The Torah’s Most Uncomfortable Laws Explained - Parshat Mishpatim - Rabbi Kaplan on The Parsha

Yesterday we were talking about Yesterday we're talking about the uh the evidy the the evid the the the and we had asked the question we we had spoken about um why uh a a single man versus a married man uh and the master is allowed to give him a uh a maid servant. But the expression I used in the Gomorrah, the expression gumar uses is evido. In fact, not to eat in the in the parishes in front of the not respectful. The uh the the gum the gor says the he could drink but not not eat. The gum says that the u is o he serves the master by day and by night. Now the plain meaning we said yesterday what it means to serve the master by day and by night. the the extension is daytime always represents when things are going well. Sun is shining, everybody's in a good mood. That's daytime. Night always represents orals. Uh Gulos, I think Ellie Weasel's first book was called night. Uh the night is always when things are bleak and uh darkness and Yakov fights with the ministering angel of Asov through the night meaning symbolically he's fighting through the night of exile [clears throat] and then eventually the sun shines. So the commentaries say an an EV serves his master by day and by night refers to every one of us which means every one of us is an eid i because we are all servants to hashem and a Torah Jew has to know that sometimes you have to serve Hashem by day and you have to serve Hashem at night. That means that we have to serve Hashem when things are going our way. And we have to serve Hashem when the ball rolls in the other direction where sometimes things are not going our way. And it could be that a person is not feeling well physically or financially or has some sort of other aggravation or it could be a person is in a a person is in a concentration camp or he's in Siberia by the rest of even then a Torah Jew has to muster up the ability to serve Hashem with all his uh to serve Hashem. That means we serve by day. I had a Rebi who once said anybody could learn Torah when they feel like it. The trick is to learn Torah when you don't feel like it. Anybody could be nice when they feel well. When when when you got a headache and and and you got pressure and and this or whatever other issues in your life, then it's not so nice to be not it's not so nice. I was once at camp. I was once a kid when I was at camp and we were the [clears throat] in in the in the cabin. I remember there's one big guy and he said he couldn't sleep at night. He said, "If I can't sleep, nobody sleeps." You know, you know you and and that's often what it's like in the family. You could have somebody who somebody who doesn't feel well and turns into the family monster, you know, just just that nobody somebody's got somebody doesn't feel well. So all of a sudden the rest of the family has to suffer. So there was a uh there was an incident. There was a couple that got married. It was a documented incident. Couple got married and [clears throat] about three months after the wedding, they were in an auto they were in a in a car accident and the husband's brain stem was shattered. So he was in the hospital on a respirator and uh the doctor said there's obviously no hope no recovery over the only you know there's no no chance of recovery and uh the wife you know devastated married three months and she come into the hospital she sit with him and talk to him you know whatever it is no response he's a he's a completely complete vegetable then there no response and this went on for weeks and months and eventually she decided she has to make a life for herself because you know she's not she's a married woman. He can't give her a get. There's no get by proxy. Can't give a can't give a get and she he's she's not a widow because he's alive. So she actually went to medical school and uh once a week she would come into the hospital, sit with her husband for 10 minutes and that was it. And this went on and on and on and she graduated from medical school. This is going on for years. [clears throat] And one day she was sitting in the hospital with him after she already became a doctor. So she was sitting in the hospital with him and because of her medical training she could see there were signs of a heart attack was having a heart attack and uh she the you know so now she had a choice. She could either pull the push the uh push the the button for uh the the the what do you call it to push the button to call in the staff or and she could or she could just ignore she could apply CPR push the button and get him resuscitated or she could just let him die and be released of this trap that this get him that she's in. So without a moment the station she pushed the button he provides CPR kept him alive and then uh she went to ask a hikic authority she went to ask a hikic authority whether she was obligated to do so it's like zeit and the l said the Torah says did not stand by your fellow's blood tora does not distinguish between somebody who's healthy or not healthy