Kavod Habriyot, Respect for Human Dignity | Rabbi Anthony Manning | May 27 2026

Thank you all for coming. It's lovely to see people here this morning. I'd like to uh read off a couple of uh dedications if you don't mind if I read them from my phone. Uh that the Wednesday morning been midrash here in Rechavia is dedicated through the academic year leilui nishmas Daniel ben David and Limor bat Avraham Strauss and Mordechai ben Moshe and Rachel bat Yosef Meir Marcus zichrono livracha who are the parents of Judy and Menachem Marcus. Um this year, my specific shiur is sponsored for this academic year uh leilui nishmas Bracha bat Branded and Zelig ben Kalman aleiha hashalom. And we have a very specific um dedication for this morning that this shiur is dedicated in lov- loving memory of uh Cookie's brother uh Alan Baer uh Hashem yinkom damo who is Avraham Chaim ben Yaakov Shmuel Zanvil Hashem yinkom damo. Yeah. And uh that dedication is by Cookie and and uh Howie Meisel. Um and we're going to learn some Torah, have a very exciting shiur be'il Bezeh Hashem leilui nishmatam. And uh I think we're going to have a little bit of a roller coaster today. It's a fascinating topic. It's one that we have not looked at for at least eight years. And uh there's more in today than we've done in the past. If you remember last week, we talked about um a topic I like the topics which are on the line between halacha and hashkafa. That's the line that we're treading throughout the shiur and that's what we've been doing really for the last 10 years. Sometimes more halacha, sometimes more hashkafa. Last week we looked at uh the issue of va'asita hayashar vehatov. What is the right thing to do? How do we know what is the right thing to do even when we can't look it up? That's not just a detailed halacha, that is a general sort of meta-halachic principle. Today we're going to look at another one which we could really do in two shiurim, but I decided to do it in one so that we'll do something else next week, which is the issue of kavod habriyot. Of giving honor, dignity to other people. And maybe just start with that word, briyot. What does that word sort of signify to us? It's an unusual word. It doesn't say kavod bnei Adam or kavod ha'inosh. It says kavod habriyot. So, I think it does two things. There's a very interesting lecture by Professor Gerald Blidstein. Um, and he talks about this maybe 20 years ago. That kavod in the ancient world was limited to the king, to the nobles, to the aristocracy. Even today, there's a hierarchy hierarchy in many societies. In America, it's not by how you were born, but it's how much money you earn and and how famous you are, etc. And the Torah is trying to tell us, no. All people are created with tzelem Elokim, and therefore all people have kavod. It's it's by virtue of them just being briyot. It doesn't matter how high in the pecking order they are, which is a radical concept in the ancient world and even radical today. And it also implies, as I've just mentioned, that the thing that gives them that special kavod is the tzelem Elokim. Because briyot might sound like it includes cats and dogs. They're also briyot. Everything's created. So, you know, trees. Give kavod to the trees. There's no halakha of giving kavod to the trees. It's only people because people are made with tzelem Elokim. And therefore, it implies both of these aspects, both the created in the image of God element and also the equality element. I think that's a very important point that we maybe just have to start with. Let's have a look at source number one. The Gemara launches into this in a very technical way. And I think this is an important point as well. Kavod habriyot, gadol kavod habriyot. How important is the human dignity? It's a general ethical principle in Judaism. The question is, how does it how can it be applied in a very specific way? As is always the Talmud's approach, it doesn't want to deal with general sort of ephemeral and vague principles, ethical ideas. It wants to pin it right down. Says, how far does this go? So, it gives a very radical case. Number one, Hamotzi Kilayim B'Vigdo. Somebody is walking down the street and they and they realize that they're wearing wearing shatnez. How would they realize that? Not not every case in the Gemara is as likely to happen as every other case, but let's say the person walks down the street wearing a certain coat and someone comes up to them and says, "Oh, that's a beautiful coat. I bought that coat, you know, a few weeks ago in America, had it tested, and it was completely full of shatnez. I was told never to wear it." And you realize suddenly that you're wearing this piece of clothing full of shatnez. Poof, then you have to take it off straight away. A field of a shook, even if you're in a public environment. Now, okay, my my case with the coat, okay, it's not the end of the world. You'll get a bit cold and you might get wet. But here we're dealing with a situation where maybe that's all they're wearing. They just used to wear very simple clothes, something with you know, Arba Kanfot, like a poncho or whatever, tied up with a belt, and somebody says, "You're wearing shatnez." SO, RIP IT OFF. In the street, even if they're wearing nothing underneath. May timer, what is the reason for that extreme halakha? And he brings a pasuk in Mishlei, which is a very important pasuk for our shiur, Ein Chochma, V'Ein Tvuna, V'Ein Eitzah L'Neged Hashem. There is no wisdom or rationalizing or trying to work out what God would want. Oh, God will understand if I wear shatnez cuz he wouldn't want me to be embarrassed. There's no rationalizing. Kol Makom She'Yeish Chillul Hashem, whenever there's a Chillul Hashem, Chillul Hashem here in a broad sense being a breach of a Torah Mitzvah, Ein Cholkain Koved L'Rav. You don't give koved to anybody. There is no even a rav, even a great person. There is no greater koved, the Torah the Gemara seems to be saying, then keeping the mitzvahs of Hashem. And that defines what is mechubad and what isn't mechubad, and you can't start generalizing or rationalizing in other areas. The Gamara now challenges that. And says, yes, but that's not so straightforward. There are situations in which we do override mitzvahs, we'll see what that means, mitzvahs, because kavod habriyot, and by the way, do you remember the the the other phrase in Pirkei Avot, eizo eizehu mechubad, hamchabed etz habriyot, again that phrase comes up, that kavod habriyot actually is is a trump card. I don't know if I can say that word anymore, it used to be very neutral. A trump card that overrides halacha, that you don't say, well, the halacha is clearly the most objectively respectable way to behave. No, there are situations where it is not. So, let's have a look at this. Second paragraph, Tashma. So, the Gamara challenges this principle, which by the way is also upheld by the story of David and Michal. Remember the story of David David and Michal at the end of in in Shmuel Aleph there at the end, and where Shmuel Bet Shmuel Aleph I think, where he says that they were he's dancing up with the Aron Kodesh, and she says to him, how is that the way that the king behaves? And he just says, lifnei Hashem, I only behave the way that I'm meant to behave, lifnei Hashem. I don't care about what the people think, I don't care what the maidservants think. I'm doing the right thing, and that's the right thing to do. Okay, fine, that seems to support that. But, the Gamara challenges. Tashma. Gadol kavod habriyot, how important is respect, dignity of human beings, she docha es lo sa'aseh batorah, because it pushes aside a Torah prohibition. Wow, that sounds very broad. Lama, why does it do that? Lema, why don't we say, ein chachma v'ein tevuna v'ein leged l'negid Hashem, you can't rationalize away mitzvot, even if you're embarrassed. No, the Gamara explains. Two Gamara Rav bar Shva kamei