"All tithes of the herd (bakar) or flock - of all that passes under the shepherd's staff, every tenth one - shall be holy to the Lord. He must not look out (lo yi-vaker) for good as against bad, or make substitution for it" (Vayikra 27:32-33)
In adjacent verses the root bet-kuf-resh produces two words with disparate meanings: bakar (herd), and yi-vaker (look out for). In fact, these words rest on a single conceptual foundation. Bet-kuf-resh means "to cleave" or "to open" (Genesius, 1906). This notion applies to plowing, as in bakar (cattle, animals that perform plowing). It also applies to inspecting or looking into, as in li-vaker (to inquire). The third sense is breaking forth and arising of light, as in the familiar boker (morning).
All three senses of bet-kuf-resh suggest more than merely cleaving or opening; they suggest opening for the purpose of caring for or tending to something. A bakar opens ground for the planting of seeds. Li-vaker always implies opening inquiry with intent to aid or comfort, as we will see. Boker opens the day, making human activity possible.
In our verses, lo yi-vaker implies that the shepherd should not look into or investigate the kashrut of the bakar. Such an investigation requires close inspection with careful, intimate contact. Similarly in Vayikra 13:36, the priest examining a patient for presence of tsaraat needn't "look for (yi-vaker) yellow hair". In other words, the priest does not need to get up close and look carefully at the skin. Yi-vaker implies a deep inspection that requires looking into the essence of a thing and making a careful judgment (or, as in these cases, refraining from looking into the essence of a thing!)
Bet-kuf-resh also appears in a verse from the Psalm of David that we sing during the penitential season (Tehillim 27:4).
One thing have I asked of the Lord, this do I desire:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the graciousness of the Lord,
And to enter into (li-vaker) His sanctuary
(translation from the Silverman siddur)
It appears the Silverman misses the full meaning of li-vaker. David has already asked to dwell in God's house and to look upon God's graciousness forever: why would he ask now to enter or visit? Furthermore, if David had been asking merely to enter God's sanctuary, he might have said la'voh b'haichalo (from the shoresh bet-vav-hay). Instead, by saying li-vaker, David is asking God's permission to care for His sanctuary. This is more in keeping with David the poet king who danced before the Holy Ark!
The mitzvah of Bikur Cholim is usually translated "visiting the sick", but the mitzvah requires more than mere visitation: The foundation of the mitzvah of Bikur Cholim is to visit a sick person and to inquire after his or her needs. If one merely visits, but does not inquire, he does not fulfill the mitzvah (Y.D. 335)
An additional law of Bikur Cholim shines light on all three senses of bet-kuf-resh (cattle, inquiring, and morning). We must avoid visiting a sick person during the first three hours of daylight. The reason given is that the sick person feels relatively well at this time and might not be inclined to ask for your help. But I might suggest another reason:
There isn't much light during the first three hours of the day. A shepherd tends to his cattle when the light is good enough for him to inspect them closely and to see which animals need his help. Similarly, we visit the sick person in the light of day, when we can see the patient and we can see to his or her needs. Clearly it is no accident that it is our custom to perform Bikur Cholim in the morning.
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