and you had to do what you did and then he said only Somebody whose ancestors stood at Harena could have done something like that. That's the end of the story. That's the end of the story. Now you're expecting and then he got better and they all lived happily ever after. So I told this story to my kids once at Shaolus my job is you know with this one of the you know what they were little at the time and I told my kids this story. The mistake I made was my my parents were over at the time. So, I told my kids this story and my kids are all looking at me like this. >> And then my mother looks at me across the table and she goes, "And then like the happy they have." And I said, "No, it was a happy ending. It's not the happy ending we would have written to the story. The happy ending is that a Jew understands that they have to serve a kesh under all circumstances." That was the that was a story that I told the kids that I learned. Don't tell them stories like that if if mom's around because then I get in trouble. But so say so obviously you and then there is a question by by the way of uh of even the there is a big hot question about resuscitation. Uh not in all circumstances is not in all circumstances are we obligated to to resuscitate. So that that was that happened to me that one that one situation but that's what it means that inevity reserves the master by day and by night. Now that's number one. Now number two, the Torah then goes on to do something very to say something. This has to be understood in the proper perspective. Take a look at page we're on 418, fourth line from the top. So if the guy decides that he wants to stay uh he he serves his six-year term as a servant and then he decides he wants to stay on for 49 years till the Yov. So the Torah describes staying on forever. So look what the Torah says to do. Show second line from the top side takes them to the court. He takes them to the door or the doorpost which is actually the door. He drills his ear. Then he serves him forever. And forever doesn't mean forever here. Forever means until the yo. >> So what happened? This guy served for six years and he says, "Hey, I want to stay on with my master. I want to stay on as a servant for good." So, what do we take? We take and we drill his ear. Drill his ear and let him stay on for good. Now, the question here becomes, what's with the drilling of the ear? And if he's already going to drill his ear, why don't you drill his ear immediately? Just drill his ear as soon as he as soon as he sold him, as soon as he became a servant. So, the answer is, did this guy Why would a guy want to stay on? You've been serving for six years now. Why would you? Now you've been here six years. Now go go go. You know, you go go take your life in your own hands now. Why does he want to stay on? So this guy believes the door to success is closed to him. That Hashem can't help him out. He believes the door to parnasa is closed. What do you do when you're with the owner? You work. And you got free room and board. You got room. You got board taken care of. You got no bills to pay. It's like living on kibuts. >> All you got to do is work. So it's not the Torah's attitude. Tor's attitude is hey you have to so your faith is in the master instead of faith is in a ro. So we drill a into the door. Why? Because the door in the muza when they were in mit what happened on that door and on that muza remember on the night of the firstborn they painted and put the blood on it which was the sign to the Jewish people. You're going free. So what are you taking on another master for now? One thing that you stole but what are you taking on the master? I you're voluntarily taking servitude now. So say you didn't get the message. Drilling the ear means open up your ear and hear what the Torah was trying to tell you with that blood on the door. What was the Torah trying to I told you last week listening hearing sha could mean two things. It could be to hear about it. It could be to understand the significance. He heard the significance of the of the splitting of the sea. Not just hearing, oh I heard about it. I heard about it and therefore I went on with my life. I heard about it and I understand what the significance is. So a person should hear what's what happened over here. Try to internalize that. You didn't do it. We drill your ear into the door. You drill his ear into the door standing up. So I saw one of the commentaries very clever very very uh very interesting shot. I think it's the uh who was it? I think maybe the kuni one of the rishonim you know why you drill his ear into the door cuz what if this guy runs away he runs away from the master now how do we identify and then another guy comes says hey he's he's a servant by me how do we identify him take him up to the door if your ear matches the whole height at the door so you're the guy [laughter] come here put his ear up let's see let's see what's happening by the hole if it's the if it's the right height so then that you're obviously the guy. So they it's also an embarrassment. Obviously