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Mishpatim: Seeing Double · A Thought for the Week

• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Welcome to a Thought for the Week, a Torah in
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  Speaker 1: Motion podcast. I'm Jake Hellman, founding director of Torah in Motion,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: and it's a pleasure to have you here with us. Hi, everybody,
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  Speaker 1: The devil is in the details. That phrase, I think
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  Speaker 1: sums up Parsha Partial Team is sarena deep bro at
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  Speaker 1: the tank commandments of these beautiful ideas and nice concepts,
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  Speaker 1: but you know the nitty gritty what they all mean
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  Speaker 1: and putting it into the specific applications. A lot of
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  Speaker 1: that is in Parsha Team. For example, the example we'll
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  Speaker 1: talk about is much of the details of lognov of
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  Speaker 1: not stealing can be found in this parsia. There's so
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  Speaker 1: much of the partia deals with monitor terry cases and
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  Speaker 1: you know, prep owing money, not paying money, injuries, assault,
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  Speaker 1: all kinds of cases that fall under the general rubrik
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  Speaker 1: of low Tignoff. Now, all legal systems distinguished between a
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  Speaker 1: what we call a thief and a robber, or what
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  Speaker 1: we call in Hebrew a gan af, a thief and
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  Speaker 1: a robber at Gastlana. Thief is somebody who does non
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  Speaker 1: violent depth. The shoplifter, he cheats on his taxes, a
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  Speaker 1: white collar what we might call white collar crime a robber,
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  Speaker 1: that's violence, a mugger, a bank robber, and obviously a
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  Speaker 1: robber is much worse than a thief using violence or
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  Speaker 1: even the threat of violence is obviously is worse than
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  Speaker 1: just you know, going into a store and stealing a
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  Speaker 1: few chocolate bars, or even more than a few chocolate bars,
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  Speaker 1: and therefore the punishments for robber are much worse. I
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  Speaker 1: just looked up in Canada, you can get life imprisonment
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  Speaker 1: if you have a firearm, and even if you don't
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  Speaker 1: you don't shoot it, I think if you use it
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  Speaker 1: in a robbery, the maximum penalty is life imprisonment and
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  Speaker 1: there's a minimum a minimum prison term for using a
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  Speaker 1: firearm of five years, and a thief is depends. If
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  Speaker 1: it's over five thousand dollars, the maximum would be ten
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  Speaker 1: years in prison, but that's almost never going to be
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  Speaker 1: and if it's under five thousand dollars, there's a maximum
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  Speaker 1: of two years, very rare. Obviously we're going to punish
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  Speaker 1: a robber more than a thief. As logical as this is,
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  Speaker 1: the Torah has apparently a different system of justice because
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish law says that a gunnap the thief, the
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  Speaker 1: one who steals clandestinely actually has to pay more than
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  Speaker 1: the armed robber in the gaslam, the violent robber. Somebody
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  Speaker 1: who sticks a gun in your back and steals one
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  Speaker 1: hundred dollars. When they're caught, they pay back one hundred dollars.
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  Speaker 1: That's it. There's actually no fine. He just gives back
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  Speaker 1: what he's stiled. The person who who shoplifts, who pickpockets
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  Speaker 1: you for one hundred dollars and nobody knows. And then
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  Speaker 1: when when if he's caught, he pays back two hundred dollars,
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  Speaker 1: he has to pay double. Why is this so? Surely
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  Speaker 1: a gazln is worse. I don't think anybody would prefer
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  Speaker 1: to have somebody stick a gun in their back as
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  Speaker 1: opposed to somebody, you know shoplifts. There are shop you
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  Speaker 1: know pickpocket said. Obviously, putting a gun in your back
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  Speaker 1: is much worse. The tumbo tells us, Obviously this bothered
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  Speaker 1: lots of other people. And the Tumbul says that the
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  Speaker 1: students of ravochan A Benzaki asked him, why did the
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  Speaker 1: torah punish the gun off more than the guzlan so
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  Speaker 1: Ravokan Manzaki answered, well, at least a guzz line. He's
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  Speaker 1: like equal opportunity offender. He fears nobody. He doesn't care
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  Speaker 1: what God says, he doesn't care what people says. He's brazen.
