Priceless Integrity: January 2010

Archive for January 2010

Posted by
Aryeh

Category
Priceless Integrity - Accepting the Blame

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INTEGRITY
Accepting the Blame

G-d asked, "Who told you that you are naked? Did you eat from the tree which I commanded you not to eat?" Adam replied, "The woman that you gave to be with me - she gave me what I ate from the tree." (Bereshith 3:11, 12)

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Posted by
Aryeh

Category
Priceless Integrity - Insider Trading

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INTEGRITY
Insider Trading

"Remove every lamb that is spotted or streaked, and every sheep that has dark markings. Also remove every goat that is streaked or spotted, and they will serve as my pay." ...Yaakov took wands of fresh poplar, almond, and plane. He peeled white stripes in them by uncovering the white layer under the wands' bark...The animals mated in the presence of the wands and the young they bore were ringed, spotted and streaked. (Bereshith 30:32, 37, 39)

Why did Yaakov deal with Lavan in a way that appeared to be deceptive, rather than just letting Providence deal with Lavan? In truth, Yaakov acted completely honestly, for God had showed Yaakov via Divine inspiration that the animals would be born with those particular markings. ¹ However, the extremely righteous frown upon benefiting from miraculous circumstances, for they feel that partaking of such compensation in this world could detract from their reward in the World to Come. Therefore Yaakov only made use of natural means so that he would not rely on a miracle.²

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Posted by
Aryeh

Category
Priceless Integrity - Petty Larceny

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INTEGRITY
Petty Larceny

G-d said to Noach, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; the world is filled with crime because of them. I am going to destroy them with the earth." (Bereshith 6:13)

The Great Flood destroyed almost all life on earth because of theft. The items people stole were worth less than the value of a prutah - a very small sum of money indeed. They were items of such little value that a beith din would not even deal with their theft. ¹ Why did such "petty larceny" warrant the destruction of so many living creatures?

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Posted by
Aryeh

Category
Priceless Integrity - Wasting Time

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INTEGRITY
Wasting Time

Please go ahead of me, my lord. I will lead my group slowly... (Bereshith 33:14)

Yaakov said this as a sign of respect to show that he was concerned that he should not waste Esav's time because of his family's slow pace. ¹ One must be extremely careful not to waste other people's time, a precious and irreplaceable commodity. There are occasions when it is theft to waste someone else's time, such as an employee whose time belongs to his boss. In other settings it is not considered stealing to infringe on someone else's time, however it is included under the Torah injunction, "You shall not cheat your friend."²

A prevalent example of this is "butting" ahead of someone else in line. The halachah recognizes the right of someone to maintain his position in line, and by going in front of him or asking someone else on line to take care of something for you, you are infringing on that right. If however, the person has some extenuating circumstance, e.g. he is an ill or elderly person, or he will incur a large loss of money because of the wait, it is proper to let him go to the front of the line, although one is not obligated to do so.³

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Posted by
Aryeh

Category
Priceless Integrity - Petty Larceny

0

INTEGRITY
Petty Larceny

G-d said to Noach, "The end of all flesh has come before Me; the world is filled with crime because of them. I am going to destroy them with the earth." (Bereshith 6:13)

The Great Flood destroyed almost all life on earth because of theft. The items people stole were worth less than the value of a prutah - a very small sum of money indeed. They were items of such little value that a beith din would not even deal with their theft. ¹ Why did such "petty larceny" warrant the destruction of so many living creatures?

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Posted by
Aryeh

Category
Priceless Integrity - Wasting Time

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INTEGRITY
Wasting Time

Please go ahead of me, my lord. I will lead my group slowly... (Bereshith 33:14)

Yaakov said this as a sign of respect to show that he was concerned that he should not waste Esav's time because of his family's slow pace. ¹ One must be extremely careful not to waste other people's time, a precious and irreplaceable commodity. There are occasions when it is theft to waste someone else's time, such as an employee whose time belongs to his boss. In other settings it is not considered stealing to infringe on someone else's time, however it is included under the Torah injunction, "You shall not cheat your friend."²

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Posted by
Aryeh

Category
Priceless Integrity - Flattery

0

INTEGRITY
Flattery

Yaakov said, "Please do not refuse me; if I have gained favor in your eyes, accept this gift from me, for seeing your face, it is as though I had seen the divine Countenance, as you have received me so graciously." (Bereshith 33:10)

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BS"D - בסיעתא דשמיא

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ABOUT

The word "priceless" immediately conjures up a number of images: Rembrandt's paintings, the Hope diamond, and Ming vases, among others. Most people do not associate "priceless" with value systems, however the Gemara speaks of an exceptional individual named Rav Tovyomi who would never tell a lie even if he was offered "all of the world's treasures" to do so. For Rav Tovyomi, integrity was a priceless commodity.

In order to strive to attain the exalted level of Rav Tovyomi, we must first define integrity. Children everywhere are reared on the virtues of telling the truth. In most instances "the truth" is conveyed as a direct repetition of the facts, allowing for no deviation whatsoever. As children mature, they come to the realization that it is impossible to live in accordance with this definition of truth. Often enough, they are expected to say the opposite of what they feel, to compliment things they think deserve criticism, and to act courteously to people they do not like. Compounding the intrinsic difficulty of functioning on a totally truthful level, they see that almost no one lives according to this principle. In a recent poll of 40,000 Americans, 93% admitted that they lie regularly. Integrity is quickly discarded as an ideal that no longer applies to our generation.

The purpose of this class is to kindle a desire in readers to investigate the beautiful, yet intricate, nature of integrity.

Rabbi Daniel Yaakov Travis