Latest / Kerem B'Yavneh Parsha Podcast / Behar-Bechukotai 5786 | Rabbi Dani Zuckerman

Transcript

Behar-Bechukotai 5786 | Rabbi Dani Zuckerman · Kerem B'Yavneh Parsha Podcast

• 0:07
  The Torah in פרשת בהר introduces us to the איסור of אונאה.
• 0:12
  There are really two separate איסורים of אונאה.
• 0:15
  There's אונאת ממון,
• 0:17
  taking advantage of somebody in the marketplace,
• 0:19
  whether that is selling an item for too high of a price or buying
• 0:22
  an item for too low of a price.
• 0:24
  And there's a separate איסור of אונאת דברים.
• 0:26
  The איסור of אונאת דברים is very difficult to understand for at least two
• 0:30
  reasons.
• 0:31
  Number one:
• 0:32
  Why does it share a name with אונאת ממון?
• 0:35
  Why are they both called אונאה?
• 0:36
  They seem to be completely different.
• 0:37
  אונאת ממון has to do with taking advantage in the marketplace,
• 0:41
  whereas אונאת דברים has to do with belittling somebody or hurting somebody with words.
• 0:45
  How does that have anything to do with אונאת ממון?
• 0:48
  Not only do they share a name,
• 0:49
  but the משנה בבא מציעא says כשם שיש אונאה במקח כך יש אונאה בדברים.
• 0:53
  It draws a direct comparison between the two.
• 0:57
  Just like there's אונאה with מקח,
• 0:59
  so too there's אונאה with דברים.
• 1:01
  The second question on אונאת דברים is that רש"י in our פרשה in בהר
• 1:06
  uses the exact same לשון when explaining an example of אונאת דברים as he
• 1:11
  uses for a different איסור from just two weeks ago.
• 1:15
  רש"י on אונאת דברים says כאן הזהיר על אונאת דברים.
• 1:17
  This is פרק כה פסוק יז.
• 1:21
  What is אונאת דברים?
• 1:22
  שלא יקניט איש את חברו,
• 1:23
  a person should not belittle his fellow,
• 1:26
  ולא ישיאנו עצה שאינה הוגנת לו,
• 1:29
  and you should not give him bad advice,
• 1:31
  advice which is not proper for him.
• 1:34
  The exact same phrase is used by רש"י in פרשת קדושים on the איסור
• 1:39
  of לפני עור.
• 1:40
  רש"י says there in פרשת קדושים,
• 1:43
  פרק יט פסוק יד,
• 1:47
  לפני עור לא תתן מכשול,
• 1:48
  לפני סומא בדבר,
• 1:49
  with somebody who's blind in a certain matter,
• 1:52
  he doesn't know much about it,
• 1:54
  it's a משל,
• 1:54
  it's not a literal stumbling block,
• 1:56
  לא תתן עצה שאינה הוגנת לו.
• 1:59
  Do not give him advice which is not proper for him.
• 2:00
  The exact same משל.
• 2:02
  So what is the difference between אונאת דברים and לפני עור?
• 2:04
  Both of them are violated when a person gives bad advice.
• 2:08
  So why does the Torah need two separate לאווי?
• 2:09
  Just say if you give someone bad advice,
• 2:11
  you are placing a proverbial stumbling block in front of a proverbial blind person,
• 2:17
  he's going to get messed over.
• 2:18
  Right?
• 2:19
  You tell him to buy a stock that you happen to know is definitely
• 2:22
  going down and he loses a lot of money from that,
• 2:25
  so that's לפני עור.
• 2:27
  Where is the Torah adding by telling us that this is also אונאת דברים?
• 2:33
  So רש"י by אונאת דברים adds,
• 2:36
  רש"י in our פרשה in בהר on the פסוק again,
• 2:39
  פרק כה פסוק יז,
• 2:41
  adds five more words.
• 2:44
  And those five words I think are the key to understanding אונאת דברים.
• 2:48
  רש"י says again,
• 2:49
  שלא יקניט איש את חברו,
• 2:50
  do not belittle your fellow,
• 2:51
  ולא ישיאנו עצה שאינה הוגנת לו,
• 2:53
  and do not give him advice which is not proper for him,
• 2:56
  לפי דרכו והנאתו של היועץ,
• 2:59
  according to the path and pleasure of the one giving the advice.
• 3:03
  So רש"י's telling us an incredible יסוד,
• 3:05
  and this יסוד is developed by רב J.
• 3:08
  David Bleich שליט"א in an article in the journal הדרום.
• 3:14
  אונאת דברים is not defined by the detriment to the person being spoken to,
• 3:22
