5785 Parshat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim Dvar Torah by Rabbi Mendy Eisenberg

There is a line in a passuk in this week’s parsha—Parshat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim—in which a strange commandment is given. This commandment is strange not for the expectation it puts on all of us, but for its very inclusion as a commandment, at all. In Vayikra 19:14, the passuk says, “ …וְלִפְנֵ֣י עִוֵּ֔ר לֹ֥א תִתֵּ֖ן מִכְשֹׁ֑ל…” “and before the blind, don’t give a stumbling block.” The confusion is obvious: we already have laws that tripping blind people would fall under. I can’t do anything to intentionally harm someone. Would I have thought that causing dangerous bodily harm is only a problem if the person can see? Obviously not. Why, then, do we need a special commandment about not tripping blind people?

Chaza”l as quoted by Rashi—probably troubled by that question, as well as the strange description of “giving a stumbling block,” as opposed to “placing a stumbling block”—explain that this is actually a code. It doesn’t mean someone who is literally blind and literally tripping that person. It means when someone is “blind” regarding a certain topic, don’t “trip them up.” Rashi gives the example of you convincing your fellow to sell his field for a lower price than it’s worth to exchange for a donkey,  just so that you can capitalize on the person’s error and grab the field at its new discounted price.

Two very different issues arise from this explanation. For one thing, if that’s really what Hashem meant from this commandment, shouldn’t Hashem have just said that? Let the Torah say “לִפְנֵי מִי שֶׁלֹּא מֵבִין דָּבָר, לֹא תִּתֵּן לוֹ עֵצָה רַע” “before one who does not understand a matter, don’t give bad advice.” This would have been a far more comprehensive way to describe it if this is what the Torah really means. Secondly—and this was posed by my Chumash class two years ago—what’s wrong with that example that Rashi gives at all? That’s literally how business works. You convince someone to take a deal, and obviously, you then capitalize on their trusting you advice. What’s the problem?

As I explained to my students then, and have subsequently explained it to all my 8th graders in Chumash, the second question really answers the first question. The second question, “What’s wrong with that? That’s just business!” Well, not so fast. Perhaps that’s not just how business should work. As it turns out, Hashem doesn’t want that to be the way that business is practiced. “Everyone does it.” Just because that’s what everyone does, doesn’t make it morally acceptable. Hashem wants us to rise above what people do for business, and it’s not just for business: any time that a person stands to gain from their fellow’s preventable loss, a loss that YOU can prevent, it’s considered immoral to just allow it to happen. “That’s just business.“ Life is not just business. Want to know how bad that immorality is? I’ll tell you how bad Hashem “thinks” it is. He thinks it’s as bad as tripping a blind person. I’m sure, even after reading until this point, there will still be people who say that “it’s just business.” I defy you to find me the person who will defend tripping a blind person as “just business.” If you find such a person, report him to the police. Saying “before one who does not understand a matter, don’t give bad advice” does not pack that same punch as “don’t give the blind a stumbling block.” Suddenly, it looks like intentionally misleading someone—or not being careful enough to not mislead someone—has moral weight. 

Throughout our lives, people will justify the most disgusting behaviors based on the refrain, “that’s just business.” I give us all a bracha that we should remember that life is more than just business. Have a wonderful shabbos.