Parashat Ki Tetze- Treating Sinners as Brothers
The Torah instructs in Parashat Ki-Tetze (22:4) that if a person sees his "brother's" animal buckling under a heavy load during travel, unable to move, he must stop and offer assistance. Rather than continuing along the road, one must stop and help the animal and its owner so that he can resume his journey.
The Meshech Hochma (commentary by Rabbi Meir Simha Ha'kohen, Lithuania, 1843-1926) notes that this commandment was already issued earlier in the Torah, in the Book of Shemot (23:5), only with a slight variation. Whereas here in Parashat Ki-Tetze the Torah speaks of a case where one comes upon his "brother's" animal, in Shemot the Torah addresses a situation of a person who sees his "enemy's" animal. The Talmud explains that the Torah refers to somebody who had brazenly committed a grievous sin, which allows others to despise him. One is nevertheless obligated to stop in the road and help him, despite the fact that he is an unrepentant sinner.
The obvious question arises, why does the Torah change its wording in presenting this law? Why does it first speak of helping one's "enemy," and then require that one help his "brother"?
The Meshech Hochma attributes this shift in terminology to the sin of the golden calf, which occurred in between the two different presentations of this law. When this law is introduced in the Book of Shemot, Benei Yisrael had yet to commit the sin of the calf, and thus they were indeed entitled to look upon sinners as "enemies." Given the level that Benei Yisrael had achieved and maintained at that point, perpetrators of grievous sins were rightfully shunned. After the sin of the calf, however, nobody reserved the right to look down on others because of their misdeeds. Once the people had themselves participated in such a grievous transgression, it would be hypocritical for them to resent those who have sinned.
Therefore, the Meshech Chochma explains, only before the sin of the calf does the Torah refer to sinners as "your enemy." After this tragic incident, however, the Torah demands that the people look upon all fellow Jews – including the unrepentant sinner, as "your brother," with love and affection.
It occasionally happens that a person who has made great strides in his religious observance and committed himself more fully to Torah and Mitzvot displays a rejectionist, "holier than thou" attitude towards others who have yet to undergo such a process. The Torah here teaches that such an attitude is inappropriate and unwarranted. After all, this person had himself only recently acted the same as those whom he now treats with disdain; not long ago he, too, was mired in the same pattern of misconduct. He thus has no right to treat them with contempt and scorn. To the contrary, it behooves him to look upon them as his brothers, to treat them with warmth, sensitivity and respect, and in this way he might possibly exert a positive influence and inspire them to make similar strides in raising the standard of their commitment to Torah.
