Hidden Treasures

So the first few lines of this parsha, Ki Seitzei (Teitzei), talk about going to war, prevailing over the enemy and how to handle the spoils, particularly the women-folk. If you’re following along in the book, you should note that the cite is incorrect for the Torah verse and for the Rashi quote. The Torah text this teaching is listed under is actually D’varim 21:10 (the book says 21:1), though the Rashi is from 21:11 and the references made in the teaching itself are also to 21:11.

ושבית שביו

v’shavit shivyo
and you take his [the enemy's] captives

לא דברה תורה אלא כנגד יצר הרע. (רש”י)
כידוע איז דער דרך יצר־הרע אָנצורעדען דעמ מענש צו טאָן פונקט פארקערט ווי די תורה הייסט. האָט דארום די תורה מתיר געמאכט צו נעמען א (אֶשֶת) יְפַת־תוֹאַר וועט דאָס גופא זײַן א מיתעל כנגד יצר־הרע. ווייל אויב די תורה הייסט נעמען די יְפַת־תוֹאַר פאר א ווויב וועט שוין דער יצר הרע אנרעדען דעם מענש צו טאָן פונקט פארקערט — דווקא איר ניט צו נעמען.

The Torah speaks only in deference to the Yetser Hara (Evil Inclination). (Rashi – Metsudah translation)
As is well-known, the way of the Yetser Hara is to incite people to do exactly the opposite of what the Torah orders. Therefore, the Torah makes an allowance for taking an (eshet) y’fat to’ar (beautiful woman), which itself is a means of combatting the Evil Inclination. Because if the Torah were to order the taking of the beauty for a wife, the Evil Inclination would incite a man to do just the opposite — surely he would not take her. (R’ Meir’l Premishlaner)

So this one is a little thick. Of course, we have to remember that things were different in Biblical times, and with respect to the treatment of women as property, even Rashi’s generation had not come very far.  But let’s get past that and think about what the teaching is trying to say.

The Evil Inclination is always going to be working us to do something that is contrary to what we ought to do.  This is true whether it is a statute in Torah that we are talking about or whether it is our own personal resolution to do something (or refrain from it).  Torah really didn’t want the men to go taking wives from other cultures, so it made it possible but not easy to do. Similarly, the rules around kosher diet make it possible but not easy to eat meat. If the fruit is forbidden altogether, it is too tempting. If the fruit is allowed under specific conditions but those conditions are not easily met, perhaps we will lose interest in it.