it's embarrassing for the guy and there's the idea that the reason we didn't do it originally is because he already got one punishment. The punishment of being sold to begin with. That was a punishment. Now you're now after six years you want to stay here. What you're telling me retroactively is you didn't even see that as a punishment because you're enjoying what's happening. Okay. So now we'll give you a drilling. Now we'll drill you. Okay. Then the Torah goes on to the next section. When a man sells his daughter as a maid servant though, she does not leave the way slaves normally leave. Now, aren't you shocked? Anything shocking here? >> When a man sells his daughter, hey Ba, look, can you fold the laundry? I don't feel like it. All right, I'm selling you. [laughter] You know, wait, you're selling your daughter? What's it selling? What? Trade them. trade them, lag them, you know, they collect them. You know what is it? Go sell your daughter. What does the Torah want over here? What does the Torah tell you? And then what happens? He sells her to the master. You don't if the master doesn't doesn't want to marry her. So, he can't go and sell her off to somebody else. What's going on? What what's going on here? What does the Torah want? >> [clears throat] >> So the the answer is who would sell his daughter >> what >> a guy was poor >> excellent you know there sometimes in life you're in a situation of the lesser of two evils I'm not selling my daughter because there are halas about selling the daughter you sell her to another Jew a and she's hired as a servant in the house and the first choice is that he or his son should marry her why am I doing it why Why are you doing it? You're doing because you don't have what to feed her. Nobody goes and sells his daughter if he's got what to support her. But you're you're you're you're putting her selling her and putting her in his jurisdiction because you need her to get fed. She'll have a job. At least she'll be taken care of. To the contrary, it's not an act of cruelty over here. It's compassion. You have compassion on your daughter. And the ultimate compassion is somebody else should marry her. The Torah says you could sell her because the Torah is trying to teach us compassion. I told you I once said that to my daughter. Once threatened my seven-year-old daughter. She was giving me some give me a hard time. I said, "You know, according to law, I could sell you, don't you?" She looked at me and she goes, "Yeah, >> but you won't. I didn't." [laughter] Maybe I should have. Oh, did she? That's okay. I married her off. I told you every time my son-in-law turns his back on [clears throat] me, I just go so the the the what do you call now look at the here now in paras we have a whole bunch of mitzvah this I think the para with either the most or the second most mitzvah in the Torah is that you have paras which just has one mitzvah after another a lot of it is monetary law uh then you have paras uh kadoshim in the book of vayikra and you have paras kis in the book of of which have the most uh most mitzvah in the Torah okay so um the Torah says like this this guy's supposed to marry her now look towards the bottom of the page let's say the owner or his son marries this girl 418 two lines at the bottom he must not deprive deprive her of her marital rights, her clothing, her food, and living together. He's not allowed to deprive her. That means this guy marries this maid servant, then he marries another woman. And so could be the Torah say taking a precaution over it. Well, she was only a maid servant anyway. Maybe, you know, Torah says she's entitled to all of her rights. Now, this puk is something the feminists never seem to bring up. They never seem to object to this. The marriage relationship is measure is me is mentioned twice in the [clears throat] written Torah. This is one of them. The husband's obligation to his wife. Anybody know where the second time is? >> Is it with the mar? >> No. I mean it talks about the various various forms of marriage where the h the marriage obligation is what the obligations are in marriage is mentioned twice in the Torah. This is one of them. And this is fully on the husband. Where's the other one? And who should it be on? If the first one is on the husband, the next one should be on the >> but it isn't. Right. The second one is on the husband also. Feminists somehow skip that part of the Torah. >> What does the second one say? That in the first year of marriage has gladdened his wife. Doesn't say she has to gladden him. It says he has to glad to her. And not only that, Rashi points out that it specifically doesn't when it says it doesn't mean he has to rejoice with her >> because he has to make her happy. >> How do you like that? >> Only the first year. >> And what's that? >> Only in the first year. >> Only in the first year. After that, you know, get Yeah. After that, you could torment her. Yeah. Absolutely. >> No, no, no. Absolutely not. And and the Torah says that he has to make her happy. It twice the written Torah