Йешайау 33:15 Галаха: Shulchan Arukh, Choshen Mishpat & Sefer Chasidim

The custom of the former Judges was to shun being appointed to office and they would restrain themselves exceedingly not to sit in judgment²⁵Yad, Sanhedrin III, 10. Derived from San. 14a: ‘R. Zera was on his guard not to be ordained, because R. Eleazar had stated: Remain always obscure (i.e., without office) and live. But when he later heard another saying of R. Eleazar, viz., One does not attain greatness until all his sins are forgiven (i.e., the greatness of holding office improves one’s moral personality), he was ready to become reconciled (to the idea).’ Y. Bik. III, 3(65c-d) bot.: ‘R. Ze‘ira, when they wanted to ordain him, did not want to accept (this office) upon himself. But when he heard that which was taught in a Baraitha, viz., that regarding a scholar, groom and a Nasi, greatness forgives (all sins), he accepted the appointment.’ until they knew that there was no other [authority] available there as competent as they²⁶Heb. כמותם. Thus Yad ibid. Caro, however, has כמוהו ‘as he.’ Derived from Ber. 63a: ‘Where there is no man, then you should be a man (to spread the teachings of the Torah). Abaye said : From this you may infer that there is a man, then you should not be a man. This is self-evident? — This was required to be stated where both are equal (i.e., where there is another person who equals you in learning do not strive to attain office).’ , infra n. 28 end. and if they were to desist from [giving decisions] in the law, the natural order [of justice] would become upset.²⁷A.Z. 19b: ‘R. Abba said on the authority of R. Huna, in the name of Rab, What is the meaning of the verse, For she hath cast down many wounded? (Prov. VII, 26) — This refers to a disciple who has not attained the age of ordination (the original הפילה is connected here with נפל non-viable birth) and yet, renders decisions; yea, a mighty host are her slain (ibid.), refers to a disciple who has attained the age of ordination, but avoids giving decisions,’ (the original עצומים is taken here as ‘those who refrain from rendering decisions,’ as עוצם עינין) -‘he shuts his eyes’ found in Is. XXXIII, 15). And what is the permissible age? — Forty years. But did not Rabbah render decisions? (although he died at the age of forty. , R.H. 18b. Cf. however, Halevy, Doroth II, 438 seq.; Funk, Die Juden in Babylonien II, n. 1) — There we deal with a case of equals (i.e., there was none greater than he available).’ Hence, if he surpasses all the others in learning he must accept the appointment. Otherwise, the natural order of justice is upset. Cf. supra § 7, n. 14. Yet, they would not sit in judgment until the people and the elders are urged to put pressure upon them and entreat them [to accept].²⁸Hor. 10a-b: ‘. . Rather be astonished at two disciples you (R. Gamaliel) have on land, R. Eleazar Ḥisma and R. Joḥanan b. Gudgada who can calculate how many drops there are in the sea and have neither bread to eat nor clothes to wear. He (R. Gamaliel) decided to appoint them as overseers (in order for them to make a living) … he sent for them but they did not come. He then sent sent for them again and when they arrived he said to them, Do you think that I give you rulership? It is rather servitude that I give you, as it is said And they spoke to him saying : If thou wilt be a servant unto this people this day (I Kings XII, 7, spoken by the old advisers to Rehoboam who was King of Judah and Israel).’ Cf. I Sam. X, 22. It follows that there must have been no others available for the office and yet, at first they refused to come. As to the passage in A.Z. ibid. (v. previous note) regarding a disciple who has attained the age of ordination, but avoids giving decisions to whom is applied the verse, yea, a mighty host are her slain, it refers to one who even after having been strongly urged to accept the office, still refuses, Or, it is possible that in A.Z. ibid., we deal with a case of a scholar who is unsurpassed in learning by anyone in his generation (v. Tur and Caro infra § 10, 3 and note the expression ‘and the generation has need of him’), but the present ruling treats of one who is superior in learning to all the scholars of that particular locality. However, elsewhere there are others who are available (note the expression used here ‘there was no other authority available there’) — M.E. , Sot. 22b, Tosaf. s.v. בשוין.

