Developing Religious Common Sense | Rabbi Anthony Manning | May 20 2026

Okay, good morning everybody. We'll make a start. Thank you all for coming. It's a busy er told me they need to go home and cook. So, uh I'm going to get on with it as as quickly as I can. The Shirim are sponsored today um by Daniel Benavid and in the rather leu nishmot Daniel and Abraham Strauss Mosha and Raiselbat Yseph May Marcus. These are the parents of Judy and Marcus. We very grateful for that sponsorship. And my sh today is sponsored for the academic year branded and zelik ben car al shalom. So thank you for all that sponsorship. If I could remind you please to turn off your phones. Um which will be great. Okay. Today we're going to have a really fun share I think. Uh we're going to look at a topic that we haven't looked at for a very long time since I think 2015 which someone here will remember. But uh we've added some extra sources in and I even wanted to add some more and it's possible that I may do a revised source sheet that go online with a few uh bonus uh bonus sources as well. I want to look at the issue of hayashar which is a hahic obligation maybe we'll see. It's certainly an obligation to work out when it's the right thing to do. We'll talk about that. Um and it's also a mitzvah in the Torah. Let's start with the mitzvah number one. The Torah says in we have to do the straight thing. We have to do the good thing in God's eyes. And so that it'll be good for you. You do good, you get good. So we have this mitzvah to think what does it mean to do the safe. to the hayashar the hat. Now the word yashar is used if many times in um it means obviously straight and just but there is something called safarash which is a bit of an enigma. What exactly is safa hayashar? The book of the just interesting if you switch the words around it's safer hashir could be a sort of book of poetry or a collection of poetry. Let's have a look here in one place where it's mentioned and I'll mention a couple of others. Um the famous case where Yeshua is fighting in Gon and the sun stand still. It says number two and the sun was silent. It stood and the the moon stood until they were able to take their revenge. Isn't it written in the It sounds like it's a quote from the volume down. >> Ah, okay. I could always Yes, fine. No problem. Um, I could talk quite more quietly as well. Um, similarly, I didn't put it here, but could just put it up a bit more because otherwise I'll start shouting. Um similarly in um in the say for bets where um the Davidid is giving a lament for sha and so there also I didn't bring you the possibility it says ala he quotes from the hayash there are some academic thinkers that also the uh the the song of when he inaugurates the beta mikdash in mafim al chapter is also So if you look at the Greek translation, it talks about the the book of poems, the book of songs. So it's maybe some kind of a an ancient book that they had um which was that also finds its way into the Tanakh. And I'll have another read of this and I want to show you a couple of these right now. Number three says, we're talking about braces and he quotes coming up in a para very soon. Bam says I want to die the the death of the yesharim. Who are the yesharim? Ara yitzak and yakov. And therefore according to this reason the safer brachid is the book in which this quote about the sun stopping is taken from. Where in safer brachid are you going to find a pos relating to the sun and the moon doing what they're told by the barbanel says in the dream of Yseph. when Yseph says that the sun and the moon were subordinate to me. So Yeshua of course was a descendant of Yseph. So he says that's where you'll find it and therefore safer bracious is um is and I brought you the from number four. So these words I couldn't resist. I brought you from the uh from the balator who loves his ramazim and his gumatrias and he he brings here a sofa tavas not a roshetavas but take the last letter of each word look at number five the gamatria first of all he says yarim as the gatria a haam again I said this before but I think back in the day they just used to look at words and see numbers and and and sentences like like we I don't know see patterns or different things they didn't sit there working it out like 3 + 6 plus 9 plus I don't think they did I think they just saw the numbers because who would have thought that if you look at the end of the with the beds but gatri of bam it has the gumatri of bam and that's why he says I want my end to be like their end the end letters which are the same gat matri as bam brilliant very interesting if you like that kind of thing Um according to another uh alternative understanding number six um maybe this is my why does why called because it says it also says which we'll get to in a minute and theel struggles a little bit to find a pos in Dvarin which talks about the sun and the moon stopping like Yeshua says, but he quotes from where he says, okay. Um, meaning the idea of God is God is in charge of the heavens. Theim and it also uses the word yesun is also probably is the same as yashar. So in that sense could also mean the book of god and god of course he's called yashar sadik yashar who so there's lots of ways of looking at what that could be and the totima brings the number seven nuclear in your own time that's uh the root of this is because the whole of Judaism at the end of the day rests on the pillar of we saw that a couple of serium ago and therefore this idea Hayasha is also the the basis for the entire Torah and the opposite of I brought you with the bottom in number eight. We see this don't do what people do today. The opposite of you do whatever you want to do which we see in as well in number nine. the goes a little bit further also which is very important but we get into examples of this in number 10 interesting don't be so that everyone else can see and don't be aid just in your mind I'd love to be aid so