d'Rav Kahana, he said so Rav bar Shva says, "No, no, no. It's not any mitzvah in the Torah. It's a very specific mitzvah that is overridden, beloved the lo tasur. It is the negative prohibition not to deviate from the laws of the Rabbis. Kol milay d'Rabbanan, all rabbinic law, says asmachin who al lav d'lo tasur, is based is founded on literally leaning against the mitzvah of lo tasur. Umishum kavod ha'briyot, because of the honor of the person, sharu Rabbanan, the Rabbis said, "It's okay. We won't impose that rabbinic law." So, the first thing the Gemara says is that it's not any old Torah mitzvah that is overridden by kavod ha'briyot. It's only one. We'll see another view on this in a minute, which is the mitzvah to follow the rabbinic law. So, when there's a mitzvah d'Rabbanan, then you override the mitzvah and you say, "No, I'm not going to take off my clothing in the street if it's shatnez d'Rabbanan." You have to know your stuff here. We're going to see, you know, you have to know what is shatnez d'Oraisa, shatnez d'Rabbanan. We'll talk about that in a few minutes. But that's a It limits it, but there still is an override function, but it's an override function for mitzvahs d'Rabbanan. We'll see later, if we have the time, Rashi understands that built into the rabbinic law is a mechilah, is a mechilah by the Rabbis that we won't impose this. We will let you do what you need to do if the law is going to offend your or not the law if the law is going to lead to a situation where your dignity is disturbed. You still warm? Still warm? You can open the windows more if you like. Comes a point where we turn the air on, I suppose, but that's way beyond my pay grade. Okay, fine. Um next paragraph. So, that's one exemption, rabbinic mitzvahs. Tashma, so how we hear have another v'heitalamta mehem, v'heitalamta mehem. There is a mitzvah in in hashavat aveida, which says, of course, you can't ignore the lost property and just walk on by, but it sounds like the Hitalamta seems seems to be saying you should ignore it. How can you ignore it? You're the whole point is not to ignore it. Says the Gemara, Pa'amim Shata Mitzalemem, sometimes you have to ignore the lost property. U'pa'amim She'ein Atah Mitzalmem, sometimes [clears throat] you must ignore it. Hakait said, "How does that work?" Im Hayah Kohen V'hi B'veit Hakvarot, let's say you're a Kohen and somebody has lost animal, let's say, you see a little shepsel there and it's in the middle of a cemetery and you say, "Oy vey, that's my neighbor's sheep. He's been looking for it all day." You don't go into the cemetery in order to in order to get the sheep. You don't have to do that. O She'hayah Tzamud L'ma'akto U'merubah Mishal Chaveiro, oh, sorry, I missed out a line. O She'hayah Zakein V'ein Lifnei Kvodo, or let's say you're an elderly person and it's beneath your personal dignity to go and crawl and you see someone's wallet lying under a truck. So, you're going to crawl on the road under the truck with the oil dripping down and you say, "You know, you're you're a respected elderly person in the community. You don't have to do that. You can just walk on by." O She'hayah Tzamud L'ma'akto U'merubah Mishal Chaveiro, or it's going to actually cost you more money to get the property back to them than is the value of the property itself. These are all exemptions. L'kach Na'amar V'hitalamta, and that's why it says you can ignore it, says the Gemara. Why? Why? Leima Ein Chochmah V'ein Tevunah V'ein Eitzah L'neged Hashem, you can't rationalize away, "Oh, you're elderly, you think you're exempt from mitzvahs? You're a big talmid chacham, you think you don't have to do mitzvahs?" Why all of a sudden you you don't have to do it? Says the Gemara, Issuru Mimoino Lo Yafeh No, no, no. This is Mamon. This is a monetary law. And we don't learn ritual laws from monetary laws. It could be that in a monetary law there are certain situations where we say Hefker Beit Din Hefker, that the Beit Din decides there who has to give which money to whom. It may be the people are moichel their money in a case where they don't expect a an elderly person to scramble underneath the truck and get the property. They don't expect a cohen to go into a cemetery to get it. So, that's also an exception. And the final exception, which we're going to come back to more, which is very interesting, the last paragraph. Tashma, says the gemara, here's another exception. La'achoto, for his sister. What's for his sister? This is last week's parsha, a nazir. A nazir is like a kohen gadol or a nazirah. It's more of a woman says, "How am I going to be like the kohen gadol?" The answer is become a nazirah. I don't suggest it because it's easy to get in and it's very difficult to get out because the only way you can get out of nezirut is by bringing all your korbanos and and today you might have a bit of a wait to do that. You could go to a talmid chacham and ask for a hataras nedarim and say, "I made a terrible error." But, the nazir or the nazirah is not allowed to become tamei l'meit even for their own family. A regular kohen is is obligated for his mother, father, brother, da da da, but a nazir, like a kohen gadol, is not allowed. Even for his sister. Ma ta'ama d'lo leima? What's the Torah? See, he keeps adding on these other things that you don't become tamei for. Harei, and he gives an example. Here's an example, extreme. Shehaya holeich lishchot Pesach. This man, this nazir, is going along the road to shecht his korban Pesach. U'lamoleh beno, and to do bris milah. He's got two of the most major positive mitzvahs in the Torah that are incumbent upon him. He has to bring korban Pesach, it's 14th of Nissan, and he has to perform bris milah on his son. The two positive commands for which a person is chayav kareis if they don't do them. They're unique. U'shama shemeis l'meis, and he hears that there is someone's died that they have to that they have to bury. Yachol, you might have thought, "K'sheim she'einam metamei lahem, of course this nazir doesn't have to deal with that meis." Kach einam metamei l'meis mitzvah. Maybe even a meis mitzvah, for with nobody left to bury them to be at the Lavoy Tom and Larry says no it's only it's only his sister last who they ain't no matter for his sister he doesn't become Tommy about my Tommy who the mate smith's but even a Nazir even on the way chef Gordon and on the way to do Mila he has to stop all of those and he has to go and bury this dead body because they override this his his other mix bar. Am I right lay my ain't with ain't ain't why can he rationalize that away he's he's about to do two critical mix bars and he says no no I have to bury this body chef the Alta Shani and the Torah gives the Gamora gives an interesting answer he says this is just a passive breach chef the Alta we're not actually asking you to actively breach a Torah prohibition just don't do the prism Mila don't do the Corbin and that we will allow because of covered debris we see this in other areas where the rabbis override certain passive non non passive breaches of positive mix bar don't blow a chauffeur on Shabbat even though the Torah says blow a chauffeur on Rosh Hashanah no if it's Shabbat we're going to tell you not to and how can you override a Torah law chef the Alta don't shake a lulav on Shabbat we see that now what you're probably about to ask me aren't you maybe is that the Nazir is not just breaking a positive mix bar he's also breaking a negative mix bar were you going to ask that no okay fine >> [laughter] >> okay fine what were you going to ask yes yes yes that's a perfect example covered a maze is covered a breeze and by the way here you see that it's not about the person who will be offended the maze is not going to be offended at all it's an objective thing this person was made but selling a little Kim it is an objective prohibition of covered a breeze to leave this