לא תעשו לכם אלילים ופסל ומצבה לא תקימו לכם ואבן משכית לא תתנו בארצכם להשתחות עלי' כי אני ד' אלקיכם: את שבתתי תשמרו ומקדשי תיראו אני ד': אם בחקותי תלכו ואת מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם אתם: (“You will not make for yourselves idols, and statue and pillar you will not erect for yourselves, and a carved stone you will not emplace in your land to prostrate yourselves upon it, for I am Ha-Shem your G-d. My shabbathoth shall you keep and My Miqdash shall you fear; I am Ha-Shem. If by My laws you go, and My mitzvoth you keep, and do them”; XXVI, 1-3).
Ḥazal tell us that the apparently repetitious admonition to keep G-d’s shabbathoth is stated here כנגד הנמכר לעובד כוכבים שלא תאמר הואיל ורבי עובד עבודת כוכבים ומחלל שבתות אף אני אעשה כן (“because of [a Jew] who is sold to an idolator, that you not say, 'Since my master worships idols and desecrates shabbathoth so, too, will I'”; תורת כהנים סוף פרשת בהר ועיי' תורה תמימה עה"פ סי' ו'). In other words, the prohibition represents a special case, indeed, the most stringent case, in terms of its possible consequences for the Jewish slave, of the prohibition familiar from two weeks ago, לא תלכו בחקות הגוי וגו' (“You will not go by the laws of the nation[s]….”; XX, 23; cf. also XVIII, 3 and Deuteronomy XII, 30).
What are the precise parameters of this matter of not following the laws of the nations? Which nations and what sort of laws are under discussion?
B.
A survey of the Rishonim reveals that halachic opinion appears to fall into three broad categories:
1) That the prohibition concerns only the practices of the seven Canaanite nations whom Israel was to disinherit and the Egyptians. This seems to find support from Leviticus XVIII, 3: כמעשה ארץ מצרים אשר ישבתם בה לא תעשו וכמעשה ארץ כנען אשר אני מביא אצכם שמה לא תעשו ובחקותיהם לא תלכו (“According to the deeds of the land of Egypt where you dwelt you shall not do, and according to the deeds of the land of Canaan whither I am bring you, you shall not do, and by their laws shall you not go”), as well as from Exodus XXIII, 23-24: כי ילך מלאכי לפניך והביאך אל האמרי והחתי והפרזי והכנעני החוי והיבוסי והכחדתיו: לא תשתחוה לאלהיהם ולא תעבדם ולא תעשה כמעשיהם וגו' (“For my angel will go before you and bring you to the Emori and the Hitti and the Përizzi and the Këna‘ani, the Hivvi and the Yëvusi, and I shall annihilate [them]. You will not prostrate yourself to their gods and you will not serve them and you will not act according to their deeds….”; עיי' למשל ספר יראים סי' שי"ג).
2) Other Rishonim appear to hold that the prohibition refers to the practices of any idolatrous nation, on the grounds that such nations have turned their backs on G-d (עיי' למשל ספר החננוך מצוה רס"ב).
3) And yet others appear to hold that the prohibition applies to the practices of all the other nations, whether idolatrous or not (עיי' שו"ת תשב"ץ ח"ג סי' צ"ד וקל"ג, שו"ת הרשב"א סי' שמ"ה, ושו"ת הריב"ש סי' קנ"ח). This also appears to be the opinion of the Rambam, who writes: הכל בענין אחד הוא מזהיר שלא ידמה להן. אלא יהי' הישראל מובדל מהן וידוע במלבושו ובשאר מעשיו כמו שהוא מובדל מהן במדעו ובדעותיו. וכן הוא אומר "ואבדיל אתכם מן העמים" (“All [these prohibited practices] warns of one purpose, that one not resemble [the Gentiles]; rather, a man of Israel should be distinguished from them and known by his dress and the rest of his deeds, as he is distinct from them in his knowledge and opinions, and so it says: ‘And I have distinguished you from the peoples’ [Leviticus XX, 26]”; הל' עבודת כוכבים פי"א ה"א). It is also the opinion of the Shulhan ‘Aruch (יו"ד סעיף קע"ח סי' א').
