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Friday

י"ט אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

Friday
י"ט אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

חיפוש בארכיון

Mitzvah 456) not to hear prophesy from one who prophesies in the name of idols.

Parshas Re’eh

“You may not listen to the words of that prophet” (Dvarim 13,4)

It is a negative commandment not to listen to the prophesy of one who prophesies in the name of idols. That is to say, that we should neither ask him nor inquire of him about a sign or wonder which he gives about his prophesy as we do with one who prophesies in the name of Hashem but rather prevent him from doing so as is fitting with any transgressor or sinner.  If he continues to stay on his evil ways, we should give him the punishment which the Torah assigns to him and that is to kill him by strangulation.  About this the verse says “You may not listen to the words of that prophet”.

Amongst the roots of the commandment is that people continually make mistakes, and their intellects are not capable of comprehending the full truth about things, and the Torah feels that perhaps, because of the false claims and the lengthy discussion and arguments with that speaker of lies who prophesies in the name of idolatry, a person could become persuaded to (believe) his words.  Even if he is not persuaded, he may consider in his heart for even a short time that there may be a grain of truth in his lies.  Even though we know that his deliberations will only last a short time, for the truth will show the correct way and will testify that the words of that prophet are false, even so the Torah has pity on us and prevents us from losing even a small amount of our days in deliberating over that evil thought.

This commandment applies in all places, at all times, to men and to women.