body on Barry that's actually a very important point. So, we know that it's not just about how you feel that there's a more objective criteria, which we'll see soon. I thought you were going to ask, "Well, one second. It's all very well with the positive mitzvah, but you're also telling this Nazir to become tamei." That's a breach, an active breach of a negative Torah mitzvah. How can you justify that? That's not something So, Tosafos in number two deal with that. I'm not going to spend too much time on it. He says, "Ah, well, Nazir is not exactly the same as every other Torah mitzvah, Torah prohibition, cuz you could always get out of it by doing hataras nedarim, like I said. You can't get out of eating treif by hataras nedarim. But, Nazir is like a weaker mitzvah. Similarly, kehuna, even if you're a kohen, kohen gadol, it's a mitzvah that applies to a certain group, but not to all people. And therefore, these are maybe exceptions to that rule. Although, it's a good question. The question in some ways is better than the answer. Yes. >> What if there's no one else to do the burial mitzvah? >> Okay, so do the burial mitzvah tomorrow. But, you can't bury the meis tomorrow. The meis has to be buried right now. Okay, so you miss you miss the you know, beshaso, you miss your mishlini. So, the end sometimes you miss. If the baby's yellow, you also miss. Well, they they you That's a problem, cuz there's a Torah prohibition to leave a dead body overnight. I can't resist telling you a story, um even though I don't have time for the story, um that I once went I was once uh called by a friend of mine to say that her grandmother sadly passed away, and she was worried there weren't going to be 10 people at the levaya. Uh this is a long, long time ago. It was inconvenient. It was Sunday afternoon. I was with other people. I don't know what it was. She said, "Please, could you take get a few people and come to my grandmother's levaya." So, anyway, I called a few people. We went We went to the levaya. Thought, "Well, do a mitzvah, you know, it's whatever. It's a mitzvah." We got there, there were like a hundred people there. It was And we thought I said to my friend, I said, you know, "Okay, it's lovely that we're here. We drove like an hour, and there's like they didn't need us by a by a mile." So, anyway, we thought, "Okay, you know, whatever." As walking back to the car, this guy came running towards us shaking you know with his hands in the air. "Can we have you, please? Can we have Can we have you over here?" So, I said, "What's going on?" He goes, "This person has died and he has nobody to bury him, no one at all. He has no family. He has no friends." And he said And he And I said, "Who are you?" He goes, "I'm his lawyer. Definitely not your friend." So, he said I said, "Okay, you know something? This is almost like a mitzvah. Like there's no one to be at this man's levaya, no one in his whole life." And we went to the levaya and we stood there. We thought we did a mitzvah. Then the lawyer said, "I'd like to read you a letter from my deceased client." And I turned around to my friend and said, "This is the moment. He's a billionaire. He's left >> [laughter] >> He's left all his money to the 10 men that came to his levaya." >> [laughter] >> I said, "This must be the moment." Anyway, it wasn't that. Didn't happen. He said, "I I appreciate it. Thank you for coming." It was a It was a very sad occasion in many ways, but you know, we got we got a a mitzvah certainly out of it like a mitzvah situation. The Talmud Yerushalmi, number three, goes further. Goes further. And he says, "No, I'll tell you why you can break a negative mitzvah because every now and then" and the Bavli doesn't rule this way and the later halakha doesn't rule this way, "there's an exceptional situation where you can even override a regular Torah mitzvah." Number three, "afilu betuma" even the prohibition of tuma like the nazir or the kohen gadol "shehu uh midvar Torah" you could which is a d'var Torah, this is not d'rabbonan "min mad'a amar Rebbi Zeira because there's a statement of Rebbi Zeira says the Yerushalmi God will cover up b'reishit d'or a mitzvah b'lo ta'aseh sh'a'ah [snorts] ahas." You can even override a negative full-blown negative Torah mitzvah, not the d'rabbonan mitzvahs, but just on a very temporary basis, not on a permanent basis. Now, as I said, we don't really pasken like that, although some of the later poskim tried to find maybe this is a justification of an interesting halacha in the Rambam, that if a person is having a shave, having their beard shaved off, let's say, and they hear someone runs in, God forbid, and says that you've just lost a a relative and you're not allowed to shave, if he's already got half his beard shaved off, he can have the other half of the beard shaved off. Even though that might be a problem, you know, you're not allowed you're not you're not you're not you're not allowed to do this that and the other, a covered covered up brius. You can't have a guy walking around with half a beard. We see front and back. That is objectively an extremely embarrassing situation to be in. So, maybe that justifies that. But generally speaking, we we do not pasken like that. You will show me looking at Shulchan Aruch number four. Haroeh chilayon shel If you see shatnez d'oraita on your friend, a feel like a marach b'shuk, even if they're walking in the street, in the public, a haya koifetz lo, you jump on them. V'chiram alav, and you pull it off them. Miyad, immediately. A feel like a higher rabba, even if it's your rav. Now, this, of course, is a little different to what we saw in the Gemara. In the Gemara, we said you have to take your own clothes off. Here, you have to jump on the guy, or the lady, for that matter, and shlep clothes off. So, um first of all, you have to know what shatnez d'oraita I'm not giving a shiur on shatnez, but when things are all woven together, there's more chance of the d'oraita. When there's separate layers which are maybe kind of connected less permanently or clipped together or or just laying on top of each other, there may be situations where it's d'rabbanan. Again, this is not a shiur on shatnez, d'oraita and d'rabbanan, but you see a very very extreme law. V'im haya shel divreihem, but if it's shatnez d'rabbanan, ein a koiram alav, then you do not do anything. V'ein a poishit b'shuk, they do not take it off in public. Achshav megaleh b'eiso, they can wear it even though they're doing an issur d'rabbanan, they can wear it all the way home. Why? Cuz Godly covered up brius. Covered up brius overrides a d'rabbanan. V'im haya shel Torah, but if it's a Torah shanas push to me out they have to take it off. I think they just turned the air on but okay we'll see. Okay fine. So you can't you can't do a deraisa but you can do a derabonon and we'll have to see how how that works where that applies. The Shulchan Aruch gives another application of this in number five. The in neither shabbos. This is tzitzis. If you find out on shabbat and you're in an area where there's a rabbinic prohibition to carry. What do you find out? Shahatalit shall I love passul. You look down at your tzitzis or your tallis gadol whatever a man tzitzis and he and he says oh that it's ripped off. One of my tzitzis is ripped off. Now at that point what's going on? Not only are they not keeping the mitzvah of wearing four tzitzis on the beged but they're carrying on shabbos because the only heter for having your tzitzis hanging on you can't tie other things to you if there's no way of obviously. You can't tie bits and pieces to your coat and have them hanging on strings and walking around the streets that's called carrying. So how can you carry tzitzis? The answer is you're not carrying them they're an intrinsic part of the beged and the mitzvah but once one of them is gone or it's become invalid the other three