Yaakov was very afraid, and he was troubled. (Bereishis 32:7)
“Afraid” – lest he be killed. “Troubled” – lest he kill others. (Rashi)
Drive Carefully
Yaakov Avinu was afraid not only that he might himself be killed, but also, and even more so, that he might kill other people.
I can’t forget an incident from my own life in which I saw how great Torah personalities look at things, and what a Jew should really be afraid of.
When I was young, I got in an accident. I was the driver, and the car flipped over. Baruch Hashem, I wasn’t hurt, just a few cuts, but I was sent to the hospital nevertheless.
A policeman came to me in the hospital to get a report on the accident. He asked me, “How did it happen?”
I answered, “Look, I am a new driver. There were very strong winds, I lost control of the car, and it flipped over.”
The next week I went in to see my rosh yeshivah, R. Yosef Dov Soloveitchik of Brisk, and he, too, asked about the incident: “I heard you were in an accident. What exactly happened?”
I tried to describe how the accident happened, and then came the reaction I will never forget. “Oy, you could have killed someone!”
Do you get it? The policeman, whose job is essentially to protect the lives of the citizens, when I told him that the wind knocked the car off balance, was satisfied with my explanation. “Oh, okay.”
But the rosh yeshivah wasn’t so pleased. And he didn’t remark, “You could have been killed,” but rather, “You could have killed someone!”
He looked at me like I was crazy. How could you get into a situation where you are liable to kill someone? That’s the Jewish way to look at things.
Why don’t we all think that way? Why isn’t the fear to kill others our gut reaction?
Carrying on Shabbos
R. Yosef Liss recounted that he once asked the Brisker Rov a question.
During World War II, it was common for people flee at short notice when they heard the enemy was approaching. Once they needed to flee on Shabbos, and some Jews left home with just the clothes they were wearing, while others brought along a sack of items such as a spare shirt, tallis and tefillin, and more.
R. Liss asked the Brisker Rov at that time: Who allowed these people to carry a sack on Shabbos? How could they treat the laws of Shabbos so lightly?
The Brisker Rov replied: When the air is full of chilul Shabbos, it affects everyone. Everyone’s zeal for Shabbos observance cools down. The Jewish Communists in Russia go to plow fields on Shabbos, and the bnei Torah take a shirt with them when they flee.
This is a wondrous insight from the Brisker Rov. I want to apply it to our subject.
Violence is in the Air
We live in a time when violence is everywhere. Even in frum newspapers you can see how much violence is going on in the world.
There are a lot of people, it doesn’t matter what nationality or ethnic group they belong to, when if they feel that they are being stepped on, that someone is depriving them of their rights, they don’t take it sitting down. They react violently. They pull out a gun or they hijack a plane and threaten to kill the passengers if their demands are not met in full. There is a mafia, there are killings, may Hashem protect us.
I was born in the US, and I know very well the mentality of, “No one is going to step on me!” If you try to put such a person down, he immediately raises his fists and reacts violently, sometimes to the point of bloodshed.
A Jew who was in the US armed forces once told me that he served in some distant country. He was together with a non-Jew from Texas, a tall and broad-shouldered fellow. In the army base there was also an Arab. The Arab somehow thought that if there is a Jew in this particular army unit, the rest of the members of that unit must also be Jews. One time he walked past the tall Texan and spit on him, assuming he was a Jew.
The Texan did not hesitate. He just went and killed him on the spot. Simple as that. He’s not going to let an Arab spit on him.
This is what is going on in the world today. If somebody spits on you, take off his head. Don’t be a sucker; you have rights! And when the world is full of this kind of violence, it affects everyone.
There is a certain level of violence that can sometimes be detected even in our circles. I remember that during the time when there were problems here in Israel with the public transportation, when the buses were not coming frequently enough, and there was a lot of public anger about it, someone picked up a rock and wanted to smash the window of a bus with people inside. This is not the Jewish way. This is violence.
We need to stop this tendency. We cannot allow ourselves to get carried away by the violent atmosphere in the world, because the Torah outlook on the use of violence, even to a low degree, is completely different.
Last Resort
The Torah recounts that when Yaakov came to Lavan’s region, and saw Rachel at the well, “He raised his voice and cried.”
Rashi explains that he cried because he came emptyhanded, whereas Eliezer, the servant of his grandfather Avraham, had come to this well carrying rings and bracelets and delicacies.
And why was Yaakov emptyhanded? Because Eisav sent his son Elifaz after Yaakov to kill him. When Elifaz, who was raised on Yitzchak’s lap, caught up with Yaakov, Yaakov convinced him to take all his possessions instead, and it would thereby be considered as if Elifaz fulfilled his father’s command to kill Yaakov, because a pauper is considered as if he is dead.
I always had a question about this incident. The rule is that if someone comes to kill you, you are permitted to kill him first. Now, Yaakov was stronger than Elifaz. We know that when Yaakov came to the well, he flipped the stone off the well as if it was nothing, even though it normally took several strong men to move it. Why did Yaakov just give in to Elifaz and hand over all his possessions? Why didn’t he knock his head off?
If someone comes to kill you, you indeed are permitted to kill him first, but only if there is no other alternative. Yaakov had another option. He could get out of the situation by giving his property to Elifaz. Yaakov preferred to become a pauper rather than become a killer. Violence, even where permitted, should always be the last resort.
Your Money or Your Life
Some people will claim that there is difference between killing and damaging property, but it’s not so simple. Both killing and damaging another’s property stem from the same character trait.
I won’t go in depth into the Halachah on this subject. I will just mention that there is a machlokes Rishonim about this point in Bava Kama 60b. Rashi holds that a person may not save himself by damaging his friend’s property, even if it is a case of pikuach nefesh. However, Tosafos disagree, and rule that he may, and it is just a question of whether he needs to pay afterward for the damage he caused.
In any case, we learn from Rashi how careful to be. We may not cause damage even if it is pikuach nefesh, according to Rashi’s view.
Why is it such a serious matter?
The Torah teaches us that another person’s property is like his soul. There are many places in the teachings of Chazal where we see that stealing another’s property is like taking his life. When the issue is withholding the wages of a day laborer, the Torah expresses this as follows:
Because he is poor, and he puts out his soul for it.
It goes so far that R. Chayim Vital recounts about his great Rav the Arizal, that before he would go to daven minchah, he made sure to pay the wages of whoever worked for him that day, a practice about which he remarked, “How can I stand before G-d when I have the soul of my friend in my hand?”
Someone else’s penny is a piece of soul. It’s like taking his soul. And surely this is true about raising a hand against him. Jews always knew that raising a hand against someone is a last resort.
