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The Folly of Minding One’s Own Business

The Jewish people becomes tarnished when one of its members commits perjury.

For an explanation of the methodology of this series, see the introduction.

"Tell the children of Israel: When a man or woman commits any of the sins against man to act treacherously against G-d, and that person is [found] guilty" (Gen. 25:1)

Peshat (basic meaning):

Rashi: "to act treacherously against G-d"
Scripture repeats the section of a thief who swears falsely and "acts treacherously against God by falsely denying to his fellow." (Lev. 5:21) It is repeated here because two new matters are introduced. The first is that it is written: "they shall confess," which teaches us that he [the thief] is not required to pay a fifth and [bring] a guilt [offering] when incriminated by two witnesses, until he admits to the deed himself, and the second [matter] is that what is stolen from a proselyte must be given to the kohanim.

Remez (hinted meaning):

Baal HaTurim: "That person they shall confess"
hints to the Talmudic teaching that anyone put to death by a court of law should confess at the time of execution.

Derash (interpretive meaning):

Ramban: [This verse is] similar to [the verse]: "of any sins which mans commit against another man when he deals falsely with his neighbor that soul shall be guilty," for he seeks a trespass against G-d Himself, as he swears by His Name falsely and is thus guilty before Him as well. Now because his sin has already been mentioned, here it introduces the new point of robbing a convert, dealing with it briefly. He mentions "a man or woman" because since it is not usual for a woman to rob, we might think that perhaps Scripture does not make her liable to pay the extra 5th or bring a guilt offering when she confesses the sin like a man, therefore He stated here "a man or woman" to show that her liability is the same as the man.

Or HaHayyim: Inasmuch as the person has committed perjury, he has caused damage to his very soul. Note that the Torah did not write that the soul of the sinner is guilty, but it writesthat "the person is guilty." This is a reference to the collective soul of the Jewish people that has become tarnished by one of its members committing perjury.

Sod (esoteric, mystical meaning):

Zohar Naso 122:
Happy is the person who merits the Torah, to follow and adhere to His ways. When a person follows the ways of the Torah, he draws upon himself a holy Supernal Spirit, as it says: "Until a spirit be poured upon us from on high." (Isaiah 32:15) When a person diverts his ways he draws upon himself a spirit from the Other Side, which is the unclean side. That defiled side awakens from the side of the hole of the great abyss, wherein lie the wicked spirits that originated in Cain which harm people and are called the world's destroyers.
Jethro was originally a priest to idols and he served that side. He drew upon himself a spirit of that side. Therefore he was also called the Kenite later, since he separated from Cain and adhered to G-d. Whoever bonds to G-d and performs the commandments of the Torah, it is as if he upholds the worlds, the world above and the world below. This was already explained, as is written: "And make them." (Lev. 26:3)
Anyone who transgresses the commandments of the Torah, he, as it were, makes a flaw above and impairs below, becomes flawed himself and impairs the whole universe. This is similar to the seafarers on a ship, when a fool among them stands up and wishes to punch a hole
Therefore, "when a man or a woman shall commit...that man ('adam')..." is "But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant." (Hosea 6:7) Adam transgressed one command in the Torah, and he caused death to himself and he caused to the universe a blemish above and a blemish below. That sin is still impending until G-d will restore the universe to its original state, when that flaw will disappear from the world. It is written: "He will destroy death for ever; and G-d the L-rd will wipe away tears from all faces..." (Isaiah 25:8) Therefore, "Shall commit any sin that Adam commit," connotes "Adam" the first man.
"To trespass against G-d," (Num. 5:6) because whoever abandons mercy and draws on judgment causes a flaw. Therefore, the Merciful One should redeem us from the wicked of this world and from their damages, as many righteous pass away because of them, on top of what they caused to happen above and below.

BeRahamim LeHayyim:
Uh oh. Time for me to surrender to the PC Police, namely the Politically-Correct Police. The Zohar states that we have a Torah-based duty to prevent another Jew from sinning.
That means that everyone else's business is my business and my business is your business. And we should be in the business of minding other's folks business.
Note the analogy hinted to by the above Zohar, which we will call "We are all in the same boat." When one of the passengers on a boat decides to start drilling a hole under his seat, his buddy asked him, "What do you think you're doing?!" The first guy says, "What's it to you? I'm only drilling under my own seat." To which the latter replies, "If you continue, we and all others will drown together."

Am Yisrael Echad. We are One Jewish People. We are like one body. If one's little toe aches, we are all immobilized. And if one's hand steals some candy, we all share the blame. And if one does something foolish, we all can drown, G-d forbid.
This responsibility to be one's brother's keeper is awesome, but very difficult in practice. The laws of rebuke are numerous and complicated. R. Akiba said nearly 2000 years ago that "few" of his generation knew how to do it; what about us! Go and learn the laws about it! In doing so, you will be taking one step for Adam, a giant step for Adam-kind.

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Translated and annotated by Rahmiel-Hayyim Drizin from PaRDeS HaBahir   More articles...  |   RSS Listing of Newest Articles by this Author
Rahmiel-Hayyim Drizin is a devoted student of many of the leading teachers of Kabbala in English in Israel and the USA. He is a criminal defense lawyer who lives in Oak Park, Illinois with his family.

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