How does Commandment #197 differ from Commandment #167 (help unload an animal's burden)?

Commandment #167 covers the general obligation to help unload any struggling animal. Commandment #197 covers the specific case of Exodus 23:5 — the animal of “one who hates you.” The word “sonecha” (your enemy) makes this a distinct commandment: you must overcome personal animosity to help. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 32b) treats overcoming the yetzer hara as the defining element that makes this commandment different.

Why does the Talmud rule that the enemy's animal takes priority when both a friend's and enemy's animals need help?

Bava Metzia 32b explains: helping a friend's animal requires no self-conquest. Helping an enemy's animal requires overcoming the natural impulse to walk past with satisfaction. The commandment to conquer the evil inclination (yetzer hara) is a greater mitzva than the commandment to help a friend. The enemy's animal comes first precisely because it is harder.

What does “azov ta'azov imo” (you shall rescue it WITH HIM) require?

The “with him” (imo) means alongside your enemy — you must actually work with your enemy to unload or help the animal. You cannot do it for him while maintaining your distance or ignoring him. The commandment requires physical cooperation. The doubled form “azov ta'azov” (infinitive absolute) intensifies the obligation: you shall most certainly rescue it, completely, not half-heartedly.

Who qualifies as “one who hates you” under Talmudic definition?

Pesachim 113b defines: a person who witnessed you committing a sin and now hates you for it. This is a known, real animosity — not imagined or casual dislike. The Talmud specifies that in such a case, the court does not seat the enemy as a judge in your case. But it does require him (and you) to fulfill the Exodus 23:5 obligation toward each other's animals regardless of the personal relationship.

How does the priority of helping an enemy relate to the broader Torah value of overcoming personal animosity?

Proverbs 25:21 commands: “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat.” Leviticus 19:18 (Commandment #125) commands: “love your neighbor as yourself.” The Exodus 23:5 commandment is a specific application: when your enemy needs help, the love-your-neighbor obligation does not disappear because of your feelings. In fact, the Talmud rules that the moment when you most want to ignore your enemy is the moment when the commandment is most fully in force.

Commandment #197 · Positive · Social & Ethical Laws

The Donkey of One Who Hates You: Help Even an Enemy

חֲמוֹר שֹׂנַאֲךָ

Source: Exodus 23:5 · Maimonides, Laws of Lost Property 13:1

Commandment #167 (help-unload-animal-burden) covered the general perikah obligation from Exodus 23:5: help unload a struggling animal. Commandment #197 focuses on what makes Exodus 23:5 unique: the specific word “sonecha” — “one who hates you.” Not a neighbor, not a stranger, not a friend — someone who hates you. The Torah does not permit you to walk past your enemy's struggling animal because of personal animosity. The Talmud (Bava Metzia 32b) goes further: when both an enemy's and a friend's animals need help simultaneously, the enemy's takes priority — the very difficulty of the commandment is what makes it the greater one.

One Who Hates You: The Singling Out of the Enemy

כִּי תִרְאֶה חֲמוֹר שֹׂנַאֲךָ

"If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall not leave him with it; you shall rescue it with him."

Exodus 23:5 — Open in Torah Reader

The word “sonecha” (one who hates you) is precise. The Talmud (Pesachim 113b) defines who qualifies: a person who witnessed your sin alone and hates you for it — someone whose animosity is known. The commandment is thus not abstract — it addresses the real emotional situation where your personal enemy's animal needs help. The verse's command is to overcome that emotion: “you shall not leave him with it; you shall rescue it with him” (ta'azov imo). The “with him” is notable: you help alongside your enemy, not instead of your enemy. The commandment does not allow you to do it for him while avoiding contact — you must work together.

The phrase “azov ta'azov” (infinitive absolute: “rescue, you shall rescue”) uses the same doubled form as “haqem taqim” in Deuteronomy 22:4 (Commandment #173) — intensity and completeness required.

The Enemy's Animal First: Priority and the Yetzer Hara

Bava Metzia 32b presents the definitive ruling: if you encounter your enemy's animal lying under its burden AND your friend's animal walking freely without help needed, you first help the enemy's animal — not the friend's. But even when both animals need help, Bava Metzia 32b rules: the enemy's animal still comes first. Why? Because the mitzvah of overcoming your yetzer hara (evil inclination) — the urge to walk past your enemy's animal in satisfaction — is a greater commandment than helping a friend's animal where no such self-conquest is required. The commandment is not just about the animal; it is about the moral work of overcoming hatred.

Proverbs 25:21: “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.” The same principle — active care for an enemy — appears throughout wisdom literature as a mark of moral greatness.

Key Figures

Saul and David: The Enemy's Need

1 Samuel 26 records David finding Saul asleep in his camp — his enemy, who has been pursuing him for years to kill him. David refuses to kill Saul, takes only his spear and water jug, and withdraws. His companions say: “God has delivered your enemy into your hand today.” David says: “I will not put out my hand against the LORD's anointed.” His restraint toward Saul is the narrative expression of what Exodus 23:5 encodes as legal obligation: you do not harm your enemy when you have the chance; you may be required to actively help him.

The Talmud's Three Obligations

Bava Metzia 32a, building on Commandment #167 (help unload) and #173 (help raise), derives from Exodus 23:5 a distinct commandment: helping the animal of an ENEMY. The three commandments form a sequence of increasing moral difficulty: helping a stranger's fallen animal (#173), helping unload a stranger's overburdened animal (#167), and helping your enemy's overburdened animal (#197). Each requires more of the helper. Exodus 23:5's unique contribution is the hatred dimension — requiring you to help at the moment when natural impulse would say to pass by.

Study Questions

For reflection and group study

What does the word “sonecha” (one who hates you) in Exodus 23:5 add to the commandment — and who qualifies as this kind of enemy according to the Talmud?

Why does the Talmud (Bava Metzia 32b) rule that the enemy's animal takes priority over a friend's animal when both need help?

What does “ta'azov imo” — “you shall rescue it WITH HIM” — require about the manner of helping?

How does the doubled form “azov ta'azov” (infinitive absolute) express the intensity of the commandment?

How does David's restraint toward Saul in 1 Samuel 26 model the spirit of Exodus 23:5 — and where does the narrative go beyond the commandment's minimum requirement?

Read the full passage in the Torah reader.

Open Exodus 23 in the Bible Reader

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