In parshat Mishpatim in Perek 23 Pasuk 2, it says “לֹא־תִֽהְיֶ֥ה אַֽחֲרֵֽי־רַבִּ֖ים לְרָעֹ֑ת” which means that we should not follow after the majority of the majority is doing evil. What does this mean? One of Rashis answers is that you should not be one who says, “since they are doing evil, I too will follow them”, meaning we should each be our own person and be strong enough to refrain from following the crowd’s wrongdoings.
What other Mefarshim interpret this phrase differently? What other times in Tanach do we see cases where the majority is doing something wrong, but some or a group of people remain strong? What important lessons can be learned from this?
This question is an interesting one because usually in Judaism we follow the majority. The exception, however, is when it is towards evil. For example, if there are lying witnesses. Rabbi Jay Kelman comments that this means that sometimes, especially in a modern world, it is easy to blur the line between what seems to be the popular opinion and what the Torah views as moral. This passuk teaches us to resist conformity when it imposes on the Torahs values. He also says that the Jewish people have always been a minority and have always resisted what the norm was of that society. However, we find cases for example during the Spanish Inquisition many Jews converted because that was what the majority was doing(not to judge the people that did because it was a hard situation.) This passuk teaches us specifically that even though majority rules is a concept that we see a lot in the Torah especially when it comes down to law decisions, we should not follow the majority in cases of evil. This idea is slightly similar to Rashi’s however Rabbi Jay Kelman puts a specific emphasis on the modern world where the media and celebrities may promote something and it may seem easy to follow because that is whats ‘trendy”.I like this idea because I think a big part of being Jewish is being different than the crowd. It's nice to see that the Torah is really telling us as a life lesson, be unique and do not conform. https://www.torahinmotion.org/discussions-and-blogs/mishpatim-follow-leader-0
ReplyDeleteRivka Yellin
The תרגום יונתן שמות פרק לב פסוק ג explains that in שמות the women resisted giving their jewelry to the men, so then immediately after the men took their own jewelry and brought it to אהרון for the building of the עגל הזהב. Here we see that although all of the men of the nation did what was wrong and helped and supported the creation of עגל הזהב, the women were able to stay strong and hold their ground and not contribute to the building of the עגל. It probably would’ve been a lot easier for the women to join in with everyone else, but they stuck to what they believed was right and didn’t help. I thought this was a very good question because it’s really hard to do what’s right even when everyone else is doing wrong around you, and I like that there are many times that we can find that people can go against the majority and do the right thing.
ReplyDeleteThe commentary in the Artscroll Chumash says that we learn from this pasuk that a judge must rule according to the evidence and what he believes. If a judge is outnumbered in his beliefs, he may not side with the other side especially if he believes them to be mistaken or intentionally perverting the law.
ReplyDeleteThis reminded me of The Tanur shel Akhnai, when R’ Eliezer disagreed with another group of rabbis that outnumbered him. R’ Eliezer kept bringing signs from Hashem that his answer was right, but in the end the group of rabbis were victorious because they were the majority. To me, this seems contradictory to what the Artscroll Chumash says. If a judge cannot side with the majority, why was the majority victorious in this case? I think this may be because in the case in Shemot it is about following the majority doing bad, but in the The Tanur shel Akhnai, it is a group of rabbis having a debate about Torah and Hashem. Therefore, it may be that in this case we follow the majority and in Shemot we certainly do not.
Additionally a case where the majority is doing something wrong, but some or a group of people remain strong is, at chet haegel the men wanted the women to give their jewelry for the golden calf but the women refused. In the end they kept their jewelry and the men donated theirs instead to the avodah zara. (ibn ezra - shemot 32:3) Here, the women are staying strong while the majority of the people, the men, were sinning.
Kayla Feldhamer
ReplyDeleteA time in Tanach where the majority did something wrong but a group of people stayed strong was during Cheit Hamiraglim. Ten of the 12 spies scouting Israel said horrible things about Israel while only Yehoshua and Kalev brought back encouraging words about the land, but their message was put down by the negativity. Rabbi Ari Enkin explains that one of the questions regarding this scene is why Moshe, the wisest man, chose 10 of the worst people to spy the land, and only 2 were good; because of these 10 spies the Jews are now going to wonder in the desert for 40 years! He explains that Moshe is not the one to blame, he just chose leaders from each Shevet. He ,however , didn’t know that these 10 people looked for the worst in every situation- they were pessimists- saw the glass half empty and brought back all that negativity. Yehoshua and Kalev saw the same exact place as the other spies but brought back optimistic news- they had a positive interpretation of the land despite seeing the exact same things as those 10 spies. The lesson we can learn from this is that everyone should look at the positive - the glass is always half full- be like Yehoshua and Kalev in a situation and don’t not like the other 10 spies who caused Bnei Yisroel to sin. I really like this idea because it really shows that you should always be positive about a situation and don’t follow the majority in doing something bad. Source : https://unitedwithisrael.org/living-torah-lesson-of-the-spies
Another example where people were doing something wrong is what happened with the spies. One person went from each shevet to visit Israel and come back to tell the nation about the place. All of the spies came back and told horrible things about the land, but Caleb and Yehoshua did not say these horrible things. They were strong enough to refrain. Chazal say that this verse teaches us 2 things. It’s a negative commandment not to follow the lead of people doing wrong, but on the flip side if there are many people doing good things it is a mitzvah to follow them.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this because I think it’s important to know when it’s good to give into peer pressure and when it isn’t. So when people are doing the right thing it’s always good to fall into the peer pressure and join them, but if people are doing bad then you should not join because you will gen an avarah too.
-Ariella Vogel
An example of a person that stayed strong and good, while the people around him were doing bad is Reuben. Yosef’s brothers hated Yosef and they wanted to throw him into a pit where he would die. Reuben recognizes that what his brothers were doing was wrong, and he pretended to go along with their plan, while he was really planning on coming back to the pit later to save Yosef. Even though the people around Reuben were doing the wrong thing, Reuben was still able to recognize what the right thing to do was, and he stayed strong.
ReplyDeleteA good example of a time in Tanach where this situation comes up is in the story of Korach. One of Korach’s friends, Ohn ben Pelet, was supposed to be part of the big revolt with him, When Korach came to pick him up, Ohn’s wife, who didn’t want her husband to participate, began combing her hair at the front of their tent. Korach left, because he couldn’t watch a married woman with her hair uncovered. We know that next, Korach held his evil revolt, with Ohn not being part of it, even though many people (including his friends) were doing it.
ReplyDeleteEven though Ohn didn’t actively make the choice not to join the “majority doing evil”, I still think it really connects with this passuk. I also think it’s interesting to see, again, an instance in the Torah where a woman’s intuition can save a life. Had it not been for Ohn’s wife, he would’ve met the save fate as Korach.