are doing nothing. The other three are just you know spare tzitzis that you're carrying around in case you ever need them. So it's carrying but it's carrying derabonon. If it's derabonon lo yosirenu you don't take your tallis off malav achi gila beson until you get to your home the godol covered habrius. Okay beautiful covered habrius that's that allows you to do the issur derabonon of carrying in a rabbinically prohibited area. And then the Remoc comes in and says well why is this on shabbos? What's the difference on shabbos? Well because people wear their tallis home on shabbos. Some people might wear it on Wednesday. So it says the Remoc dafka beshabbos de ossur asos tzitzios because you're not allowed to make tzitzit on Shabbat. And therefore what? I will be whole I got my ass on. This is very interesting, because on a weekday you could remake your tzitzit if you know what you're doing. On a Shabbat, you can't make tzitzit. It's prohibited on Shabbat. And therefore what? Therefore, when you're wearing a four-cornered garment on Shabbat without tzitzit, it's a lower level. It's a rabbinic prohibition. Because what are you meant to do? You You can't tie the tzitzit. You can't do the mitzvah on Shabbat. The rabbi said, "Okay, you know something? It's still not right to wear something a four-cornered garment without tzitzit on it, even if it's Shabbat, even if you can't do the mitzvah, but it's downgraded to a d'rabbonan." And the much I'm sitting in the seat, that's when you're allowed to do this. Now, this is a question, because we just learned at the beginning of the shear that not only rabbinic laws, but passive breach of positive mitzvot, you're also allowed to break for kavod habriyot. So, why can't you tuck a on a weekday walk around with a four a four-cornered garment without proper tzitzit on it and say, "Well, you know, kavod habriyot, this overrides the passive breach even of the Torah mitzvah." And this is where the the Mishna Berurah jumps in and and gives us some information, which I think is going to be very very important. Says the Mishna Berurah, "Dafka b'Shabbat, this is only on Shabbat." Number six. "P'rishut nifsha b'Shabbat l'eiser issur d'rabbonan." Because on Shabbat there's only an issur d'rabbonan to wear four-cornered garment without tzitzit, because what can you do? Avail b'chol shehu oyda issur d'Oraisa b'chol sha'ah, when you're walking around on a weekday, there's a mitzvah d'kum v'aseh b'tzitzit that go put tzitzit on it. V'issur d'Oraisa issur d'Shabbat k'zeh shehu mona etzmo mitzvah, ein nidcheh mipnei kavod habriyot. And he turns around and says, "You can't set aside a positive Torah mitzvah even for kavod habriyot." Well, the Torah The Gemara said I could, so why can't I?" And here's the answer. Imloi big nai gadol. Uh now we seem to be in a new world of well, how embarrassing is it really? Is it a big embarrassment? Like somebody walking around in public with no clothes on like the sketch artist. That's a big embarrassment. But somebody walking So you pull your tallis off. You pull your tzitzis That's not such a big deal. For something which is not such a big deal, that's a little embarrassing, we're not going to allow you all the heterim, we're only going to allow you to uh to to transgress a rabbinic prohibition, not a Torah prohibition even um on a uh on a passive basis. Ulechain asur leil boshes tallis gadol kshe rosho ein bo tzitzis. And therefore, if you get to shul on Shabbos or any day for that matter, and you pull out your tallis gadol, and you realize that your tzitzis have all, you know, uh uh broken, then that's then you don't you don't wear it. You're not allowed to wear it. Leishev blee tallis because to live to sit without a tallis is very a remada who raglaim cholei ginai cotton. That's not such a big deal. To a guy, a married man, for one Shabbos morning, he's going to sit there in shul without a tallis on or one weekday, and they're going to say, "What happened to your tallis?" "The tzitzis The tzitzis have come off." Like, how embarrassing is that really? Just one second. Imnan in beis haknesses neider loy, but if in the shul when he's wearing his tallis, acher shehu kvar lavush b'tallis, he's already wearing the tallis, she'acha mitzitzis psulim, and then he suddenly he sees one of his tzitzis has come off. Okay? Charbeim min achronim makilim, many of the achronim are molinian. De'ein tzorech l'hafshatah, there you don't have to take it off take because it's it's more embarrassing. D'sfira l'hu d'keivanshehu b'rabin, you're in public in the shul, hapshita hu ginai b'yosa. And and here we're playing almost in psychology, you know, what's more embarrassing? So he says, the poskim think that to walk into shul with no tallis on is less embarrassing than to be sitting there in the middle of the shul and suddenly take your tallis off. Everyone's going to turn around, what's going on? Why did you take your tallis off? And then he says, but other achronim say, "No, that's not more embarrassing. It's the same. You still can't do that. Or you have to take it off rather." So, how much is this an objective or a subjective issue? We're going to see this is very important. Do the chazal give us very specific cases? This is embarrassing, this is not embarrassing. What if you happen to be very sensitive and you're highly strung or whatever, and you're going to find it very embarrassing? Is that relevant or not? So, we're going to be balancing this. On some things have to fit into boxes, but other things is going to depend very much on how embarrassed you are. I'm going to have to just go on a little bit cuz as you can see already, I'm I'm going to run out of time and I don't want to go over to next week unless I have to. So, we'll see we'll see soon where those limits of objective and subjective embarrassment are. Does this apply to Jews and non-Jews? Non-Jews are also briyot. Also made b'tzelem Elokim. But very often our mitzvahs are not the same klappei Jews and non-Jews. Look at the Rambam. Talks about a judge. Kol el hadvarim, how important it is for a judge to be focused on the dignity of the of the criminal or the potential criminal, the person on trial. Lifnei mashiah adayin. He he could only go with what they can see. Whatever the times require, whatever he needs, you have to use your your judgement, literally. Uv'chol yom asah l'shem shamayim, the dayan has to always be very l'shem shamayim. D'aliyah koved habriyos kal ba'einav. Don't let the the judge be be too quick to override people's personal dignity. Sheharu doichei ad lo tasah shel divreihem, because it overrides even a rabbinic mitzvah, says the Rambam. V'chol sh'kein, even more so k'vod b'nei Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov. Hamachzikim b'Toras ha'emes. Even more so if they're Jewish and they're part of the same Torah as the dayan. But clearly the Rambam is saying if they're not Jewish, the mitzvah still applies. Why? Pretty obvious in number eight. Rabbi Akiva would say, "Kavod Adam she nivra b'tselem." Mankind is made b'tselem Elohim and this applies to Bnei Noah, not just Bnei Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov. And this is somewhat of a of a a debate as to whether this does apply in the same way or not the same way. There's an interesting application in the Israeli court system. Menachem Elon, the judge, applied this idea that the dayan has to be very careful when when working out how how much how how many rights does the criminal or the the prisoner, let's say, have? Let's say they think the prisoner is smuggling drugs into the prison. Are they allowed to force him to have an intimate body search to see where the where the whether there are drugs there? Or is this balanced on kavod habriyot, you know, we only suspect that there might be drugs and we don't know. Do we subject this person to a such a degrading procedure or not? And