📜 Daily Chumash & Rashi – Parshas Ki Seitzei Rishon: The laws of a Yefas Toar

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Rishon

1. The laws of a Yefas Toar:

• When you go to war against your enemies and Hashem gives them into your hands and you capture a captive, the following laws are to be followed:
• Shave head, grow hair, and mourn: If you see a beautiful woman during war that you wish to take as a wife, you are to bring her into your home and shave her head and have her grow her nails. She is to remove her [beautiful] clothing that she wore when taken captive. She is to sit in your home and mourn her parents for a month.
• Afterwards, you may be intimate with her and take her as a wife. If, however, you do not desire her, then she is to be sent out free. She may not be sold, or work, as a slave.

2. Inheritance of a Bechor-The son of a beloved wife versus the son of a hated wife:

• If a man has two wives, one loved and the second hated, and each begot him a son, the eldest son, the Bechor, is to receive a double portion of the inheritance. One may not remove the double portion from the Bechor son born to the hated wife, and instead grant it to the younger son born to the beloved wife.
• The Bechor is to receive a double portion of all one’s assets, as he is the first of his father’s strength and that is his right as firstborn son.

3. Ben Sorer Umorer-The rebellious son:

• If a man has a son who is rebellious and does not listen to his father or mother despite being disciplined by them, then the son is to be brought by the parents to the city gates, to the city elders. The son is to be stoned by the entire city.

📘 Rashi Q&A — Devarim 21:10–21

21:10–14 — The Beautiful Captive Woman (אשת יפת תואר)

Q1. What type of war is this section discussing?

1. An optional (discretionary) war.

Q2. Why can it not refer to the conquest of Canaan?

1. Because regarding the Canaanite nations the Torah says, “You shall not allow any soul to live.”

Q3. What does “you take captives” include?

1. Even members of the seven Canaanite nations found among other nations.

 

21:11

Q4. What is meant by a “beautiful woman”?

1. A female captive whom the soldier desires.

Q5. Does this include a married woman?

1. Yes.

Q6. Why did the Torah permit this case?

1. As a concession to the evil inclination.

Q7. What does Rashi say will likely happen afterward?

1. The husband will eventually come to hate her.

Q8. What further consequence may result?

1. He may eventually have a wayward and rebellious son.

Q9. Why are the following passages placed together?

1. To show the progression from the captive woman to a hated wife and then to a rebellious son.

 

21:12

Q10. What must the woman do when brought into the house?

1. Shave her head and let her nails grow.

Q11. Why let the nails grow?

1. To make her appear unattractive.

 

21:13

Q12. Why must she remove her captive garments?

1. Because they were designed to enhance her attractiveness.

Q13. Why does she remain in the soldier’s house?

1. So he constantly sees her mourning and unattractiveness.

Q14. Why must she mourn for a month?

1. To diminish his attraction to her.

Q15. According to Rashi, what contrast is intended?

1. His Jewish wife should appear joyful and attractive while the captive appears sorrowful and unattractive.

 

21:14

Q16. If he no longer wants her, what must he do?

1. Let her go free.

Q17. May he sell her?

1. No.

Q18. May he treat her as a servant?

1. No.

Q19. Why not?

1. Because he has already afflicted her.

Q20. What does Rashi say the Torah is indicating?

1. That he will ultimately come to despise her.

 

📘 21:15–17 — The Rights of the Firstborn

Q21. What situation is described?

1. A man has two wives, one beloved and one despised.

Q22. What if the firstborn is the son of the despised wife?

1. He remains the legal firstborn.

Q23. Can the father transfer the birthright to the beloved wife’s son?

1. No.

Q24. What must the father give the firstborn?

1. A double portion.

Q25. What does “double portion” mean?

1. A share equal to that of two brothers.

Q26. From which assets does the firstborn receive a double share?

1. Property already possessed by the father at death.

Q27. What property is excluded?

1. Assets that would come into the estate only afterward.

 

📘 21:18–21 — The Wayward and Rebellious Son

21:18

Q28. What does “wayward” (סורר) mean?

1. He strays from the proper path.

Q29. What does “rebellious” (מורה) mean?

1. He refuses to obey his parents.

Q30. What do the parents first do?

1. Warn him before a court.

Q31. What happens if he ignores the warning?

1. He receives lashes.

Q32. What behavior makes him liable?

1. Stealing from his father and purchasing excessive amounts of meat and wine.

Q33. What description in the Torah identifies this behavior?

1. “A glutton and a guzzler.”

Q34. Why is he punished so severely?

1. Because the Torah judges him based on the destructive future his behavior is expected to lead to.

Q35. What future does the Torah foresee?

1. He will exhaust his resources and eventually rob and murder to support his habits.

Q36. What principle do the Sages derive?

1. Better that he die while still relatively innocent than after becoming a hardened criminal.

 

21:19–20

Q37. Where do the parents bring him?

1. To the elders at the city gate.

Q38. What accusation do they present?

1. That he is wayward, rebellious, a glutton, and a guzzler.

 

21:21

Q39. What is the sentence?

1. Stoning.

Q40. Why is the punishment carried out publicly?

1. To remove evil from Israel.

Q41. What public effect should it have?

1. All Israel will hear and be afraid.

Q42. What practical law do the Sages derive from this phrase?

1. The court publicly announces the case and sentence.