Class #3 Sources

Sources class #3

Vayikra 19:17

You shall not hate your brother in your heart. You shall surely rebuke your fellow, but you shall not bear a sin on his account.   יז. לֹא תִשְׂנָא אֶת אָחִיךָ בִּלְבָבֶךָ הוֹכֵחַ תּוֹכִיחַ אֶת עֲמִיתֶךָ וְלֹא תִשָּׂא עָלָיו חֵטְא:

Rashi:  You shall not bear a sin on his account: I.e., [in the course of your rebuking your fellow,] do not embarrass him in public. — [Torath Kohanim 19:43; Arachin 16b]   רביםלא תלבין את פניו ב: ולא תשא עליו חטא:

Shabbos 55A

For R. Aha b. R. Hanina said: Never did a favourable word go forth from the mouth of

the Holy One, blessed be He, of which He retracted for evil, save the following, where it is written, And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark [tav] upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof, etc. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Gabriel, Go and set a tav ( ת ) of ink upon the foreheads of the righteous, that the destroying angels may have no power over them; and a tav of blood upon the foreheads of the wicked, that the destroying angels may have power over them. Said the Attribute of Justice before the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Sovereign of the Universe! Why are these different from those?’ ‘Those are completely righteous men, while

these are completely wicked,’ replied He. ‘Sovereign of the Universe!’ it continued, ‘they had the power to protest but did not.’ ‘It was fully known to them that had they protested they would not have heeded them.’ ‘Sovereign of the Universe!’ said he, ‘If it was revealed to You, was it revealed to them?’ Hence it is written, [Slay utterly] the old man, the young and the maiden… And why tav? — Said Rav: Tav [stands for] tichyeh [you shall live], tav [stands for] tamus [you shall die].

Path of the Just Ch. 9

If you will point to the fact that the Sages in all places have ordered that a man be especially attentive to his well-being and not put himself in danger even if he is righteous and a doer of good deeds, that they have said (Kethuvoth 30a), “All is in the hands of Heaven except chills and fever,” and that the Torah states (Deuteronomy 4:15), “Be very watchful of your selves” – all of which indicates that a person is not to extend trust in God to this area, even (as our Sages state further) when a mitzvah is to be performed – know that there is fear and there is fear. There is appropriate fear and there is foolish fear. There is confidence and there is recklessness. The Lord blessed be He, has invested man with sound intelligence and judgment so that he may follow the right path and protect himself from the instruments of injury that have been created to punish evildoers. One who allows himself not to be guided by wisdom and exposes himself to dangers is displaying not trust, but recklessness; and he is a sinner in that he flouts the will of the Creator, blessed be His Name, who desires that a man protect himself. Aside from the fact that because of his carelessness he lays himself open to the danger inherent in the threatening object, he openly calls punishment down upon himself because of the sin that he commits thereby, so that his hurt results from the sin itself. …The criterion by which to distinguish between the two fears is that implied in the statement of our Sages of blessed memory (Pesachim 8b), “Where there is a likelihood of danger, it is different.” That is, where there is a recognized possibility of injury, one must be heedful, but where there is no apparent danger, one should not be afraid.