Ethical Teachings of the Torah

Truth and Justice in the Market Place - Part 2

Rambam includes among the halakhot of theft and robbery, the laws regarding false weights and measures, withholding a workers wages, oppression of other parties to a transaction, and the obligation to return found property. Revelation at Sinai of these mishpatim grants them ethical dimensions and moral perspectives flowing from Divine Wisdom, far beyond the merely logical and rational social laws of human intelligence. “If one steals even a shaveh p’ruta, it is as though he stole the very soul: Rav Huna taught, ‘the soul of the victim’ while Rav Chisdah taught, ‘the soul of thief’” (Bava Kama 119a). Even those legal actions that may look fraudulent or that encourage others to steal are forbidden:” “It is forbidden to steal even as a joke or in order to annoy the owner; a minor child who steals is to be punished to prevent him becoming accustomed to theft, even though he is not liable halkhicly [in other cases, such as kashrut, punishment is not inflicted where the minor is not liable]” (Choshen Mishpat 348:1).

All modern societies have laws preventing false weights and measures that protect the public against many types of fraud and oppression. This would seem to make superfluous the Torah’s verses such as, ‘do no wrong in judgment in measures of length, of weight and of volume. I am G-d your G-d who brought you out of the land of Egypt (Vayikra 19:35-36). The subsequent rabbinic discussions of these verses add Jewish dimensions to this universal protection of market transactions. “Spiritually, this transgression is different from ordinary theft. Even though it is forbidden to steal anything, one only becomes liable when the article is shaveh p’ruta (worth a penny), whereas with false weights one is liable even when it is less than that; this like chametz where the liability is also with the tiniest amount.”

“The Torah connects Yetzi’at Mitzrayim and weights and measures because the very purpose of the Exodus was to enable the Jews to observe these laws of just measures. Furthermore, the G-d who distinguished between the seed of the firstborn and the other sons, a distinction based on the most intimate and secret knowledge, shall surely punish who perverts his weights [in secret]” (Bava Metzi’a 61b). “The verse mentions judgment because the person who measures is ultimately a judge. If he is dishonest in his measure he has perverted justice and is called twisted, cherem, an abomination. He defiles the Land, profanes the Name of G-d, submits Israel to their enemies and banishes them from their land” (Sefer Hachinuch, mitzva 258). “The obligation to remember the actions of Amalek follows on those of honest weights, because when Israel distorts their weights and measures, G-d brings Amalek on them” (Rashi, D’varim 25:17).

Adhering to just weights and measures is simply to refrain from theft and merely as such, is not of outstanding morality. For that, one is required, in addition, to do acts of chesed and therefore we are obligated to give slightly more than the measure agreed upon. This is paralleled by the positive and negative halakhot of returning lost articles. Today, almost every country in the modern world, irrespective of its religion, expects people to return the found objects and provide offices for such property in public places. However, human nature militates against returning found articles and finds many ways to rationalize avoiding this, so that the same religious, cultural or spiritual roots necessary for any morality, is required here as well. The inclusion of hashavat aveida in the revealed mishpatim of geneiva and gezeila, adds the spiritual power necessary for the fulfillment of these seemingly logical social laws. “Shimon ben Shatach found jewels in the saddlebags of the donkey that his disciples had bought. He ordered them to return the jewels to the idolaters, who then exclaimed, ‘blessed is the G-d of Shimon ben Shatach” (Yerushalmi, Bava Metzia 6:5). This is Kiddush Hashem through actions in the market place; “Kiddush Hashem is obligatory on every Jew and Jewess, at all times and in all places” (Sefer Hachinuch, mitzvot 295, 296)

In the light of all this, Rabbi Hirsch sees the laws of justice in weights and measures as being the very essence of the character traits required of the Jew. “By these laws, any measurements carried out by a Jew become Jewish acts of honesty, symbolic of the Jew’s respect for justice and fairness .The Law seeks to make the sense of justice and the respect for honesty the basic traits of the Jewish nation” (Vayikra 19:35-35).

• Other Ethical Teachings of the Torah
• Today is the Birthday of the World, whether as Children or as Servants [2] by Dr. Meir Tamari
• Funding Social Costs - Taxation [2]
• THE CHALLENGE OF MONEY - Funding Social Costs - Taxation [1]