don't just be a hidden in your mind don't be aid in public so Everyone says, "Yeah, what a do it. Be act on it, but do it privately." But God sees what's going on when there's nobody else there. It's an interesting idea that the the thousands of tiny that a person does when nobody else knows about it. That's that's this mitzvah which is uh which is actually quite exciting in many ways that that's also very much uh clocking up please god all those little things that we do that no one ever recognizes but that's okay now I'm going to look at four or five specific applications of what does it mean so the first thing I want to look at is the idea of meta meaning that there are certain certain mitzvot which are more than just specific mitzvot their entire hashkafot if you like their entire philosophies within the system. They go beyond specific and this is we'll see in a minute the Ramban a very quite a well-known approach to the Ramban. Let's start with Rashid that the Ramban's going to quote number 11. This is the uh the idea of compromise. We'll see what that is in in courts reaching a compromise and which we'll have to translate quite carefully which we normally translate as going beyond the letter of the law. But the wordim doesn't really mean beyond. It means before or within. beyond is or so we'll see what means. So the Ramb quotes Rashi and he develops from this a very big principle which is that and we all know this that there are times when even though the says something is permitted it's not the right thing to do in the words of the is floor is a ceiling not a floor don't create sorry the other way is the floor not the ceiling meaning is the beginning is the basic obligation But it may be that what really is required in this situation is beyond the halaka. Halaka is not the answer as to what you actually should do. So what you can do and what you should do may not be the same things. Have a look at these two rambans with me and he'll allude to a third which we'll just mention number 12. He quotes the here the he quotes. This is the idea of compromise. What does this mean? So this is in in here the the Torah gives you all sorts of specific laws. Do this, do this, do this, do this. And now now it tells you even when there is no specific detail telling you you can't look it up in the use and do the right thing in God's eyes. That's what God wants of you. But this is a very important idea. He gives a very important point. Some people feel that hala has to cover everything and does cover everything but the specifics of hala can't cover everything. You can't look everything up in a book. Even though we have millions of books now, I don't know if it's uh it's unbelievably good or somewhat disturbing. We have thousands of pages of books on every area of halaka. My wife always jokes that when she was bas mitzvah, she got books like they were about a hundred pages long that all you need to know about Judaism in 100 pages. Many years ago, I bought a book in me, a thousand pages close hebrew type on the halas of saying hello and goodbye. So on the one hand I'm I'm just in awe of this young man who kyle who's written a thousand pages of the hocus saying it was very interesting the book costs very little on the other hand I'm like really there are a thousand pages to learn how to say hello and goodbye maybe the ram you can't write everything down um one second one the way you work with your neighbors. How you conduct your social life, not every detail in business. Sure, there areas of business. You can't write everything down. Your political social sociology in the whole of the country, the politics, how do you decide on who to vote for? If you have da Torah, then it's easy. You just vote for whoever your tells you to vote for. But you have to make decisions. The Torah gives you many specifics. Don't go bearing tales about people. Don't take revenge. Don't take bear a grudge. Don't stand by when people need help. Don't curse the death. Get up in front of the elderly, etc., etc., etc. You've had a whole list of specific mitzvot. Now, now the Torah gives you a general mitzvah. The Raman is saying a very important thing which is every time we learn a specific or a specific mitzvah, we should be learning on two levels. What are the details of this mitzvah? And what is the spirit of this mitzvah? What kind of a person is this telling me to become? What does it mean to be a Torah oriented Jew? This is very solvician in a way in the sense that Raf Salvetic says the philosophy of Judaism comes from the the the and the the last line of the mind which was that's wasn't the original name of the book but that's not for now which says that if we're going to look for a philosophy of don't look in the Greeks and don't look in the look in the saying a similar idea which is that the halaka teaches the spirit of the law and that gives you the the velour the general approach to what it is to be a Jew. So then when there's a question that you have and you can't look it up anywhere, you get the right answer because you're just intuitively in a Torah mindset. That's with more famously even with number 13. I'll do this quickly because you know this already you beesh whatever kadesh means holy sanctified special detached whatever that means because I am number 14 the Torah first of all tells us sexual prohibitions the food you can't eat but it allows a man and a wife to have a sexual relationship and it says If you want, you can eat meat, just make sure it's kosher. You can drink wine, just make sure it's kosher. In Cain, if that's the case, someone who's a real Balty, they can't give in. They can't resist their um their tivers, their their lusts. He could have multiple wives or even he could have one wife, but he's he treats her like a like a sexual object to indulge himself. who becomes a glutton. He's a fresser, a meat fresher and a wine drinker and he speaks in a in a vulgar way, but he always manages to avoid a