talks about it both as the husband's obligation. What about the wife's obligation that we learn the oral Torah that the says it exubs what a wife has to for she has to cook and clean and do this that and the other. But this the feminist say generally skip this part over here. Financial obligation is on you. How do you like that? You know the story? There's a woman I once saw an interview. There's a woman in Chicago who won a she won like a four or five million dollars in the lottery. So they said to her, they were interviewing her on TV. They said to her, "Mrs. Murphy, do you have something you'd like to say?" She said, "Yes, Sears Robuck and Company, I quit." >> Now, any wife could do that to her husband. A wife could come home from her job and she could say, "I got good news and I got bad news." The good news is there was no traffic on the way home today. The bad news is I quit my job. And the husband has zero legal recourse. All you could do is say to your wife, "Thank you very much for what you've contributed to. He's got she's got no obligation to him." A husband who comes home and says to his wife, "I've decided to stop working." She says, "I've got good news and I've got bad news." The good news is Basden is not far away from here. The bad news is they're going to flog you if you don't go to work. Because in the old days, they would do that. a husband who wouldn't support his family, they would actually whip him till he support his family. How do you like that? Nowadays, they don't have that. They don't have that ability nowadays. Wouldn't be so bad if they did, but they don't have that ability nowadays. The obligation is completely on the husband that that nobody fetches about. Nobody nobody nobody's worried about that. The feminists aren't worried about that. And it's a tremendous burden. Now, if a wife has given a verbal commitment to her husband, she says, "Listen, I'm marrying you and don't worry, I'll work so you could learn in colo." So, that's very nice. And she should do she should try to fulfill her commitment. But if she ever comes home and says to her husband, "Listen, I thought I could do it, but I can't. It's just overwhelming for me." He's got the obligation now to figure out how to support her because he gave her Exuba. >> I heard a thing like that where like the wife is like, "Oh, yeah. I want to work." And then like 10 years down the line, like they have a couple I can't do it anymore. Happens all the time. >> It happens all the time. They got That's right. And the husband The husband has an obligation. He has got a financial obligation, a legal obligation. And sometimes it happens that a wife gets pregnant and she can't work. Sometimes a wife has a problems with pregnancy and she has to be on bed rest. So what are you going to do? You know, the So okay, that's life. Hashem rides the world. But at the end of the day, the financial obligation is the husband. Okay. Now if you look um I want to show you something very I wanted to just show you something interesting. You see where it says on 418 four lines from the bottom. So it says again and a man marries sells his daughter. Then it says, "If she does not find favor in the eyes of her master, how does he answer translate? He is not designated for himself." So then he assists in her redemption, but he is not allowed to sell her to somebody else. Now look at that word, gentlemen. Bevdo means the art school translated as he is a betrayer. What does it say? Betrayer. Yeah. Oh, right. He is betrayer. What is the word begged? Bevigdo. Betrayal. What's the root of the word begged? >> What? >> Clothing. What's clothing got to do with betrayal? You know that a bog is in modern Hebrew bogate is called an adulterer. Bogate is uh in the military. What's it called? the guy who uh >> uh bogate is a guy. What What's the crime? Treason or is it treason? You're you're bog you're you're unfaithful. [clears throat] >> What's it got to do with begged? What's it got to do with begged? >> Yeah. What's it got to do with clothing? >> What's it got to do with clothing? >> When's the first clothing in history come about? >> Because what did they do? They were unfaithful >> to Hashem. That's what a begott is. Begot is something. Oh, begg is also called a lavouch. Lavouch is a garment which comes rooted is related to the Hebrew word busha which is shame. It covers over a person's shame. Mil is a garment. Mil also when a person desecrates holy holy items what's it called? Moes. What's it got to do with a coat? Again these are all related to the concept of lack of lack of faith. So what is this guy called? He has shown himself if he didn't marry her which was the goal to begin with. So this girl has support. He has shown himself to be an empty garment. He has shown himself to be an empty garment. You're a begged with nothing in the inside. That's you're like we would call it in Rahers says like in the vernacular you say he's just an empty bag. It's an empty garment. There's nothing there. No substance there. So often the clo the clothing is clothing is