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Thursday

י"ח אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

Thursday
י"ח אדר ב’ התשפ"ד

חיפוש בארכיון

Mitzvah 93) – That we not seal a covenant with idolaters

Torah Portion: Mishpatim

You shall not seal a covenant with them or their gods (Shemos 23:32).

That we not seal a covenant — a guarantee of friendship — with an evil, heretical nation, which includes any of the seven nations mentioned in the Torah as being those nations that held our Land before we arrived there, namely the Chitti, Emori, etc., as it is written, You shall not seal a covenant with them or their gods (Shemos 23:32). We may not make peace with them and allow them to serve idolatry.

Among the roots of this mitzvah is the aim of eradicating idol worship and all its attendants from the world. Those seven nations were the primary practitioners of idolatry and its base; they were therefore uprooted from their land. We were commanded to root them out and obliterate their memory for ever. And from the injunction said of them we understand that we are also forbidden to seal a covenant with any idol worshipers. But there is nevertheless a difference between the Seven Nations and other idol-worshipping nations in that with regard to other nations, if they do not wage war against us there is no mitzvah to kill them; we must only not allow them to dwell in our Land until they cease worshiping idolatry. Whereas with regard to the Seven Nations we are to kill them wherever we have the ability to do so, unless they cease worshipping idolatry.

The laws of the mitzvah include what the Sages said that if they wished to repent [and renounce idolatry], we accept them.