technical prohibition and he'll always say, "What's your problem? Technically, technically this wine is Mahadin Mahadin. I wouldn't touch Oh no, I drink only the most mahadin wine." I'm not making a statement about just so that you know but he gets drunk. He acts like a you know a drunkard and he eats meat which is the I only eat this ha but he eats it like you know gluttonous. So and your wife ah my wife only uses the best mikvah you know I married the most woman in the world. Yeah but how do you treat her? Says the rambang this is the problem and he famously phrases the words. This person is a low life. He's a disgusting person. But within the letter of the law, now he says a very similar thing after the Torah has given us many specifics. And then he gives a general principle that we should pull back from things which are technically permitted. I don't need every bottle of wine or every piece of meat. This is the way the Torah teaches. Clat also brilliant pratl. It's not just some highly technical way in which the rules of dash work and you think like what's cloud or prat says no that's the dera it gives you specifics and expects you to extrapolate the spirit to get to a new idea which goes beyond the actual law. This also sounds a little bit brisker to me as well in terms of the longus. You know, you take certain details, you look at the difference between them and you conceptualize them and you abstract them into an underlying philosophical and you get a bigger idea coming out of the little specifics. This is all here rooted in this Ramb. And then he says at the end um good you have to do the right and the good. So too with Shabbat, the Torah prohibits. Okay. But the things which are not technically but which are just not shabic. There's a general mitzvah. And therefore, you can't just turn around and say, and I get this question a lot from when I hear this question from my young students and they stick up their hand and they say, technically, I know what's coming. You know what's coming. technically is almost always a shila in hilabas meaning I I can engineer a way that my friend will take the ticket to the game and I'll come and I'll go through the door when it's already open and I go and and the answer is yeah you found a way of avoiding the mal but what about the mitzvah shabas has to be shabas stick now we think shabas stick is just like a an annoying thing that the rabbis say to stop you having fun on shabas yeah it's not shabas stick no because it's no it's a mitzvah to make Shaba, how do you do that? It's okay. It's it's not as as detailed. What's shabasique for this person in this community may be different for that community. Can you play football in the park if there's an au? Some communities they'll say that's a busha. Some communities will say that's beautiful. The kids can be together on chabas and play tennis and play football. It depends. And again, I'm not getting into whether you can kick a ball on the grass and shabas. That's but you can find technical ways. Also, they ask that question my female students usually when they're asking about something to do with showman gear. Technically, you know, if my boyfriend wears gloves and he teach my pat I get those kind of questions all the time. You know, come on. You know that what you're about to ask is certainly not appropriate or within the spirit of the law. You just found a way to to work it out. And I brought you here a source which I don't normally bring the was the bottom of page two here. um was uh this the the brother of the Pizets Rebi Hashimo who was the Asia Kodesh and uh a very important figure in the world of religious Zionism here in the in the land of Israel in the 20s. His yacht side actually is tonight. I I checked this this morning. The Alut's side is he died in 1945 and he says at the bottom in number 15, the injunction you shall be holy implies that the letter of the law must not be strictly adhered to. Rather, as the Ramban phrases, it will shall follow the intention of the Torah. Whoever wishes to achieve achieve a perfect observance of the Torah cannot be satisfied with adhering to its explicit rulings. I should have brought this in Hebrew. Really doesn't matter. I quoted from the English. He must penetrate deeper in order to arrive at the ultimate aim of these rulings. He must not only think of that which is good and right in his own eyes, but that which is the right and the good in God's eyes. It would seem that the latter injunction added by the Torah to its list of rulings is superfluous, since all divine precepts are designed to show mankind the correct way of thinking. However, there are many things which are permitted by the letter of the law and are only forbidden because of the requirement to do the right and the good in God's eyes. Many things, many things regarding the seizing of property for a debt, which we'll see in a minute. Our rabbi stated, "The Lord doesn't demand the return of such property, but it is to be returned in accordance with the injunction of do the right and the good." This special injunction demonstrates that Judaism is not satisfied with limiting activi active evildoing. It aspires to eradicate potential evil from the soul of man. Okay, very important point. And Rav Litenstein makes a similar point about halaka reflecting his father-in-law for sure. If however we recognize that halaka is multi-planer and many dimensional that properly conceived, it includes much more than is explicitly required or permitted by specific rules. We should realize that the ethical moment we are seeking is itself an aspect of the demand or if you will the impetus for transcending the din is itself part of the corpus and this is the the uh the apparent paradox that isn't actually beyond the law it is the law and we need to ask well can they force you know you're meant to be an ethical person is this meant to be just your own inclinations and if you get it wrong and kabal or can the