Introduction Mishnah two defines the actions that a son must take in order to be defined as “wayward and rebellious”.
This mishnah deals with what actions are required to make a child punishable as a wayward and rebellious son.
When does he become liable [to be stoned]? Once he has eaten a tartemar of meat and drunk half a log of wine. Rabbi Yose said: “A maneh of meat and a log of wine. The child must eat a minimum amount of meat and drink a minimum amount of wine. This is proven at the end of the mishnah in sections 2g and 2gi. The verse from Deuteronomy states that the parents must accuse their child of being a glutton or a drunkard. The verses from Deuteronomy do not explain what these two terms mean. In the book of Proverbs it is stated that a glutton refers to one who eats too much meat and a drunkard is one who drinks too much wine. From here the mishnah concludes that the child must have drunk wine and eaten meat in order for him to be wayward and rebellious. The Rabbis disagree with regards to how much wine and meat he drank.
If he ate it in a company [celebrating] a religious act; or at a gathering for the purpose of intercalating the month; if he ate the second tithe in Jerusalem; if he ate the carrion or terefoth (meat that was not slaughtered in a kosher, abominable and creeping things, or untithed produce, or the first tithe from which terumah had not been separated, or unredeemed second tithe, or unredeemed sacred food; if his eating involved a religious act or a transgression; if he ate any food but did not eat meat or drank any drink but did not drink wine, he does not become a ‘stubborn and rebellious son, unless he eats meat and drinks wine, for it is written, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice;] he is a glutton and a drunkard” (Deut. 21:20). Although there is no clear proof for this, there is at least a hint, as it is says, “Do not be among wine drinkers, among gluttonous meat eaters of flesh (Proverbs 23:20). This section lists all sorts of circumstances of eating and drinking that would not cause him to be a wayward and rebellious son. These circumstances can be divided into two types: 1) religious celebrations; 2) consumption of forbidden food. If he ate at a religious celebration he cannot be punished since it is praiseworthy to eat much wine and meat at such affairs. These types of affairs are listed in the first three clauses of the section. Second tithe, mentioned in section b, is consumed only in Jerusalem, and therefore by eating it there he is fulfilling a religious duty. Clauses c and d list several foods that are forbidden to be consumed, whether they are agricultural products who have not had the agricultural offerings separated from them (untithed produce, etc.), meat that was not slaughtered properly (carrion or terefoth) or animals that are forbidden to eat (abominable and creeping things). The Talmud explains that eating or drinking these things do not make one a wayward and rebellious son because the parents state, “He does not listen to our voice”, whereas one who eats these things doesn’t listen even to God’s voice. A wayward and rebellious son is only defiant to his parents but not to his entire religious obligation. Finally the mishnah reminds us that he must have eaten meat and drunk wine in order to become a wayward and rebellious son. Eating other food gluttonously and getting drunk off other beverages will not make a child liable to be punished as a wayward and rebellious son.
Questions for Further Thought:
• Can you detect a common denominator in the Rabbis understanding of the passage of the wayward and rebellious son? Of the strategies (listed in the introduction to yesterday’s mishnah) that the Rabbis used to deal with this difficult portion of the Torah, which one is employed in this mishnah and in the previous mishnah?