{"id":329,"date":"2024-03-03T03:04:28","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T03:04:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/?p=329"},"modified":"2024-03-03T03:04:28","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T03:04:28","slug":"mind-reading-and-stumbling-blocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/2024\/03\/03\/mind-reading-and-stumbling-blocks\/","title":{"rendered":"Mind Reading and Stumbling Blocks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0\u05be\u05ea\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05a3\u05dc \u05d7\u05b5\u05e8\u05b5\u0594\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05a3\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b4\u05d5\u05b5\u05bc\u0594\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b9\u05a5\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b4\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u0596\u05df \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u0591\u05dc \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05e8\u05b5\u05a5\u05d0\u05ea\u05b8 \u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05d4\u05b6\u0596\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05a5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b8\u05bd\u05d4\u05c3<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your God: I am the LORD.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

You shall not place a stumbling block before a blind person.  On the surface, the despicable act of hurting a blind person seems like a prohibition that no one would dare commit.  But Rashi quotes that our tradition understands this prohibition much more broadly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u05d5\u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d5\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05ea\u05df \u05de\u05db\u05e9\u05d5\u05dc.<\/strong> \u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05d9 \u05d4\u05b7\u05e1\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05b8\u05d0 \u05d1\u05b0\u05d3\u05b8\u05d1\u05b8\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b9\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b4\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u05df \u05e2\u05b5\u05e6\u05b8\u05d4 \u05e9\u05b6\u05c1\u05d0\u05b5\u05d9\u05e0\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05d4\u05d5\u05b9\u05d2\u05b6\u05e0\u05b6\u05ea \u05dc\u05d5\u05b9, \u05d0\u05b7\u05dc \u05ea\u05b9\u05bc\u05d0\u05de\u05b7\u05e8 \u05de\u05b0\u05db\u05b9\u05e8 \u05e9\u05b8\u05c2\u05d3\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05d7 \u05dc\u05b0\u05da\u05b8 \u05d7\u05b2\u05de\u05d5\u05b9\u05e8, \u05d5\u05b0\u05d0\u05b7\u05ea\u05b8\u05bc\u05d4 \u05e2\u05d5\u05b9\u05e7\u05b5\u05e3 \u05e2\u05b8\u05dc\u05b8\u05d9\u05d5 \u05d5\u05b0\u05e0\u05d5\u05b9\u05d8\u05b0\u05dc\u05b8\u05d4\u05bc \u05d4\u05b5\u05d9\u05de\u05b6\u05e0\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc (\u05e9\u05dd):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u05d5\u05dc\u05e4\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e2\u05d5\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05ea\u05df \u05de\u05db\u05e9\u05dc THOU SHALT NOT PUT A STUMBLING BLOCK BEFORE THE BLIND \u2014 This implies: \u201cGive not a person who is \u201cblind\u201d in a matter an advice which is improper for him. Do not say to him: \u201cSell your field and buy from the proceeds of the sale an ass\u201d, the fact being that you are endeavouring to circumvent him and to take it (the field) from him (Sifra, Kedoshim, Section 2 14).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This expansive lifnei iver requires us to place ourselves in other\u2019s shoes when they ask us for advice, ensuring we remove any ulterior motives that may drive our comments.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But which is worse: giving bad advice, or literally tripping a blind person?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A shocking comment of the Minchas Chinuch implies that not only is bad advice worse, but tripping the blind may not even be prohibited. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Minchas Chinuch suggests that perhaps the literal meaning of the pasuk- don\u2019t place a stubling block in front of the blind- is incorrect.  The true meaning of lifnei iver is limited to the cases of bad advice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why would we disregard the literal meaning of the text (seemingly violating the rule of ein mikra yotzzei midei pshuto- that even when there is a traditional interpretation of a verse, we never discount the simple interpretation)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer can be found by reading further in the pasuk:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05a3\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b4\u05d5\u05b5\u05bc\u0594\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b9\u05a5\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b4\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u0596\u05df \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u0591\u05dc \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05e8\u05b5\u05a5\u05d0\u05ea\u05b8 \u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05d4\u05b6\u0596\u05d9\u05da\u05b8<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cVyareita meiElokecha\u201d, you should fear your G-d.  The Siftei Chachamim explains that fearing G-d relates to giving bad advice, because only G-d knows if your intentions were to give sound advice or not.  if one were to literally place a stumbling block before a blind person, everyone would recognize this despicable act.  This must not be the Torah\u2019s intention: if only G-d can recognize the sinner\u2019s objective, the Torah must be referring to a subtler crime. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another \u201cvyareita meiElokecha\u201d appears later in the parsha by the mitzva of standing for the elderly.  One can pretend that he or she doesn\u2019t see the elderly person who just got on the bus, but G-d knows.  The words \u201cvyareita meiElokecha\u201d appear five times in the Torah, each time reminding us that Hashem knows our thoughts and intentions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our awareness that G-d knows our thoughts can help steer us in the right direction in our relationship with Him, but perhaps we should give thought to the other truth here.  It is only G-d who can know a person\u2019s intentions; as mere mortals, we cannot read each other\u2019s minds or intuit their intentions.  Too many fights begin and continue because each party is sure the other acted maliciously.  We often follow gut feelings or at most estimated guesses based on psychological clues, but by internalizing vyareita meiElokecha, understanding that we cannot read minds and should not jump to conclusions based on our imaginations, we can avoid misjudging others and be more conscious of who is the true judge of us. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u05dc\u05b9\u05d0\u05be\u05ea\u05b0\u05e7\u05b7\u05dc\u05b5\u05bc\u05a3\u05dc \u05d7\u05b5\u05e8\u05b5\u0594\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d5\u05b0\u05dc\u05b4\u05e4\u05b0\u05e0\u05b5\u05a3\u05d9 \u05e2\u05b4\u05d5\u05b5\u05bc\u0594\u05e8 \u05dc\u05b9\u05a5\u05d0 \u05ea\u05b4\u05ea\u05b5\u05bc\u0596\u05df \u05de\u05b4\u05db\u05b0\u05e9\u05b9\u05c1\u0591\u05dc \u05d5\u05b0\u05d9\u05b8\u05e8\u05b5\u05a5\u05d0\u05ea\u05b8 \u05de\u05b5\u05bc\u05d0\u05b1\u05dc\u05b9\u05d4\u05b6\u0596\u05d9\u05da\u05b8 \u05d0\u05b2\u05e0\u05b4\u05a5\u05d9 \u05d9\u05b0\u05d4\u05d5\u05b8\u05bd\u05d4\u05c3 You shall not insult the deaf, or place a stumbling block before the blind. You shall fear your God: I am the LORD. You shall not place a stumbling block before a blind person.  On the surface, the despicable act of hurting a blind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[72,47,10,38],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":330,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329\/revisions\/330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/remoteshul.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}