bin actually say I'm sorry you have to do this yeah like is that technically required no but it's you have to do it you had a question >> it's not a question it's more of a comment I'm reading Rabbi Ryan's latest book that was just out about mentors >> right >> I think that one of the most important aspects of these mentors was specific specifically to do your show >> right right >> in a level that we don't have >> right yeah I I absolutely right to repeat the question there Rabbi wine talks about his mentors and they taught him not not as much the technical what to do and not to do but the dma the example of understanding that we're going beyond the law doing being a mench being an ethical person requires more than what is required by halak there's a story that they tell yakov kineski when he was in Russia and Somebody came to him and said the postmaster, the non-Jewish postmaster gave him the wrong change. He gave them, I don't know, a 20 equivalent dollar bill and he gave him change for a 50. What should he do? So he said, well technically you can keep it like it's a task. You know it's you don't have of a shabas but I think you should take it back because it's the right thing to do. Okay. And then he started getting other reports from people in the town that they got the wrong change from the postmaster and he made a declaration that anyone who gets the wrong change has to give it back. And it turns out the postmaster was checking who is honest in the town and who is dishonest. And he came to the conclusion the only honest people in the town are the Jews cuz they're the ones who give the change back when you give them the wrong change. >> And who know who knows what that can do. >> Oh, that's a good question. I don't know. You know, the end of the story is and then the guy, you know, told when the Nazis were coming. I don't know if that's the end of this story, but that can be the end of that story. That's the point here. Um, interestingly, uh, just quickly in in, uh, Devor chapter 12, it's flipped. It says hat and, um, Rav H says an interesting thing. He suggests means do what the says, but make sure it's the right thing to do. Like we've been saying, you know, just because the says it's the right is is is okay, still be a yasha. And then he says, and also if you want to do the right thing in life, make sure it's okay by the you can't just say, well, I want to be a good person and I'll do it my way. You have to have both. You have to have it technically permitted and also the right thing to do, not not just one or the other. Yes, sir. >> It seems to me that when you read the paragraph, it leaves a lot of room for judgment. Yes, 100%. >> And therefore, how do we know what's right and good? >> Well, this is the lady's point over there. You need examples. You need people to give you. How do people get in life? So, you might turn around and says nobody has anymore. Okay. How do you get? You get by people telling you this is right, this is wrong, this is the way to behave. You're 100% right. But that's what we've kind of lost a little bit. We think that the way to be a Jew is to look everything up in a book and ask a sh to everyone. And you have people running around like following used to follow and ask him all these millions and millions of shas and recorded yes no yes no you can work that out in any way. There's no okay it's great to ask sh you have to ask you can't just make stuff up but you're right it leaves a lot of room for one's own discretion but that's that's how it is. That's how you're meant to develop. If you never had any room for your own discretion, you'd always just be a black and white sort of uh uh simple figure that's asking Shilas and doing nothing from themselves. Right? Let's have a look at at some applications of this. The first one is a is a simple and discreet one which is the barra. The darz is a that we see in the garra. The raam brings the in number 19. If you're gonna sell land, you sell land to someone else. Your immediate neighbor has the what we call it in English law an option. He has a buyback option or a buy option. He can get pay money to the purchaser and he can get that land for himself to remove the land from the purch and this purchaser is shall it's as if he's only acting as the shal. So I own number 32 and the own and then the the owner of number 34 has been wanting to buy my property or or yes for my my property so he can expand his house. He wants a bigger garden. He wants a bigger house. And I know this, but you know, I sell it to uh someone completely different from a different city who offers me a good price. The neighbor has the right under to go and get require the buyer of the land to sell it to him for that price. Even though I never meant to sell it to him. I meant to sell it to some other guy, my friend in the other the other city. Nevertheless, my neighbor, even my neighbor who I don't particularly like very much, has the right to buy that land back. Even if the buyer that I wanted to send to is a the shah or or a neighbor, not an immediate neighbor, but like someone who lives in the neighborhood, the kav or my one of my relatives. Yeah, I'm selling it to my cousin. No, it doesn't help. Um, and the next door neighbor is a nudnik. I'm selling him my land. He's an distant in many ways. He takes priority. He can get the land out of the purchaser. Meaning what? You behave that way. The neighbor can make so much better use of this land in his own property than some other person who's buying it for an investment or to move. They can really make a lot of it since it should be all the same to you. Why do you care? You're getting $50,000 or whatever it is. Either way, you could buy a house for $50,000. Okay. Okay. Ben it's it's appropriate that you sell it to your neighbor. Okay, straightforward. Um, what about the issue of Shara? So, when you go to bastin, I don't know who here has ever been to bastin, but when my wife runs a business