לא תתעמר בה, "you shall not enslave her." The meaning of this word with the letter ע is the same as the similar sounding word with the letter א, i.e. תתאמר. We find the word in a similar meaning in Deut. 26,17: את ה' האמרת היום, "you have enslaved yourself to the Lord this day." It is not unusual for the letters א and ע to be used interchangeably. Not only in scripture but also in the language of our sages are the letters ע and א used interchangeably such as in עריס or אריס, both being given as "tenant-farmer." The prisoner who originally was captured for the sake of becoming the soldier's wife must not be demoted to be treated as a slave in his household once his infatuation for her has waned. It is morally not acceptable This is a basic moral lesson the Torah teaches us here.
The next paragraph which describes a situation in the home of someone who has two wives one of whom he loves whereas he harbours hostile feelings towards the other, teaches that the Torah did not easily agree to permitting the אשת יפת תאר to the Jewish soldier, seeing it foresaw that introducing her into the soldier's household was likely to result in friction in that home. Had it not been the Torah's wish to help the soldier sublimate his carnal lust for that woman, the Torah would not have done so, seeing the chances that her husband will eventually hate such a woman are statistically quite high. Moreover, if he has a son from her, the chances that the son will become a delinquent (בן סורר ומורה),
[even if not in the strictly halachic sense of the word. Ed.] are not insignificant. This is why the paragraph about such a delinquent follows in short order.
We find that the Torah's psychology was justified when we look at the life of King David
(compare Tanchuma Ki Teytze 1). He had taken Maacha, the daughter of Talmai, the King of Geshur as one of his wives (
Samuel II 3,
3) after he had gone out to war against him. She bore Avshalom for David. Avshalom rebelled against his father and tried to kill him; he slept with David's concubines. He murdered one of David's sons, and generally became the focus of political strife in Israel and responsible for the death of tens of thousands of Israelites. The prophet Nathan was told to tell David that God would make evil arise against David out of his own house
(Samuel II 12,11, see commentary by R' D. Kimchi).
Another paragraph which is appended to the foregoing one because it is a warning, is verse 22 in which the procedure of preserving even the dignity of the body of someone who has been legally executed for a crime committed is discussed. The sequences of our passages in this chapter are reminiscent of Isaiah 24,18 where the prophet tells us that when one has managed to escape one kind of terror, one will find oneself entrapped by a different kind of trap. The sum total of the moral/ethical teaching of these verses is that even marriages which are permitted by the Torah are not necessarily suitable unions. The marriages to prisoners of war are a prime example of such unions.
Even though the women in question have converted to Judaism, this is not considered a complete (ideal) conversion. It is assumed that the woman in question converted out of fear, i.e. physical fear of otherwise being executed. Even when someone volunteers to become a proselyte with no pressure from any causes which we can detect, the sages
(Yevamot 47) have instructed the judges performing the conversion to carefully examine the prospective proselyte's background to determine if he or she is converting for ulterior motives, i.e. not because of genuine religious conviction. Money, position, etc., may all be reasons which attract a Gentile to become Jewish. In the case of males more likely than not they have their eyes on a Jewish girl whom they wish to marry.
Judaism is different from other religions which are soul-snatchers, missionary by definition. The reason is that we are a national religion, not one which wishes to embrace all of mankind. Some of the other religions, Islam in particular, are imbued with the fervor to ram their beliefs down the throats of people whom they perceive to be pagans.
[In some editions the author refers to "two" religions, i.e. Christianity also. Ed.]. Sometimes all kinds of enticements, both material and spiritual, are offered to the potential convert in order to get him to embrace a particular new faith. This is what Daniel already prophesied about (
Daniel 7,
20) "and a mouth speaking haughty words." Daniel 7,25 also deals with the same phenomenon describing efforts at converting others to one's belief being made my leaders of religious cults. In Daniel 11,36 Daniel harps on the same subject once more.
Once the prospective convert to Judaism has been checked out and no ulterior motives have been discovered which would make us doubt his sincerity, he is advised of the yoke of Torah legislation and what is implied by joining the Jewish people
(Maimonides Hilchot Issurey Bi-ah 13,14). All of this is designed to make the prospective convert reconsider his plans to become Jewish.
During the reign of David prospective converts were rejected as it was suspected that these converts were inspired by fear of the growing power of the Jewish state. In Solomon's time they were also not accepted as it was suspected that they were motivated by the affluence and security offered by King Solomon's empire
(compare Maimonides Hilchot Issurey Bi-ah 13,14-15).
Despite these rulings, there were many converts during the reign of David and Solomon, and once local courts had conducted such conversions and the converts had undergone ritual immersion the higher courts did not revoke these conversions. Although Solomon who married numerous women of pagan ancestry converted all them of them prior to marrying them, and Shimshon too did not marry until after the lady had been converted, seeing these conversions were due to ulterior motives, scripture continues to describe the women in question as if they had remained Gentiles and sleeping with them was forbidden. The outcome of these "marriages" testifies to the fact that they were flawed from the beginning. The Book of Kings accuses Solomon of building altars for the former deities his various foreign-born wives served, although he personally did nothing of the sort. The fact that he did not interfere with such goings on is placed at his doorstep
(compare Kings I chapter 11).
In view of all the above we can understand the statement of our sages in Yevamot 47 that converts are as serious a plague for the Jewish people as is the dreaded skin disease tzoraat. The reason for this attitude is that experience has shown that the majority of converts abandoned their former religion only because of material advantages to be attained by becoming Jewish. Not only that, these converts have a habit of leading natural born Jews astray. Once these people have become legal converts it is practically impossible to isolate them and to ostracize them. The first time such converts led the natural born Jews astray was during the episode of the golden calf, whereas a short time later the same thing occurred in Numbers 11,4 when a group of people described by the Torah as אספסף instigated the craving for meat as a result of which tens of thousands of Israelites died a miserable death. Sifri Behaalotcha 86 attributes all this to these converts. Time and again such fair-weather converts have become the bane of our people.
Just as we learned from the order in which these last few paragraphs have been arranged that one sin brings in its wake another sin, we can learn from another sequence of paragraphs that one commandment meticulously observed will bring in its wake the fulfillment of other commandments.
In 22,6 we read about the commandment to release a mother bird before taking her chicks, followed by the commandment to install a railing on the roof of a new house. Following this the Torah instructs us not to mix certain species of seed, etc., etc. The message is that once we observe one commandment it will be easier to observe other commandments.
והיה אם לא חפצתא בה – הכתוב מבשרך שסופך לשנאותה.