Rebuke, shall you rebuke your fellow Jew...
The Gemara in Bava Metziah (לא ע"א) explains the repetitious wording of this Passuk as follows.
א"ל ההוא מרבנן לרבא, ואימא הוכח חדא זימנא תוכיח תרי זימני, א"ל, הוכח אפילו מאה פעמים משמע, תוכיח אין לי אלא הרב לתלמיד תלמיד לרב מנין ת"ל הוכח תוכיח מכל מקום. – One of the Rabbis asked Rava, “Let us say that the term ‘Rebuke’ denotes one time, and the latter term ‘you shall rebuke’ denotes a second time”. The Passuk would thus be teaching us that there is no obligation to rebuke a transgressor more than two times. Rava replied to him, “The term ‘Rebuke’ connotes that one must admonish his fellow Jew even one hundred times, if necessary. As for the additional term of ‘shall you rebuke’, this teaches us that even a student must rebuke his teacher, albeit in a respectful manner, if it is the teacher that is transgressing”.
According to Rava, the Torah commands us not to yield after we rebuke our friend and don’t see him change his ways; rather we are to persist and keep on admonishing him until we see him change for the better. The reason for this, is because after behaving in a non-worthy manner for a while, one generally won’t change after being admonished just one time, rather, all that can really be expected is that the first admonishment will at least stir his soul to make him realize that his behavior is improper and that he needs to repent, and only with continuous rebuke will he hopefully be brought step by step closer to bring his realization to fruition, until we help him reach full repentance.
In view of Rava’s understanding, that when the Torah writes ‘Rebuke’ it implies that, if necessary, one must rebuke his fellow Jew even one hundred times, we can offer an alternate explanation to the Torah’s repetitious words when it writes ‘shall you rebuke your fellow Jew’.
The Midrash on Rebuke
The Midrash (ב"ר נ"ד ג') tells us the following in regards to one rebuking another Jew.
א"ר יוסי בר חנינא, התוכחה מביאה לידי אהבה שנאמר הוכח לחכם ויאהבך. היא דעתי' דר' ר יוסי בר חנינא דאמר כל אהבה שאין עמה תוכחה אינה אהבה. – R’ Yosi bar Chanina said “Rebuke leads to love, as it states; Rebuke a wise man, and he will love you”. This exposition is based on R’ Yosi bar Chanina’s own opinion, who said, “Any love that is not accompanied by rebuke is not true love”.
We find that this was indeed the way our great Sages conducted themselves when they were on the receiving end of rebuke, as is related in the Gemara in Arachin;
אמר רבי יוחנן בן נורי מעיד אני עלי שמים וארץ שהרבה פעמים לקה עקיבא על ידי שהייתי קובל עליו לפני רבי שמעון ברבי וכל שכן שהוספתי בו אהבה. – R’ Yochanan ben Nuri said, “I call on heaven and earth as my witness that many times Akiva was rebuked harshly on account of me, for I used to complain about him to R’ Shimon BeRebbi, and it only caused him to love me all the more”.
Understanding the Torah’s Command
According to this we can explain why the Torah commands us to rebuke our fellow Jew in this repetitious manner; ‘Rebuke, shall you rebuke your fellow Jew’.
Initially, the Torah commands us to ‘Rebuke’ our fellow Jew, which implies that one must admonish his fellow Jew, even up to one hundred times. This is all alluded to in the initial commandment of ‘Rebuke’. Subsequently, the Torah commands us a second time ‘shall you rebuke’, to indicate that although one is indeed commanded to rebuke his fellow Jew a second and even a third time until he fully repents, nevertheless, only if the first admonishment was considered to be a valid ‘Rebuke’, that it caused the admonished one to love his admonisher, can one go on to rebuke a second time. But if the first rebuke did not have the intended outcome of bringing about love, then it isn’t considered to be valid, and even if needed, he may not give any additional admonishment. In other words, a second rebuke may only follow a properly given and perceived first rebuke.
Accordingly, the Passuk would be read and understood as follows. ‘Rebuke’, and if the rebuke proceeds as intended, to bring out love and respect between the admonished and the admonisher and is thus considered a valid ‘Rebuke’, then, if necessary proceed to rebuke successively until it causes the sinner to repent.
('זרע שמשון' פרשת קדושים אות ד)
