Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Speaker A: So the Torah portion of Balak is telling us how King Balak, who was.
[00:00:06] Speaker B: A king over non Jewish nation of.
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Moab, is hiring a non Jewish prophet called Bilaam to curse the Jews.
Because Balak saw that there's no way for him to win a battle with Jews by force.
So he is resorting to spiritual ammunition. He wants to curse the Jews and then he's hoping to be able to conquer them.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: And then we know the story that his plans are foiled because instead of cursing the Jews, Balaam is only uttering blessings to the Jews.
Now I have a question.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: We have two key figures, two players.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: In this whole scene.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: Balak the king who is hiring someone to curse the Jews and Bilaam the prophet who is being hired by someone.
[00:01:03] Speaker B: To curse the Jews.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: Here's a question, whose sin is greater? Who is a bigger wicked man, who is worse? The one who is hiring someone to do something bad or the one who is doing it? And that's a legalistic question because in the court of law here in the States, I'm sure there are situations where someone is hiring a hitman to kill somebody.
And the question is whose punishment should be greater? Who carries bigger responsibility? The one who hires a hitman or the hitman himself?
So what does the American law say?
[00:01:43] Speaker B: Well, but who is more culpable?
[00:01:46] Speaker A: So the American law has such a concept as conspiracy.
When people conspire to do something, you are not only committing a transgression by doing something, when you are conspiring, it's even worse.
So there are people who are involved in this conspiracy and that is an additional charge.
Guess what?
[00:02:11] Speaker B: In the Jewish law there's no such a thing.
[00:02:15] Speaker A: The Torah says that every person should.
[00:02:18] Speaker B: Understand what is right, what is wrong.
[00:02:21] Speaker A: And if somebody is convincing you or paying you to do something wrong, it is your and your only responsibility to say yes or no.
The Torah insists that every person at every moment of his life has a free choice.
I have a free choice whether I'll hire you to kill somebody or not. But you will have a free choice at every moment up until last second to murder this person or not.
And at the end, who is responsible?
[00:02:53] Speaker B: The one who pulls the trigger.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: The example that Talmud says, if your.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: King gives you one order and some.
[00:03:06] Speaker A: Low level clerk who is under this king gives you an opposite order, who are you going to listen to? Obviously you have to neglect the orders of low level clerk and you have to listen to the king because you know what king told you directly.
So king is God and low level clerk Is this person who is hiring you to do something wrong.
As the Torah says, nobody should become a shliach, a messenger to do something wrong. It is up to you whether you'll do something wrong or not.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: And by the way, in legal world we see a very interesting thing that if there are several people who are co conspiring and one of them is making a plan, the other one is.
[00:03:50] Speaker A: Paying off the hitman, and then third person who is a hitman is actually.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: Going to kill, then the guy who.
[00:03:57] Speaker A: Made a plan, he is going to be very hesitant to give out names of his co conspirators.
[00:04:05] Speaker B: Why?
[00:04:05] Speaker A: Because he knows he is going to be on the hook also.
So he doesn't want to cooperate. It is incentive for him not to cooperate.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: In the Jewish law, this obstacle is.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Not there because every person knows the one who pulls the trigger, he is guilty. And if there are three people who are in a room and they're hiring me to do go kill somebody, I know I am the one who is going to be guilty. So I better not do it. It's up to me. I know that. I know that the other guys are not going to be guilty of murder. Only I will.
And I know that they will give me out if they are caught.
So from perspective of litigation, the Jewish law gives much more opportunity, first of all for the person who is about to commit a murder not to commit it because he knows that he's going.
[00:05:03] Speaker B: To be the one on the hook.
[00:05:04] Speaker A: And then once murder is committed, it's much easier to discover who actually did it. Because people are not interested in hiding.
[00:05:12] Speaker B: They are co conspirators.
[00:05:14] Speaker A: Now this is from the legalistic perspective.
So there are two different perspectives. One is a legalistic.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: In other words, legalistic perspective deals with how the world around us is damaged.
And Jewish law is dealing only with how you affect the world around you.
[00:05:34] Speaker A: If you do something that hurts you, the Jewish law will not have any claim against you because you only harm yourself.
A Jewish court will never put somebody on trial for harming themselves.
[00:05:45] Speaker B: So if you are speaking about the.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: Practical side of the world, then the one who does the action, he is the one who is committing the crime.
[00:05:57] Speaker B: But what about the spiritual world? What about the inner world of people?
The Torah says that the inner world, the one who advises another person to commit a crime, he is worse because he is the enabler. Like you said, he is a catalyst.
[00:06:15] Speaker A: That's why from spiritual perspective, he's worse.
So from practical perspective, the Jewish law.
[00:06:21] Speaker B: Insists that the one who does the crime.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: He is the one who is guilty from spiritual perspective.
[00:06:29] Speaker B: The. The one who hires him or the one who pushes him, who compels him to do it.
He is a worse kind of a person because he is helping others to do it. And the Jewish law actually has a.
[00:06:40] Speaker A: Whole different category of people who push others to transgress, which is a terrible, terrible thing.
