Parshas Ki Seitzei: Partner in Crime

 💭 A Thought on the Parsha:

 

Partner in Crime

           

            As is most of Sefer Devarim, this mitzva stated in this week’s parsha which commands against fraudulent activity, “You shall not have in your pouch a stone and a stone – a large one and a small one…. A complete and honest stone shall you have….” is a reiteration of what was commanded earlier in the Torah. The requirement for a person to make sure that one's scales are accurate is a mitzva which is fundamental in the Torah because it represents the necessary honesty and truth which must always be exhibited .

 

            The Kli Yakar is bothered that if one takes a closer look at these passukim, one will notice a technical difficulty. What does the Torah mean by “a large stone” and “a small stone”? Our first thought may be to think that they represent measures which would result in giving too much or too little merchandise. The Torah would then be describing a dishonest person who, when taking things for himself uses the large stone, yet when measuring for others uses the small stone. However, this cannot be the right explanation because it does not fit well in the passuk. When the Torah writes what one should have instead of these two stones, it says, “A complete and honest stone shall you have...”.  The passuk counters the small stone by stating that one must have a full one, but does not seem to directly address the over-sized measurement by advising to instead get a smaller one of normal size. Why is this so?

 

            Based on this question, it must be that there is a slightly different explanation and perhaps a deeper message being taught here in the Torah. The Kli Yakar explains as follows. Although when the Torah writes here “a small stone” it does indeed refer to one which measures less than it should, the “large stone” which is mentioned does not reflect this same idea to refer to a measure more than it is supposed to be. Instead, when the Torah describes the “large stone” it means a perfectly accurate stone. The Torah only used the adjective “large” in order to compare and contrast it to the fraudulent small one.

 

            The obvious problem with this is, as the Kli Yakar himself points out, why does the Torah command that such a stone should not be found in one's possession? The Torah should instead have said, “You should not have in your pouch a small stone, rather you should only have a large one.” Furthermore, after stating this negative commandment, the Torah strengthens it by saying that this is considered an abomination to Hashem. Why should Hashem despise those who carry accurate measures?

 

            The Kli Yakar answers these questions in the following way. Shlomo HaMelech writes in Mishlei, “A stone and a stone, a measure and a measure, also both of them are abominations to Hashem”. The word “also” (“gam”) seems to be extra. Why not just write “both of them...”? Based on this the Kli Yakar explains that the two stones/measures that Shlomo refers to are not both dishonest. Rather, one is small and the other is accurate, and yet Shlomo is coming to teach us that even the one which is the right measure is an abomination. The reason for this is because having the correct stone creates a situation which allows one to be deceitful by accrediting the small one. After all, imagine if this store owner would only have his small measure. He could take his chances, but every time he dares to cheat someone, he will be worried that people will realize and take him to Beis Din and potentially get caught. However, with an accurate measure in his pocket as well, which he could use for some of his customers, a fail-proof scheme is formed. Now if someone were to go home and discover he was given less than he should have gotten and  try to take the dishonest person to Beis Din, this person would be able to confidently go to Beis Din and call in those for who he always measured correctly to swear in his defense. The result would be that Beis Din would assume that the person claiming to have been cheated is indeed the real cheater and that his own weights are the ones which are imprecise.

 

            Immediately after this commandment not to have inaccurate measures, the Torah charges us to never forget what Amalek did to us when we came out of Mitzrayim. They attacked us when we were vulnerable and we cannot forgive them of this. Rashi comments that the juxtaposition between these two seemingly unconnected topics is coming to communicate the following message. If we are untruthful about our measures and weights, then we should begin worrying about getting attacked by our enemies.

 

            The Kli Yakar is very bothered by this Rashi. First, what does being dishonest have to do with our enemies attacking us? We know that Hashem punishes middah k'neged middah, so why is having our enemies attack us considered a fit punishment for cheating our customers? Furthermore, when Amalek attacked us there were certainly no cases yet of people with fraudulent measures, so this explanation does not even work well with the first time Amalek waged war against us. How could we understand this Rashi?