again, we're not talking there about the terrorist, we're talking about a regular criminal. How that works is uh is a good question and he weighs that all up. Okay, now they have scanners. Baruch Hashem. Okay, fine. What is What is included in kavod habriyot? What kind of issues come up? So, we've seen clothing, people being unclothed, being naked, bushah, which is a a real objective embarrassment. Think of Adam and Hava in Gan Eden. At the beginning of lo yitboshashu, they were oblivious to that, but suddenly when they became aware, they became embarrassed because they had no clothes. Um the the clothes of the often clothing related. The clothes of the Kohen Gadol are called l'chavod u'ltifaret. Kavod is the clothing. The din of kavod Shabbat is one of the applications of kavod Shabbat is the kind of clothing that a person wears. Um it's also been uh applied in the Gemara to people who are in very um sensitive situations because they're mourning others. For example, uh the halacha is brought that if there if there are people accompanying a mourner um and and the people are all Kohanim, let's say, and the mourner goes through a place with where there's a tumah, then if it's only tumah d'Rabbanan, then the people, the Kohanim who are walking with him shouldn't run away because it's just embarrassing. The poor guy is walking, he's just buried a relative, he's walking home, and they run away from him. Rather, they should break the mitzvah of tumah d'Rabbanan, and we'll see another case of that, rather than do this. Um burial we've seen uh situations of uh of the meis mitzvah. And personal hygiene, we'll see some interesting practical cases where people are left without the ability to be clean. If they smell bad, if they're self-conscious about that, these are objective cases of kavod habriyos. But can we go beyond this? And we'll see in a minute some very controversial attempts to apply this beyond this. Um usually in Halacha, kavod habriyos is used as a as another grounds to be lenient when there are already separate grounds to be lenient. It's what's called a sniff lock. Hot sear. Uh often it's used in situations where the the prohibition is merely a chumra, but not always. Um and often it's used it's limited to cases where the person's not responsible. If you caused your own problem uh with knowledge, then we're not going to necessarily bend the Halacha in order to uh to deal with that. Um but that's there's there's more to be said on that. But the poskim are restrictive in the way they apply this. And there are different degrees of ginai. Have a look here in number nine. So, this is a case where a um a senior dayan is called to give evidence in a very small case which they think is like beneath their dignity. Like, I'm the the head of the beis din, and they've called me to come and schlepp to give evidence in this minor matter. It's beneath my dignity. Tosafos brings that, "No, no, that's not called a ginai gadol." The Hasam Ginai Gadol who made mitzvah with a meis mitzvah, that's a really objective uh embarrassing situation. She ain't not cover him. There's no No to bury them. Lakasheva altasi shari. Therefore, the a person can put aside maybe even a Torah mitzvah on a on a passive breach. The not kill I'm a shook to pull off your clothes in the street. Can I go to Kegan I may start Kegan I may start really embarrassing. Well, I can get enough. I vow half a year in the case of the dying giving testimony Gabby they could get my cold cut. It's not so embarrassing. Meaning you're you're sensitive. Okay, that's your problem. This is not objectively so embarrassing. The law they are feeling about it. We're not going to let you override any prohibitions. I give you an interesting example which comes up. Let's say there's a a couple and the the woman is in Niddah and she's not allowed to hand anything to her husband and he's not allowed to hand anything to her. And she turns around and says this is embarrassing. You know, we're out in public for a for a meal or Shabbat meal or whatever and and every time my husband gives me that he puts it on the table. I pick it up and everyone is looking at me. What's wrong with you etc. So she says that I'm embarrassed. I don't want people to know that I'm a Niddah. It's not appropriate for them to know that. And the Rabbi Moshe Feinstein raises this shaila and he says I don't understand like why is that embarrassing? Everybody knows that you're a healthy young woman and that's like the way that you know, this is just not just you. It's it's general that everybody has this situation and if they don't then that's a problem. So why are you embarrassed? That's a good question but they might say she's embarrassed. Does she have any heterim on the the d'rabbanan of handing things to her husband because she's especially sensitive to this or do we tell her look you know something this is the way that life is and we all we're we're all in the same boat and so I I heard Rabbi Willig talking about this recently at a conference and he said we're not so quick to give heterim to to people to just break halachas, things that are important to keep between them because they're specifically sensitive. He gives one exception though. He says when he sees people passing babies on in in with a shinui of some kind and they put the baby on the ground. I mean, you see Mishigas people put the baby on the ground and the husband picks it up. He said he saw someone put the baby on the bonnet of a car, you know, and put He says there you absolutely can pass the baby. Not because you're embarrassed to pass things, but because the baby is a khila. Every baby has a dinner of a khila. And you're going to put a baby on the ground in the street and pick it up again? You got no don't no seichel. So, it's not a it's not it's not a heter cuz you're embarrassed, it's a heter cuz this is way you would do with a khila. A khila allows you to override certain derabonons, okay? So, the baby he's definitely makeel on, but this issue with it you're particularly concerned, that's maybe just you. Uh look in number 10 the the uh the uh Mr. Brewer brings this up again in the case of the tzitzis and what what's called a uh what's called a biggie and a major kind of what's called a minor kind, and then he says at the the end of the second line the ein ba'al achronim she'eish kimu deha kol halui baratzon ha'ish haloveish. It really does depend to some degree on how embarrassing this poor fellow will feel it to be if he sits in shul without a tallis. So, he he then opens the door to a more subjective approach. Some guys might not care. For other people it might be extremely difficult. There's a case in the Rivash. The Rivash in the 14th century a couple asked him a shaila. They had a newborn boy they were making a bris mila and chol hamoed and they wanted to sew some beautiful new clothes for the little baby because they all they had was the hand-me-downs or whatever they had from older kids and they were all falling apart. And they said it would be much nicer to have some nice new clothes. And he said, "No." Says there's no heter to override. Even though it's a derabonon on chol hamoed, you can't sew on chol hamoed for that. He says, "It's fine. The baby will be fine. No you know, it's not No one's judging." You know, don't be so sensitive. I didn't say don't be so sensitive, but he says this is not an objectively permitted case." So, it's an interesting question as to how we how we balance that. Let's look at something else. We saw with the case of the person walking down the street, do I have to jump on them and tear the clothing off them? So, look at this. Number 11. We saw this before. You jump on them, pull it off. Me out immediately. I feel higher up. It says there remote. The issue I'm reading What if the person was completely inadvertent? They never realized this was shatnez. They're not just breaking the