Ki Savo 28:50

Parashas Ki Savo · Passuk from filename

The Complete Passuk

גּוֹי עַז פָּנִים אֲשֶׁר לֹא־יִשָּׂא פָנִים לְזָקֵן וְנַעַר לֹא יָחֹן׃

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Source Citation

Torah Temimah points to Torah Temimah citation.

Core Text of Chazal

Core Text
גּוֹי עַז פָּנִים – שֶׁאֵין בּוֹ רַחֲמִים, לֹא לְזָקֵן וְלֹא לְנַעַר. אֲשֶׁר לֹא יִשָּׂא פָנִים לְזָקֵן וְנַעַר לֹא יָחֹן – מְלַמֵּד שֶׁאֵין הַגּוֹי הַזֶּה מַבְחִין בֵּין גָּדוֹל לְקָטָן, אֶלָּא הַכֹּל שָׁוֶה לְפָנָיו לְרָעָה.

English: “a nation of fierce countenance” — in which there is no mercy, neither for the elder nor for the youth. “that will not respect the person of the old nor show favor to the young” — this teaches that this nation does not distinguish between great and small; everything is equal before it for evil.

The doubled description of the nation’s harshness is read as total absence of discrimination in cruelty.

Type of Learning

Custom (phrase-by-phrase or midrashic expansion of the verse).

What Is Learned

The midrash extracts concrete legal, historical or theological referents from the wording of the passuk, giving the brief biblical language a fuller operational meaning.