something that obviously is an identifying feature for us. You know clothing is an identifying feature. It just a person has to know that the clothing sometimes people put a little too much weight too much uh emphasis on the clo. I think there's a song out now. I don't need your beckisha. Have you heard that? I don't I don't even know how it go. You know, some guy goes to the Reba and the Reba says, "I don't need your beckha. I just need you." Because sometimes there's a lot of a lot of emphasis on Have you heard that? >> How How does it go? >> I don't need I just >> The only thing I need is you. >> The only thing I need is you. Yeah. And your wallet. But the uh the the what it go I don't need. Listen, we do need the bag. We do need the We do need the clothing. We need to identify ourel. When I was 18, I asked Rabbi Neansal who lives in the old city, the RV of the old city Nevansal. It's a big So I once asked I was 18 years old. I asked him, why do from Jews dress the way they do? You know, I was my knitted Yarmoka and my Baka, what do you call he was, you know, and I asked him, "How can the black dress the way they do?" You know, with the with the outfit and the whole, the suit, the black, everything's black. So he said to me, "When you see one of them walking towards you, can you tell he's a Jew?" >> I just I wow, profound. I was just I was 18. I said, "Wow, what a great answer because it's true." And you see, I mean, you could tell they could tell it's a Jew or Amish, but generally generally you're shalia, unless you're unless you're somewhere in Pennsylvania or Ohio, you know, it's probably going to be from Jew. So there's the ba the clothing plays a role for us. The clothing must play a role. There's a story about a guy. >> So, we're closeminded. >> Yeah, we are very close-minded. Yes. And in and more than one. Yes, we are close-minded. And I mind your clothes also. Yeah. So, the the the the uh the uh there's a story about a guy who's an actor. What was the story? He's an actor. He's out of he he's an unemployed actor and he's trying to get a job. So he goes to the uh looks in the want ads. There's a zoo and the most popular the most popular attraction in the zoo are the monkeys and one the they have this monkey who's just does put on a tremendous show and Chico the monkey and he does a great job but he died. So they need an actor to play the job of the monkey. They don't want to tell paying customers that he died because it's going to cost the zoo a lot of money. So they get this guy and he's he happens to be, you know, one of these uh he he goes and he auditions and he's just a natural monkey. The guy's great. So they give him a monkey uniform and you know the story. He's in the zoo and he's uh he's uh he's he's acting as the monkey and the crowds are there and they're cheering. They're everybody's thrilled. It's on. It's wonderful. And then he's starting to use the trapeze and even uses his tail. And one day he, you know, he's he's swinging and the people are cheering and he doesn't know his own strength and he flies up over the top of the cage. He lands down right in the lion's cage next to him. He's 10 feet away from the lion and he's looking at this lion and like the lion starts walking towards him and he's like the lion goes came so little is that you? He says, "Yeah, what are you doing here?" And the zebra in the next cage says, "Would you guys keep it down? We're all going to lose our jobs over here." What happened? The sometimes a person thinks we lose sight of who we are. Are we the outside garment or what's inside? Right? We're supposed to build ourselves up from the inside. The outside is an identification. It's not who we are. It's not who we are. That's the connection to the begot. Okay? Now, let's go on. The uh the Torah then says m I just want to see where it is in the mitzvah over here. Um yeah mhvos when somebody smites somebody else he has to be put to death. Now uh um if a person is this the right p is this? >> Yeah. If a person somebody who kills somebody else has to be put to death if he didn't do it on purpose. So then he has a place to run to which is called the cities of refuge. [clears throat] Now, one of the things that you see that iron the irony is that the Torah talks a whole lot about the Torah talks a whole lot about execution. You do this, you die most, you must steal and it was rarely carried out. Rarely carried out. uh you needed exact evidence and you needed the whole basic the circumstances were almost impossible for it to be carried out in Christianity other religions they talk about peace turn the other cheek right isn't that one of the things you're supposed to do when somebody smacks you just say you know here take this one also yeah give me give me your best shot isn't that what you're supposed to do and and and then uh and then what do you call it and in the meantime they slaughtered millions of people through history after all the preaching about peace and love and all they've done is slaughtered people you know us them other people they had a uh they