What sort of huqqoth, “laws”, are we referring to? Torath Kohanim (ibid.) speaks vaguely of massoroth and minhagim (“traditions” and “customs”). The Séfer ha-Yëré’im cited above holds that this refers to specific religious practices forbidden in Talmudic times, and indeed the Talmud lists such practices (עיי' שבת ס"ז: וע"ע תוספתא שם פ"ו), but most Rishonim appear to hold that these are practices current in those days, and do not represent the totality of what the prohibition covers. Indeed, העיקר שכל מה שמיוחד להם צריך הישראל להיות מובדל מהם אע"פ שאינו נזכר בדברז"ל כי רז"ל הזכירו הדברים שהיו נוהגים העכו"ם באותן הימים והוא הדין בכל מנהגי העכו"ם שנתחדשו בכל הזמנים שצריך הישראל להיות נבדל ממנהגם במלבוש במנהג הדבור וגו' (“the principle is that the man of Israel must be distinguished from everything which is unique to [the nations], even if it is not mentioned in the words of Hazal, for Hazal mentioned the things which the non-Jews were accustomed to do in those days, and this is the judgment concerning all non-Jewish customs which might be innovated at all times, that the man of Israel must be distinct from their customs in dress, in the manner of speech, etc.”; ב"ח על טור יו"ד שם דה"מ אסור ועיי"ש באריכות ).
C.
One practice which changed over time is our well-known Ashkënazi custom of holding the huppa, the actual wedding ceremony, outdoors. This custom has no apparent source in either the written or oral Torah; the earliest mention I can find is by the Rema, who writes: י"א לעשות החופה תחת השמים לסי' טוב שיהא זרעם ככוכבי השמים (“There are those who say that one should make the huppa under the sky as a good sign that their offspring should be like the stars of the heavens”; שו"ע אה"ע סעיף ס"א סי' א' בהגה"ה).
The Aharonim discuss this custom, and whether, in light of its having been instituted, it is even permissible to hold a huppa indoors in a synagogue, since it has become the prevailing custom amongst our Christian neighbors to hold their wedding ceremonies in church. As a precedent for changing the presumed earlier custom of holding the huppa in a synagogue, they cite Deuteronomy XVI, 22: לא תקים לך מצבה אשר שנא ד' אלקיך (“You will not erect for yourself a pillar which Ha-Shem your G-d hates”), on which Rashi comments: ואע"פ שהיתה אהובה לו בימי האבות עכשיו שנאה מאחר שעשאוה אלו חק לע"א (“and even though [the service with a pillar] was beloved by Him in the days of the patriarchs, now He hates it since [the Canaanites] made it a practice of idolatry”). Since this custom changed with the circumstances, other customs may so change, too.(עיי' חתם סופר ח"א סי' צ"ח, שו"ת מהר"י אסאד או"ח סי' ל"ח, שו"ת כתב סופר אבה"ע סי' מ"ז).
Since we are now approaching the holiday of Shavu‘oth, one more example with a direct bearing on the holiday will suffice. The Rema notes that amongst the customs of the holiday: ונוהגים לשטוח עשבים בשבועות בבית הכנסת ובבתים זכר לשמחת מתן תורה (“and it is customary to strew grasses in the synagogue and in the houses in memory of the joy of Mattan Torah”; שו"ע או"ח סעיף תצ"ד סי' ג' בהגה"ה), to which the Magén Avraham adds: ונוהגים להעמיד אילנות בביה"כ ובבתים ונ"ל הטעם שיזכירו שבעצרת נידונין על פירות האילן ויתפללו עליהם (“and it is customary to erect trees in the synagogue and in the houses, and it seems to me that the reason is that they remind [us] that on Shavu‘oth the fruits of trees are judged, and they should pray for them”; שם ס"ק ה').
