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Parshas Mishpatim - 5764
Dr. Laura Schlesinger is a U.S. radio personality who
dispenses advice to people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said
that, as an observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination
according to
Leviticus 18:22, and cannot be condoned under any circumstance.
The following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a U.S. resident,
which was posted on the Internet:
Dear Dr. Laura:
Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I have
learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that knowledge with as
many people as I can. When someone tries to defend the homosexual lifestyle,
for example, I simply remind them that Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to
be an abomination. End of debate. I do need some advice from you, however,
regarding some of the other specific laws and how to follow them:
1. When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a
pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors. They
claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?
2. I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus
21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair price for her?
3. I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her
period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15:19- 24. The problem is, how do I
tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.
4. Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and female,
provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A friend of mine
claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not Canadians. Can you clarify?
Why can't I own Canadians?
5. I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2
clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him
myself?
6. A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an
abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than homosexuality. I
don't agree. Can you settle this?
7. Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have a
defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses. Does my
vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?
8. Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair around
their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.19:27. How
should they die?
9. I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me
unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?
10. My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different
crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of two
different kinds of thread (cotton / polyester blend). He also tends to curse
and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to all the trouble of
getting the whole town together to stone them? - Lev. 24:10-16. Couldn't we
just burn them to death at a private family affair like we do with people
who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev. 20:14)?
I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident you can
help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is eternal and
unchanging.
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RABBI ORLOFSKY RESPONDS:
Dr. Laura would seem to be a poor choice to speak on behalf of the Bible
from a Jewish point of view, since she has recently announced that she is no
longer practicing Judaism.
So I will try to respond instead.
The writer’s argument is essentially based on the premise that since some
things in the Bible don't make sense (to the author of the e-mail),
everything in the Bible is now irrelevant.
His argument could apply equally to "Honor your Parents", "Love your
Neighbor", "Have Mercy on the Widow and Orphan", as easily as homosexuality.
One can argue that those laws are moral, but only because the Bible
introduced them to the world. The morality of ancient Greece and Rome made
for a dramatically different society than the one we have today. When we say
"Western Morality" we mean the values and morals that have come to us from
the Bible. Now it is fashionable to question the Bible based on
homosexuality. Soon it may be incest or exhibitionism or any other sexual
laws that people claim are their only means of finding fulfillment that will
be used as a source to dismiss the Bible.
The writer has taken a number of verses based on a particular interpretation
to prove his point. Judaism doesn't say to read the Bible as it is written.
There is an Oral tradition that is essential to understanding the Bible.
1. Your neighbors have a valid claim. Sacrifices can only be brought to the
Temple in Jerusalem to be offered. As there has not been a Temple there for
close to 2000 years, your neighbors have a right to say wait until the
Messiah comes and rebuilds the Temple. Until then, you will have to make due
with reading and studying the laws of the sacrifices to try to understand
their deep significance.
2. The person who is so destitute that he has to "sell" his daughter is a
truly pathetic character. She goes free at the age of twelve if the owner
doesn't fulfill his obligation of marrying her off to his son, which is his
primary responsibility. Even then the term translated as slavery would be
better translated as foster care. The Talmud says anyone who buys a slave
buys a master for himself. If you have one pillow the slave gets it. The
slave may not be given any demeaning work to do. There are many similar
laws. Considering the way children in poverty are treated in many industrial
countries, not to mention third world countries, this was probably paradise
by comparison.
3. Any woman who you should be having contact with, according to Jewish law
has the responsibility to inform you, since the laws of niddah are
very serious. The Talmud refers to it as a whisper of death. We take life
and
death very seriously. When there was a Temple the laws of purity were
observed by all women, now it's only your partner for physical intimacy,
which for us means your wife.
4. Personally, I would not advise either Canadians or Mexicans, since
neither country is adapted to the concept of slavery. When the Bible says
from the surrounding nations, it means as opposed to the Canaanites
themselves, who were so debauched and decedent as to be seen as
irredeemable.
Slaves from other nations may be purchased providing they agree (and are not
forced) to undergo circumcision and take upon themselves mitzva observance.