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  Speaker 1: He's a brazen crook. In the middle of the day,
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  Speaker 1: he'll stick a knife in your back and he'll take
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  Speaker 1: what he can, or a knife in your heart forgetting
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  Speaker 1: your back. He's not afraid of anybody. The Ghanab, on
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  Speaker 1: the other hand, he puts man ahead of God. He's
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  Speaker 1: not afraid of He's not afraid of God. Obviously, if
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  Speaker 1: he was afraid of God, he wouldn't be stealing. But
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  Speaker 1: he is afraid of man. He's afraid to do it publicly.
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  Speaker 1: And this, in a sense, is the commentary's explained. This
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  Speaker 1: borders on heresy. It's the Talmud tells us that whoever
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  Speaker 1: violates a sin in private, in many ways, he's pushing
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  Speaker 1: away God. He's showing that I care more what people
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  Speaker 1: think to what God thinks. That's a heretical notion. So
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  Speaker 1: what Raviolkomanzaka are you saying is while it may be
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  Speaker 1: true that on a human level, a gazlan a robber
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  Speaker 1: is worse the law, a gun off is worse, and
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  Speaker 1: therefore he has to pay more. This is a fascinating approach,
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  Speaker 1: but when all of a sudden and done, I really
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  Speaker 1: don't understand this. I find this hard to understand. Does
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  Speaker 1: a guzlin really have a higher level of belief than
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  Speaker 1: a gun off. We're going to say, oh, he's theologically
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  Speaker 1: more sound. They both couldn't care less what God has
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  Speaker 1: to think, and they don't care too much about what man.
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  Speaker 1: One's a little bit more brazen in his attack. But
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  Speaker 1: really it's a little bit difficult to say, Well, he's
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  Speaker 1: sort of you know, well least he believes in God,
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  Speaker 1: or at least he doesn't put man ahead of God.
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  Speaker 1: So what I would prefer someone at least at least
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  Speaker 1: he doesn't hurt man as much. It's just because you
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  Speaker 1: do once and doesn't mean you should make it worse.
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  Speaker 1: Just because you don't care about God doesn't mean you
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  Speaker 1: should inflict more harm on man. So okay, that's but
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  Speaker 1: that's what revakman Zak I said. So I was looking,
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  Speaker 1: you know what other commentaries have to say. So the
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  Speaker 1: ben Yahota Yah, who we quoted last week in our
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  Speaker 1: talk on pressure, Tyetro, the Benny Sky from Iraq he
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  Speaker 1: has four additional answers that he gives. He says, you know,
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  Speaker 1: in addition of Yokanzaka, I'd like to just four enters.
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  Speaker 1: I'm gonna mention two of them to who I found
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  Speaker 1: the most interesting. He says, Well, Low Tignov is written
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  Speaker 1: in the Ten Commandments. It doesn't say Low Tigzol. It
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  Speaker 1: says Low Tignov. And you know, people take the Ten
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  Speaker 1: Commandments more seriously. That was really our discussion last week.
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  Speaker 1: It fits in the tank Commandments. People take it more seriously,
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  Speaker 1: and therefore we have to punish more seriously. It's a
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  Speaker 1: fascinating comment. In other words, it's a greater attack on
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  Speaker 1: societal norms a ganav is. It's viewed as worse, and
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  Speaker 1: therefore we have to punish it worse. I don't know exactly,
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  Speaker 1: you know, he's making a fine distinction tank command between
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  Speaker 1: Low Tgnov and Low Tigzov. But anyway, that's a fascinating idea,
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  Speaker 1: I think. And therefore, because Low Tiganov is in the
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  Speaker 1: tench A Commandments, he get paid worse. The second or
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  Speaker 1: another reason he gives is that a gana, the one
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  Speaker 1: who steals clandestinely secretly, is much less likely to get caught.