once had Israel I remember in Time magazine some anti-semit was writing some of the Israel that was in one of their wars so they described Israel the country that never turns the other cheek >> now I didn't see America turning the other cheek when they got bombed in Pearl Harbor I didn't see it I didn't see them turning the other cheek over there is a so you see the what do you call the the the at the end of the day at the end of the day the whole thing's a narrite the Torah talks about it in terms of how so we should understand how severe the a is you know how severe it is to worship idols person deserves to die can't necessarily execute you because we don't we're not looking to have bodies rolling in the streets and we don't have enough evidence and so but you have to know how bad it is to break shabas you have to know how bad it is to eat non-coosher food you have to know how bad it is how how is it going to actually be implemented and carried out? Not always because you know we might not have the circumstances might not be right for it. Now take a look the next one. It says one who hits his parents shall die. Now here you have um it's only if you cause you draw blood or cause a bruise. A bruise means that the blood has congealed under the skin. That means there've been a movement that blood has gotten released. Somebody who hits his father, hits his mother and actually draws blood is liable for the death penalty. This is one of the reasons why this is has a practical. Now I don't know a whole lot of people who go around beating up their parents but uh the there there is a practical here. Let's say a son is a medical person to give an injection to his father that it is best not to have the son do it according to Allah that the son the doctor my son the doctor yeah but yeah but your son the doctor is somebody talk to your friends about not have him do the unless there's nobody else available >> or daughter >> or daughter or daughter because uh because if they what do you call if they give the injection and they draw blood so it had to be done and so on and so forth but there still the Torah says don't draw blood the vagon says even a even a baby, you know, you get a 2-year-old who's sitting on his father's lap and all of a sudden, you know, he nails him right in the face and scratches him and there's blood. The villagon says obviously he's not responsible for his actions, but when he becomes an adult, he should do chuva for that because of the severity of it. >> Don't worry, I know you just say I, you know, they just say, you know, I I regret having made my father bleed. That's all. Obviously, it's not his fault because he's still But if only go says he should do Juva if he drew blood at that if he drew blood. Uh Buddy Ryan, you ever hear Buddy Ryan? You guys didn't ever heard of Buddy Ryan? He was the defensive coach for the Chicago Bears when they won the Super Bowl in 1985, the four the famous 46 defense. So, Buddy Ryan was a former Marine. So, he said when he grew up, him and his brothers used to put a rope around in the backyard like a boxing ring. You had three brothers and they would box, you know, nice. They would they would punch each other out in the boxing ring. That was how they entertained. My brothers and I played Monopoly. They would they would punch each other. Then I punched him. They would they they would they would punch each other out in the boxing ring. So then he went off to the army. When he came back to the army, he he came back for the Marines. He was the oldest brother. He came back to rings wearing his uniform. He thought he was hot stuff. So his father said, "Get in the ring." His father said get because he came into struting into the house like he's something. His father said get in the ring. So he got into the ring with his father which is not a good idea because then you're going to have to hit your father. You're liable for death. But he got into the ring with his father. His father jumped up and landed. He pinned right on he stood on his feet. So Buddy Ryan couldn't move and he beat him to a pulp. His father beat him to a pulp. That was welcome home son. [laughter] No, you know, when I came home from East and my mother put out some food, you know, here here's welcome home. Boom. Now, if he hits back, it's a problem. >> If he hits even in entertainment, it's a problem. You have to be very careful that. And if a person does accidentally draw blood from their parents, then they would have to do cha for that. >> Even defense, >> what in self-defense? Yeah. A person is allowed in self-defense but even then a person should try to avoid uh try avoid getting in that situation where they have to where they have to defend. Okay. Now turn on ahead. I want to show you because this is a little bit strange. It's not something we're used to. Page uh uh per 2217. So here it says it's top of page 430. A witch must not be allowed to live. A witch must not be allowed to live. Now here we are talking about supernatural witchcraft. And the Torah, if you notice, first of all, what's a male