  but rather it's defined by the sense of superiority felt by the person speaking.
• 3:29
  Meaning,
• 3:30
  when a person gives bad advice,
• 3:33
  if it doesn't matter whether the person who hears the advice actually follows,
• 3:41
  but the fact that I think so lowly of somebody else that I would
• 3:45
  try to trick them,
• 3:46
  I think that his finances are not important,
• 3:49
  they're not valuable to me,
• 3:50
  I have no interest in helping him,
• 3:52
  actually I'm trying to to do him in.
• 3:54
  Or if I call him a not nice name,
• 3:57
  or if I belittle him for a bad decision he made,
• 4:02
  or for his history as being a בעל עבירה,
• 4:05
  or for his family's history as being בעלי עבירה.
• 4:09
  In all of those cases,
• 4:09
  the what defines אונאת דברים is not the pain felt by the מתאנה,
• 4:17
  by the person who was spoken to.
• 4:19
  Not that that pain is not important,
• 4:20
  that is it's not good that he feels that pain,
• 4:23
  but what defines אונאת דברים is the sense of superiority that a person thinks
• 4:27
  he's so great and somebody else is so lowly and he wants to make
• 4:30
  that person hear the words that that express his greatness.
• 4:36
  That is what the Torah is focusing on.
• 4:37
  Don't put down other people not because not just because they're going to feel
• 4:41
  bad,
• 4:42
  even if they wouldn't feel bad,
• 4:43
  but because not to feed into your own selfish need,
• 4:47
  your own selfish desire to feel good at his expense.
• 4:51
  That is the איסור of אונאת דברים.
• 4:53
  So to answer our two questions,
• 4:55
  אונאת דברים is different than לפני עור.
• 4:56
  לפני עור is focused on the harm that will come to the אונאת
• 5:09
  דברים doesn't focus on the harm,
• 5:10
  but rather focuses on the speaker.
• 5:12
  Don't,
• 5:13
  don't put down the guy who doesn't know anything in the stock market by
• 5:17
  telling him bad advice that has to do with the stock market just to
• 5:21
  make you feel good about yourself that you are such a חכם in finance.
• 5:26
  Number two,
• 5:27
  we understand how אונאת דברים shares a term with אונאת ממון.
• 5:33
  In both cases,
• 5:34
  the Torah's focus is on value,
• 5:36
  on value,
• 5:37
  taking advantage or playing up differences in value.
• 5:41
  When it comes to אונאת ממון,
• 5:42
  the Torah is saying if something's worth X,
• 5:45
  don't treat it as if it's worth Y,
• 5:47
  whether Y is higher or lower.
• 5:49
  And similarly,
• 5:50
  when it comes to human beings.
• 5:51
  A human being is worth X,
• 5:53
  a human being is worth infinite value,
• 5:55
  a human being is created בצלם אלקים.
• 5:57
  Don't treat him like he's worth much less.
• 6:00
  That is אונאת דברים.
• 6:01
  אונאת דברים at its core is when a מענה looks at another human being
• 6:07
  and sees him as less than,
• 6:09
  as less valuable,
• 6:10
  and treats him as such,
• 6:11
  whether it's with speech or the ראשונים say even without speaking a person could
• 6:15
  do אונאת דברים with gestures and all of those things which are which which
• 6:21
  demonstrate that the speaker or the actor thinks less of another human being,
• 6:28
  that is what's included in אונאת דברים.
• 6:30
  This is one of many הלכות that the Torah gives us that show us
• 6:35
  that when we talk about the Torah's view of civil law,
• 6:38
  it's not merely to prevent anarchy,
• 6:42
  it's not merely to ensure smooth running of the financial system,
• 6:46
  but it's actually to build us up as individuals,
• 6:48
  build us up as a society,
• 6:51
  a society of כלל ישראל,
• 6:55
  of an עם סגולה,
• 6:56
  a גוי קדוש,
• 6:57
  and a society that is אם ירצה השם getting closer to the great day
• 7:01
  of מתן תורה that הקדוש ברוך הוא gave us in order to build us
• 7:04
  up to be as close to him as we can.
• 7:07
  Have a wonderful שבת.