1) Ch. 23, v. 4,5,6: "Lo yovo Amoni uMoavi bikhal Hashem, Vaasher sochar o'lecho es Bilom ben B'ore, V'lo ovoh Hashem Elokecho lishmo'a el Bilom" An Amonite or a Moabite shall not enter the congregation of Hashem, And that he hired for you Bilom the son of B'ore, And Hashem did not desire to listen to Bilom" The flow of these verses seems to indicate that if ch"v Hashem was willing to have Bilom's curses come to fruition then Amonites and Moabites would be accepted into our congregation, i.e. allowed to marry a bas Yisroel.
2) Ch. 23, v. 5: "Al dvar asher lo kidmu es'chem ba'lechem uvamayim" Because of the matter that they did not initially greet you with bread and water The gemara Y'vomos 76b says that the prohibition against these two nations is limited to its male converts. The female converts may be married to a ben Yisroel, as we find with Boaz and Rus. The gemara explains that although there is a reason given, that they did not offer bread and water, this is only a claim against men, whose nature is to come into the public arena, and not against women, who usually stay at home. This seems to be a startling statement in light of the fact that the Moabite women offered themselves for licentious activities.
3) Ch. 23, v. 25: "Ki sovo b'cherem rei'echo v'ochalto anovim k'naf'sh'cho so'vecho" When you come into the vineyard of your friend and you may eat grapes to your satisfaction to your satiation Rashi (gemara B.M. 89b) explains that this refers to a hired worker. It is only when the worker is harvesting ripe produce and placing into the owner's vessels that the worker may also partake of the produce. If however, he is hired to prune the vines or the like he may not eat the fruit.
The gemara Taanis 9a states that although Hashem gives reward for mitzvos in the world-to-come, when it comes to the mitzvoh of charity there is reward given in this world as well. The gemara goes on to say that we may even "test" Hashem in this by giving charity and expecting to see reward right here in this ephemeral world, based on the verse "b'chonuni noh b'zose." Why indeed is charity unique in this manner?
4) Ch. 24, v. 1: "Ki motzo voh ervas dovor v'chosav loh sefer krisus" Because he found in her a shameful matter and he will write for her a writ of separation What is the "ervas dovor?"
5) Ch. 25, v. 14: "Eifoh v'eifoh" A measurement and a measurement This is the prohibition against having false weights in one's possession, even if they are not used in commerce. Our Rabbis say that the punishment for use of false weights is greater than that of illicit relations. This is difficult to comprehend. Some illicit relation sins even carry the death penalty. Why should using false weights be harsher? For the answers, click here!
Important Numbers