and then once or twice there's been a discussion in bastin and the bastin will say to you, do you want a din? Do you want us to pasan? You think he owes you $10,000? And the other one says he owes you nothing. Do you want a din? You're right. Or you're right. And then one goes out happy and one goes out very unhappy. Or do you want a pur which is >> both unhappy? >> Both go out unhappy but like somehow or other, you know something? It's never black and white. It's never black and white. Yeah, but it's absolutely clear the guy owes me the money. No, what you said was ambiguous and it's, you know, could have understood it this way. He could have understood it that way. Maybe the answer is like 7,000, 6,000, whatever. Look at number 20. It's a mitzvah. to make a compromise, you have to do. If there's there's no sham, you know, people are still very unhappy with each other. And if you try and make then it's not really fair. What is combined as it says in that's fine? So with David says, "Sorry, I just missed. I've got the wrong glasses on. You can you can see that my glasses broke in in America. So I'm wearing something that kind of half works and half doesn't. There's no and therefore the Gmorra brings there in 21 that the B will say this is the you have to find this sweet spot you have to say to the litigants do you want you're right you're wrong or do you want ash and is also the mitzvah of because that might be the fair result. Ah, everyone goes out unhappy. Okay, when you think about it, that's that's how it works. Okay, good. Another example, forgoing money. Uh, number 22 lived to a very ancient age, very old age. And they asked him, "What's your secret?" Like they always in the paper they interview these like people 112 years old you know what's the secret of your 112y old life and then they all come up with a one of the best I ever saw is they asked this fellow who's like 113 they said what's the best thing about being 113 he said no peer pressure I thought that was the best that was the best answer okay so so but what's the secret everyone wants to know what's the secret he said to them listen this is my secret. I was matter on my money. I didn't insist on my rights because we see what's one of his merits is he was a vet on his money. What did he do? He would give a prolong giving a prashi explains that if you had a din that you owed somebody a half a printer. Let's say somebody came and did a tiny little job for me. They fixed a tiny thing in my house and said, "How much do I owe you?" Half a printer. So, it's it could say, "Well, I'm not giving you a prer." That means twice the the amount that I owe you. Let's go to the baker. Let's buy a bread roll worth of prera and I'll take half and you'll take half and that's your half a pter. Perfectly within your rights to do that. Really give the guy a printer and say, "Forget the change. Don't worry about the change." That's my secret. That's a It's like going to Target or wherever you go and you buy something and uh you buy a you know computer. It cost $699.99 and you give them $700 bills and then you stand there. Where's the change? They go, we don't have any sense. I don't even think they make them anymore. We don't have any sense. And they said, what do you mean you don't have any sense? If you ripped off every customer one cent, do you know how many millions of dollars you're going to be ripping off the pup? And he's absolutely right. But then there's this whole line of people standing there saying this Jew is asking for his penny. You know, that's not the right thing to do. On the other hand, if you buy something for, I don't know, $90 and you give them a hundred and they say, "I'm sorry, we have no change." Okay, that's $10. I mean, that's real money. I mean, you don't have to be a frier, but you have to judge when when is it right and when is it not right. I don't know what maybe when if uh who Bill Gates walks into the shop, $10 for him is I don't need the $10. He doesn't need a million dollars. >> Get rich by >> Okay, so you're saying that's how we Yeah, fine. But maybe it's different. And we'll see in a minute. That's that's actually going to be very uh relevant. The Rambamask that is obligated to do this. Look at 24. How should do business? He has to say no and he has to mean no. And he has to say yes and he means yes. No. He's very particular to pay what he absolutely is owes to other people. He gives and he fores don't need the change. He's not he's not insistent on getting what he needs. He pays immediately. people. And who is a formal is any individual Jew who represents Torah to the general public. Someone who people look at them and say that's how an Orthodox Jew acts. That's how a Torah Jew acts. So it's not just a Tam in a sense of a very wise and learned person, but it's also anyone who represents the Jewish community. Okay. So let's spend a few more minutes on. So what does it mean? So I always had a question about this. You know it doesn't sound like it's within. It sounds we we usually mean it's beyond and going beyond the letter of the law. So I saw um I heard rather I drown Steinh who teaches in America. I think she uh she talks about this. She talks about monomous issues a lot. She had a very interesting dissertation about the issue of when you quote unquote loopholes in Jewish law. They're not really loopholes, but she mentioned the following in the name of some professor, I don't remember, but it means means I don't go right up to the line of what I'm entitled to. I allow things before my absolute rights, which in the sense that what's beyond the letter of the law really means I'm not insisting on everything that I'm entitled to. And that's why it means according to the this line I could insist on this but I'm stopping before that and I'm not insisting on that. I think that's actually a very uh a very sensible idea. It makes a lot of sense. It also helps you understand the word of a your pass you went over