Musar for Chullin 26:21

This still leaves open the question why the Torah chose the word אדם instead of איש. Granted that, had the Torah spoken about a mandatory עולה offering (which Gentiles are not allowed to bring), I would have thought that the designation אדם was chosen in order to emphasize that only Israelites are included because the title אדם does not apply to Gentiles. We further know from the use by the Torah of the term איש איש (Leviticus 22,18), in connection with קרבן נדבה, that our sages rule that such offerings by Gentiles are acceptable (Menachot 73). Because the Torah in our verse speaks about free-will offerings why would the word איש instead of אדם not have been appropriate?

Since holiness exists only in the Holy Land, we are commanded to "depart from evil," i.e. to destroy all the sites where the Gentiles have worshiped This commandment applies only inside the boundaries of ארץ ישראל. Our sages (Chulin 13b) have alluded to this mystery when they said that Gentiles in the rest of the world are not considered as idol worshipers. This means that idol worshipers who live in the land of Israel which is under the direct rule of G–d serve Him in an inadequate manner, are heretics. This is what is called idol-true worship. The Gentiles who live in the rest of the world – which is under the authority of negative forces, חיצוניות, however – do not reject the authority under which they live. Just as it is a serious sin to destroy even a single stone of the Holy Temple, so it is a great מצוה to destroy – and never to rebuild – an עיר הנדחת, a city within the boundaries of ארץ ישראל the majority of whose inhabitants have turned to idol worship. Its very site has become defiled. Whatever applies to such a city applies to the מסית ומדיח, those that have seduced their fellow-Jews to turn to idol worship. Uprooting such cities or people is equivalent to uprooting the residual pollutant of the original serpent. Just as G–d cursed the serpent immediately (Genesis 3,14) without making any allowances or even asking why the serpent had seduced Eve, so we too have to deal with such phenomena without our customary recourse to finding every possible merit to save the transgressor from judicial execution. The commandment not to love the seducer enjoins us to emulate G–d's conduct in this respect. Since Genesis 3,15, G–d has made the animosity between human beings and serpents a natural phenomenon, something that we need not, or better should not strive to overcome. The false prophet similarly is part of the phenomenon of the pollutant of the serpent rearing its ugly head.

Moses said to Pharaoh in verse 25: Not only will we not accept any exclusion from you, but we will receive even more than we have asked for. Whereas you, Pharaoh, wanted us to sacrifice part of our own livestock, the fact is that we will sacrifice livestock that at the present moment belongs to you, so that ours will stay intact. Moses indicated that the Jewish G–d was prepared to accept sacrifices offered on behalf of the Gentiles. The reason that both the Egyptians' cattle and sheep and the Israelites' own had to go, said Moses, was because they did not know at this time which livestock G–d would require and find acceptable. Since the offerings under discussion were all free-will offerings, it was not certain that Israel's natural generosity would be considered adequate by G–d. They had to have reserve livestock with them in order to provide for such a contingency. Thus far the plain meaning of these verses.

Moses therefore hinted to Pharaoh that is was appropriate for him also to offer sacrifices to G–d as a representative of an aspect of ראשית, as he was temporarily a first-born. Moses alluded at the same time also to the שר של עשו, and the other spiritual representatives of the 70 nations, suggesting that it behooves them to offer sacrifices to G–d who had assigned to them the role of first-borns for a period of time (as alluded to in Lamentations). Although not all of the שרים of the 70 nations have become ראש, i.e. replaced Israel in its role for a while, they are able to offer such sacrifices. Our sages have ruled that Gentiles may offer free will offerings, and that those may be presented on the altar of the Holy Temple (Menachot 73). The reason is that they possess an aspect of ראשית. We must remember that though we view these pagans as קליפות, even the origin of Samael is in regions of purity, as we have demonstrated elsewhere. There is nothing in this universe which is not ultimately rooted in purity. It could not be otherwise, because G–d is the original Cause of everything. It was He who gave life to all these phenomena. There is no independent existence on earth below or in the Heavens above. The קליפה concept did not emerge until the universe was already in an advanced stage of development. Reflecting on this we appreciate that while Israel was placed under the dominion of these שרים, this does not mean that G–d has abandoned us to the forces of the קליפה.