halakha on purpose. Okay? It's the shogeg. Eight circle over the shook. You don't have to you you don't have to do it in the marketplace. The mission cover the briefs you stuck because what's the what's the issue? Who has the shaila? You have the shaila of tokhakha. Do you have to intervene? They're oblivious. They're walking down. They're completely unaware that it's shatnez. They didn't do anything on purpose. And you know, can you keep still? When do you have to intervene? So, this is you can keep quiet. The alley of the shana mishogeg. Why? Because I don't have an obligation to do tokhakha when the person is doing it the shogeg or even if I do have an obligation, I can break that obligation in a passive way. That's a good example of a shev altasa. I don't actively breach the Torah. I passively breach whatever mitzvah of tokhakha I had. And therefore, I'm allowed to let them walk around in the street. That's actually very interesting because then the focus is on the person who wants to intervene, not on the person who's wearing the shatnez. It says that gives you a heter. You can keep quiet. And a similar shaila arises in number 12 in Hilkhot Aveilut, where a kohen is asleep in a house and the people who are awake realizes that lo aleinu there's a the body in the building, somebody died in the building. And now the cohen has to get out of that. By the way, every cohen has to have an escape plan as to where they're going to go. They have to When they move into a house, they have to look how is it configured. If something like this happens, do I go on the balcony? Do I go in the stairwell? Do I run to the roof? Do I run downstairs? They should cuz the laws of tumah are very complicated and they have to work it all out. But now he's asleep. My shaila is, do I run into the bedroom and say, "Get out of the house. You know, there's tumah in the house." In which case, let's say they sleep with no pajamas on. They've got no clothes on. Do they just rush out of the house with no clothes on? Or can they stop and put their pajamas on? Or put something on. Throw something on. That's an interesting shaila, very practical shaila. Look at number 12. Says the ramon, "Cohen should shoychech a room." A cohen that sleeps with no pajamas on. There's no halacha you have to wear pajamas. He sleeps very tzanua with a sheet on top of him. The hubba oil in mace and he ends up under the same roof as a dead body, the loyada, and he never realized. Eina hakhi d'loi, don't tell him. Don't tell him. Cuz again, your mitzvah is to give tochacha. How can you be asleep in a place with tumah and you're allowed to breach that passively. Alei yi cross stam, just just wake them up. Stam. She yatza k'dei she yalbesh atzmo t'chila. Just just just go in and say, "You should get up and get dressed cuz we've got something to talk about." And and they they're clueless and they get up and they get dressed and as soon as they're dressed, you shout, "Get out of here. There's a mace in the building." Okay, fine. Avar im k'var higidu loi, once you've told the guy, then it's too late. Asur l'hamtzin atzei ya'abeshatzmo, he can't get dressed. He's sitting in a house with tumah in it. He's that's an issur d'oraita. V'dafka im hubba oil hamayshu who tumah d'oraita. But that's only if it's tumah d'oraita. Avar im hubba bayis apras, let's say they're in a tumah d'rabbanan. He gives examples. A bayis apras is a field that used to have a grave in it and it's been all plowed over and then and then maybe little remnants left of the body, but they don't know. There's a din derabanan that a cohen can't go there. Okay, so if you're already doing a derabanan, so then you don't have to run out naked. I don't know why he's sleeping in a bas apras, but he is. Or eretz yisrael, or what about chutz la'aretz? How is it How is a cohen suddenly going to wake up and find that he's in chutz la'aretz? What's the deal with chutz la'aretz? Chutz la'aretz has a din of tumah derabanan. Now, cohanim are not makpid on this today because as you probably know, there are cohanim living in chutz la'aretz. But it's a shaila. It's a shaila. There's a din derabanan of tumah. So let's say this cohen is, I don't know, asleep in a wagon. And uh you know, going in there and all by mistake they've gone into chutz la'aretz or he didn't know. And do they have to wake He says, "Okay, so then he can get dressed first." Okay, tumah derabanan yalbish atzmo degadol kavod habriyot. And that's a very interesting case, but again one which is revolves around clothing. So I brought you some some practical examples down at the bottom here. Some of them are These are all practical questions that come up. Uh tearing toilet paper on shabbat. That's a very common one, especially if a person that is like younger people who are hosted with other people. They get They go to the bathroom on shabbat and they realize there's no tissues. What are they going to do? They have two choices. Either they basically shout, "Help! Help! Help! I'm stuck! Help!" Which is very embarrassing. Or they tear the, you know, regular toilet paper, but with a shinui, which is a derabanan. So that would be allowed to be done. The modern-day example, which is more appropriate and and and relevant, is the automatic toilets. You're in a place, in a hotel, whatever, and the only bathroom you you need the bathroom, the only bathroom you can use is one that with sensors and it flushes and this and that and it's all can you do? You could argue that you're not really getting any benefit from that anyway if it's just a regular public toilet. So maybe it's a psiq reisha delo Okay, you could use that as an argument. But there again we say Kvod Habriyos, you don't have to stand there saying I've nowhere to go to the bathroom. You can use the bathroom. Um making Muktzeh stones on Shabbos, this is the case that he gives in the Gemara that even though stones, regular stones in the street are Muktzeh, in the field are Muktzeh, a person would have back in those days they didn't have tissues. They had little stones they had prepared to clean themselves, a few a few nice clean smooth stones. So someone forgot to bring them with on Shabbos, they're not Muktzeh because they're they're designed and designated for use which is a normal use. They forgot their stones and now they're stuck. So they can use a regular stone. It to us it seems quite strange to be able to do that, but the the Muktzeh prohibition is overridden. We talked about electronic hearing aids. And we said that this is one of the heterim that the Chazon Ish brings that a person who is unable to hear on Shabbos, they can you do things with their hearing aids, move them, maybe even charge them, they they different we talked about that because of Kvod Habriyos. That's very interesting because Kvod Habriyos there is that's a broader application. This is not someone who's not dressed or who needs the bathroom, this is someone who says it's embarrassing for me to be not be able to hear anything on Shabbos. Before we turn over a few more of those. Um there's a question of tattooing. Some people who have reconstructive surgery after cancer or or an accident or an operation, sometimes what the hospital wants to do is tattoo certain coloring onto the body to make it look natural. That's how they make it look natural. And the question is, is this allowed? Otherwise they're walking around with a very scarred and again no one sees this. That's them, maybe their family sees it. So again one of the applications potentially, I'm not paskening any shailos, is where there's a where there's tattooing derabonon, not de'oraisa. And again you have to be in every sugia, what's a tattoo de'oraisa, what's a tattoo derabonon. Maybe it will be allowed for the purposes of that reconstructive surgery. Rather, Vadi Yosef has a very interesting case of a young woman who's married to a fine young man, and they're