Punishment With Love

This is the first week of Shovevim, those six weeks when we do extra tshuva. Shemos starts with a shin which alludes to tshuva as the pasuk says שובה ישראל עד השם אלקיך starting with a shin.

When Moshe saw the Egyptian hitting the Jew is says ויך את המצרי ויטמנהו בחול - He smote [only in the Bible people "smote" other people:)] the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. The first letters spell אהובו [if you scramble the letters] - his beloved. Explains the Chida [בספר נחל קדומים] that Moshe was a gilgul of Hevel and the Egyptian was a gilgul of Kayin and this time Hevel killed Kayin not out of hatred [as did Kayin to Hevel] but out of love! That is why he killed him by saying the שם המפורש [Hashem is kviyachol a Being of love] and not physically. He then buried him in the sand which means that he was absorbed into the Jewish people who are compared to sand.

From this we learns that even when punishing it should be done out of love. The gemara learns to kill someone who is liable to capital punishment in the most humane way from the pasuk ואהבת לרעך כמוך. Even punishment must be meted out with love.

מו"ר האדמו"ר מטאלנא שליט"א סעודה שלישית תשע"א