Author: Rabbi Milder

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Mishpatim – “Him who is Gracious to the Poor”


The mitzvah to give a loan to a fellow Jew in need comes from Devarim 15:8, “Rather, you shall open your hand to him, and you shall lend him sufficient for his needs, which he is lacking.” However, in this week’s Torah portion of Mishpatim, the Torah gives an additional instruction, when one does give a loan to his fellow Jew on how not to do it: “When you lend money to My people, to the poor person [who is] with you, you shall not behave toward him as a lender; you shall not impose interest upon him” (Shemos 22:24).
Based on this pasuk, “When you lend money…” The Medrish Tanchuma says “This is what is meant when it says “He who increases his riches with usury and interest gathers it for him who is gracious to the poor” (Mishlei 28:8). How does this happen? If a Jew needs a loan and then a non-Jew comes and asks for a loan. If he says it is better to lend to a non-Jew and charge interest then to lend to a Jew and not charge interest, and by doing so becoming wealthier, to that King Shlomo screams ‘He who increases his riches with usury and interest’. ‘Gathers it for him who is gracious to the poor,’ refers to Eisav. Was Eisav really gracious to the poor, wasn’t he oppressive to the poor? Rather what this means is that the government will hear about the usury and interest, and challenge him over his rights to it, then take his money and build from it buildings for the need of the country, bathhouses, and structures made out of pillars and canopies to stroll under in order to protect the public from sun, rain, and to direct clear breeze to cool people down. All this for the need of the country and those who pass through and return into the country and that is what’s meant by ‘gathers it for him who is gracious to the poor’ (Medrish Tanchuma, parshas Mishpatim, paragraph 19). (Click here for Hebrew text.)
Though this Jew did not transgress the prohibition of charging interest to a fellow Jew, but he still did not fulfill the mitzvah of giving a loan to a fellow Jew, a brother in need, in order to make an extra buck by lending to a non-Jew. For this reason, measure for measure, Hashem does not allow the money he earned to stay in his hands rather it is collected by “him who is gracious to the poor,” meaning Hashem causes this person to be stricken with poverty by flesh and blood because it is the nature of the government to punish him and confiscate his wealth in order to be gracious to the poor. (See the Bi’ur Ha’Amarim on this medrish.

The Jew in this case was not asked to give up any of his money; a loan must be paid back. Hashem just does not allow him to earn more money at the expense of his fellow Jew when he is in need. We see from here that the result of not lending to a fellow Jew in need, and instead lending to a non-Jew in need just to make money off interest causes the government to have a claim against this person’s wealth and raise his taxes in order to support those who are in need. However, why is this a punishment, why is it any different than giving tzedaka, teruma, maaser, peah, or anything else which the Torah says you must or should give up your personal wealth for in order to support your fellow Jews who are less off then you are?

The difference is that by mitzvos like tzedaka you might be losing money but you are gaining eternal reward, and even in these cases, for example maaser, tithes to the poor, Hashem guarantees if you abide by the mitzvah you will become rich. However if the government collects a large portion of your wealth to give out to the poor and support the infrastructure of the country you don’t get any reward in this world or the next, this is why it could be a punishment.

It would seem that Hashem had in mind ideally for individuals or even private groups like charities or a kupah, to set up systems of distribution to those who are not as well off or in need. There are even rules in maseches Bava Basra 7b-8a about the upkeep of individual cities, their roads, walls, security, etc. These individualized systems are in order for both the giver and recipients to benefit. However the control of government over people’s assets on a major nationwide scale perhaps could be a sign of punishment instead of a way of peacefully sharing the wealth in the world.