If not, don't buy them. But those people who sensed that it was a better
life to be a slave to a Jew than to a non-Jew might choose to undergo the
above procedures, which is akin to what a non-Jew goes through in order to
convert to Judaism.
Since this person didn't choose that route, G-d gave him the opportunity to
come to the Jewish people through a backdoor, one which as I mentioned he
must choose. The slavery he experiences is the slavery the Jewish people had
to go through in Egypt in order to reach the levels necessary to become the
chosen people. The difference is, he has a Jewish overseer, not an Egyptian
(see #2).
5. No, and if you do that is murder. Only an authorized high court of 23
sages can put to death - and only if there are two witnesses and he was
warned within three seconds of the action and he understands the laws and
many other requirements so that the Talmud says if the death penalty was
given out once in 70 years they called it a "bloody court". So kids, don't
try this at home!
6. Your friend is right. You can tell by the punishment. Homosexuality is
punished by death, whereas shellfish is punished by lashes. Though neither
was likely to be meted out (see #5) it does serve to inform us of the
severity of the crimes in the eyes of G-d.
7. You're in luck! Those disqualifications are talking about actual eye
disfigurations, so you'll be fine. As soon as the Messiah comes, show up at
the Temple in Jerusalem and present your qualifications as a bona fide
descendant of Aaron the Priest and your reading glasses shouldn't disqualify
you.
8. Probably of old age, unless they are purposely doing it
to show contempt for G-d in which case I would leave it to the True Judge
since the Torah doesn't say they receive the death penalty. Unless, of
course, they're not Jewish, in which case they can cut their hair however
they like.
9. I think you mean the flesh. The skin shouldn't be a problem.
Additionally, there is no prohibition of becoming unclean unless you're
entering the Temple Mount. In that case you're already unclean from contact
with dead humans (cemeteries and the like). Happy football.
10. Cotton and polyester isn't a problem; the law only applies to wool and
linen. So they're fine. There is no death penalty for planting different
crops, but they should be discouraged. Cursing and blaspheming per se is not
liable to death, only if you're cursing G-d. Then again, you would need
witnesses and warning and a high court and all the other requirements. I
don't imagine it is likely to happen.
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I went to the trouble of answering all the individual points not because
the writer is interested, but simply because ridicule is an old
technique used to confuse people about the legitimacy of their
opponents' viewpoint. You don't need to accept all the explanations, but
don't be silly and pretend that the Bible was written by a bunch of
superstitious Neanderthals. You want to sleep with your in-laws or your
mother or your sister or another man, that's your choice. The Bible,
which we believe was written by G-d, will condemn it. The death penalty
written in the verse is there to teach us that some things are so
important that you can forfeit your existence if you do them.
You can say that you don't believe in G-d, you don't believe He gave the
Torah, you don't believe in the morality it espouses and that is your
choice. Adolph Hitler once said, "We are barbarians. Morality is a
Jewish invention." I agree. If you want to reject that, that's your
choice. But before you make fun of people’s belief, take the time to
understand it.
I don't know if Dr. Laura appreciated your questions, but she may
appreciate these answers.
Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky
D'Var Torah - Mishpatim
By
Rabbi Baruch Lederman
Chesed (Loving Kindness) is a foundation of the Torah. When a Jew
lends money to another Jew, he must not charge interest (Ex. 22:24), because the
Torah wants this loan to be a noble act of loving kindness, not merely
a business transaction.
When we suffer, it is sometimes natural to take out our pain
on others. Our reaction must be the opposite. We must use that bad experience to
propel us to greater acts of future kindness as the Torah says, we may not be
cruel to strangers, because we were strangers in Egypt (Ex.22:20). Since we know
what suffering is; we must be more sensitive to the suffering of others.
Since its founding by the Klausenberger Rebbe, Rabbi Yekusiel Halberstam, the Laniado
Hospital in Netanya, Israel, has never had a strike by any hospital employee or
work stoppage of any kind. Just as soldiers cannot strike in the midst of
battle, the Rebbe taught, so too those involved in healing may not strike no
matter how legitimate their grievances.
During the Holocaust, which claimed his wife and their
eleven children, the Klausenberger Rebbe vowed that if he survived he would
build a monument to chesed that would stand in the starkest possible contrast to
the inhumanity of German ``men of culture and science.’’
