(17) Thou shalt not pervert the justice due to the stranger, or to the fatherless; nor take the widow’s raiment to pledge.
(כב) וְזָ֣כַרְתָּ֔ כִּי־עֶ֥בֶד הָיִ֖יתָ בְּאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם עַל־כֵּ֞ן אָנֹכִ֤י מְצַוְּךָ֙ לַעֲשׂ֔וֹת אֶת־הַדָּבָ֖ר הַזֶּֽה׃
Comments on 24:17
Robert Alter: you shall not take as a pawn a widow's garment. This appears to be a greater restriction than the one for the poor man, in whose case the garment may be held by the creditor during the day but must be returned to the owner at sunset. Perhaps the law regarded it as a form of shameful exposure ('erwat davar) to deprive the widow of her (outer?) garment at any time, thus leaving her to go about insufficiently covered.
(א) לא תטה משפט גר יתום בעת הריב הזהר באלו שלא יסתתמו טענותם מפני שפלותם ופתח פיך לאלם במקום הראוי:
(1) לא תטה משפט גר ויתום, during strife; be particularly on guard not to be unfair to orphans or proselytes who may be reluctant to speak up on their own behalf so as not to “make waves.” You should go out of your way to argue on their behalf so as to compensate for their feelings of insecurity in facing adversaries. [the verse is directed at the judges. Ed.]
Jewish Study Bible: You shall not subvert the rights, identical to the comprehensive "You shall not judge unfairly" (16:19). This law, therefore, ensures full judicial protection of the most vulnerable members of the community, the stranger (or "resident alien") and the fatherless. Take...in pawn, better, "seize" or "distrain" to force payment. This law accords the widow special protection; for day laborers, the garment could be taken but must be returned daily.
Comments on 24:18
(א) ויפדך ה' אלהיך משם שהשגיח על שפלותכם ונכנס עמכם לפנים משורת הדין לפדותכם כאמרו וירא את ענינו ואת עמלנו ואת לחצנו:
(1) ויפדך ה' אלוקיך משם, He took note of your desperate situation and dealt with you over and beyond the requirements of justice in order to be able to redeem you. This has all been documented in 26,7 וירא את ענינו ואת עמלנו ואת לחצנו, “He ‘saw’ our afflictions, our hard labour and our oppression.”
Comments on 24:19
Rashi:
and forget a sheaf: but not a stack. [That is, if someone forgot a stack of grain, he may go back to retrieve it.] (Sifrei 24:149). Hence, [our Rabbis] said: (Pe’ah 6:6) A sheaf containing two se’ah, which someone forgot, is not considered שִׁכְחָה [that is, the harvester is permitted to go back and retrieve it].
[When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf] in the field: [Why the repetition of the word“field”? This comes] to include שִׁכְחָה of standing grain, part of which the harvester had forgotten to reap, [not only bound up sheaves standing in the field]. - [Sifrei 24:149]
you shall not go back to take it: From here, [our Rabbis] said: Whatever is behind him is considered שִׁכְחָה, “forgotten” [and may not be retrieved]. Whatever is in front of him, is not considered “forgotten” [and may still be retrieved], since it does not come under the law of “you shall not go back to take.” - [Pe’ah 6:4]
so that [the Lord, your God,] will bless you: Although [the forgotten sheaf came into his hand without intention [of the owner]. How how much more so [will one be blessed] if he did it liberately! Hence, you must say that if someone dropped a sela, and a poor man found it and was sustained by it, then he [who lost the coin] will be blessed on its account. — [Sifrei 24:149]
(7) and she said: Let me glean, I pray you, and gather after the reapers among the sheaves; so she came, and hath continued even from the morning until now, save that she tarried a little in the house.’
Comments on 24:20
Robert Alter: beat your olive trees. This was the general practice for harvesting ripe olives. you shall not strip the branches of what is left behind you. The relatively rare verb pe'er is derived from po'rah, "branch." It might have involved plucking the less ripe olives not shaken loose by beating. "What is left" is added in the translation to clarify the compact Hebrew.
Rashi: you shall not deglorify it [by picking all its fruit] after you: Heb. לֹא-תְפַאֵר, [This word is derived from פְּאֵר or תִּפְאֶרֶת, “glory.” The “glory” of an olive-tree is its fruit. Thus, the meaning is:“You shall not take its glory” (תִּפְאֶרֶת) from it. [I.e., do not remove all its fruit.] Hence, [our Rabbis derive that [in addition to the harvest of grain and produce, in fruit-bearing trees also], one must leave behind פֵּאָה, [fruits at the end of the olive harvest]. — [Chul. 131b]
Comments on 24:21
Robert Alter: you shall not pluck the young grapes left behind you. Another unusual verb, 'olel, is derived from 'olelot, "small grapes."
Rashi: [When you pick the grapes of your vineyard,] you shall not glean: i.e., if you find עוֹלְלוֹת, small clusters therein, you shall not take them. Now what constitutes עוֹלְלוֹת [thus necessitating them to be left for the poor]? Any cluster of grapes which has neither a כָּתֵף,“shoulder” or a נָטֵף, “drippings.” But if it has either one of them, it belongs to the householder. — [Pe’ah 7:4] I saw in the Talmud Yerushalmi (Pe’ah 7:3):“What is a כָּתֵף, shoulder?” It is [a cluster of grapes] in which the sprigs of grapes pile one on top of the other [at the top of the cluster, together taking on the shape of a shoulder. And what is] a נָטֵף,“drippings?” These are the grapes suspended from the central stalk [of the cluster, as though dripping down].