the letter of the law in a way which is wrong. You crossed the line. You're not allowed to cross a line. And we talk about mishadin in all sorts of theological contexts. We haven't that God should go and judge us not according to the strict den. Um the world that Medish says God was going to create the world according to but then in didn't in the end create the world according to but he went in and creating the world according to Rakhim. So we have to copy God. So part of the mitzvah of being is to copy the way that god runs the world which is not mishaden. Um and therefore we have a number of very interesting examples of which I want to quote three or four each of which gives us a somewhat ambiguous conclusion and that's why I think this is so interesting and it leaves it to some degree up to us to try and work out what's the right answer here. Look at number 25 the son of was walking down the street. He met a guy and he was carrying bundles of twigs. He was a sher. He was shleing twigs to the market to sell the twigs. He sat down to adjust his load. Okay. And he took a rest and he said to when he was picking the stuff up, help me pick up my stuff and and load up the mitzvah of Tina. You see somebody who's having trouble loading up his load. It's a mitzvah to intervene. Now Rabbi Ishmael but Rabi Yosi is potter from this mitzvah. He's exempt. Why? Because he's a sage. He's maybe very old. He's a kam. It's a it's not according to his cover to shle and and and carry. It's like asking your grandma go slle bring in the water the the the shopping from the car. It's not according to his cover. So Amalalay said he says to him come and shove him and tell me how much is the whole thing worth. said puzza half a significant money it's not half a pa it's half a zuz it's money so what happens yeah I've laid puzza so gives him a half a zuz and says there you've done your day's work leave the twigs and take the money and be happy I pay for the whole thing rather than load it on so what happens the rabbi raiosi doesn't need all these twigs so he makes them and he just leaves them by the side of the road so what happens eggs. So the schleer has a bright idea. He goes and picks them up cuz they're hea. So he picks them up the and he says to him, "Now help me up with the twigs." So he looks at him. He gives him another half says I'll buy them. And he makes them again. He was about to go back and get them again. He could be this all day. Do this all day. You know what they say? Uh, you fooled me, shame on you. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Rabbi is feels he's being a fry. He's being taken for a fryer now. So he he he was about to get them again. So he says to him, "I've made them for everybody in the whole world and I haven't made them for you." Which the Gmorrah then goes on to say doesn't really work in but he was just pushing him off basically saying, "Leave me alone. have a but didn't have a have a have a he had a he didn't need to give him any money he just could say no I'm not helping you I'm a potter but he was going okay he didn't need to give him the money he gave him the money but you're left with this interesting question that did he do the right thing giving him the money meaning what if the guy actually wanted to go to the market what if his wife told him he has to go buy stuff. What if he likes sch smoozing with the people he sells? That's his day. He sells twigs to everybody. Schmoozes with this one, sch smoozes with this one. And Rabbi Schmmell just kind of swoops in and says, "Yo, you're potter. I'm helping you." He didn't ask for that. You can help people the way you feel they should be helped, but not the way they want to be helped. It's it's on the one hand, he seems like he's a swindler, this this this sher. On the other hand, you are left with a question that well is that is that necessarily the way to help people without asking them how they want to be helped and it's not totally clear how this works. Similarly, number 26 Rabban was moving and there were professional movers moving his barrels of wine. It's not a bottle of wine, it's a barrel of wine. It costs thousands and thousands of dollars and they smashed it. They dropped it and it smashed and spilled. So he says, "You owe me money. This is crazy." So what did he do? Shaklamu. He took their coats as collateral. He says, "Until we get to the base and we work out how much you owe me, I'm taking these coats. Thank you very much." Amaru, they went to complain to Rav who was the guy. He said to him, "Havelu, give them their coats back." So Rabb Abraham said to Rav that's the that's that's the den. Now there's a gear difference here am he said to him and according to some gir says in yes that's the den which is very interesting because we'll see that might mean the bin can actually force people to do this. Some gear says don't have in. It's just that he said to him he quotes a question from Mish you should go you should be a good person be a mench. Okay. Is that is that is that a is that just advice? And Rashi says no that's we saw already has to go. So he's telling him yeah for you you have to according to okay he gives the codes back. So now the theers come and say to Raan we're very poor people we've been shleing all day the and we're hungry the midi and we have no money so ra says to zil give them their money are you joking not only do I not keep the collateral but I now have to pay for the work that the movers made and they broke my you know they dropped my grand piano off the roof and smashed it to pieces equivalent So do I have to give him the money said is that and he says to him again maybe yes maybe not yes but he says to him the end of the you have to be at sadic you have to be at so rashi understands this is not work that the bin is saying to him yet maybe someone else we wouldn't rule this way but you sorry give them the coats back give him the money that's how you have to be you have to be