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Haftorah for Parshas Mishpatim- Hashem Never Gives Up On Our Leaders

Chaza”l in their deep wisdom formulated this week’s haftorah in a backwards way but there is a profound lesson they intended to teach. The haftorah starts with an obvious connection to the beginning of our Torah portion in Mishpatim which discusses owning Jewish slaves. In perek 34 of Yirmiyahu the haftorah begins with the way the Jews treated their fellow slaves in the days of King Tzidkiyahu. For many years they had kept their Jewish slaves, even beyond the 7 years the Torah allows one to keep a Jewish slave involuntarily. Yirmiyahu, warning about the coming doom of the first Beis Hamikdash aroused King Tzidkiyahu to set all the Jewish slaves free and they made a great ceremony commemorating their freedom and a recovenant with Hashem and his Torah after straying from His ways. However this didn’t last long and they took back their Jewish slaves for long periods of time and strayed farther and farther from Hashem until the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash became inevitable.

However the Haftorah concludes with the last two pesukim of the previous perek: “So said the Lord: If not My covenant with the day and the night, that the statutes of heaven and earth I did not place. Also will I reject the seed of Jacob and David, My servant, not to take from his seed rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when I bring back their captivity and have mercy upon them” (Yirmiyahu 33:25, 26). (Click here for an interesting halachic discussion on how we are allowed to go backwards when reading the Haftorah.)

The Mahar”I Kara explains the last two pesukim, “Hashem is saying, If I will not fulfill the covenant I made of guaranteeing that day and night would never stop as it is written, ‘There is still all the days of the land, planting, harvesting, cold, heat, summer, winter, day and night, they never rest.’ If they would rest then it would be as if the laws of heaven and earth would never have existed (meaning the world would cease to exist.)   And as long as the covenant between day and night is fulfilled I will not hold back from the Jewish people the ability to acquire leaders from their own people. (Click here for Hebrew text.)

Just as Hashem guarantees there will always be the cycle of nature and time in the world, the four seasons, day and night and the cycles of vegetation, though sometimes there are massive destructive forces of nature in the world like hurricanes, tsunamis, blizzards, earthquakes, and tornados that disrupt life so to Hashem promised the Jewish people that no matter how corrupt their leaders become He will never exchange them with non-Jewish leaders to lead His people. No matter how far off they might have strayed from Torah ideals, a Jewish leader will always be the preferred choice for the Jewish people. If this one doesn’t work out hopefully the next one will be better but it is without a doubt that even the most righteous gentile will not be a favorable fit to lead the Jews.

This is the message Chaza”l is teaching us in this haftorah when we first read perek 34 of Yirmiyahu and end with the last two pesukim of perek 33, that as big of a mistake the leaders of the Jews made prior to the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdash, Hashem still guarantees the Jewish people that the best leaders come from their own people.

Throughout Jewish History and especially throughout our exile, there have always been leaders who keep the Jewish people together. The Gedolei Hador, the leading rabbis in each generation are our guidance and give us hope.  

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Chapter 1, Halacha 4

Chapter 1 Halacha 4: When the Rabbis say lashon hara is worse than the big 3, idolatry, adultery, and murder, and not only is one punished in this world, one has no share in the World to Come, they are referring to someone who habitually speaks lashon hara, a baal lashon hara. This person might have known lashon hara is a sin but now he doesn’t even realize he is doing anything wrong because he speaks it so often. This is worse than the big 3 because, for example, if one is sentenced to death for murder and before he is executed he admits he did wrong and repents then he gains his share in the World to Come but this person who is constantly speaking lashon hara and not even thinking about the ramifications of what he is doing or saying is essentially rebelling against Hashem without any remorse. The fact that he doesn’t think he is doing anything wrong and has no intention of admitting his guilt and repenting make it worse that the big 3. 

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Chapter 1 Halachos 1-3

Chapter 1 end of halacha 1 – 3

End of halacha 1: There is a discussion amongst the Rishonim whether lashon hara and rechilus are all part of one verse of לא תלך רכיל בעמיך or is rechilus (tattletale) is worse than lashon hara (slander) and lashon hara is learned from לא תשא שמה שוא and although we should not need a verse for rechilus because we can learn it out from a Kal vachomer (fortiori) from lashon hara however the Torah goes out of its way to have a separate verse for rechilus in order so that the court can give lashes to one who falsely slanders someone else. Another ramification of the extra verse “Don’t walk as a tale bearer amongst your people” is that the prohibition starts even before one actually speaks lashon hara rather when he is walking to do the sin it starts. 
Halacha 2: A reminder that other prohibitions like revenge,hating someone in one’s heart etc. can be transgressed while speaking lashon hara. 
Halacha 3: A person who habitually speaks lashon hara is in a whole new realm called a “baal lashon hara” he or she goes around collecting info about people and then sits around with a crowd talking slander every day. This type of person is viewed as someone who spites Hashem and his Torah because he doesn’t just sin every once in a while but premeditatedly sins every day by creating groups of shmuzzers to speak loshon hara and rechilus.

