To Protect Others From Falling

Parshat Mishpatim 

by Rabbi Avi Billet

תלמוד בבלי מסכת יומא דף פז עמוד א - 

וכל המחטיא את הרבים אין מספיקין בידו לעשות תשובה 

"If a man (though it likely refers to man or woman) opens a pit, or uncovers a pit, and does not cover it (i.e. leaves it uncovered when not working on it), and an ox or donkey fall into it, the owner of the pit (e.g. the one who opened it) must pay money to the owner of the animal, and the [animal's] carcass belongs to him." (21:33-34)

Rashbam spells out the debate regarding to whom the carcass belongs – to whom does "to him" refer? The overall consensus seems to be that the owner is paid and keeps the carcass (Rashi and others). Chizkuni proposes that since the damager is paying in full, he gets to keep the carcass.

I am taking a homiletical leap off the page, because there is a deep lesson that can be taken from the principle involved in this case. The pit is essentially a stumbling block before an unsuspecting being – in this case an animal unprepared to take a potentially dangerous fall – which renders the one responsible for creating the stumbling block as responsible for the ensuing damages which result from the carelessness. The debate over who keeps the carcass can be translated to reflect an idea that both people – the one who causes the stumble (a sin to be committed) as well as the unsuspecting "owner" of the fallen entity (the ensuing "sin") - have ownership over the "carcass," or the sin that wallows in its own negative state.

The Mishnah in Bava Kama 26a says "Adam Muad L'olam," that a person is always responsible for one's choices and actions. Generally this refers to the financial obligations one has for damaging another's property – willfully or accidentally. Even if I leave someone's item on my night-table and accidentally knock it over while I am sleeping, I am responsible. I should have left it in a safer place.

The exception to the rule are cases of "oness" (אונס) – where I am blameless because I was behaving properly and someone else caused me to damage something. If I break something because someone throws me on it, or places it in front of my car as I am driving, or smashes against my property in a manner that is their own fault, I am blameless.

There are many stumbling blocks that we face on a regular basis – it is part of living in a real world. We are tempted with our eyes, we are tempted to gossip, we are tempted to break laws – including those we don't like (e.g. taxes) and those that don't make any sense (e.g. some traffic laws). We are tempted to have the greatest comeback lines, to hurt people with words, and even to hurt people physically.

            

How often do we hear public figures apologizing for things they have said, apologizing for having "misspoken," or for saying things they didn't really mean? (Think Chuck Hagel)

            

When we are loud and obnoxious, we cause others to think ill of us, tempt them to speak lashon hara about us, and may cause them to violate "Do not hate your brother in your heart" (Vayikra 19:17).

            

When we don't take care of ourselves, in appearance (looking shlumpy) and being morbidly obese (excluding reasonable "overweight," and real medical conditions), we cause others to stare, to talk about us, and to judge us. (See Ramban on Vayikra 19:2)

           

When we are scrupulous (or not) about certain stringencies (cholov yisrael in America comes to mind), if we claim those who are not stringent are eating "non-kosher," or say about those who are stringent that they are "totally crazy," we are spreading slander and causing others to look askance at people who are doing nothing wrong.

When we dress provocatively, we invite others to have inappropriate thoughts about us, to look at things they should not be enticed to look at, and to possibly sin in their hearts and minds. People certainly make private choices about how to act upon the things they see – in billboards, in magazines, and on the internet, etc. But that is between them and God. Certainly if they take action involving another person, that becomes their own fault as well. But if we are at fault for causing the private behaviors on account of our choices, those of us who put others in this kind of spiritual harm's way are to blame for the stumbling block, and must "pay" for enticing others to fall. Even if everyone dresses that way at the gym, beach or swimming pool.

  

We live in a world that is challenging enough. With social media, a camera on everything we own, and the ability to share thoughts and messages instantly and worldwide at the click of a button, we must not only be extra careful about what we share and how we share it, but extra careful about how we present ourselves and how others perceive us on account of those choices.

            

There are times when people "check themselves" in my presence, from language choices, or content-of-comment choices, saying things like, "Sorry, rabbi." Why? Am I more obligated to curb my behavior than you are? Am I judging you? Or does my title remind you that there's a Higher Being to Whom we bow, so to speak, and before Whom we must answer one day for our choices?

Any real "Rabbi" will be the first to tell you that rabbis are flawed humans like everyone else, and have similar challenges in terms of stumbling blocks we all face. Everyone "klops Al Cheit" on Yom Kippur. Some rabbis (as well as many devout Jews) take the reminder of the fallout – repercussions from bad choices – seriously, and choose to behave properly as much as possible.

But we all have an obligation to consider the repercussions of the things we say, how we speak, and the ways in which we present ourselves to others in language, dress and commitment to God, in our avoidance of placing pits before others, causing them to stumble.

The donkey and ox are not looking or wanting to step into a pit to injure themselves or die. And those who are exposed to the behaviors that cause them to "fall" would usually prefer to not be tempted by those of us, particularly Torah-observant Jews, who should know better than to present such pitfalls before others who share similar responsibilities in our efforts to maintain a Godly existence.

What are you going to do with the "carcass" of the sin you caused another to commit?