Culture, Justice, Religion

In our mouths and in our hearts: Day 20

(Introduction.)
Today: Earth Day! The earth belongs to God.
226. “The nazirite shall shave his/her consecrated hair, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and take the locks of his/her consecrated hair and put them on the fire that is under the sacrifice of well-being.” (Numbers 6:18) = upon completing the term of the nazirite vow or upon becoming tamei (ritually unclean)
227. The table of assessments of humans (Leviticus 27:2-8) = if you make a vow, saying “I vow the value of Ploni”, you have to pay according to a fixed amount depending on Ploni’s age and sex
228. “For any unclean animal that may not be brought as an offering to God, the animal shall be presented before the priest, and the priest shall assess it. Whether high or low, whatever assessment is set by the priest shall stand.” (Leviticus 27:11-12) = if you vow an animal (and the animal itself can’t be offered), you pay a monetary contribution determined by the priest
229. “If anyone consecrates his/her house to God, the priest shall assess it. Whether high or low, as the priest assesses it, so shall it stand.” (Leviticus 27:14)
230. “If anyone consecrates to God any land that s/he holds, its assessment shall be in accordance with its seed requirement: 50 shekels of silver to a homer of barley seed.” (Leviticus 27:16)
231. “Anything that one proscribes for God, whether humans or animals or land of his/her holding, … every proscribed thing is totally consecrated to God.” (Leviticus 27:28) = “cheirem”
232. “It shall not be sold…” (Leviticus 27:28) = cheirem
233. “…and it shall not be redeemed.” (Leviticus 27:28)
234. “You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed.” (Leviticus 19:19)
235. “You shall not sow your vineyard with a second kind of seed.” (Deuteronomy 22:9)
236. “You shall not let your cattle mate with a different species.” (Leviticus 19:19)
237. “You shall not plow with an ox and an ass together.” (Deuteronomy 22:10)
238. “You shall not wear cloth combining wool and linen.” (Deuteronomy 22:11)
239. “You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger.” (Leviticus 19:10) = leave what? see #240
240. “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap the corners of your field.” (Leviticus 19:9)

10 thoughts on “In our mouths and in our hearts: Day 20

  1. Very timely! Not only is it Earth Day, an important time to think about what we’re planting and what we’re doing with our land; but mitzvot #234, 236, 239, and 240 are from Parshat Kedoshim, which we’re reading this week, as are #211 and 212 from last night’s list.

  2. I hope it’s ok that I planted radishes in between the rows of carrots… and basil around the tomatoes…
    Meantime… for #228, http://www.heifer.org/ is a great place to see the value of an animal! (especially if you’re all out of sheaves of wheat for the omer)

  3. Interestingly, Rambam says Hilkhot Kilayim 9:6-7:
    Of those born of kilayim, if they are the same mixture and had the same species mother, one may mate them. The punishment for disobeying is lashes (i.e. rabbinic). I wonder how that would apply to genetically modified foods and animals…

  4. The punishment for disobeying is lashes (i.e. rabbinic).
    “Makat mardut” is rabbinic, but plain old makot (which seems to be the case here, since it just says “lokeh”) is the standard punishment for violating a negative d’oraita commandment (if there isn’t already another punishment connected to it, e.g. kareit or mitah, and then things get complicated (machloket tanna’im, IIRC) if it’s a ìàå ùàéï áå îòùä (negative commandment that doesn’t involve action) or a ìàå äðéú÷ ìòùä (negative commandment that can be undone with a positive commandment), etc.).
    Anyway, d’oraita.

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