witch called? >> Warlock. A warlock is the correct word. A wizard is a subcategory of a warlock. And a male witch is not allowed. That means that we're talking here about supernatural witchcraft. If a woman is practicing supernatural witchcraft, she must not be allowed live. She is liable for the stoning penalty. Now, if the question everybody asks if witchcraft exists today, is there such thing as supernatural witchcraft? According to some of the commentaries, there is >> one second. According to some of the commentaries, there is supernatural witchcraft. Whether they've lost the discipline or not, whether they've lost the discipline or not, at one point it did exist. The Rambam has a certain view which has to be understood to understand what the Rambam really means. But at the end of the day, the Gomorrah talks all over the place about witchcraft. One of the remarkable things the Gomorrah says is that one of the ways you could be avoid witchcraft is by standing in water. Witchcraft has no effect on somebody who's connected to water, which is very interesting because in the Wizard of Oz, how does she get it rid of her, right? She dumps the water out. I'm melting. I'm melting. You know, where did they get that idea from of all places, you know? So I told you I think I I have a hunch that you know some Jewish guy dropped out of out of yeshiva probably was one of the writers and that was one of the things he remembered from the Gomorrah was something about saying probably I probably learned that you know that he remembered what amig you know what akasim shim is that he would didn't remember so well you know but you know or shamu but but witchcraft that he probably you know that was probably more interesting so that he probably remembered okay what is witchcraft how does witchcraft So the answer is the Gomorrah says thatim which is witchcraft. One least I'll get to you just one second. It comes from the expression palia shamela that witchcraft for lack of a better term it interferes with the heavenly forces. And what that means is this. Did you ever hear the expression that every blade of grass has a angel that tells it to grow? Mhm. >> What that means is everything in the physical world has a corresponding spiritual counterpart. And what it says telling the blade of grass to grow, it's not like the Malach is standing there like grow and like the fans like go go. It's the mal. It means that there's got a physical some sort of spiritual counterpart. Witchcraft according to the most basic definition obviously there obvious you know it's it's more than that but there the most basic definition of witchcraft is the ability to tap into the higher forces cross them over somehow and bring about an effect in the physical world and it's severely prohibited it's a cousin of idol worship so the Torah says somebody who's a practitioner er of witchcraft has to be death. Alicia, why are we going to ask? >> So you say that we have to stone >> not we the to we we don't do that anyway. We don't know we get stoned. We don't do the stoning the [clears throat] the the the in taking grandmother's wheelchairs but we don't we don't what do you call it? We don't uh uh uh we don't do do any of this putting to death today. >> So go ahead. Let's say a person's deserving of like stoning, burning, you know, or hanging. Yeah. >> Say you kill them in a different way. >> Yeah. >> Is that like are you getting punished for not killing them in the way according to they're supposed to be put to death? >> Your your question is crossing over in on itself. It's an interesting question. I told the Gomorrah says even though the four forms of capital punishment from the Sanhedrin no longer exist but ako brings it about in this world in different ways. The person who's liable for stoning could fall off the roof and so on and so forth. There are different ways that it could happen when it comes about through a person. So sometimes the person becomes Hashem's vehicle for a mitzvah. Sometimes the person has is lacking the merits and therefore bad things happen through this person. But that's not our subject right now. Here it's talking about the idea of the idea of now the question many people ask is well if it's prohibited if it gives if it's prohibited so why did Hashem give this person that ability? Why do they have that ability to to perform if it's if it's user? So why does Hashem give the person the ability? >> What's that? >> Excellent. Excellent. That becomes their tested life. The fact that somebody has an ability doesn't mean, you know, we're told, well, you have an ability, you're supposed to use it. That's true to a certain extent. If a person has a talent or a person is gifted, let's say you have a good voice and you could be a kazin, you should be a kazin. But it could also be a test that just because you're a kazin doesn't mean you should, you know, what if they ask you to sing in a club, that becomes a test because that you're not allowed to do if a person's got the ability. I had a friend who was a broadcaster for um he had gone he