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LEVITICUS | 25:14 wrong — LEV980 Until this point, we have discussed only t...

LEV980 Until this point, we have discussed only the obligations of the advertiser. But the Talmud also places some obligations on the buyer. Because the commandment not to wrong another person is repeated twice in the Torah in the span of three verses [this verse and Leviticus 25:17], the Talmud teaches that one verse refers to wrongdoing someone monetarily by charging too much for a product and the other verse refers to wronging someone verbally (Bava Metzia 58b). Among the prohibitions of wronging someone verbally is the custom of what is commonly called window shopping. Although widely practiced, the Mishnah (Mishnah, Bava Metzia 4:10] says that one may not ask a sales person or store owner the price of an item that he or she has no intention to buy. The salesperson or owner is "wronged" because asking the price or window shopping (trying on clothes or even browsing) clearly raises the expectation of a sale on the part of the store. This is especially wrong if the store person spends time with the (non) customer. Therefore, just as the advertiser cannot misrepresent to the potential buyers, the potential buyers may not misrepresent to the product owners. This entire concept of misleading others is not merely a business concept in Judaism, but should be with a Jew in all aspects of life. Although Maimonides does mention it prominently in his section on business laws (Hilchot Mechirah 18:1), he emphasizes it even more in his section on how fundamentally to act as a Jew at all times (Hilchot De'ot 2:6). One cannot truly separate the two. Thus, the idea of not misrepresenting should be with the Jews not only when they play the roles of advertisers and customers, but in all walks of life.

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Source KeyAMEMEI
Verse25:14
Keyword(s)wrong
Source Page(s)6
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