📜 Daily Chumash & Rashi – Parshas Shoftim Revi’i: Mitzvos relating to not resemble the Canaanite nations

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Revi’i

• The [Kohanim who are] Levites are to set up shifts and rotations of Avoda in the Temple and they may eat portions of the Karbanos that are designated for them.

1. Mitzvos relating to not resemble the Canaanite nations:
   • Upon entering the Promised Land you shall not learn from their abominations.
   • Moleich: You shall not pass your sons and daughters through the fire.
   • Divination and witchcraft: You shall not practice Kesima/divination, Meonein, superstitions, or sorcery. You may not perform Chaver/Charms. You may not seek the service of an Ov. Not to seek the service of a Yidoni. You may not consult the dead. All the above are abominations for which the nations were banished from the land. Be wholehearted with Hashem.

📘 Rashi Q&A — Devarim 18:6–13

18:6–8 — A Priest Serving in the Temple

Q1. Who is the “Levite” mentioned here according to Rashi?

1. A priest (Kohen) from the tribe of Levi, not an ordinary Levite.

Q2. How does Rashi know the verse refers to priests?

1. Because the verse says he may come and serve, and priestly sacrificial service belongs only to Kohanim.

Q3. When may the priest come?

1. Whenever he desires.

Q4. May a priest offer his own sacrifices when it is not his scheduled shift?

1. Yes.

Q5. What does the verse teach about voluntary and obligatory offerings?

1. A priest may come and offer his own offerings even when another priestly division is serving.

Q6. What additional teaching does Rashi derive?

1. During the pilgrimage festivals, all priests may participate in the festival sacrificial service.

 

18:8

Q7. What does “they shall eat equal portions” mean?

1. The priests share equally in certain festival-related portions.

Q8. Which portions are shared equally?

1. The hides of festival burnt-offerings and the meat of festival sin-offerings.

Q9. Does this apply to all sacrifices?

1. No.

Q10. Which sacrifices are excluded?

1. Regular daily offerings, Sabbath offerings, vows, and dedicated offerings.

Q11. What are the “sales of the fathers”?

1. The divisions of priestly service established by David and Samuel.

Q12. What arrangement existed among the priestly divisions?

1. Each division received the portions connected with its assigned week of service.

 

📘 18:9–13 — Forbidden Practices of the Nations

18:9

Q13. What must Israel not learn from the nations?

1. Their abominable practices.

Q14. Is studying these practices ever permitted?

1. Yes, for understanding and teaching why they are forbidden.

Q15. What is forbidden?

1. Learning them in order to imitate them.

 

18:10

Q16. What is meant by passing a child through fire?

1. Molech worship, in which a child is passed between two fires.

Q17. What is a diviner (קוסם קסמים)?

1. One who uses divination, such as consulting a staff for guidance.

Q18. What is a מעונן according to Rabbi Akiva?

1. Someone who declares certain times lucky or unlucky.

Q19. How do the Sages explain מעונן?

1. One who creates deceptive magical illusions.

Q20. What is a מנחש?

1. One who interprets signs and omens.

Q21. What examples does Rashi give?

1. Bread falling from one’s mouth, a deer crossing one’s path, or a staff falling from one’s hand.

 

18:11

Q22. What is a חבר חבר?

1. One who gathers snakes, scorpions, or other creatures through sorcery.

Q23. What is an אוב?

1. A spirit-diviner who conjures a voice from the dead.

Q24. What is a ידעני?

1. One who places the bone of a certain creature in his mouth and uses it for divination.

Q25. What is “inquiring of the dead”?

1. Consulting spirits of the dead through occult practices.

Q26. What examples does Rashi mention?

1. Consulting a skull or using other necromantic practices.

 

18:12

Q27. How seriously does Hashem view these practices?

1. They are an abomination.

Q28. Must a person perform all these practices to be guilty?

1. No.

Q29. What does “whoever does these things” teach?

1. Even one of these practices is prohibited.

Q30. Why were the nations expelled from the land?

1. Because of these abominations.

 

18:13

Q31. What does “Be wholehearted with Hashem your God” mean?

1. Serve Hashem with simple and complete faith.

Q32. What should a person avoid?

1. Obsessively investigating the future through occult means.

Q33. What should one do instead?

1. Trust Hashem and accept whatever He sends with faith.

Q34. What is the reward for such trust?

1. One becomes Hashem’s portion and remains close to Him.

 

✅ One-line takeaway

Instead of seeking control of the future through omens, magic, or divination, the Torah teaches that a Jew should live with temimut: simple, wholehearted trust in Hashem, while serving Him faithfully through the holy institutions He established.