The main strength of piety from beginning to end is that although they scoff at him he does not forsake his piety, his intent is for heaven’s sake and he does not look at the countenances of women: especially so among other men where women are customarily seen, for example, if he has been in the wedding hall where the women were garbed in choicest ornaments and all were gazing but he did not stare, for that will he merit the great good that is laid up, as it is written, “which thou hast laid up for those that fear thee” (Ps. 31:20). And his eye will be satiated with the Divine Glory: “Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty” (Isa. 33:17). For this reason it is best for the individual when he meets a woman, whether single or married, whether a gentile woman or Jewish, whether she be of age or a minor, to turn his face aside from looking at her. Thus do we find in Job (31:1), “I made a covenant with mine eyes; how then should I look upon a maid.” And thus is it written in the book of Ben Sira, “Avert your eyes from a beautiful woman, lest you stumble and incur penalties for her.” ¹Ben Sira 9:5. (So Isa. 33:15) “And shutteth his eyes from looking upon evil” refers to him who gazes not upon women at the time when they stand by their wash.²Baba Bathra 57b. When they wash their garments and lift their skirts so as not to soil them, they uncover their legs, and we know a woman’s leg is a sexual incitement³Berakoth 24a.
/4/ Solomon Ibn Gabirol, Choice of Pearls, ed. Zvi Phillipawski (Warsaw: J. Lebenson, 1863), p. 9; also Jerusalem Talmud Berakoth 1:5. All future references to the Jerusalem Talmud will be designated J. T. and so said the sage, “nothing interposes better before desire, than closing one’s eyes.”

Twenty-four things interfere with repentance.¹Maimonides, Hilkhoth Teshuvah, 4:1. These are they: (1) gossiping evil, (2) slandering, (3) anger, (4) thinking evil, (5) fraternizing with the wicked, (6) eating at a table a meal that does not even suffice for the host, (7) staring at lewdness, (8) dividing spoils with a thief, (9) saying, “I will sin and the Day of Atonement will atone,” (10) disregarding one’s teachers, (11) cursing the community, (12) withholding the community from performing a meritorious deed is also included in this sin, (13) deflecting one’s friend from a meritorious deed to an act of transgression, (14) making use of the poor man’s pledge, (15) accepting bribes to pervert the law, (16) finding a lost object and not announcing it publicly so that it can be returned to its rightful owners, (17) seeing one’s son going out to a bad environment and not reprimanding him, (18) eating the plunder of the poor and widows, (19) separating oneself from the community, (20) transgressing the words of the sages, (21) honoring oneself at the expense of a friend’s disgrace, (22) suspecting the innocent, (23) despising reproof, (24) scorning the commandments. All these twenty-four things withhold repentance. Repentance is not withheld if he has repented of them,²Repented of the twenty-four items listed here. for he is then a penitent and has a share in the world to come.
And these things are differentiated in their various aspects. They are not all equal in punishment or with regard to repentance. There are aspects of them that close the path of repentance before their doers: “One who separates himself from the path of the community,” that at the time that they do penance he will not be with them, and he will not share with them in the good deeds that they perform; “One who contests the words of the sages,” because argument causes him to separate from them and he does not know repentance; “one who disregards his teachers,” because this causes him to be banished from the world, and in the time that he is being driven from the world he will not find a teacher to show him the path of truth;³Joseph Albo, Sefer ha-Ikkarim (Book of Principles), ed. Isaac Husik (5 Vols.; Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1946), I, 99. “One who mocks the commandments,” since they are despised in his eyes he will never pursue them, will not love them and will not perform them; “One who abhors reproof,” since he despises his reprover he will never find a reprover to lead him in the good path. Reproofs cause repentance, for at the time that they let the man know of his sin and shame him he then regrets his actions⁴“His actions,” is the preferred reading. and returns (to God) in repentance. And so we find with Moses when he would admonish Israel he would remind them of all their transgressions, “Ye have been rebellious” (Deut. 9:7), in order to cause them to repent, and (in this manner) all of the prophets reproved Israel. Therefore it is necessary to set up in each and all of Israel’s communities a person, an elder, wise and God-fearing from his youth onward and beloved to the people of his city, to reprove them and return them (to God) in repentance. And this one despises reproof and does not listen to his words therefore he will remain in his sins, which in his eyes are good. There are things which are great transgressions