Q&A: "Do Not Place a Stumbling Block" in Value Judgments
"Do Not Place a Stumbling Block" in Value Judgments
Question
Is there a halakhic prohibition of "do not place a stumbling block" in general matters of value, and does it apply even when the person transgresses unintentionally? [That is, in your view, is a Jewish vegan forbidden to hand someone else a cup of cow’s milk? And perhaps, as a much broader extension of judging according to his own view, would it be permitted to hand it to a non-vegan who says it is permitted? And is a non-vegan allowed to hand it even to a vegan, provided he informs him that it is cow’s milk and not almond milk, as you learned from the Ritva regarding a Torah-level prohibition? Or on the contrary, if the vegan recipient thinks it is almond milk, is it permitted to hand it to him silently? And perhaps for some reason only a vegan handing it to another vegan would be forbidden. I did not find a direct discussion of this on the site.]
Answer
It seems obvious to me that the answer is yes. Similar discussions are held regarding "do not place a stumbling block" in connection with rabbinic prohibitions. On the face of it, this is a Torah-level "do not place a stumbling block," since causing someone to encounter a physical obstacle is also included in "do not place a stumbling block," and a rabbinic prohibition is no less serious than a physical obstacle: you are causing another person something bad. So too, causing him a moral transgression is causing him harm.
Regarding the vegan case, you are already entering the question of "do not place a stumbling block" in the context of a dispute over values. I discussed this with respect to Jewish law (the Ritva on Sukkah 10) and with respect to morality this is a more complex discussion. I think the explanation I gave for the Ritva—that there is an infringement on the other person’s autonomy—would be correct here as well.