חלק ב — תורה 20

The quarreling that exists in the world causes people to become famous before their time.

That is, when a person begins to serve God, he has to wait and hold back before becoming well-known in the world. But on account of the flaw which quarreling generates, he becomes famous before his time. Thus through this [quarrel], they cause this person harm and loss—he and possibly even the path of serving God that he wants to reveal in the world gain prominence prematurely. As a result, those who engage in quarrel die. Or, sometimes, if the flaw is not that great, it brings to poverty.

{“When two men fight and shove a pregnant woman, causing her to miscarry, if there is no fatal injury, then one must pay a penalty… as the judges determine. But if there is a fatal injury, then you must award a life for life” (Exodus 21:22-23) .} This mystery is clarified in the Torah, in the verse: “When two men fight and shove a pregnant woman, causing her to miscarry….” When a person sets out on some path, it is the concept of pregnancy. He has to conceal himself there, in the concept of gestation. For this path has not yet been revealed in the world. He has only just entered there in order to reveal it. And so this is the concept of pregnancy, as in “In the path of wisdom horaysikha (I instruct you)” (Proverbs 4:11)—alluding to heirayon (pregnancy). He has to wait and hold back there, warming himself there like a fetus in the mother’s womb, until the time comes for him to come out into the air of the world, to reveal this path in the world. Thus when he comes out before his time, it is the concept of a miscarried fetus. This flaw is produced by quarreling.

This is the meaning of “When two men fight”—it refers to quarreling, on account of which “[they] shove a pregnant woman, causing her to miscarry.” This alludes to the people who become famous prematurely and so are analogous to a miscarried fetus. Their punishment is either death or poverty, depending upon the extent of the flaw, as mentioned above.

And this is “if there is no fatal injury,” which Rashi explains as referring to the woman. In other words, they do not lose or corrupt the path of wisdom itself, which is analogous to a pregnant woman, as mentioned above. Rather, they lose the miscarried fetuses—i.e., the people themselves who became famous and came out into the world before their time. This is similar to when they shove a pregnant woman and she miscarries. There are two possibilities. Sometimes she loses only the fetuses; through their emerging prematurely she miscarries them. Other times the pregnant woman is herself harmed by this and she passes away.

The same applies to the aforementioned concepts. Sometimes, having gained prominence too soon and so become the concept of miscarried fetuses, the people themselves are lost. However, the path of wisdom itself has not yet departed, only the miscarried fetuses. Thus others can become implanted there—i.e., the aforementioned concept of heirayon— as in the example of the pregnant woman.

But other times, also the path of wisdom itself is lost. In that case, not even another person can enter there in the concept of heirayon, to reveal this path and bring it out to the world. This corresponds to the aforementioned death of the woman.

And the punishment is commensurate with the flaw. As is explained in the Torah, “if there is no fatal injury” to the woman, “he shall surely be punished” with money—i.e., poverty, as when the flaw is not that great. “But if there is a fatal injury” to the woman, so that they caused the path itself to be lost, in that case “you must award a life for a life”—i.e., death, as mentioned above. May God spare us.