 

            The Kli Yakar continues and says that with the aforementioned idea, we could now have a better appreciation for this juxtaposition that Rashi is coming to address. The person who has the accurate measuring stone together with the under-sized one is trying to secretly deceive his customers. He is one who is lacking yiras shamayim, for he does not consider the fact that Hashem is omniscient. Rather, he thinks that Hashem will be tricked with his scheme along with the Beis Din. A person with such a mentality deserves to be attacked by Amalek – who attack publicly at times when we are lax in our yiras shamayim.

 

            The yesod of this Kli Yakar is one which is an important one to internalize. Even though the accurate stone is nothing more than a passive player in a plot to harm others, it is still considered as much an abomination as the stone specifically designed to cheat. Keeping quiet while a friend is doing something wrong, or being a silent partner in a crime, still makes one a responsible party in what occurred. We must be careful not just to make sure that we are not the dishonest stone, but to even make sure that we do not place ourselves as the accurate measure in an environment which, with its presence, sheker could be enhanced.

 

            The opposite is also true. Earlier in this week's parsha, the Torah relates some exceptions as to who is allowed to convert to Judaism.  Among these passukim, the Torah says, “You shall not hate an Edomite, for he is your brother; you shall not abhor an Egyptian for you were a sojourner in his land. Children who are born to them in the third generation may enter the congregation of Hashem.” At face value, this passuk is extremely difficult to understand. We are commanded to not show hatred toward Egyptians nor prevent them from converting to Judaism because we are forever indebted to them; after all, we stayed in their land. What exactly do we owe them for? The price we paid for staying in Mitzrayim was not worth the value we received. We were forced into hard, purposeless labor, they tried to kill our children by drowning them in the Nile, and even after we finally left Mitzrayim they chased after us! Yet, despite all this, we are expected to allow them to convert to Judaism after three generations? For what do we owe this favor? Rashi on this passuk comments that although all these facts are true and we were indeed treated miserably by the Egyptians, nevertheless because they were a source of help during our time of need when there was a famine in Eretz Yisroel and the shevatim came to Mitzrayim for food, we are indebted to them.

 

            This Rashi does not make the passuk any easier to understand. No time in history did the Ancient Egyptians intend to do anything nice for the Jews. Hashem had a plan to get B'nei Yisroel down to Mitzrayim. Therefore, Hashem created a famine everywhere except for Egypt which had seven plentiful years and had stored silos of food. The Egyptian government's full intention was to become fabulously wealthy using the advice that Yosef HaTzadik gave them. Yet, even though they were nothing more than a proverbial pawn in Hashem's master plan, still, because we benefited from dwelling there, we must hold back our hatred and allow them to convert to Judaism if they wish. 

 

            We see here a similar concept as we saw in the Kli Yakar. It does not matter how passive a part one may play in an overall plan. If one causes goodness to come from him, no matter how indirect, it will be attributed back to him. The same, however, is true in the opposite scenario. Even someone as complete and perfect as the accurate stone, but who is lacking in yiras shamayim and plays even the smallest role in contributing to bring aveiros into the world, is responsible for those ramifications.

 

            Our personal degree of Yiras Shamayim is what defines everything we do. The Orchos Tzadikkim offers the following moshol. A person may work hard to fill his barrel with wine, but as long as there is a hole in the barrel, it will all leak out. The same is true when it comes to people. One may even be on the level to realize that gashmiyus is not what is important, and such a person may fill his barrel with Torah and chesed and look really healthy, when in fact he may just be visually “asymptomatic”. As long as there is a lack in yiras shamayim, there are holes in the barrel and it will all leak out.

 

            The trickster in our parsha has a perfect stone. However, because it just sits silently as a deceitful scheme evolves around it, it too is an abomination in Hashem's eyes. May Hashem help us ready ourselves by growing in yiras shamayim and sealing our proverbial barrels and in this merit may Hashem write and seal us into the Sefer HaChaim!