If you had written the Torah, which mitzvah would you have written last in Pashas Mishpatim?
I thought about this and I would have put the halchos of slaves last.
We were heading to Eretz Yisrael, we would need to know all the halachos of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael?
No one owned any slaves and none would own any slaves in the near future. We would need to know the basics of manufacturing Tefillin, what color should the be? How many compartments? What shape? We would need to know halachos of Terumois Umassrois, Leket, Shikcha and Peah, at least the basics...
Nope!
The Torah chose to put the halchos of slaves first, number one , and gave this priority over all the 613 mitzvos.
Why?
Because it was a "teachable moment!"
Klall Yisrael had just been slaves merely weeks before and the tortures they had experienced were very fresh in their minds. It was "davka" at this time that Hashem chose to teach them how to treat slaves.
There were many who claimed that after Walder was exposed as the monster that we all learned he was, and then having decided not to give his victims "closure" by killing himself, we should all "protect" our children by not telling them what really transpired.
We learn that the juxtaposition of the Halchos of slavery immediately after Matan Torah, draws an entirely different picture.
The Torah is telling us that when an incident occurs, the lessons learned should be immediately applied, while the story is still fresh!
We need to teach our children President Reagan's dictum "trust but verify." Children need to know the dictum of the Talmud
אין אפוטרופות לעריות meaning you cannot trust any one when it comes to sexual matters. Not your rebbe, not your Rosh Yeshiva, not your therapist and not even a grandfather or even a father, unfortunately!
I also suggest that when it comes to children up to 12 years old, halachos of Loshon Hara should not be taught to them at all. Children should not be encumbered by halachos that can actually harm them.
We as parents want to know every single thing that happens to them in school. We want to know if they are being bullied, we want to know if they are being sexually abused and even verbally abused. And children should be told very sternly that if they they are being touched inappropriately by someone in school, they should never report this to anyone in authority or anyone on staff in school, but to come home and report that to you.
We don't teach children Halachos of Niddah or even Aveilus. Don't teach them Hilchos Loshon Hara, I am positive that the Chafetz Chayim didn't write these Halachos for toddlers .
5 comments:
I want to disagree with your last statement.
The CC was a pietist. I wonder whose side he'd be on in this scandal and keep thinking he'd say "Look, even if badness happens, you can't speak LH!"
I like what you are saying here. Nice pshat on why halachos of slaves were prioritized here. True about lashon horah for kids. That's not to say they shouldn't be taught at all. They should be taught to have ahavas Yisroel and not engage in cheap gossip. But they should be allowed and encouraged to share everything that's on their minds with their parents. This last part is stated in response to Garnel Ironheart.
But we only teach אין אפוטרופוס לעריות about sins of men with women. Kolko and most of walder and all of Leifer was same gender about which Chazal say Jews are not suspected of transgressing. Are all the same gender abusers possibly also descended from fake geiros
Haven't read such piffel in quite a long time.
Don't trust your rebbi, not your principal, not even your Rav. They are all suspected pedophiles.
Trust only us, your parents.
Wait, you can't trust your dad either, he's also a suspected pedophile. I guess you have to tell your mum in secret and make sure your dad doesn't find out.
One second. Isn't Malka Leifer a woman? So where does that leave us?? I guess all we have left are the trans guys who've had their genitals cut off..
And the last line makes even less sense. How can you compare Lashon Hara which is applicable daily to Nida which doesn't apply untill after marriage, and Aveilus which will hopefully never be? But I guess thats too much to ask of a writer that attributes Kabdeihu Vechashdeihu to Reagan...
2:41
Go back to Yeshiva, you missed my entire point.
I was saying that since there are Halachos that we don't teach children, we shouldn't teach Halachos of Loshon Hara as well. Loshon Hara does not apply all "daily", just open Hilchos Shmiras Haloshon written by the Chafetz Chayim and you will in fact see times when it is a "mitzvah le'farseim"
In fact you don't have to open his sefer, open a chumash and Tanach and you will see Loshon Hara on our Avos and our ancestors. Would you have known the story with Yehuda and Tamar if it wasn't written in the Torah? How about what the Shvatim did to Yosef? I can go on and on
Obviously Loshon Hara isn't applicable all the time.
The reason I wrote not to trust a principal, Rav and even a Dad is because just in the last two weeks, a principal, a Rav, a rebbele, and a father, were all arrested for abusing their students and a father for raping his daughters, this guy was a Rosh HaKolllel!
As far as Malka Leifer is concerned, men are more likely to abuse their own childre than women.
"trust but verify"
By the way, the chassidishe Rebbe arrested was in fact Malka Leifer's father-in-law!
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