the tadik here. You're you're not a stammer person. Toss jumps in here and says, "No, come on. That's all that's already way above and way beyond." Look in number 27. So to say slightly different name, okay? Um they have to give him the money. And there the RA brings the I want to suggest he says these that's not the they were negligent. It wasn't just an unfortunate incident. They were ne they're professional and they broke his barrel and smashed his wine. That's not called they make they call him real but what Rav is telling him is like another level beyond. So there's the din according to there's that some people have to do maybe and some people don't have to do and then there's just you know be a big kid be a big sadic you know be a be be a super super duper person which ra and that may depend on whether the ga is in or not in because according to rashi makes more sense that he's saying yes this is the den you have to go lift but according to it makes more sense that he didn't say yes this is the den He just said you you should you should do this maybe even beyond that as well. Look at number 28. So again we're left with this slightly ambiguous question. Number 28 is very interesting the big was walking behind his teacher in the marketplace a big big marketplace and he said to him what if we found a wallet he had in the middle full of money in the middle of the m seeing marketplace he said to him find us keepers why are you allowed to keep the wallet >> because it's >> because it's There's Yesh. There's Yesishh. Nobody in their right mind, you drop your wallet in Time Square on New Year's Eve or whatever. You know, hundreds of thousands of people who in their right mind thinks they're going to get the money back. So if you find the wallet, you can keep the wallet. That's you assumed to have is such a public place. Okay, good. So then he says, "But what if a Jew comes up to me, sees me holding the wallet, said, "Look, says my name Goldberg. My my phone number. It's my wallet. What do you have to do?" you have to give it back. Well, that's a bit strange because if you have to give it back, why did he first tell him that he could just keep it? Why didn't he tell him, "Well, look, see if it's a sim. If there's a sim, you have to try and find, call the number, call Goldberg, see if he's there." He didn't tell him. He told him you can keep it. And now he tells him, "Oh, you have to hand it back." What does means? It's the the right thing to do. So he asked him, I'm so he said to him, how do these both go together? T means both. Both first you tell me I can keep it, then you tell me I have to give it back. Meaning you could keep it, but like really that's the right thing to do. Yes. I mean another case, someone drops a pen in the sea on a on a cruise. It's the gold pen they got for their bar mitzvah and it says to Moshi on this bar mitzvah with love. Yeah. So it drops off the boat. So his last day it's gone. He's in he's in the Mediterranean. He's not finding it. Four days later I'm walking down the beach in Tel Aviv and it washes up to Mosh with love you know and I said fine it's my pen. Mosh lives next door. I can say you get it. Thanks for the pen. It's my pen. I don't have to give it back. It's mine. But that's the way to behave. That's not the way to behave. He brings a case of which is father. Very interesting. He found these donkeys in the wandering in the desert and he he kept them for 12 months which is again not the once you have a piece of lost lost property which is costing you more than the value of the property itself. You don't have any obligation to pay more than the value of the property in order to look after it. Donkeys are not that expensive. I bet you can go down to some shook in somewhere and buy a group of donkeys for very little money and he's got to feed them for 12 months. But he did that's how he did it. Another case third line at the end rather have a shakraman almost identical case but a different generation rather was walking behind his rebi excuse me but shook it was it's debated but he's a big shook says to him what if we found a wallet full of money here said to him you can keep it what if a Jew comes up and says look it's my name he said to Shalom. I told you you could keep it. You can keep it. I said you could keep it. You can keep it. But the guy's screaming at me. My name. It's my name. It's my number. Ring the number. Call the number. You'll see it's my phone is going to ring. And there's $3,000 in the wallet. You can keep it. Why can you keep it? So he says, it's like someone who's screaming as the house falls down in an earthquake and they're screaming, "It's not happening. It's not happening." orasyama or his ship is sinking in the sea. All his money is being lost. I'm not I'm not mish. Come on. All your all your shipments in the bottom of the ocean. Of course you're Mish. No, I'm going to hire, you know, someone's a salvage crew to get it back. No, you're not. It's gone. It's finished. So, someone drops a wallet in the middle of the shook like that. So, why is that different cases? In the first example, he said you can keep it. Ah, but if the guy comes, no, you should give it back. And in the second case he says you can keep it and if the guy comes you can keep it. >> Why? >> Why? What's the difference? So in one case he said it's appropriate to go lift the English. In the second case he says you don't need to go lift. So what's the difference? Because it's all contextual. What happens if the guy who lost the wallet was very poor and the guy who found the wallet was very rich and he says no it's a mia. This is how I got wealthy. And he says no that's not appropriate. The guy's lost his wallet. Give him his wallet back. He needs the money. What happens? He flip it. The guy who lost the money is very very wealthy. And the guy who found the money is the poor guy. So Matia, this is going to mama save his life. And the is he doesn't have to give it