had a degree in broadcasting. He was guy but he had a degree in his previous life he had been a a broad he had a degree in communications broadcasting and he was so he walked into krael off the street he walked in an audition to co was better than any of the other announcers he became the guy who announced the English news every night at at 8:00 and he he was better than anybody else now at a certain point he went to Ruff Shinberg's at cell and he asked Ruff Shinberg am I allowed when I'm broadcasting the news problem is that The news involves a lot of lush and horror. This politician did this and this politician did that. A lot of guys did a lot of bad things. Am I allowed to? The senator Shamber gave him certain guidelines. But sometimes just because you've got the ability to do something doesn't mean that you're allowed to do it. Alex Hammond has the ability to climb tall buildings like Taiwan. What's that tower? Taipai Tower in Taiwan. What's it called? The >> 101. >> 101. You don't know about this guy? This guy this free climber a guy the guy who climbed El Capitan Alex Hammond I think Hammond Alex Hammond you he just climbed to he climbed 101 without any safety net without anything else he's got a rare ability you're not allowed to do it person's not allowed to put himself in danger like that you know the clim to climbing up he's got he's got an ability yeah I I don't have that ability I do have the ability to p pickpocket I would be a very good pickpocket I think It's a good parnosa. >> It's a good parnosa. And and you I just got to kind of sneak them in and nobody would suspect me, you know. And I the fact that I've got the ability to shoplift. I think I'd be a great shoplifter. I'd be a great shopl I always wanted. But you I've got the great ability. So what doesn't mean you're allowed to do it. And therefore the Torah, this becomes for many people a test. Imagine a woman with a great voice. A woman with there are women. It's Jewish from women who have great voices. And they're limited in what they can perform. They could only perform in front of other women. >> Can they perform anonymously over? >> No. Can they perform anonymously in front of men? >> Yeah. Like they have like records because no one knows what she looks like. >> It doesn't for the most part it's a problem. Most would say you can't listen to a woman's voice even on the radio or in a way. But whatever it is, it's a test. So why does a person have this ability? Sometimes in life, the ability is a test. Let's say somebody's a great chef. You want to be a you're you're just a talented chef. You went to culinary school and you're a talented chef. What are you going to do? Be a cook in a Jewish restaurant. Anyway, some more some more cougle and meatballs. You know, you'd like to get on beyond, you know, so you want to get into a French restaurant, you know, something with with snails and stuff, you know, and wine and trava all. Sorry, you're going to have to suppress it. The fact that you have the ability can sometimes be a test. Fact that somebody has an ability is sometimes a test for a person. A person has a no and and it's a difficult thing. Obviously, you have to ask a shila. Everybody ask anybody who's got an ability of an area. So then you'd have to ask a halic sh you have to ask a hikic authority. Okay, I'm just going through a few of these because this there are so many halas here. I just want to show you a few of the things that come out of here. Uh take a look at somebody had a question. No question. Okay. >> Uh right. So let's go on the uh [laughter] Yeah. Go ahead, Alicia. What do you got? No, you say you'll be a good shoplifter. >> Yeah, >> you'll be a shoplifter if you get caught. >> You're right. In France, I thought in France they have um they have a they say that like a tou some guy sees a tourist in downtown in Paris and they see a tourist and the guy walk up to the tourist say by the way there are pickpockets in the neighborhood in the area. What's the first thing you're going to do if somebody would say that to you? First thing, huh? Guy comes over and says there pick pockets in here. What's the first thing you're going to do? The first thing you do is like that. His his partner is watching >> and he sees exactly where that hand goes. Within 30 seconds you're go your wallet's gone or your phone is gone. I love it. I love that sort of stuff. So if anybody wants to join me to part I'll be you you be the guy who goes up to him. I'll be the other guy and we'll talk afterward. Okay. Could you imagine? I love that. I love that sort I love that sort of sk that that that I'm intrigued by that. Okay. Don't tell anybody I said so. >> Okay. You know, we'll we'll wait for we'll keep this for tomorrow. Just remember that if the the the review questions on uh Mishbatim are available at David B, what's my name? Oh, David Bcaplan.com. Uh the review questions on Mishbatim and the uh the stories anybody who's interested [clears throat] in uh what do you call it in for enhancing the shabas table. Okay, we'll continue tomorrow. M