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Kishuf

Question:

Are bnei noach metzuveh on Kishuf? I thought they weren’t as it’s not one of the sheva mitzvos bnei noach but the Torah says that the seven nations were expelled from Eretz Yisrael because they did kishuf, onein, chover chaver, etc.?

Answer:

Interesting point. The opinion of R’ Shimon and R’ Yosi (Sanhedrin 56b) is that they are commanded not to do kishuf etc. Rashi and Rabeinu Chananel explain that R’ Shimon knows this from the Verse that you quote, that if they were punished for doing these things, obviously they were commanded not to do it.

According to the other opinions mentioned there, who hold that they are not commanded not to do kishuf etc., R’ Shamshon Refael Hirsh Devarim 18-14 explains that it was because of these practices, that the society in Canaan got broken, it also caused that H-shem should despise them, and therefore they were expelled from Eretz Yisroel. Therefore the reason they were expelled from E. Yisroel was not as a “punishment”, because of this “sin”, but because of what this type of lifestyle it caused them to lead.

 

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