Yechezkal, Perakim 25-30
1) Perek Summaries
Perek 25: Prophecy against Ammon, Moab, Se’ir, Edom, and the Phillistines – all about their punishments.
Perek 26: Prophecy regarding the destruction of Tyre, to be conducted via Nebuchadnezzar
Perek 27: Yechezkal’s lament for Tyre’s downfall
Perek 28: Specific reference to the haughtiness of the king of Tyre and a lament for his impending downfall. A prophecy about Zidon’s destruction and a brief mention of the ingathering of the Jewish People to their homeland.
Perek 29: A prophecy against the haughtiness of Pharaoh and Egypt. HaShem gives the land of Egypt to Nebuchadrezzar as reward for his lack of bounty from Tyre.
Perek 30: A prophecy against Egypt and her allies; Bavel’s might will increase, whilst that of Egypt will decrease.
2) Dvar Torah
This week’s dvar Torah is a general theme running throughout our 6 perakim, namely our attitude to other nations. What is our attitude supposed to be to other nations; are we to love them, hate them, be indifferent? And specifically what about other nations’ suffering? It seems clear from our perakim that we are to feel pain for other nations’ suffering (even when the suffering is deserved, as in our perakim); Yechezkal is commanded to lament for the downfall of Tyre. Indeed, the gemarra (Megillah 10b ) tells us that the angels wanted to sing shirah befor HaShem at the splitting of the Red Sea after the Exodus. HaShem stopped them and replied ‘my creations are drowning in the sea and you want to sing shirah?! That’s one level; feeling the suffering of other nations. But there’s another aspect, and that is actually performing acts of kindness for other nations. The Netziv writes in his introduction to Bereishis that the reason the Avos merited to be called ‘yesharim’ was because they performed acts of chesed (even) to people from other nations. Indeed, as Rav Pam points out the Rambam (hil melachim 10:12) understands the phrase darkei shalom used in the gemarra to mean that we are to do acts of kindness to other nations too (e.g. bikkur cholim, providing for their poor), to have mercy on them. In fact, Rav Aryeh Levin, famous for his acts of kindness in visiting Jewish prisoners, acceded to requests to visit Arab prisoners too; saying ‘they are also created in the image of G-D.’ Therefore, it would seem that we should treat other nations very kindly and compassionately. However, this contradicts some other sources…
The Rambam writes (hil. Malveh Ve’Loveh 5:1) that while it is prohibited to lend with interest to Jews, it is a mitzvah to charge interest to non-Jews. Similarly, the gemarra (bava kama 37b-38a) tells us that whereas if a Jew’s ox gores another Jew’s cow then he must reimburse him, if a Jew’s ox were to gore a non-Jew’s cow then he does not have to pay. What’s the resolution to this contradiction vis-à-vis our treatment of other nations? The answer is via a mishna in Pirkei Avos (3:18). The mishna reports Rabbi Akiva’s exclamation that ‘happy is man who is created in the image of HaShem.’ But the Jews have an extra level; they are called ‘HaShem’s children and were given the Torah.’ As Dayan Abrahams explains, this is the resolution to our contradiction, as follows…
When it comes to any laws of humanity (e.g. compassion and basic treatment of others), we must treat other nations with care, etc. However, there are some laws of the Torah whereby HaShem raised to bar and demanded an extra, ‘unnatural,’ care. One example is not charging interest; it is natural business practice to charge interest and is not a cruelty whatsoever to charge interest – but HaShem said that Jews must not charge interest to other Jews (one doesn’t charge a brother); we have a special extra level of care for each other. (Regarding why it is a mitzvah to charge interest to other nations, see Sefer Hachinuch). And the same goes for civil damages; the Torah rules for preventing damage go far beyond civil law (which we must keep anyway because they are the law of the land; dina demalchusa dina). Thus, these extra sensitivities of being extra careful to prevent damage only apply to fellow Jews.
So in summary, of course we must care for other nations, but we must realise that our first and principal duty is to our own nation, and that we have a special relationship of mutual care to our fellow Jews which extends beyond any care we are to feel for other nations.