Laniado is
that monument. It took the Klausenberger Rebbe fifteen years to raise the money
to build the hospital. His mission was to show
the world a Jewish approach to healing and that the highest medical
standards are fully consistent with the highest halachic standards.
When the Minister of Health scoffed at the
Klausenberger Rebbe’s dream, and told him that three permits had already been
issued for new hospitals in the Netanya area, the Rebbe replied that none of
them would be built. (He was right.) To the Minister’s offer to let the Rebbe
supervise religious affairs at the government hospitals in the region, the Rebbe
countered that he would run his hospital
and let the Minister affix the mezuzot.
In a speech to the entire staff of the hospital upon
its opening, the Klausenberger Rebbe said, ``Our Torah is a Torah of
chesed (lovingkindness). Our hospital is indeed a Torah Institution."
Building a hospital was another aspect of teaching Torah in
the Rebbe’s eyes. He later founded Mifal HaShas under whose auspices thousands
are tested on between 20 to 70 folios of Talmud every month.
The average hospital Laniado’s size has six
respirators. Laniado has 25 so that no
doctor ever has to set priorities in the allocation of respirators. Once a
patient was unconscious and believed brain dead on a respirator for 55 days
following a near drowning. Today he is
alive and well.
Most important is the attitude to healing with which
the Klausenberger Rebbe imbued the staff.
In his opening speech he pronounced the most vital quality for the staff
as ``a warm Jewish heart. ‘’ The protocols of the hospital, drafted by the
Rebbe, specify that employees should be ``full of love for their fellow Jews and
every other human being.’’ The Rebbe told the staff that
their goal must always be ``to cure the patient not just cure the
disease,’’ and he insisted that concern
with their pain was crucial to that task. Asked which of two types of syringe
needles the hospital should purchase – one that was slightly less painful or one
that was half the price – he immediately ordered the more expensive
needles.
Dr. Andre deFreis, the former director-general of
Beilenson Hospital, later served at
Laniado. He described the difference in Laniado: ``Here I feel I’m a healer.
There is a feeling of being involved in holy work.’’ He told a medical
conference, ``At Laniado, I learned that the patient is a person.’’
A man once came to the Rebbe in America to thank him
for saving his life. He had been in
critical condition in a hospital for several days, and two young nurses did not
leave his side during that entire period.
They explained their dedication, ``We are graduates of Laniado nursing
school. And we once heard the Rebbe speak on the merit of saving lives. We felt
that with constant attention we could save you.’’
One Rosh Hashana, a woman began to hemorrhage badly
during child birth. She needed a massive transfusion of a rare blood type immediately. An order went
out that every student in the adjacent yeshiva should immediately rush to the
hospital to have their blood type tested. Prayers were stopped in the middle of
Mussaf of Rosh Hashannah. The women’s sister, herself a nurse, told the staff
later, ``There is no other hospital where she would still be alive
today.’’
The Rebbe told the nursing school students that if
they ever heard of a woman contemplating an abortion, they should tell her that
the Klausenberger Rebbe would raise the child as his own. One woman convinced by a nursing school
student in this fashion to carry to term a baby she had been told would be
deformed, delivered a perfectly healthy baby.
The Klausenberger Rebbe once explained why there have
never been any demonstrations in Kiryat Sanz. ``When you come to a place of
darkness, you do not chase out the darkness with a broom. You light a
candle.’’
We thank Rabbi Rashi Simon for submitting the above story, written by Jonathan Rosenblum for the Jerusalem Post. HAVE A GREAT STORY?
Please send it to us. We would love to publish it, if possible.
DVAR
TORAH: Mishpatim
by
Rabbi Baruch Lederman
A man
once asked Hillel to teach him the entire Torah while standing on one
foot. Hillel answered, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your
friend. The rest is explanation. Go learn." Rebbi Akiva once made a
similar statement: "Love your neighbor like yourself. This is the great
rule of the Torah."
