Shabbos Parashas Kedoshim - 5774

Shabbos Parashas Kedoshim - 5774

Rabbi Hal Miller

You shall not curse the deaf, nor shall you place a stumbling block before

the blind. You shall fear your G-d, I am Hashem. [Vayikra 19:14]

It seems obvious that one should not do something that harms another. Why does

the Torah get so specific in the matter?

A close look at the verse seems to indicate that the prohibition here is to

avoid doing things that may not ever be known to the victim. The deaf person

may never know that someone spoke a curse, and the blind person who does not

happen to walk into the stumbling block may never know that someone put it in

front of him. There is a secular cliche, "no harm, no foul", that seems to run

counter to this prohibition. Why should one be held liable if no damage was

done?

This is precisely the point of the verse. We are prohibited from doing what

may be harmful to another, whether they know about it or not. This brings us

to ask what sort of things are covered, and who the prohibition protects.

Sforno expands the level of harm that is covered when he writes, "The one

causing even indirect damage is held responsible by the Torah." He says

further, "one must not cause distress to one's fellow man by undermining his

dignity, his self image and the image he enjoys among his peers." Rambam takes

it beyond harm to individual victims when he says "public danger". Rav Moshe

Feinstein says that it is more than injury to the physically handicapped, and

"includes giving bad advice to one who is 'blind' in a certain area." Rashi is

more specific: "Do not offer wrong counsel to one blind to the consequences."

The Talmud in Avodah Zarah does not limit this verse to prohibiting acts

that endanger someone who is not able to detect what was done. It forbids

selling an animal to an idolater who is planning to use it for a sacrifice,

on the ground that the Jew is assisting the idolater to commit idolatry, even

in the case where the idolater is fully aware of what he is doing. We are not

allowed to step back and say, "I didn't actually do anything wrong" when we

can see that someone is going to sin with what we have put before him.

Rav Hirsch goes even further. The verse is not limited to an intentional act

on our part that leads to some kind of harm. He writes, "It warns us against

carelessness in word or deed through which the material or spiritual

well-being of our fellow men could in any way be endangered."

Some commentators discuss in depth what a curse is, and how it applies.

Since it comes along with 'stumbling block', we can gather that the prohibition

is not limited just to a curse, regardless of whether a human can bring about

harm by way of words. Some discuss whether the verse is intended to protect

only a Jewish victim, but the Gemara makes it clear that even an idolater is

under the umbrella. Some point at verses elsewhere prohibiting cursing a

political leader and use that to expand the 'blind' to 'all' people.

Are there limits to this verse? In Avodah Zarah we see, "But when the idolater

has his own animal, a Jew does not transgress." This is different from the

case such as where Sefer HaChinuch says that the prohibition "extends even to

the one fully conscious of his misdeeds." The difference is that in one case

the 'victim' is going to do harm whether we are involved or not, and in the

other case, we are enabling the harm.

We are not able to prevent all wrongs in the world. But, we are not allowed to

do anything to make any of them more likely to occur, whether the potential

victim will ever know about it or not. Why? "You shall fear your G-d."