The punishment of
Stoning
Of the four capital punishments in the Torah,
the most severe is Skilah. The nation gathers around to watch as the
criminal is thrown off of a second story cliff to the jagged rocks below. If
he survives it, he is then stoned to death. And after being proclaimed dead,
his body is hung publicly for all to see – so that others will learn not to
do as he did.
Yet the Torah warns us his body should not
remain hanging for too long. He must be buried that day because it is an
embarrassment to the king to let him hang.
Rashi explains: It is an embarrassment to
HASHEM to have a human being hanging because man was formed in the image of
HASHEM. Since the Jewish people are called “sons of HASHEM,” the shame is
even greater. Therefore, the body must be taken down that day before sunset.
Rashi then gives the Moshol that this is
comparable to identical twins. One twin rises through the ranks and
eventually becomes king. The other twin turns to a life of crime.
Eventually, the hoodlum is caught and hung. Since he was identical to the
king, anyone passing by will proclaim, “Look! The king has been hung!” Rashi
explains that it is for that reason that the Torah commands us not to leave
the body hanging too long. A person is made in the image of HASHEM, and it
is an embarrassment to HASHEM to leave His likeness hanging.
This Rashi is very difficult to understand.
Whenever our sages use a moshol, it is to bring us into a different realm of
understanding. It is as if to say our current frame of reference isn’t large
enough to understand the point, so we broaden it by stepping into a
different dimension. This moshol implies that one passing a hanging human
would on some level mistake him for HASHEM. But this seems preposterous. No
one would mistake man for HASHEM. HASHEM created the heavens and the earth;
man can barely make it through his day. HASHEM lives on for eternity; man
puts his head down to sleep, not knowing whether he will ever awaken. How
can anyone mistake man for the Creator? What is Rashi trying to teach us
with this moshol?
Replica vs.
Representation
If you ride the elevator to the 86th
floor of the Empire State building, you will find a gift store selling
models of the very building that you are standing in. That is a replica.
A replica reminds a person of the original. Granted it is in miniature, and
granted no one would mistake it for the original, but it carries, almost in
caricature form, some reminiscence of the original.
A flag, on the other hand, is not just a
piece of cloth that reminds us of a particular country. It stands for and
symbolizes the nation itself. It is a representation of the county.
The American flag is not allowed to touch the ground. It would be considered
an affront to the people it represents. So too, a throne is more than a seat
the king sits upon. It embodies the distinction and nobility of the king. If
one sits on the king’s throne, it is a affront to the king’s honor.
If the Torah were teaching us that man was a
replica of HASHEM, or even a representation of Him, it would
be a huge perspective change in the way that we view man. Rashi seems to be
saying that man is far more than a replica of HASHEM, and even more than a
representation of HASHEM. Man is in a completely different category. To
understand this Rashi, we must understand the role that HASHEM gave man in
the universe.
All physical
manifestations have a spiritual counterpart
Chazal explain to us that all physical
manifestations have a spiritual counterpart. The spiritual counterpart of
Creation is maintained by man. If he accomplishes his mission in the world,
he elevates himself and the world along with him. If he doesn’t live up to
his role, then both he and the world that depends upon him become damaged.
In the case of Adom, one sin caused a radical change in the destiny of the
world and mankind. HASHEM placed the keys to Creation in man’s hands.
We don’t see this because look at the world
in its physical form and see a static existence. Physicality is. Matter
exists. A solid piece of wood is unmoving and inert. However, if you were to
ask a scientist about that seemingly solid piece of wood, he would tell you
it is actually comprised of electrons spinning around in constant motion.
There is far more to it than meets the eye.
So too, the spiritual dimension of existence
is in constant flux, ever changing. For its continued existence, it requires
man’s input. His actions and decisions fuel the spiritual state of
existence, and therefore the physical as well.
Man as a partner in
Creation
HASHEM is the Creator and Maintainer of
the world. The entire cosmos is dependent upon Him. HASHEM put man in the
center of Creation and made the world dependent upon him. If we were fully
attuned to the Torah’s view of man, we would see him as the maintainer
of physicality. In that sense, he is almost like a little creator– the world
depends upon him for its existence.
This is what Rashi is adding with his Moshol.
If one truly understood the basis of the universe, he would see that man is
far greater than even a replica or representation of HASHEM –
man is so great that he could almost be mistaken for a creator.
This point is even more powerful because the
individual we are discussing didn’t receive the death sentence for eating
Shalosh Seudos in shul. The Torah considers him so corrupt and depraved that
he lost his lease on life. Yet even this criminal remains so much like
HASHEM that it would be an embarrassment to the King to leave him hanging.
The Torah is teaching us to view man in a
very different light. We should look at man and gasp, “That is a man! Man is
created in the image of HASHEM! How much honor and accord is due to that
great person?” Obviously, this concept will greatly affect the way we treat
others. But just as significantly, it will impact the way we view our own
potential and how much we should come to expect from ourselves.
For more on this topic please listen to
Shmuz
#46
– The
Greatness of Man