about to make a pin and bend. Uh she had a baby, first little boy, everyone's excited, the husband's over the moon, but she never told him that she'd had an abortion long before they met because she had a history, and that history never came up in the shidduch inquiries. And this wasn't a pin and bend. Does he Does she have to tell him? He's going to go ahead and make brochos and do him this mitzvah and over them and rather Vadi paskened that no, there were many reasons why he said no, because of the shalom bayis as well, but one of them was that just the the sheer embarrassment. This this woman didn't do anything wrong, meaning she's a ba'alas teshuvah, she made mistakes in the past. Okay, we all do silly things when we're young people, and she realized and now she, you know, she she did she was a ba'alas teshuvah. He said that she doesn't have to tell him, which is very very interesting. Um let me give you a couple others. Refuah Taking medication on Shabbos from Zalman Auerbach says a person with very bad halitosis, bad breath, and they're just without taking popping their little pills, they're just everybody runs away from them everywhere they go. So, they can take them on Shabbos? Uh you can't take medication on Shabbos. It's not something where you're not in pain. Is it No, it's embarrassing, you've got very bad breath, etc. Um and then one of the most interesting cases is number 13. Doing a wedding on Shabbos. So, this is in the Shulchan Aruch, number 13. Ein mekadesh, you're not allowed to do kiddushin on Shabbos. The yesh matirin lekadesh heicha deein lo isha banim, maybe there are heterim if the man has never done peru u'revu, you can maybe do the kiddushin on Shabbos. Ve'ishah she'hu aden haknisa lechuppah shari, maybe you're allowed to do the chuppah, but I forgot the like chaim lanachi. We don't pasken like that. We don't do weddings on Shabbos for men who have never done the mitzvah of peru u'revu. We don't do that. Mekol makom somechim al zeh, but we can bring that into the consideration besha'at chai ganki gadol kol ha'briyos. If they a case of Koved Habriyos. B'yom vav, they always got married on a Friday. And let's say they got because it was cheaper to make the suit on Friday night. They had one cow in the village and they were going to use it for Shabbos and for the wedding. So, and this was a case that happened to him. There was a young woman, I think she was an orphan on this case and she was getting married. And as they were going to the chuppah, everybody fell out with each other over the money. Oh, you promised this. No, we promised that. And and and and everyone's screaming and it's it's a very unhappy situation. The Remah takes them to the side, brings them into his office, negotiates with them, gets everybody back to shalom bayis, brings them out and says, "Okay, we'll do the wedding." And someone says, "Oh, there's three stars, even Rabbeinu Tam, you know, it's it's Shabbos. You can't do a wedding on Shabbos." And he says, "That's an issur d'Rabbanan. We're doing this wedding on Shabbos because of the Koved Habriyos. There's a young woman and a young man, who knows whether they'll even be talking to each other by Motzei Shabbos. All the food is ready and prepared." Says, "Well, it's Koved Habriyos. We're overriding the d'Rabbanan." And he got himself in hot water over this. People were writing to him and saying, "Are we hearing that you're doing weddings on Shabbos? It's against the Gemara. It's an issur d'Rabbanan." And he had broad shoulders. And and let's face it, he wrote the Shulchan Aruch, so he wrote it in. So, he said So, he could sit around and say, "Look, it's in the Shulchan Aruch. It's muttar." But uh but uh but he was he was uh he was very uh very much uh uh you know, very strong on that issue. Um go over to page number four. Let's do a few other things. You can look at some of those other issues later. There's an example of a young man who's gone prematurely gray. Can he dye his hair black? Um there's an interesting shaila about a woman after she's been divorced and she's finding it extremely embarrassing to cover her hair. Covering hair for for divorced woman is a is a requirement in Shulchan Aruch, but it's derabbanan. And there are situations, and again, I'm not giving any general psak here at all, where there are certain situations where the woman is very traumatized, especially where it's a divorce that happened very very early after the marriage began, and she's effectively a single girl. She's a young girl in her early 20s who had a very traumatic failed marriage, she's not an older person. And and there again, kavod habriyot could be a relevant angle depending on the case. People When people bring up the question of women and men shaking hands, can you can you just shake hands with someone who goes, "Look, it's offensive for people they put out their hand to not to not give them a hand, etc." So, this would work as a an argument if shaking hands with a person was an issur derabbanan, which most poskim say it's not. Most poskim poskim say it's either an issur de'oraita because there's some kind of sexual tension going on between the two of them, or if there's no sexual tension, it's completely permitted. There's nothing to do with kavod habriyot. There's no problem whatsoever because it's just a handshake. And of course, when is a handshake a handshake, and when is a handshake more than a handshake? Okay, then you have to work out whether it's a Torah prohibition or whether it's a completely permitted. But if it's a Torah prohibition, then kavod habriyot won't help you. And if it's completely totally permitted, then you don't need kavod habriyot. So, it's not so straightforward that the handshake really helps and or that the kavod habriyot really helps there. And then you've got the interesting case brought by Rabbi Professor Daniel Sperber that we started to talk about in our uh discussions about partnership minyanim. And he wants to argue that kavod habriyot, that it's embarrassing for women as a general group, that you're not giving them aliyot in shul, they feel embarrassed by this, and therefore the kavod habriyot, which is offending the women, should override the kavod hatzibbur where Chazal said that you can't call women up because it's kavod hatzibbur. And he has a a long piece on this. Um needless to say this was jumped on and rejected quite fast and there were many reasons why this is a problem. First of all, and perhaps most fundamental, if you say that kavod habriyot is that the rabbis built in a mechila and said we don't mind if you do this in this situation, then clearly they didn't do that when they said that a woman cannot be called up for a mitzvah. Um, so it doesn't really work in that. Also, you can't just say every rabbinic mitzvah is embarrassing uh and therefore I'm not going to do it. What happens if I'm sitting with the clients and uh they serve regular treif wine and I'm embarrassed not to drink the wine. Everyone's drinking the wine. I I'm embarrassed. Well, I can suddenly eat food which is treif. You can do isurei d'rabbonan just because you feel embarrassed. You can't just always extend that to every single situation. And there's also an interesting question which is, is this a case of embarrassment? Is it that they're embarrassed or is it just that they're annoyed? I mean, maybe they're justifiably annoyed. Maybe they're offended. But is that the parameter for kavod habriyot that someone is upset or annoyed or offended? Maybe that's not. Maybe there has to be something more um objective. Someone who's got no clothes on essentially like we saw before. That is uh that is uh maybe more of what's going on. So, Rabbi Sperber's arguments were were largely rejected. Um, let's just look at a couple of cases of um positive Torah prohibitions overridden by kavod habriyot. This is as we said in a very serious very embarrassing