Shoftim

The passuk says ידינו לא שפכו(ה) את הדם הזה ועינינו לא ראו. Rashi explains: Do you think that the elders of Beis Din are killers that the Torah needs to tell us they aren’t? Rather, it means they didn’t send him off without food or accompaniment.

The Maharasha explains the main point of לויה, accompanying, is to show the travelers a safe path to travel and reach their destination.

Rav Shternbuch shlita quotes from the Chazon Ish that there is a deeper understanding to לויה than just saving a person from danger. In our day too, although there is transportation and there may not be an obligation of לויה, still many Gedolay Yisroel fulfill the inyan of לויה. There is a special kavod expressed when one is melaveh another. He shows that he cares about his presence and his wellbeing. This in and of itself is a segulah not to be harmed throughout the whole trip. It is as if the melaveh is with the traveler the whole way. Hashem won’t bring any damage to him unless it was also decreed on the melaveh as well.

We find by Avraham Avinu that the passuk says ויטע אשל. Rashi explains it stands for: אכילה, שתיה, לויה. Avraham would give food and drink to his guests and then escort them. This is as the passuk says ואברהם הולך עמו לשלחם. These three acts of kindness were all part of the chesed of Avraham Avinu. The Gemara in Bava Metzia brings because Avraham accompanied the malachim, Hashem was הולך לפניהם יומם in the midbar.

The Gemara in Sotah brings according to Rav Meir we force one to fulfill the mitzvah of לויה because there is no measure to its reward. This is as we find in Navi that the Cana’ani didn’t go with them or tell them how to go. Rather he showed them the entrance to the city as it says ויראם. He did this by bending his mouth (according to Chizkiya) or pointing with his finger (according to Rav Yochanan). He was zoche to be saved along with his children until the end of the generations. The Gemara says, certainly if one is melaveh with his feet he will have a lot of reward.

May Hashem help us fulfill all the mitzvos of chessed including לויה, accompanying.