Let's Be Honest - Ki Tetzei 5786

-

If I ask you what the Torah talks about, what is your first reaction?  I have asked several people this question, across the spectrum of Torah knowledge and connection.  One of the typical reactions is that it is a bunch of rules.  Others mention the stories.  Some focus on “fire and brimstone” and punishments.  Today I got a nice answer:  After the initial “a bunch of restrictive laws,” he said that the Torah teaches us how to live our lives.


What I want to suggest today is that a major theme of the Torah is to be honest.  You must not withhold the wages of a poor or destitute employee... You must give him his wage on his promised day—the sun must not set on it, because he is poor, and he risks his life to earn it... You must not pervert the judgment of a convert or an orphan... You must not keep two supposedly identical but different weights in your pocket: a heavy one for buying and a light one for selling... You must possess a full and correct weight and a full and correct ephah-measure, in order that you live long on the land that God, your God, is giving you.


Why be honest?  Well, in this country certainly we all have rights, and I have the right to my property and to not be cheated.  While some may consider cheating as a short term way to gain, in the long run it has many drawbacks, including loss of trust and reputations, and the hand of law enforcement.  Just how honest do we have to be?  Sometimes that is subjective, and for many if it does not feel as if I am directly hurting someone, then I will do whatever I can get away with.


The Torah teaches us that honesty is a value independent of anyone else’s rights and regardless of the perceived damage to others.  As we learned in a previous Parsha - Tzedek tzedek tirdof - which can be translated as righteousness righteousness you shall pursue, or as honest honesty you shall pursue.  The word “honesty” is repeated, with a connotation of “honest honesty.”


Honesty is my responsibility, not just your right.  Is this a distinction without a difference?  I don’t think so.  What if there is a grey area?  What if there is no law about this particular action, and what if there is no clearly definable victim?  In a rights based society, if I am not trampling anyone’s rights then I am fine.  But if my honesty is based on my responsibility to Hashem, then anything that is not in any way honest is a violation of my relationship with Him, and a detour from my purpose on earth.


The Torah is a guide for life, and it’s not just about spiritual things.  In fact, the most important thing is for us to bring the holiness of Torah into the day-to-day mundane activities, because every aspect of the world is to be used to make the world a home for Hashem.  And this means that we must be scrupulous about honesty, among other things, regardless of the prevailing attitudes.  


Many years ago, when databases were first being developed, a person called me on a Sunday morning and asked if it is ok for him to give copies of his company’s software to someone.  This was at the time when everything was on floppy disks, and it was easy to copy.  “Pirating software” was still a common thing.  He told me that the person had offered him $2,000 (a huge sum at that time), and that if he didn’t do it, others in the company would.  We discussed honesty according to Torah, and that Hashem’s blessing is what brings us our livelihood.  The work we do is a channel for Hashen’s blessing, and we want that channel to be clean and pure.  To his credit he told me that he had expected me to say that, and he had called me for encouragement to withstand the test.


The next afternoon he called me.  He had had had annual review with his boss that morning, and the boss told him they were very happy with his work and were giving him a bonus.  The net amount of the bonus was $2,000.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Day of Joy? - Yom Kippur 5786

-
Yom Kippur!  There is hardly a Jew in the world who does not relate to this day in some way.  For many, it is a day of prayer, fasting and forgiveness.  For some it is a long, boring day sitting through the prayers and sermons.  (A young boy was bored during the Musaf service on Yom Kippur after many hours of services.  He walks out to the synagogue lobby and starts reading the names on the memorial board.  He notices that several of them have American flags next to the name.  A congregant sees him and tells him:  You know what the flag means?  Those are people who died in the Service.  The boy’s eyes open wide and he says:  Which service, Shacharit or Musaf?)  For some it is a day of sadness and for others it may not mean much, but as our Sages teach, every single Jew’s soul is somehow moved on Yom Kippur. I believe that Yom Kippur is a day of great joy, and relevant to everyone.  The first recorded event on Yom Kippur wa...
Read more

Stand your ground and stay dry

-
  Imagine you are Noach.  The strong rule.  Robbery is a way of life.  Adultery is normal.   Hashem is non-existent in people’s consciousness.  People believe in the power of idols and the power of the Elites.   What kind of inner strength would it take for one person, or even an entire family, to decide that this is not the way to live?  Now you may say that if Hashem appeared to you, you would also follow His instructions.  Maybe or maybe not, as we have seen throughout history. But more importantly, Hashem appeared to Noach because he was “completely righteous.” He and his wife chose to live a moral life even before Hashem spoke to him. Now imagine the derision and harassment you would receive while building the Ark by hand and telling people there will be a flood.   The people of his generation made fun of this one 500-year-old man with the fantastic claim that the whole world would be destroyed for its robbery and immorali...
Read more

Your Choice to Accept the Facts - Va’etchanan 5785

-
I was approached by an author to give him my “elevator pitch” to prove there is a G-d.  An elevator pitch is a short 30 second hard-hitting sales pitch you could give an executive that you happen to meet in an elevator.  I told him that I can’t prove to you that there is a G-d, but you can prove it to yourself.  Faith in G-d is a choice we make.  We can have incontrovertible evidence and still deny it, because Hashem Himself created us with free choice and a voice inside us that questions. I recently heard a story about two people arguing about what a creature on top of the roof was, a bird or a cat.  As they were getting into a heated argument, a passerby suggested a simple way to settle the question.  He suggested they throw a stone onto the roof and see what happens.  If the creature runs away, it’s a cat, and if it flies away it is a bird.  What a brilliant idea!  So they threw a stone onto the roof, and the thing flew away.  “See,...
Read more