Part I
Eilu Hamishpotim asher tosim lifneihem -- the laws of
torts come right after the Ten Commandments. This two-part
article explains why this is so.
*
The increased violence, crime and hooliganism in Israeli
society has been officially recognized numerous times. The
results of a multinational research study in which more than
thirty countries took part, graded the State of Israel as the
world's eighth country in its percentage of juvenile
delinquency. The local survey conducted among young Israelis
shows that a significant amount of students in the state
schools report that their fellow classmates carry "cold
weapons" -- daggers, pocketknives, and clubs, either to
assault other students or for "self-defense."
This revelation is one of a long list of hair-raising news
broadcasted frequently on the Israeli media. The constant
accounts of murders, theft, violence, degenerate behavior,
physical attacks, and intentional damage to other people's
possessions has, Rachmono litzlan, become quite
routine.
We might think that the Torah-observant have no connection
with the maladies of the secular society which has thrown off
the yoke of Torah. From the Targum Yonoson ben Uziel
in parshas Yisro however, we learn of the
responsibility each Jew shares for such incidents and the
definite environmental influence these moral breaches
have.
The Targum (Shemos 20:13) explains the negative
mitzvos in the Ten Commandments: "You shall not murder. You
shall not steal," as "My people of Bnei Yisroel should
not be murderers . . . and a nation of killers should not be
seen in the gatherings of Yisroel. My people Bnei
Yisroel should not be thieves . . . and a nation of
thieves should not be seen in gatherings of Yisroel."
The issur of "You shall not kill" includes the warning
that no murderer should be seen among the Jews. "You shall
not steal" warns about thieves being allowed among the
Jews.
The presence of thieves and murderers within Am
Yisroel pollutes the spiritual atmosphere. Living among
sinners, swindlers, and violent people hurts everyone,
individually and collectively.
The Targum adds: "So your children will not later
learn to be with murderers . . . so your children will not
later learn to be with thieves." Any breach in the Torah
Nation's moral purity provides fertile ground for the growth
of future bad apples.
It is superfluous to indicate how vast the gap between the
Torah commandments and the witless wish a secular poet
expressed when the State was first founded that, "We will
have a real country only when the first Hebrew thief will
appear, when we will have the first Hebrew murderer." May
Hashem save us from such an absurd and wrong outlook on
life.
*
The accepted minhag in Am Yisroel has always
been that children who begin studying gemora start
from the dinim of monetary matters-- dinei
Nezikin. Talmidim in yeshivos ketanos also
devote most of their time analyzing sugyos stemming
from parshas Mishpotim: Arba Ovos, Shor Shenogach, and
HaKoneis in maseches Bovo Kammo, and
Shnayim Ochazim, Eilu Metzi'os, HaMafkid, HaShoel in
Bovo Metzia, HaShutfin, Lo Yachpor, and
Chezkas HaBatim in Bovo Basra.
It is not in the least an accident that this has become the
custom in Klal Yisroel. The reason is not only because
the monetary halochos sharpen a person's mind and are
like an inexhaustible fountain of knowledge. Maran HaGaon R'
Moshe Feinstein zt'l once explained the profound
reason for stipulating that these masechtos be studied
by young students.
During the first years when Torah institutions were being
established in the USA, a group of parents requested not to
start studying gemora with Bovo Kammo, Bovo
Metzia, or Bovo Basra as was customary, but to
prefer Brochos, in which the daily halochos
such as tefillah, krias Shema, and birchos
hanehenin were taught.
Maran HaRav Moshe Feinstein heard about this request and,
when he spoke at a chinuch conference, he strongly
opposed the change proposed by the parents. "We must be
aware," he said, "that if children start to study with
Eilu Metziyos or HaMafkid, that is not by
accident. This was the minhag Yisroel for generations
and should not be changed."
R' Moshe also told of the reason for this tradition: "First,
studying the halochos of Choshen Mishpat will
permeate the child's heart with the knowledge that the Torah
is not only mitzvos done in the shul. The Torah is
relevant to all of man's life and even tells him how he
should act in the street with others, and in business, or
when he finds some lost object, or when he is asked to watch
something, or when he borrows something. The Torah teaches us
the way we should act in every situation, not only in matters
of tefilloh and the like.
"Another reason is that studying matters of Nezikin
and dinei momonos, including studying certain
dapim and repeatedly reviewing them, will implant in
the child's subconscious that he must be careful with someone
else's money. He will come to realize that he should not
touch something that is not his, he should not feel that the
world is hefkeir or that he can pick up something he
finds on the way, and the like. The study of these chapters
gives him the deep feeling that all monetary matters need to
be prudently and basically analyzed."
HaRav Reuven Feinstein added that sometimes he sees young
children who mistakenly damage other people's possessions and
excuse themselves by claiming they were be'ones,
although this is incorrect, since a "person is always liable
for what he does." There are other, similar mistakes. When he
checked about these talmidim he found out that they
had not started studying gemora with Nezikin
but rather with seder Mo'eid or other sedorim.
The basic correct concepts of dinei momonos and being
careful with others' money were not implanted within them.
*
This principle was conveyed to us by the founder of the
Mussar Movement, Rabbenu Yisroel (Lipkin) of Salant
zt'l. He taught us that the best segulah for
fighting the yetzer is studying the sugyos
dealing with the mitzvos and issurim that a person is
most likely to overlook.
"The main method of using the Torah's medicine for the
maladies of the yetzer is to study vigorously and with
intensity the halochos of the aveiroh itself--
the halocho with all its details . . . One should
analyze it well since such a study makes a permanent
impression on a person's nefesh, making an
aveiroh remote from his nature" (Igeres
HaMussar).
"When reaching a pertinent din one should study it in
its source and study it as deeply as one is capable. This
will probably create a greater kinyan in his
nefesh of desiring to observe it than reflecting in
yirah . . . This intensive and profound study makes an
enormous impression on a person's soul. Observance of this
din becomes natural for him. He will keep it with
almost no mussar study and will not be tempted to
transgress it. Intensive study of the din relevant to
one's needs is the foundation for its observance" (Or
Yisroel 7).
Maran the Chazon Ish zt'l in Emunah Uvitochon
(3:7) writes that toiling over Torah bequeaths "excessive
love and mesirus nefesh to fulfill the details of the
particular mitzvah over which he is toiling, and the
mussar of the Torah will make him realize his being
created to fulfill it . . .
"When he devotes nights like days to study the din and
the balance of justice in the commentaries and poskim
who have charted the way of the Oral Torah (which is as wide
as an ocean), the knowledge gained will serve as a shield in
his hand against man's inclination to love robbery, and
bequeath to him a love of justice and the segulah for
tzedek that is more precious that any wealth or money"
(ibid., 8).
End of Part I
