha from Rabbi Schneur Zalman Labkowski of the Tomchei Temimim headquarters in 2005 and served as a chaplain in the Lotar/Kalatz and K9 unit of the IDF from years 2005-2008. He is also a certified Shochet, and has performed Hashgacha work in slaughterhouses. Rabbi Goldstein is the director of Shulchanaruchharav.com, the world’s leading web-based Halacha database, and is the director of the Home Study Semicha Program, a self-study web-based Semicha program. He is a prolific author of over 50 Sefarim studied by a wide range of readers throughout the world, which is used regularly in Semicha programs around the globe. He is a world renowned Posek, answering questions to a web-based market, and serves as a local Posek, Rav, and Lecturer, in the Tzemach Tzedek community Shul in Tzefas, Israel. His many classes can be heard both from his website, Vimeo and YouTube channel. Students can join live to classes given in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul, through the “בית חבד צפת Chabad Tsfat” YouTube channel.