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Chapter 1 Halacha 1

Today we started delving into the actual laws of loshon hara.

Chapter 1, halacha 1:

 (A) Lashon hara is slander about a fellow Jew even if it is the absolute truth. The Chofetz Chaim elaborates in his Be’er Mayim Chaim on 3 gemaras that prove lashon hara is even on truth. 

(1) Moed Katan 16a: The gemara there proves from the report that Moshe Rabbeinu’s messenger sent back of Dasan and Aviram that only a messenger of the court is allowed to speak slander which is true to the judges because there is some benefit for the court, implying in general a person cannot speak slander even if it is true. 

 (2) Sotah 42a: There are Four types of people who the Shechina will not go near, two of them are habitual liars and those who habitually speak lashon hara. If lashon hara is only when one falsely slanders another then it would be the same category as liars and we would not need both categories therefore it must be that speaking lashon hara is even a problem when speaking the truth. 

(3) Bava Basra 164b: Rebbe’s son brought a document which had a mistake on it. Rebbe wasn’t so happy, Rebbe’s son, Rebbe Shimon said Rebbe Yehuda the… wrote it. Rebbe scolded his son for telling him who wrote, he should have just said I did not write it. We see from this case that even though Rebbe Shimon was just telling truth it was still lashon hara and forbidden. Instead he should of stayed quiet or just give a deflecting response like “I didn’t do it.” Because there was no benefit to anyone for being an informant. 

Another example I gave was if a grocery store has some old, not so fresh food with bad expiration dates. You can’t tell someone don’t shop there because of a number of reasons: A. Maybe he wants other stuff, B. maybe he doesn’t care but if you say something you just make things worse. C. If it’s a known thing you are just stoking the coals. D. He can figure out himself if he wants to shop there or not. 

Lastly we discussed that even a change of one word from the truth could change what you say from lashon hara to what’s called motzie shem ra which is worse than lashon hara because the lie you say about someone could make them look even worse and amplifies the sin of slander. If a mixture of truth and lies can switch lashon hara into motzie shem ra certainly a complete lie is in that category and all the more severe!  

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Curses

This week we concluded the prologue of Sefer Chofetz Chaim it concludes with 3 (really 4) curses in the Torah associated with lashon hara which an be found in the Torah portion of Ki Savo.
 1. ארור מכה ראהו בסתר One is cursed for hitting his friend in a hidden place which the Sifri and Rashi on Chumash say refers to speaking lashon hara for he doesn’t physically strike his friend on his body but his speech effects the other’s emotions or heart. 
2. ארור משגה עור בדרך This curse is for giving people bad advice on purpose for one’s own benefit but it is also a curse for leading others to sin like in this case where the speaker of loshon hara is causing the listener to potentially sin if they want to listen and the listeners cause the speaker to sin by encouraging him to speak loshon hara through showing they want to hear what he has to say. 
3. ארור אשר לא יקים את דברי התורה הזאת לעשות אותם Hashem curses those who don’t take his mitzvos seriously and don’t accept upon themselves to make at least some effort to adhere to them. Even if he doesn’t care about one mitzva and habitually transgresses it even if he observes everything else he is what’s called a mumar for one thing. The issue is a lack of care to try to guard oneself from the sin not the transgression itself because it shows a lack of care to follow Hashem’s command. 
4. ארור מקלה אביו ואמו If one speaks lashon hara about his parents there is an addition curse.One of the ramifications of being cursed is being excommunicated in Heaven which is pretty scary. 
In conclusion The Chofetz Chaim said that this prologue should be reviewed over and over again because it might be the best deterrent out of anything else he writes, from speaking lashon hara.