and him who does one of them the Holy One, blessed be He, does not let repent because of the gravity of his sin. These are they: one who leads the community astray and included in this perversity is one who restrains the community from performing a meritorious act; one who leads his neighbor from a good to an evil path, such as an instigator and seducer. One who sees his son conducting an evil life and does not reprimand him and his son is still in his care. For if he were to reprimand him, he would mend his ways; this is therefore tantamount to causing him to sin. Included in this perversion is each one who has the power to rebuke others, both the community and individuals, and has not done so;⁵Shabbath 54b. it is as though he placed the snare with his own hands; also he who says, “I will sin and repent,” “I will sin and the Day of Atonement will atone.” There are some things for which he who does them is unable to do complete penance, because they are between him and his fellowman; for example, when he does not know the person against whom he has sinned in order to ask for his forgiveness or, if he has stolen, to whom to make restitution. These⁶In the text, “he does not know” is lacking. are they :one who curses the community and has not cursed a specific individual, to be able to approach him, appease him and ask of him forgiveness; one who shares with a thief, because he does not know from whom the theft was taken because he⁷“The thief.” steals from all people and brings it to him and he accepts it therefore he doesn’t know to whom to make restitution, moreover, he strengthens the hands of the thief and causes him to sin; one who finds a lost object and does not proclaim it in order to return it to the owners, after a while when he does make penance he does not know to whom to return it; one who eats the loot taken from poor people, orphans and widows, these unfortunate people are not known and wander from city to city and there is no one that knows them to know to whom to return it; he who accepts a bribe to pervert justice, he does not know the extent of the perversion and what loss is involved in order to make a proper restitution moreover, he strengthens the hand of the pervert and causes him to sin.
These are very bad things and he who does them in all probability will not return (to God) because they are simple in the eyes of most people and it appears to them that it is no perversion but it is a decisive sin and perversion. These are they: one who eats at the table a meal that does not even suffice for the host, which is a great sin but he who eats thinks in his heart, “What is my sin, I ate only with his permission”; he who uses the pledge of the poor man, for instance he loans to the poor man on his ax and the creditor chops wood without the poor man’s permission and says, “What is my sin if I have chopped with it, he loses nothing thereby.”⁸Baba Metzia 82b. One who stares at lewdness, thinks in his heart, “What is my transgression, wherein is my sin, if I did look at my kinsman have I then fornicated with her?” He does not know or understand that he causes sin to the person involved, as it is written, “That ye go not about after your own heart and your own eyes after which ye used to go astray” (Num. 15:39). And in the book of Ben Sira he says, “Avert your eyes from a beautiful woman.”⁹Yebamoth 63b; Ben Sira 9:5.
The rabbis commented on the verse, “He shutteth his eyes from looking on evil” (Isa. 33:15), that he closes his eyes from looking at women.¹⁰Baba Bathra 57b. A woman’s leg is a sexual incitement.¹¹Berakoth 24a. The voice of a woman is indecency.¹²Ibid. As our sages have said, “He who stares at the small finger of a woman is as if staring at the pudenda.”¹³Ibid. They also have said, “Even at the colored clothing of a woman stretched out on the wall, if he recognizes the owner he is prohibited from looking.”¹⁴Abodah Zarah 20b.
He who honors himself through the shame of his neighbor says in his heart he is not sinning in that he does not embarrass him and did not bring him to his shame. In what manner does he do this? He compares his deeds with his neighbor’s wisdom, and his wisdom with the deeds of his friend, in order that it may appear therefrom that he is honored and his friend disgraced.
To him “who suspects the innocent,” it appears that he is not sinning, but he needs to learn from Moses, our teacher, who spoke evil and suspected the innocent in that he said, “But behold they will not believe me” (Exod. 4:1), (and) immediately he was stricken with leprosy.¹⁵Shabbath 97a. There are five things to which he who does them will remain addicted and from which he will find it difficult to separate himself. Therefore a man must beware of them and remove himself in order not to cleave to them, for they are extremely bad. And these are they: talking evil, going about tale-bearing, anger, thinking evil and associating with a wicked person because he learns from his ways, and they are marked in his heart, “ But the companion of fools shall smart for it” (Prov. 13:20).¹⁶Midrash Rabbah, ed. Soncino, Ecclesiastes, VIII, 80.