back. You're going to tell him he has to give it back. He found thousands of dollars. It's going to change his whole family. He's going to change his whole life. And the rich guy won't even miss it. And hakically, he can keep it. There's a there. It's hard to say you have to give it back. Well, that's called a mitsia. And you ever have Oh, it's a mitsia. A mitsia is a good thing. Yeah. So sometimes you have to give it back and sometimes you don't have to give back. Again a sort of ambiguous situation. I must tell you my son when he was about 10 or 11 lost his wallet. I think my parents had given him a 100 shekele note which is is still money and certainly was money and he had a wallet and never he lost it at the cottel you know on on kamo it was mama heaving with people and he was crying. was upset I lost the money. Grandparents gave him D. So he said it's okay. I I gave him another 100 shekele note and said it's fine. Don't tell grandma and grandpa. You know it's fine. Here's another 100 shekels. You can spend it. We got a phone call about 3 days later from the police. >> Is this a maning? I'm thinking o what's my son done? The police the police the police are after him. You know the hilltop youth. I don't know what he's So so someone had handed in the wallet. Someone had found the money in the middle of the kaiser. This is not just the stamuk. This is the cartel full of beautiful Jewish people that found the and he handed the money back to him. Of course, he didn't give me the other 100 says matsia. It's a matia mats. So, okay, fine. That's that's that's that's why he's successful in life. B. Um, okay. What's the 29? Number 29 says, "Even though it's a place, it's a shook full of non-Jewish people, there's no obligation to give it back. You don't have to give it back." What does mean the right thing to do to give it back? If a Jew comes and he gives a simmon his clearly his it's but sounds like it's up to you. He doesn't say he doesn't say even he says which might mean that it's it's a voluntary thing and in fact this is in the whether the bastin can force the person to go and according to many of the ashkanazi ronim the raan the ravy the bastin can force the person to go according to many of the spari postgame including the rash and you're going to tell me the rash is an ashkanazi post but that's Not really true. He's really a poetic as well. It's they asking that you certainly you do not have to. It's a choice to give it back. And if you see when the brings the sounds like it's a choice. Number 13 first of all the brings down that you the bin cannot force someone to give it back if it's notically required even though the bin feel that this is appropriate. But others say no the bin can force it's part of the process before you don't have to give it back to only to the Jew. That's a different thing that you can give it back to the non-Jew if you think it's gonna make a kesh. Okay, that's different. But you don't certain there's no because is is mut to to keep. Again, you can decide if it's going to be a you have to give it back >> according to this. >> Yes. Correct. Correct. But that's if it's going to be a you should give it back. If it's going to be a you must give it back. But it's not the same. It's not the same thing. I once uh put a pound coin into a machine to get a chocolate bar in the train station in England and it gave me two chocolate bars by mistake. The machine just went wrong. So I called her up and said, you know, what should I do? I said, what are you going to do? You know, it's it's a shabasa. You don't have a dinner giving back. It's not a Jewish owned thing. You have to start calling them up. And even if you call them up, they're going to think you're mashugar. Hi, I have another chocolate bar. What do you what do you want us to do with that? So he said just eat it behind me. It's a mat there. So there there's no there's no hi I'm an orthodox Jew. I'd like you to take my bar back. You know I'm just a nudnik. Okay fine. And if you look in number 31 and 32 it says it all depends. Why is it sometimes yes, sometimes no? Again if the person who found it is poor and the person who who lost it is rich and there's no hakic obligation. Obviously if there's a hakic obligation >> the poor person has to give it back. Of course, doesn't matter that he says, "Oh, it would have changed my whole life." No, you found it, you know, in a in in the hall here in bed. Of course, there's a halakic obligation to give it back, even if you're bought. But if you found it in the shook, you found it at the bottom of the sea, washed up on the beach, whatever. So, that's different. And then it depends on the case. Let's just finish off with uh an idea in Midat, the idea of moderation in midats, which the Ram is famous for, but not just him. There's a king number 33. I found the following says God makes people straight and they become crooked. They make all the they mess it all up. And the mud there says this is the idea that in all midat you should try to find a way which is don't be extreme this way. Don't be extreme that way. Be a person who is a normal mench. He doesn't use that expression but basically a balanced person. This is a posal. Okay. There's a question about anger. Can a person the Rambam there says everything you should be balanced but anger you shouldn't be balanced. You have to never get angry. But there theor say but sometimes you have to at least pretend to get angry because if you're completely if it was a walkover then people will take advantage of you. But you should not actually be angry. But in all things, you should really be uh uh as much as you can a balanced person. And I think that's also an application. So we've we've seen a lot here. We could have seen even more. But I think this is an interesting mitzvah that has a lot of applications. And hopefully we can put that into practice. I wish everybody a good and a good shabas. And please God, we will meet next week.