Q&A: A Scoundrel with the Permission of the Torah – Definition
A Scoundrel with the Permission of the Torah – Definition
Question
What, in your opinion, is the definition of “a scoundrel with the permission of the Torah”?
Does this definition fit someone who kills in an unusual manner and indirectly? That is, is this an act that is permitted according to Jewish law but forbidden morally? Or is this a definition within Jewish law itself? Meaning, a person somehow exempts himself from a halakhic obligation and in doing so misses the meaning and content of the religious command? Or both?
Best regards,
Answer
I didn’t understand the difference. Are you asking whether what he is in fact violating is necessarily a moral transgression, or whether there could also be religious transgressions? Bringing produce in through the rooftops in order to exempt it from tithes (Berakhot 35) is also being a scoundrel with the permission of the Torah.
Someone who kills in an unusual manner and indirectly is committing an outright halakhic transgression.
Discussion on Answer
David, I think you put it well.
I’d phrase it this way: does the “scoundreliness” refer to moral failings (even though according to Jewish law he may be acting in the strictest and most meticulous way), or does the “scoundreliness” refer to evading religious goals (even though his actions conform to the halakhic rules and the letter of the law)? Or is there a third option—that “scoundreliness” can apply to both this and that?
So that’s what I understood, and that’s what I answered.
In my opinion, what the questioner means is:
Does “scoundrel” refer to a doctrine separate from “Torah” (say, “morality”)? Meaning that from a Torah standpoint you’re completely fine, but morally you’re a scoundrel. Or is “scoundrel” also a Torah category, and the point is that you’re a scoundrel from a Torah perspective even though technically you didn’t sin, because you gamed the system but betrayed the whole point (hope I was clear).