When you go out to war on your enemies, the L‑rd your G‑d shall deliver them into your hands (Deuteronomy 21:10)
The Hebrew phrase al oyvecha, “on your enemies,” can also be understood in the literal sense of “on top of your enemies.” In every battle, the way to achieve victory is to gain the higher ground. We must never stoop to the level of evil to fight it on its own terms; in the words of our sages, “One who wrestles with a filthy person becomes dirtied as well.” Rather, we should rise above it, affirming our belief that there is no true existence other than G‑d, and that nothing contrary to His goodness and truth has any real power. When our going to war is in a manner of “on your enemies,” we are guaranteed that “G‑d shall deliver them into your hands.”
(The Chassidic Masters)
If you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you desire her . . . (21:11)
Sometimes a most holy soul is imprisoned in the depths of the kelipot (the “husks” which conceal G‑dliness in our world). Thus it comes to pass that the Jewish soldier is attracted to a captive woman, because his soul recognizes the “beauty” imprisoned within her. ... Hence the Torah provides the procedure by which she is to be cleansed of the impurity of the kelipot and “brought into your house”—included in the holy community of Israel . . .
(Ohr HaChaim)
When you go out to war upon your enemies . . . and capture from them captives (21:10)
Also from one’s spiritual enemies one must “capture captives.” Anything negative in man or in the world can be exploited for the good, if one can derive a lesson from it in the service of the Creator.
(Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov)
I learned seven things from the thief: 1) What he does, he keeps to himself. 2) He is willing to take risks to attain his goal. 3) He does not distinguish between “major” and “minor” things, but takes equally exacting care of each and every detail. 4) He invests great effort in what he does. 5) He is swift. 6) He is always optimistic. 7) If at first he fails, he is back time and again for another try.
(Rabbi Zusha of Anipoli)
He is a glutton and a drunkard . . . (21:20)
The wayward and rebellious son is executed on account of the future, as the Torah penetrates to his ultimate intentions. Eventually he will squander his father’s money, seek what he has become habituated to, not find it, and stand at the crossroads and rob people [killing them, thereby incurring the death penalty]. Says the Torah, “Let him die innocent, rather than have him die guilty . . .”
(Talmud, Sanhedrin 70a, 72a)
For a hanged person is a curse to G‑d (21:23)
This is a degradation of the divine King in whose image man is created,
(Talmud, Sanhedrin 46b; Rashi)
Do not take the mother bird together with the young (22:6)
One who says (in prayer), “Your mercy extends to a bird’s nest . . .” should be silenced . . . since this reduces the mitzvot to humane laws, when in truth they are divine decrees.
(Talmud, Berachot 33b
Maimonides cites Midrash Rabbah, which states: “Does it make a difference to G‑d whether one slaughters an animal from the throat or from the back of the neck? In truth, the mitzvot were given only to refine the human being.”
In the words of the Midrash, “the mitzvot were given only to refine the human being.” In this connection, Nachmanides also cites the verses (Job 35:6–7), “If you sin, how have you affected Him? If your transgressions multiply, what do you do to Him? If you are righteous, what do you give Him? What can He possibly receive from your hand?” The things that G‑d commands us to do are not anything that He wants or needs, nor are the divine prohibitions things that “bother” Him—He is above that all. The “reasons” for the mitzvot are the ways that they are beneficial to us, sanctifying our lives and refining our characters.
Do not bring blood in your house, when the falling person falls from it (22:8)
...meritorious things are executed through meritorious people, while things of ill fortune are executed through guilty people.
(Sifri; Rashi)
She shall be his wife; because he has forced her, he may not divorce her all his days (22:29)
Our sages tell us that when the children of Israel assembled at the foot of Mount Sinai, “G‑d held the mountain over them like a jar and said to them: ‘If you accept the Torah, fine; if not, here shall be your grave’” (Talmud, Shabbat 88a).
But the Jewish people had already expressed their desire and willingness to enter into the covenant with G‑d. Why did G‑d coerce them? But perhaps G‑d desired to ensure that their bond would be eternal and irrevocable. By forcing Himself on them, He was binding Himself with the law that “he may not divorce her all his days.”
(Maharal)
An Ammonite or a Moabite . . . even to their tenth generation shall not enter into the congregation of G‑d (23:4)
From here we learn that someone who causes a person to sin does worse to him than one who kills him, for one who kills him kills him only in this world, whereas one who leads him to sin removes him from both this world and the world to come. Therefore Edom, who came forth against them with the sword, was not [completely] despised. Similarly Egypt, who drowned them. The Moabites and the Ammonites, however, who caused them to sin (with the daughters of Midian—see Numbers 25), were completely despised.
(Sifri; Rashi)
And you forget a sheaf in the field . . . (24:19)
Certain opportunities and potentials are so lofty that they cannot be accessed by the conscious self; they can come about only “by mistake.” An example of this is the mitzvah of shikchah, which can be fulfilled only by forgetting.
(The Chassidic Masters