The Torah's prohibition against kidnapping

Hi,

The Torah’s prohibition against kidnapping is actually worded as a generic warning, "Do not steal." Its textual context, though, deals with life-and-death issues, and crimes punishable by capital punishment, and so the sages understood this to refer specifically to stealing a life, i.e. kidnapping. Separate biblical prohibitions address armed robbery as well as breaking-and-entering. This prohibition also applies for non-Jews, under the general Noachide prohibition against theft.

Kidnapping is about more than the basic crime of stealing a person; our prophets invoked the image of kidnapping in rebuking the Jews for taking advantage of the needy and helpless. Amos (2:6), for example, indicted the Jews for, "selling the righteous for silver, and the pauper for shoes." He cited the sale of Yosef as an example of such venal brutality, and he noted (5:15) that we should act as the remnant of Yosef rather than re-enact the sale of Yosef for profit.

Have a good day,
Mordechai

Types of Hatred, Part 2 of 3

Hi,

"Also, a craftsman who hates his competitors – this is all futile and a great evil, for he should think that no one can profit more than the Creator decrees for him.

"And the worst and harshest type of hatred is that of people who hate those who instruct them and rebuke them, to show them the straight path, as Amos 5:10 says, 'They hate the instructor at the gate.'

"And there is an even worse hatred: People who hate those who perform good deeds and pursue righteousness, as Psalms 38:21 says, 'They hate me, in return for my pursuit of goodness.'…"

וגם אומן שונא בני אומנותו - הכל הבל ורעה רבה, כי יחשוב ששום אדם לא יוכל להרויח יותר ממה שגזר לו הבורא. והרעה שבמיני השנאה והקשה שבהן - כגון בני אדם השונאים מוכיחיהם והמייסרים אותם להורותם הדרך הישרה, כענין שנאמר (עמוס ה י): "שנאו בשער מוכיח". ויש שנאה רעה ממנה - כגון בני אדם השונאים עושי טובה ורודפי צדק, כענין שנאמר (תהלים לח כא): "ישטנוני תחת רדפי טוב"... 

(Orchot Tzaddikim, Shaar haSinah)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

All together now

Hi,

"R’ Chana bar Bizna cited R’ Shimon Chasida: Any fast which does not include some of the Jews’ [former] sinners is not a fast, for the smell of galbanum is bad and yet it is included with the ingredients of the ketoret [incese].

"Abbaye brought this source (from Amos 9): ‘And He established His group upon the land.’"

(Talmud, Keritot 6b)

Have a great day,
Mordechai

Tefillin: A Celebration

Hi,

The interesting opposition between Tefillin and Mourning:

"A mourner, on the first day of Shivah, is not permitted to don tefillin for the entire day - even after the burial.

"The verse [Amos 8:10] states, 'And its aftermath will be a bitter day.' Tefillin are termed 'glory' and should not be donned on a bitter day."

(Aruch haShulchan Orach Chaim 38:8, from Talmud, Moed Katan 21a)

Have a great day,
Mordechai