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Shelishi
- Miscellaneous Mitzvos:
- Fences: When you build a new home, you are to make a fence around the roof and not cause blood to spill in your home.
- Kilayim-Hybrids & crossbreeds: Do not crossbreed your vineyard by sowing the grapes and grains in close proximation to each other. Do not plow with [two different species of animals, such as] an ox and donkey. Do not wear Shatnez, which is wool and linen woven together.
- Tzitzis: Tie for yourselves Tzitzis on the four corners of your garments.
- False claims of adultery-Motzi Shem Ra: If a man marries a woman and despises her and falsely slanders his wife saying that she committed adultery, then after the matter is verified to be false, he is to be fined 100 Kesef and cannot ever divorce his wife.
- Adultery: If, however, it is true that she committed adultery, then both her and the adulterer are to be killed. If she was a Naarah [Meurasa], then she is to be stoned by the entrance of her father’s home. You are to eradicate the evil from amongst your midst.
- Seduction: If a young Halachically engaged virgin [i.e. Naarah Meurasa] was found in the city by a man and he laid with her [and she did not protest, despite having ability to do so, without being harmed] then both he and the girl are to be killed through stoning.
- Rape: If, however, the married girl was found in the field and was overcome and raped by a man [against her will, without ability to protest] then only he, the rapist, is killed. If, however, the young girl whom he raped was single, then the rapist is to give her father fifty silver Shekalim and he is to marry her, and cannot divorce her for all his days.
- Forbidden relations and marriages-Fathers wife, Saris, Mamzer, Amoni: One may not marry his father’s wife. A person with an injury in the reproductive system [i.e. Saris/impotent] may not marry into the congregation of Hashem [a Jewess]. A Mamzer may not marry into the congregation of Hashem [i.e. a Jewess] even in the 10th An Amoni/Moavi convert may not marry into the congregation of Hashem [i.e. a Jewess] even in the 10th generation, forever. This is because they did not offer you bread and water when you were traveling from Egypt, as well as because they hired Balaam to curse you. Hashem did not listen to Balaam and turned the curse into a blessing, as Hashem loves you.
- You may not make peace with Amon/Moav all your days.
📘 Rashi Q&A — Devarim 22:8–29 & 23:1–7
Devarim 22:8 — The Parapet (Ma’akeh)
Q1. What must be built on a new house?
- A protective parapet (fence) around the roof.
Q2. Why is this mitzvah placed after sending away the mother bird?
- To teach that one mitzvah leads to another mitzvah.
Q3. According to Rashi, what further blessings may follow?
- A house, vineyard, field, and fine clothing.
Q4. What is a מעקה?
- A protective fence around a roof.
Q5. Why does the Torah call the victim “the one who falls”?
- He was destined to fall.
Q6. If so, why must the owner build a fence?
- One should not become the instrument through which harm occurs.
📘 Devarim 22:9–12 — Forbidden Mixtures
22:9
Q7. What mixture is forbidden in a vineyard?
- Grain and grape species planted together.
Q8. What example does Rashi give?
- Wheat, barley, and grape seeds sown together.
Q9. What does “lest it become sanctified” mean?
- It becomes forbidden for use.
Q10. What does “the increase” refer to?
- The additional growth produced from the planting.
22:10
Q11. What animals may not be yoked together?
- An ox and a donkey.
Q12. Does the law apply only to those two animals?
- No, it applies to other mixed species as well.
Q13. Is it limited to plowing?
- No, it also applies to other forms of joint labor.
22:11
Q14. What is sha’atnez?
- A mixture of wool and linen.
Q15. How do the Sages interpret the word?
- As an acronym meaning pressed, spun, and woven together.
22:12
Q16. What commandment immediately follows sha’atnez?
- Tzitzit.
Q17. Why are the two laws juxtaposed?
- To teach that tzitzit may include wool and linen together in the proper context.
📘 Devarim 22:13–21 — The Slandering Husband
22:13–14
Q18. What happens after the husband hates his wife?
- He may falsely accuse her.
Q19. What lesson does Rashi derive?
- One sin leads to another.
Q20. Which earlier commandment did he violate?
- The prohibition against hatred.
Q21. What is learned from the phrase “this woman”?
- A person should not present a legal case without the other party present.
22:15–17
Q22. Who brings evidence before the court?
- The girl’s father and mother.
Q23. Why are the parents involved?
- Those who raised the child share the public embarrassment.
Q24. What does the father’s speech teach?
- The father serves as the primary spokesman.
Q25. What does “they shall spread out the garment” mean?
- The case is clarified completely.
22:18–19
Q26. How is the false accuser punished?
- With lashes and a fine of one hundred silver shekels.
Q27. To whom is the fine paid?
- To the girl’s father.
Q28. May he later divorce her?
- No.
22:20–21
Q29. When is the accusation upheld?
- When witnesses prove misconduct after betrothal.
Q30. What punishment follows?
- Stoning.
Q31. Why is she brought to her father’s house?
- To emphasize responsibility for her upbringing.
Q32. In whose presence is the punishment carried out?
- Before the people of her city.
📘 Devarim 22:22–29 — Sexual Prohibitions
22:22
Q33. What happens when adultery with a married woman is proven?
- Both participants are executed.
Q34. Why does it say “both of them”?
- To exclude acts lacking full relations from this punishment.
Q35. What additional inclusion is derived?
- Pregnancy does not delay execution.
22:23–24
Q36. Why is the betrothed girl in the city held responsible?
- Because help could have been sought within the city.
Q37. What presumption is made?
- That she could have cried out.
22:25–27
Q38. Why is the girl acquitted in the field?
- Because she is presumed to have been coerced.
Q39. What comparison does the Torah make?
- To murder.
Q40. What does Rashi learn from this comparison?
- Just as one may stop a murderer, one may stop a sexual assailant by force.
22:28–29
Q41. What must the assailant pay?
- Fifty silver shekels.
Q42. To whom is the payment given?
- To the girl’s father.
Q43. What marital obligation follows?
- He must marry her.
Q44. May he ever divorce her?
- No.
📘 Devarim 23:1–7 — Forbidden Marriages
23:1
Q45. What relationship is prohibited here?
- A man marrying his father’s wife.
Q46. What additional case does Rashi include?
- A woman awaiting levirate marriage who is designated for his father.
Q47. What does “may not take” teach?
- Such a marriage has no halachic validity.
23:2
Q48. What is a פצוע דכא?
- A man whose reproductive organs have been injured.
Q49. What is a כרות שפכה?
- A man whose reproductive organ has been severed.
Q50. Why are they restricted?
- Because they cannot father children naturally.
23:3
Q51. What is a mamzer?
- A child born from certain severely forbidden unions.
Q52. What restriction applies?
- He may not marry into the Jewish congregation.
23:4–6
Q53. Which peoples are singled out?
- Ammon and Moab.
Q54. Why are they restricted?
- They failed to provide bread and water and sought Israel’s harm through Balaam.
Q55. What does “because of the word” mean according to Rashi?
- Because of their harmful counsel.
Q56. Why was Balaam unsuccessful?
- Hashem transformed the curse into a blessing.
Q57. What does this demonstrate?
- Hashem’s love for Israel.
23:7
Q58. What command is given regarding Ammon and Moab?
- Do not seek their welfare or benefit.
Q59. Why does Rashi mention the escaped slave?
- To distinguish that law from the treatment of these nations.
✅ One-line takeaway
This section teaches that holiness extends from protecting human life through practical safeguards, to preserving moral boundaries in relationships, family, and marriage, while reminding Israel that blessings come through mitzvot and that covenantal identity carries lasting ethical responsibilities.