When Disagreement Becomes Division: A Powerful Torah Warning

In Parashat Re'eh, the Torah tells us: "You are children of Hashem, your God; you shall not cut yourselves or make a bald spot between your eyes for the dead" (Deuteronomy 14:1).

At first glance, the verse addresses an ancient practice of physically harming oneself in mourning. But our sages reveal another meaning hidden within the same words: a prohibition against dividing a Jewish community into separate factions. What could physical injury and communal division possibly have in common? The Maharal explains that both touch on one profound idea: wholeness.

Why Does the Torah Say, "You Are Children of Hashem"?

Rashi explains the words "you shall not cut yourselves" as follows: "You shall not make a cut or a scratch in your flesh for the dead, as the Amorites do."

The Torah forbids a mourner from injuring himself out of grief. The reason given immediately beforehand is: "You are children of Hashem, your God."

What does being Hashem’s children have to do with how we mourn?

Rashi explains: "Since you are children of Hashem, you are fitting to be beautiful, not cut or bald."

Sforno offers another explanation. A person who loses a loved one may experience profound loneliness and insecurity. Yet a Jew, even after suffering a devastating loss, is never truly alone. He still has a Father in Heaven who exists forever and cares for him at every moment.

"It is not fitting to show the ultimate degree of worry and grief over a deceased relative when one remains with a relative more honored than him in stature and in the hope of good. Therefore, you are children of Hashem, who is your Father and exists forever; it is not fitting that you should worry and mourn to the utmost over any deceased person."

Yet this raises another question. What lies behind a mourner’s desire to physically injure himself? If it is simply a self destructive impulse brought on by overwhelming grief, how does a rational explanation about being Hashem’s child address that emotional response?

To understand this, we first need to examine another meaning our sages find in the same verse.

Lo Titgodedu: Don't Divide Into Separate Groups

The sages interpret the words lo titgodedu, "you shall not cut yourselves," in another way: "Do not make yourselves into separate factions" (Yevamot 14a).

This refers to divisions within a single community, such as "two courts in one city, one ruling according to the words of Beit Shammai and the other ruling according to the words of Beit Hillel."

The Rambam rules accordingly in Hilchot Avodah Zarah 12:14:

"Included in this warning is that there should not be two courts in one city, one following one custom and the other following another custom, for this causes great disputes, as it is said: ‘You shall not cut yourselves,’ do not make yourselves into separate groups."

The Gemara notes that if two courts in two different cities follow different rulings, this is permitted. The problem, then, is not the existence of different opinions or customs. Different Jewish communities can legitimately follow different halachic traditions.

The prohibition concerns divisions within the same community that cause it to splinter into competing groups.

But this itself requires explanation. Disagreement is not foreign to Torah study. On the contrary, discussion, questioning, and disagreement are fundamental to the way Torah is learned.

The Gemara in Bava Metzia 84a describes Rabbi Yochanan’s tremendous grief after the death of Reish Lakish. Whenever Rabbi Yochanan presented a teaching, Reish Lakish would challenge him with 24 questions, forcing Rabbi Yochanan to provide 24 answers. Through this process, "the teaching was broadened."

Similarly, the sages interpret the verse, "They shall not be ashamed when they speak with enemies in the gate" (Psalms 127:5), as referring to Torah scholars. "Even a father and son, a rabbi and his student, who engage in Torah at one gate become enemies to one another" in the intensity of their debate (Kiddushin 30b).

Yet the Gemara immediately adds that "they do not move from there until they become beloved to one another."

Torah can involve passionate disagreement. The problem begins when disagreement over ideas becomes division between people.

So what exactly is the Torah prohibiting with lo titgodedu?

One Verse, Two Meanings

The Maharal, in Gur Aryeh, asks an even more fundamental question.

How can the same verse teach two apparently unrelated ideas?

The first is a prohibition against physically cutting oneself in mourning. The second is a prohibition against dividing a community into separate factions.

The Maharal notes that "you will not find in the Torah two matters unrelated to one another that are learned from one source."

If both teachings emerge from the same words, there must be a common idea connecting them.

And there is.

The Maharal explains that when a mourner feels the urge to injure himself, it comes from a deep identification with the person he has lost. His physical wound expresses an inner reality: Something feels as though it has been torn away from him. He experiences himself as broken, divided, and incomplete.

This is precisely what happens when a community breaks into hostile factions.

When "a court in one city is divided, with half ruling like Beit Hillel and half like Beit Shammai, it resembles a person’s body being divided."

The Jewish community is not merely a collection of unrelated individuals. It is one body whose members are connected to one another.

Conflict that destroys this connection creates a crack in that body.

The two meanings of lo titgodedu therefore come from the same root. Physical cutting damages the wholeness of an individual body. Destructive communal division damages the wholeness of the collective body.

Halachic disagreement can be a blessing. Differences of opinion can broaden and deepen Torah. But differences of opinion must never become divisions of the heart. Ultimately, a community needs unity, leadership, and a shared sense of belonging.

Why Division Is So Dangerous

The Maharal develops this idea further in Netivot Olam (Netiv HaShalom, chapter 1).

Just as death represents the breaking apart of a person, dispute represents a breaking apart of a nation. The wholeness of a nation is essential to its very life.

"There is no doubt that a vessel that is whole is difficult to break because it is whole. But when a crack opens and a break begins within it, it absorbs further breaking, because deficiency has attached itself to it."

A whole vessel is strong. Once the first crack appears, however, it becomes vulnerable to further damage.

The same is true of a people. When internal division creates the first cracks, further fragmentation becomes easier.

This brings us back to the beginning of the verse: "You are children of Hashem, your God."

What It Means to Be Children of Hashem

The Maharal explains that a child comes from a particular source and therefore reflects something of that source.

The Midrash (Devarim Rabbah 1:12), commenting on the verse "Those who make them shall become like them" (Psalms 115), teaches: "If one who worships idols becomes like them, then certainly one who worships Hashem will become like Him."

As children of Hashem, the Jewish people are called upon to reflect His attributes.

Hashem is the source of all life, and His unity is absolute.

The Rambam writes in Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah 1:7:

"This God is one. He is not two or more than two, but one whose unity is unlike any other unity in the world, not one like a species that includes many individuals, nor one like a body divided into parts and ends, but a unity unlike any other unity in the world."

The Ramchal similarly explains in Derech Hashem (Part 1, Chapter 1) that Hashem’s existence contains no division or multiplicity. The different qualities that we perceive do not represent separate components within Him. His existence is completely unified.

As the children of Hashem, the Jewish people are also called upon to express unity and wholeness.

This brings together both meanings of lo titgodedu.

A Jew who experiences loss may feel as though part of himself has been torn away. Yet his connection to Hashem, the eternal source of life, remains. That connection gives him the strength to gather the broken pieces, endure the pain, and continue living.

And the same principle applies to the Jewish nation.

Disagreements will exist. Different opinions, traditions, and perspectives are part of Jewish life and Torah study. But they must not become cracks that destroy our sense of being one people.

The unity of Hashem calls upon His children to remain connected to the source of life and to one another.

We may disagree passionately, just as Torah scholars have done throughout the generations. But beneath those disagreements must remain the recognition that we are parts of one body.

Differences of opinion do not have to become divisions of the heart.

From the book LeOr HaMaharal al Parashah uMoed, by attorney Avraham Vinrot.