Parshas
Mishpatim, and indeed the entire Torah, teaches us many detailed laws of
theft, damage, proper treatment of servants, guarding other peoples
property responsibly, tale bearing, honest business practices - the list
goes on and on. The great sages Hillel and Rebbi Akiva are teaching us
that if we appreciate the other person's point of view with
compassion and understanding, we will not come to commit any of these
trespasses in the first place, as the following true story illustrates:
A woman
was walking with her friend. They witnessed
a mother berating her young daughter in a brutal manner.
The little girl was cringing and you could see the terror on her
face. The woman approached the mother. She said with sincere concern and
respect, "I can see that you care about your child, and it’s obvious
that she has done things to get you angry. I also have children
and sometimes lose my temper. I have some ideas that have helped me. You
know your child better than I do, but perhaps my experiences can be
helpful for you also."
Amazingly, the mother, who seemed just moments ago to be a terrible evil
person, calmed down right before their eyes. "I thank you for your
offer. I feel at a total loss. I hate losing my temper. But I do it over
and over again. I would love it if you could give me some tips."
Indeed, the frustrated mother, with a little help from her friends, went
on to make great strides, becoming a more fair and effective parent.
The friend, who had
observed this whole scene, later asked privately, "All I wanted
to do was tell off that horrible mother. I was fuming. No child should
ever be treated like that. But if I did tell her off, it probably would
have accomplished nothing - maybe even made things worse. You on the
other hand treated her with kindness and compassion, and brought
about such an incredible turn-around. How did you know to do what you
did?"
"I never
would have had a clue what to do or to think," replied the woman, "But
some time ago, I heard a story about the Chofetz Chaim ztz"l that
changed my entire perspective. This amazing story has guided and
inspired me ever since:"
Once, a
burly, gruff looking, man who had served in the Russian army, entered a
Jewish Inn and ordered a meal. When Jewish boys were drafted, it was
usually the end of yiddishkeit for them. The army brainwashed them to
worship Mother Russia rather than G-d. He plopped himself down and ate
in a most disgusting manner - stuffing an entire chicken down his mouth.
It was revolting that this man, a Jew, could conduct himself in so
repulsive a manner, not to mention the fact that he did not recite a
bracha (blessing) or wear a yarmulke (ritual skullcap) while he ate.
The
innkeeper and the others present were sickened and embarrassed by this
display; though none dared say anything. The Chofetz Chaim (Rabbi
Yisroel Meir Kagan) happened to be a guest at that Inn. He saw the young
man and slowly approached him. Everyone wondered, what would the Chofetz
Chaim possibly say to this man. What could he say? Surely this oaf would
not listen to any rebuke, even from such a holy man.
The
Chofetz Chaim asked the man, "Is it true that you served in the Russian
army?" "Yes," snorted the man, bracing his defenses for the oncoming
tongue-lashing he was fully expecting.
"Tell
me," began the Chofetz Chaim, "How did you manage to keep your Jewish
identity in those circumstances? So many Jewish boys entered the army,
only to eventually give up their Judaism. They are forced to serve for
25 years without any kosher food, Jewish holidays, or any other vestige
of Judaism. Yet, when you could have easily gone to any Inn, you chose a
Jewish one. You still identify as a Jew. I don't know if I could have
done what you did. You are an inspiration. Where did you find the
strength?"
The
soldier, caught off guard and clearly moved, looked straight at the
Chofetz Chaim, "It was so hard, they did everything to pound it out of
us - to make us denounce and forget that we were Jews."
"It is a
miracle that you made it through. Now you can begin to learn the Torah
and mitzvos that you were deprived of all these years."
"But
Rebbi, how can I possibly do that," the soldier, now sobbing bitterly,
responded. He continued through his tears, "I want to return to my
heritage, but I am so far removed. Surely it isn't possible for someone
like me to learn."
"No,"
said the Chofetz Chaim, "It is still possible. It is always possible. I
can show you how." As the soldier spoke to the Chofetz Chaim, the stones
on his heart began to melt. Had the Chofetz Chaim not understood and
appreciated this man's perspective, this amazing episode never would
have occurred. What did happen was: from that day on, the former soldier
began a path to repentance and as the years went by, developed into an
observant, well learned Jew.
Dedicated by Ivor & Joan Jacobson in honor of their
children Russell, Lauren, & Amanda.
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