Why are food provisions associated with "coming to our hands" while escort is connected to "seeing him." Is food only provided to someone who comes and asks, whereas escort must be done to anyone we see?
(This would seem a little surprising, as it states Al Asher Lo Kidmu Eschem b'Lechem u'V'Mayim as a fault, and kidmu indicates that they should have done so without prompting.)
Sender Klein, New York, USA
Shalom R' Klein,
Great to hear from you. Yasher Koach for this question and fine attention to detail! I may not have a definitive answer at the moment, but I hope that the couple of points below might be insightful.
Perhaps surprisingly, the Talmud Yerushalmi (Sotah 9:6) says that the Sages of "there" (Bavel) interpret these two phrases to mean that the victim didn't come to our hands and we left him without escort , nor did we see the victim and leave him without Parnasah .
So you see, this is the opposite of the standard version of Mishnayos (Sotah 9:6) and indeed of our Gemara (46b) which associate Yadeinu with Mezonos and Eineinu with Levayah, as you astutely observed. As such, it may be difficult to infer from your fine Diyuk such a definitive Nafka Minah.
But, in that same Yerushalmi, the Sages of "here" (Eretz Yisrael) interpret the two phrases to mean that the murderer didn't come "to our hands" and we failed to execute him, nor did we see the murderer and turn a blind eye so as to unjustly acquit him in trial. Based on this, the differentiation between hands and eyes may be more understood. The hands symbolize the physical action, while the eyes represent meticulous observation. The main place that I saw this idea is in the commentary of the Pnei Moshe on that Yerushalmi (DH v'Lo R'inuhu v'Hinachnuhu v'Imamnu).
I hope this helps!
Warmest regards,
Yishai Rasowsky
Thank you for your response.
I came up with a suggestion (though I have no clear source): giving a passerby food is only necessary upon his coming to us to request it. Hence, we are only faulted if he was "ba lyadeinu". But whether rich or poor there is always a need for escort, and so even if he did not come to us, we can excuse ourselves from escort only if we didn't see him.
Perhaps the Rambam's formulation in Matnos Aniyim 7 points to this, as the poor person comes and asks for food, and we don't go to him and offer.
הלכה ו
עני שאין מכירין אותו ואמר רעב אני האכילוני אין בודקין אחריו שמא רמאי הוא אלא מפרנסין אותו מיד היה ערום ואמר כסוני בודקין אחריו שמא רמאי הוא ואם היו מכירין אותו מכסין אותו לפי כבודו מיד ואין בודקין אחריו.
הלכה ח
אין פוחתין לעני העובר ממקום למקום מככר אחד הנמכר בפונדיון כשהיו החטים ארבע סאין בסלע וכבר בארנו כל המדות ואם לן נותנין לו מצע לישן עליו וכסת ליתן תחת מראשותיו ושמן וקטנית ואם שבת נותנין לו מזון שלש סעודות ושמן וקטנית ודג וירק ואם היו מכירין אותו נותנין לו לפי כבודו.