That was the dispensation in the 16th and 17th centuries. If we fast-forward to the mid-19th century, we find that Rabbi Avraham Danzig of Vilna reports: הגר"א ביטל מנהג מלהעמיד אילנות בעצרת משום שעכשיו הוא חוק העמים להעמיד אילנות בחג שלהם וגו' (“The Gra abolished a custom to erect trees on Shavu‘oth because now it is the practice of the nations to erect trees on their holiday....”; חיי אדם כלל קל"א סי' י"ג), and the slightly later authority, Rabbi Yëhi’él Michel ha-Lévi Epstein of Novaradok concurs: נהגו להעמיד אילנות אמנם בדורות שלפנינו באלו האילמות והעשבים מטעמים שידעו הגדולים שבדור (“They were accustomed to erect trees, but in the generations before us they abolished the trees and the grasses for reasons which the leaders of that generation knew”; ערוך השלחן או"ח תצ"ד סי' ו'). The custom was changed because the surrounding, prevailing culture had changed.
D.
The consequence of this deliberate separation and distinction of Israel from nations is, of course, that each of us is exposed, “in a goldfish bowl,” as it were. Our purpose is to be the standard bearer of Torah, the sole source of morality in the world. This is the meaning of G-d’s statement that we are to be a mamlecheth kohanim vë-goy qadosh, a “kingdom of kohanim and holy nation” (Exodus XIX, 6). And so we stand out.
אם בחקותיתלכו ואת מצותי תשמרו ועשיתם אתם, Rashi tells us, is couched in a לשון בקשה, an “expression of request.” G-d asks, even begs, that we follow His mizvoth. The initial word, im, more conventionally means “if” (as it was so translated above). If we follow the mitzvoth, we are assured, the rain will fall, the crops will grow, and the holy people will dwell securely in the Holy Land. If not, our parasha warns us: והשמדתי אני את הארץ וגו' (“And I, Myself, will destroy the land....”; ibid., 32). G-d will down the very edifice which He erected in establishing ‘am Yisra’él in Eretz Yisra’él, ואבדתם בגוים ואכלה אתכם ארץ איביכם (“And you will be lost [va-avadtem] amongst the nations, and the land of your adversaries will absorb you”; ibid., 38). If Israel will not live up to the commitment made at Sinai, the normal processes of history will apply, and Israel’s fate will not be different from those of, say, the Assyrians and Babylonians.
With one difference: ואף גם בזאת בהיותם בארץ איביהם לא מאסתים ולא געלתים לכלותם להפר בריתי אתם כי אני ד' אלקיהם: וזכרתי להם ברית ראשנים אשר הותאתי אתם מארץ מצרים לעיני הגוים להיות להם לאלקים אני ד': (“And even with this, whilst they are in the land of their adversaries, I shall not despise them utterly, nor loathe them so as to eliminate them, to overturn My covenant with them, for I am Ha-Shem their G-d. And I shall remember My covenant with the first ones whom I brought out of the land of Egypt before the eyes of the nations to be their G-d; I am Ha-Shem”; ibid., 44-45).
There is always, throughout the long night of our exile, the faithful remnant of Israel, loyal to Torah, maintaining the necessary distinctions between themselves and the nations amongst whom their brethren have been “lost”; in their merit, and the merit of their fathers, they, too, will be redeemed, as the prophet sings: ובאו האובדים בארץ אשור והנדחים בארץ מצרים והשתחו לד' בהר הקדש בירושלם (“And those lost [ha-ovdim] in the land of Ashur, and those exiled in the land of Egypt, will come and bow down to Ha-Shem on the holy mount, in Jerusalem”; Isaiah XXVII, 13) soon, in our day.
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