EXOD380 See [[EXOD372]] Exodus 20:5 zealous GATES 221

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EXOD379 In most translations of the Bible, this verse (which begins, "Lo tissa …") is rendered as "you shall not take God's Name in vain," and people often are taught that this commitment means that it is blasphemous to utter God's name in a curse, or that they must write God as God. But the Hebrew word tissa means "carry," and what the verse seems to forbid is using (i.e., carrying) "God's Name" to justify selfish and/or evil behavior. For example, during the 19th-century, it was common for American Southerners to justify their practice of slavery as something approved of by the Bible and by God. But even though the Torah permitted slavery, it hedged it with many restrictions that were ignored and violated in the South, restrictions that made biblical slavery very different from that practiced in 19th-century America. ... Therefore, when Southern clergy tried to justify their practice of slavery with a claim that the Hebrew Bible (what Christians refer to as the Old Testament) and God would have approved of their behavior, they "carried" God's Name in vain, and associated God with heinous acts. From Judaism's perspective, it is a Chillul Hashem [profanation of God's Name-AJL] to associate God with evil; that may well be why God announces that He cannot forgive those who violate the Third Commandment ("the Lord will not clear one who carries His Name in vain"; this verse] The reason would seem to be obvious: when we commit evil acts such as murdering or stealing, we discredit ourselves, but when we do evil in God's Name, we discredit God and alienate people who might otherwise have become drawn to God and religion.

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EXOD384 It is a negative commandment not to swear in vain as Scripture says, You shall not take the name of Hashem your God in vain [this verse]. A vain oath is divided into four categories: (1) If one swears to a change in something known; for example, if he swears about a man that he is a woman, or about a stone that it is gold. (2) If he swears to no purpose; for example, he takes an oath about a stone that it is a stone. (3) If he takes an oath to fail to observe a mitzvah. (4) If he swears to do something which is impossible to fulfill; for example, that he will not sleep for three days in a row, or that he will taste no food for seven days in a row. Over every one of these oaths, if he swore it willfully, he should receive whiplashes; and if it was unwitting, he is free of penalty. If someone says a benediction in vain [needlessly] or he utters the name of Heaven [God] to no purpose, he violates the injunction, You shall not take the name, etc.

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EXOD382 Do not swear needless oaths. There are four types of such oaths. 1) One denies a self-evident fact (e.g. he swears that a rock is a bird). 2) One attests to a self-evident fact (e. g. swears that a rock is a rock). 3) One swears that he will not perform a mitzvah. 4) One swears to do the impossible (e.g. he will not sleep for three days). We must know and impress upon our awareness that whenever we utter the great and holy Name of Hashem, we must do so with fear, awe and trepidation, for we are saying the Name of the Unique and Almighty God. Hashem forbids needless mention of His Name. Fulfilling this command (i.e., Refraining from needless oaths) will help us better appreciate the significance of uttering His Name, so that fear and awe of Him will be in our hearts and on our faces.

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EXOD385 There are four essential elements to repentance: (1) feeling remorse for past sins; (2) desisting from them and renouncing them; (3) confessing them and asking forgiveness for them; (4) undertaking, in one's heart and innermost being, not to repeat them. … When one who has wronged his fellow undertakes never again to wrong him, and shows that he regrets, desists from, and admits his error-- this is the perfect fulfillment of the steps that precipitate his being forgiven, the removal of his guilt, and the cancellation of his punishment. When these four essentials, with their conditions (which we will explain [in the next chapter]) are all found in a penitent, the Creator will forgive his sin and pardon his transgression. If his sin be the sort of which it is said that it will not go unpunished—e.g., swearing [in God's Name] in vain (Shemos 20:7), or adultery (Mishlei 6:29) -- the Creator will lighten the punishment in this world and show him grace in the World-to-Come, and he will be included among the righteous. As it says, “He will come to Tziyon as a Redeemer, to those of Ya'akov who turn from transgression” (Yeshayahu 59:20); “‘If you repent, Israel,’ says God, ‘you will be restored to Me’” (Yirmeyahu 4:1); “If you will repent, I will restore you; you will stand before Me” (ibid. 15:19).