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  Speaker 1: Someone who rops into a bank or mugs in the street,
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  Speaker 1: very often they're caught in the act. So because they're
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  Speaker 1: less likely to get caught, Think how many people who
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  Speaker 1: cheat on their taxes get caught. We need a greater
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  Speaker 1: disincentive in order that to prevent them. That's also I
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  Speaker 1: find the fascinating response. But be that as I may,
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  Speaker 1: So whatever approach you like him, if you have your
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  Speaker 1: own approach, very beautiful. The idea putting man ahead of
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  Speaker 1: God is something that clearly was uppermost on the mind
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  Speaker 1: of Johanan ben Zakai. The Kamara describes the Revnaki on
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  Speaker 1: his deathbed and his students have come to see their teacher,
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  Speaker 1: and the Tumblud relates that the student asked their teacher,
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  Speaker 1: revealk Manzakai, to give them a blessing before he departs
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  Speaker 1: from this world, and Revinzaki says, you hear it. So
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  Speaker 1: may it be that the moorishamai Malekam canmore buss over them.
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  Speaker 1: May be that you fear God as much as you
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  Speaker 1: fear man. That's my blessing. Equal You should fear God
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  Speaker 1: at least as much as you fear man. Or as
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  Speaker 1: much as you fear Man. So the students cand Rabbi,
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  Speaker 1: come on, my kindergarten teacher could have told me that
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  Speaker 1: I don't need you to tell me that I'm paraphrasing.
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  Speaker 1: So they said at Khan, the student said, really, so
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  Speaker 1: reviol Cemenzeka says, yes, hall have I, if only, if
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  Speaker 1: only you would fear man God as much as you
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  Speaker 1: fear man. And he said Reveal says, you know when
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  Speaker 1: a person's about to sin? What does he say? He
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  Speaker 1: looks around and says, is anybody watching? What about an?
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  Speaker 1: He does look upstairs, He looks around. So hall have I?
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  Speaker 1: W was Ravoka and Benzakai so concerned about this or
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  Speaker 1: I think it's specific to him? So raviok Manzakai I
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  Speaker 1: made one of the most faithful, faithful decisions in all
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  Speaker 1: of Jewish history. He gave up Jerusalem when he had
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  Speaker 1: the way the tum would describes to the out the
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  Speaker 1: opportunity to save and he said, we don't need a
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  Speaker 1: temple anymore. We got to recreate Judaism from the ground up,
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  Speaker 1: and we're going to go to the coastal city of Yapna.
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  Speaker 1: This was a decision that also in that story that
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  Speaker 1: it bothered him. He was clearly thinking about it his
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  Speaker 1: whole life. Did he make the right decision? And he
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  Speaker 1: can never know. We know historically he made the right decision,
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  Speaker 1: but Revo Manzuki didn't know that. When somebody's making such
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  Speaker 1: an overarching decision, one that pretty much impacted on every Jew,
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  Speaker 1: everywhere and every time for thousands of years, one can
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  Speaker 1: only be concerned about one thing. What is the right
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  Speaker 1: decision to make? If one starts worrying, but this one's
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  Speaker 1: going to say, or that one's going to say, we're
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  Speaker 1: in big trouble, Especially in such a faithful type of decision.
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  Speaker 1: Only people who put their fear of God above that
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  Speaker 1: of man can be entrusted to make decisions impacting on
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  Speaker 1: the Jewish community as a whole. And this is very hard,
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  Speaker 1: it's very hard hall have. As Rev Manzaka I said,
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  Speaker 1: and Reviokon Manzaka was talking to the greatest stages of
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  Speaker 1: the time. This is the generation after the destruction of
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  Speaker 1: the temple. These are the people who set the mission
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  Speaker 1: into motion. These are the people who recreated Judaism in Yavna.
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  Speaker 1: And he's telling them, if only you will fear God
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  Speaker 1: as much as Man. That would be a tremendous blessing.
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  Speaker 1: We are all students, every one of us. We would
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  Speaker 1: not be here if not for revealk Manzaka. He saved
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  Speaker 1: Judaism at a critical moment in Jewish history, and we
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  Speaker 1: must all strive to fear God. How much. Let's fear
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  Speaker 1: God as much as we fear or man. That's enough.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: If that sounds obvious and simple, Holli, if only we
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  Speaker 1: could do so, shabt Shalon. We hope you enjoyed a
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  Speaker 1: thought for the week at Torah in Motion podcast. If
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• 11:23
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• 11:29
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• 11:41
  Speaker 1: thank you very much, looking forward to learning with you
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: next week.