situation. Um, there was an interesting shaila of a man uh who'd had a tattoo on his left arm on his muscle, his bicep, of a naked woman. And the Sitz Eliezer uh is not the Sitz Eliezer, the the Minchas Yitzchak, he's dealing with the shaila. Now, he's about teshuvah. What does he do about his tefillin? He's going to roll up his sleeve and put his tefillin on and as he rolls up his sleeve, his youth comes to, you know, hit him in the face and he goes through the He doesn't actually talk about kavod habriyot there. He he gives other eitzos where he says that you know you can cover it over, you can I don't know put a little bit of leather there or you can draw in some clothes or something like that. You So he gives up but you get these situations. Rav Moshe Sternbuch has a very unusual case of a Cohen with a partially detached finger. Can't make this stuff up. And if he if they take off the finger then he has a shaila of eiver min hachai. And is he allowed to be there with a detached limb from a human body, his finger, and he gives a heter there to take it off in order to put it back. They're going to sew it on again and and he uses kavod habriyos as one of the issues. Let's just finish with some discussion of what are the origins and we'll get this done actually in five or six minutes. Maybe we'll be able to read all the sources. Everybody agrees kavod habriyos is a real thing. But where does it come from? Where in the Torah is the source for this rabbinic idea that we've seen applied in in many different ways? Where did they get it from? So some understand that it's implicit as I said in the in the tzelem Elokim. As we saw before, looking at number 16, we will read this. Ben Azzai omer, "Zeh sefer toldos Adam, zeh klal gadol baTorah." That the idea that this is the generation of man, the the creation of man is the fundamental in the Torah. Rebbe Akiva says, "Ve'ahavta lere'acha kamocha." "Zeh klal gadol baTorah." That is the klal gadol. Shelot omer and he comes back and says, "Shelot omer hoyil venispaziti." "Yitpazecha haveri im if I don't mind being being embarrassed. I can do that to other people." "Hoyil veniskalalti niska- nitskalalti if I'm just being cursed out." "Yitkalelecha haveri im I can do it to other people." No, it's not a question of you. Amar Rav Tarfon, "Im asita kein if you do that, dam al mi atem vazim?" Who are you embarrassing when you embarrass a person? It's not that you're embarrassing a person. You might turn around and say, "You know something? I don't care. I'm never embarrassed. You can take all your clothes off in public, it wouldn't bother me at all." The Gamara is saying, "You know what? I don't care if you're not embarrassed. You should be embarrassed." The reason that this koved habriyos applies is cuz you're made but selem Elokim. And it's not your dignity that we care about, it's the dignity of being made, uh, you know, as a as a human being with a godly spark, etc., etc. So, that is maybe the most fundamental of all sources for what koved habriyos is all about. Rabeinu Bachya wants to learn it from the mitzvah of dalet beheima. Remember, if a man, person, this could be a man or woman, steals a sheep and then sells it or shechts it, and they get found out, they have to pay back four times. But if they steal, uh, an ox, they have to pay back five times. So, why why is it more for an ox? You say, "Oh, well, an ox is bigger." No, but that's covered by the difference in value. Obviously, you know, that if the ox is bigger, he pays back more, but so the Gamara says that no, the guy who stole the sheep has already paid back a little bit before you even get to the court case. Cuz with the ox, he just clicks his fingers and the ox ran away, or he just dragged him out. With the sheep, he schlepped him on his on his shoulders to get the sheep out. So, this guy has already been degraded that little bit. Okay, he's a ganef, you care? Yes, actually we care a little bit. He's already paid a little bit of his dues by schlepping this and the Rabeinu Bachya says that is maybe the root of koved habriyos that we have a certain rachmanus on the ganef because he's already been embarrassed in that way. Um, others learn it from the mitzvah of selem Elokim of, um, uh, vahalachta bedrachav. What's the first act that we see that God does for the human race? Makes them clothes. They're embarrassed, they're naked, God makes them clothes, and we see that the Gamara also says just like God is malbish arumim, we should also be bemalbish arumim, and we learn from there. Um, Rav Soloveitchik wants to learn from, I didn't put it on the sheet, there's the the the the idea that Avraham Avinu was talking to God in Vayeira the beginning and he breaks off when there are three people that need to be looked after. He says you see that the cover of Briah is giving cover to these three dusty travelers overrides even his private moment of transcend transcendent connection to God. And Professor Blitzstein also brings an example in that lecture I mentioned. He says that the ability of the person to who's scared in battle to go back home. We say you can go back home if you're scared for a Milchemet Reshut. And all those other people says the Medrash, all those other people who we allowed to go back home someone who's planted a vineyard, who's married a woman etc. We allow them to go back home so that he doesn't feel embarrassed that he's going home. Maybe that's also a source of cover of Briah so that you could argue the reason we're sending these people home is nothing to do with cover of Briah. It's because we don't think they'll be effective soldiers. They'll demoralize the army. We don't need you here. Thank you very much. We you'll do better for us if you go home. Could be that as well. But I wanted to finish with just this last piece on page six which is actually a very beautiful piece from Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz where Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz he he brings the example of of Moshe Rabbeinu. At the Sneh. Moshe Rabbeinu is at the Sneh the burning bush and God says to him, you are the Goel. You are the one who's going to go down to Egypt and bring the people out. And he argues this way, he argues that way and his final argument he says is just send Aaron, you know, my brother. Send Aaron. And God says to him, you don't have to worry about Aaron. What's he worried about? He's a younger brother. Aaron the Kohen is an older brother and he's going to get offended that his little brother is now the Goel and and he who's been dealing with the whole situation in Egypt for 80 years while Moshe Rabbeinu has been off who knows where, you know, herding sheep and being the king of Kush and whichever Midrash you want to follow. And he just breezes in now and tells his elder brother, thank you very much. I'll take it from here and we'll take the people out." Moshe says, "I can't do that to my brother." And Hakadosh Baruchu says to him, "It's fine because he doesn't mind. Samach belibo, he's fine. He's happy with it." Says Rav Chaim Shmulevitz, "And if he wouldn't be happy with it?" That would be a reason that Moshe didn't have to go. That would be a reason to postpone the whole Geulah. Because God will cover the brius. Yeah, you can't you wouldn't be able to be the goel if your older brother was going to be offended. You're right. But he's not going to be offended and God gets angry with him that he shouldn't think he was going to be offended because he's beyond that. He's above that. But the point is is a correct point and he says that is the the if you like the root of kavod habrius in the Torah and that we see it so uh clearly. Okay, we got through those sources. We did well. Baruch Hashem. Next week we'll do something else, but this is a fascinating topic and uh there's much more to be learned. All the best and we'll see you next week, please God.