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EXOD383 His son R. Ishmael said: He who avoids involvement with the law rids himself of enmity, robbery, and invalid oath-taking; while he who takes pride in laying down the law is foolish, wicked, and arrogant of spirit. (Pirkei Avot, Perek IV, Mishnah 9) … a Jew should shun litigation and refrain at all costs from involving the "long arm of the law." Even if you have a valid claim against someone, rights that can be enforced, or something "coming to you," do not feel impelled to bring the matter before the beth din, the rabbinic court (much less before a non-Jewish court of law). You need not insist on the letter of the law. There is a higher level of relationship then justice, a higher "law" by which to live: righteousness. The religious Jew should strive to be a hassid, who goes beyond the requirements and stringencies of justice. The hassid does not insist on exacting every last penny due him. He is willing to forgo some of his share, if he will thus avoid controversy. The hassid, as we will read later in Avoth, is the type who can readily say when necessary, "What is yours is yours, and what is mine is yours." (Avoth v 13). As the Sages indicate elsewhere (T.B. Baba Metzi'a 30b), havoc and ruin can befall an entire city or nation if its people ruthlessly insist on rigorous justice in every least matter, and refuse to abide by mercy. To keep a community living and working smoothly, we need the lubricating oil of goodwill; everyone must be ready to act with charity and "give a little." Otherwise friction mounts until the machinery of human relations breaks down and the community destroys itself. If you take to the courts in a fine blaze of righteous anger, at the very least you will arouse resentment and hatred. Even if you win your case, you usually lose something more important: the goodwill of people about you. Furthermore, acquisitiveness is contagious. If you become very demanding and exacting, seeking to protect your own rights and possessions to the last iota, the people with whom you deal will begin to do likewise. Others can play at the game as well as you. Do not force them to. Moreover, there is a possibility that you are wrong in your demands. The facts may not be as you think. Perhaps, through a legal technicality, you will be awarded the money you claim, but in reality you will take what does not belong to you. Sometimes, believing yourself to be right, you will take an oath and make statements that are actually false: in the zealous pursuit of your rights you may "take the name of the Lord your God in vain" [this verse]. Abstain, remove yourself from litigations and lawsuits, says R. Ishmael, and you will remove yourself from hatred, robbery and swearing falsely: from hatred, because you will incur no enmity by hailing people into court; from robbery, for you will take no one's property through faulty or inhumane legal decisions; from false and improper oaths--since outside the courtroom you will not be moved to take an oath by a passionate but erroneous conviction of certainty.

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EXOD386 As to the reason why a positive precept has the power to overrule a negative one, the suggestion has been made that the two kinds of precepts appeal primarily two different attitudes in man and involve different motivations. To go out and expend energy and substance in the bidding of one's master is generally prompted by love, which in turn evokes a response of compassion; i.e., the divine attribute of mercy, rachamim. However, to refrain from doing that which is forbidden by one's master is generally prompted by fear, to which God responds with his attribute of justice (din). But since love of God is greater than fear of God, the power of the positive precept is greater than the power of the negative, so that in cases of conflict, the positive overrules the negative [Nachmanides on this verse]. This may also explain why the Torah prescribes penalties of all sorts for violation of the negative precepts while generally no penalties are ordered for nonfeasance or neglecting to perform the positive commands.

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EXOD387 Sanctify the Shabbos with words. At the start and end of the Sabbath, speak of the greatness of the Sabbath and how it differs from the other days of the week. Our Sages explained that this mitzvah is performed over wine--Kiddush at the start of the Sabbath and Havdalah at the end. Performance of this mitzvah awakens us to recall the greatness of the Sabbath and internalizes our belief that Hashem created the world. The mitzvah is performed over wine because wine has unique power to stir a person's heart. These matters become a part of us through our actions and the stirrings of our hearts.

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EXOD388 What can words do that are unethical? The power of a person to do harm through communication is so great that it even appears as one of the Ten Commandments: The ninth commandment states: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor." That is to say, when one is giving testimony against one's neighbor, one ought to be extremely cautious in giving such testimony. Even if the greatest saint and scholar revealed that one's neighbor had committed a crime, one should not testify unless he or she actually witnesses the crime.

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EXOD389 Th[e] exaltation of labor marks all Jewish literature. The leaders of the people are pictured not as hero-warriors, but as hero-workers, brave toilers, cheerful shepherds and ploughman. In whatever field they engaged they served their Maker by performing their tasks in His spirit. The story of the building of the Tabernacle tells that God put His work into Bezalel to enable him to perform all manner of work. The same spirit that prompted the Prophets to prophecy, Psalmists to sing, and Kings to rule, also prompted artisans to work. Rabbi Eliezer well characterizes labor as a form of Divine worship and adds: "Great is labor for even as the people of Israel were enjoined concerning the Sabbath, so were they commanded to labor, for it is said [this verse]." [Ab. R.N. B, 21; cf. 1:11; Midr. Hagadol, Yitro, 9, where the idea is ascribed to R. Judah Hanasi]. (Continued at [[DEUT699]] Deuteronomy 14:29 work COHON 179-80)

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