Shabbos Parashas Re'eh - 5780

Shabbos Parashas Re'eh - 5780

Rabbi Hal Miller

You shall not do like all that we do here today, every man what is proper in

his eyes for you will not yet have come to the resting place and to the

heritage that Hashem your God gives you. [Devarim 12:8-9]

Commentary on this verse tends to focus on the prohibition of everyone doing

what they personally decide is proper rather than doing what they are taught

from the ancient tradition. Today, though, we look at what it is that the Torah is

saying has to be changed. It seems strange that the Torah would now tell us

that we've been doing something which is now to be prohibited. Why was it

allowed before? The place to start is to understand what it is that is here

being prohibited.

To determine that, Rashi begins by noting where they are, and what the big

coming change is going to be. Moshe had just told the people, "for you are

crossing the Jordan, etc." [11:31]. Upon that crossing, through the seven years

of conquest and seven years of dividing the land, it would be difficult for people

to bring offerings, and this would lead to less free-will offering. Therefore, all

'voluntary' offerings would be brought on private altars (bamot) wherever the

people were instead. These are, according to Rashi, the "'every man what is

proper in his eyes' vow offerings and free-will offerings which you pledge

because it is 'proper in your eyes' to bring them and not because of obligation."

The Gemora [Zevachim 117b] brings the opinion of R'Meir that these permitted

private backyard offerings are minchah and nezirus offerings. The Sages there

say that minchah is allowed, but nezirus is obligatory and must be brought on

the central Mishkan altar. This seems to limit the bamos to meal offerings.

Ibn Ezra discusses commentators who explain that all along, people who wanted

meat would slaughter it wherever they were and cook, including the firstborn

offering. But he disagrees with this reason for our verse, and says that instead

Moshe is here chastising the people for not following the mitzvos. Ramban

argues with Ibn Ezra, that Moshe is not chastising at this point, and certainly

here his wording of "like all that we do" would imply that Moshe himself was also

deserving of chastisement. Instead, he understands that in the desert, anyone

who wanted to eat meat had to bring it as a voluntary peace offering in the

Mishkan altar. One who did not want to eat meat did not need to bring this, so

such offerings were 'voluntary', and "proper in his eyes". Ramban thus expands

the bamos to include meat peace offerings.

Rav Hirsch, agreeing with Ramban about the meat offering process in the desert,

says that now as they cross the Jordan, they were going to be dispersed for a

while, so "until God chose to reestablish the centralization of His Presence, things

would be different." So long as slaughtering and kashering rules were followed,

during this time people were allowed to prepare meat at their own bamot. He

also concurs that "obligatory offerings must still be brought at the Mishkan."

Our verse then has nothing to do with personalization of halacha, rather with a

temporary set of rules making it easier to follow halacha and to recognize God

even while dispersed.