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Positive Mitzvos 13-14

Today we concluded the positive mitzvos associated with Lashon Hara. In total there are 31 mitzvos one can eventually transgress when habitually speaking lashon hara though all 31 cannot be done at once.

#13 מדבר שקר תרחק – There is a positive mitzva to stay far away from lying, even if it is just leaving out information or not speaking up when you see something is going the wrong way and you can  fix it. Lying transforms loshon hara to an all new even worse problem called motzie shem ra. This mitzvah only applies to the one speaking not the one listening.

#14 והלכה בדרכיו – We have a positive mitzvah to emulate Hashem. Just as He is merciful you shall be merciful, just as He is gracious you shall be gracious. By definition Hashem’s attributes are only positive, He does not have  any negative attributes. By being involved in the negtive attribute of speaking or listening to lashon hara you are not fulfilling the positive mitzva of emulating Hashem.

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Positive Mitzvah 12

Positive Mitzvah #12:
Today we spoke about the positive mitzvah of Torah Learning and how speaking Lashon Hara or Rechilus might leads to hundreds if not thousands of sins for every single moment one can be learning and he wastes his time and instead speaks loshon hara he is held accountabe for each word potentially missed since each word of Torah is a mitzvah in of itself.  There times Hashem might over look, or in fact it is imperative and allowed to stop learning, for example for one’s livelihood or wellbeing, but besides that Torah learning is a mitzvah obligated every single second of the day so if wasted one is held accountable for that and it is even worse if it is wasted through doing a sin like loshon hara. 

The Chofetz Chaim, as a footnote also painted a picture of how careful we must be too not get entrapped by the yetzer hara and become to engrossed in our jobs and business to the point that we might looks like important and wealthy business men in this world but are literally homeless, raggedy, clothes stained bums, without a house over our heads in the Next World.

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Positive Mitzvos 10-11

Positive mitzvah #10 כבד את אביך ואת אמיך One also transgresses the positive mitzvah of honoring their parents if they speak or accept lashon hara about them whether in there face or behind there back. This extra mitzvah also applies to an older brother, stepmother and stepfather who you have a mitzvah to treat with extra respect beard on the extra word ואת in that verse.

Positive Mitzvah #11: את ד’ אלוקיך תירא One of the six constant mitzvos is to fear Hashem. This means that we must constantly have in mind that we can’t get around Hashem’s radar. Hashem is always watching us and will punish us for bad deeds based on the severity of our actions. Many times when speaking lashon hara it leads to other sins because when we speak loshon Hara we let down our fear guard and that drives us to do one sin after another until we put up the fear gaurd again.

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Positive Mitzvos 7-9

Positive mitzva #7 = ומקדשי תיראו We have a positive mitzvah to have an extra sense of fear and awe of Hashem in His holy places. The basic understanding of this mitzvah is that it is talking about in the mishkan or Beis Hamikdash but most poskim hold it applies now a days in our shuls and yeshivas, therefore one should not shmuz mundane talk in shuls or yeshivas and certainly not speak loshob hara or rechilus. You are making your speech or listening to loshon hara even worse then it already is when doing it there because you are showing you have no care for the King of all Kings who focuses his holiness in these places and you are totally ignoring his laws in His “face” lihavdil.

  Positive mitzva #8: והדרת פני זקן There is a positive mitzva to show special respect to the elderly and a sage and by speaking any form of lashon hara about them not only does one transgress the prohibition of lashon hara but also does not fulfill this mitzvah. If one hears the lashon hara and does not stop it or protest it and even accept it he also transgresses this positive mitzva, whether he is standing in front of the elderly person or sage or behind his back. And if the person is both elderly and a sage the transgression is double-fold. 

Positive mitzva #9 וקדשתם There is a positive mitzva to treat a kohen with extra respect for example giving him the first Aliyah to the Torah. If one speaks or accepts lashon hara about a kohen he also transgresses this mitzvah, just like by the previous mitzvah.