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LEVITICUS | 17:4 blood — LEV189 [Another example of those whom the Mishnah...

LEV189 [Another example of those whom the Mishnah lists as incurring misah bidei Shamayim (death at the hands of Heaven): one who robs the poor, as the pasuk says (Mishlei 22:2-23), "Do not rob the destitute because he is destitute … For Hashem will take up their grievance, and will exact life from those who rob them." We have already elaborated upon this in the Third Level (See Paragraph 24). Our Sages, z"l, said (Bava Kama 119a) that whoever robs a poor person is as if he had taken his life from him, as the pasuk says (Mishlei 1:19), "Such is the way of everyone who robs; it takes away the soul of its owner" [(Although Rabbi Yonah interpreted the verse in paragraph 24 to mean that robbery takes away the soul of the thief, it can the same time be understood as he explains here: because the thief is likened to a murderer, he forfeits his own life (Zeh Hasha'ar).) (Sometimes one deprives another of his livelihood, even though the theft of something valued at less than that of a perutah. As such, it is considered for that man as bloodshed--he has spilled blood [this verse] -- if he robbed him of a perutah's worth.

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Verse17:4
Keyword(s)blood
Source Page(s)281-3
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