The guy standing in front of me at the deli kiosk asked for two cigarettes, "Kent's, please.".
The seller, a bearded Haredi man, peeled open a new pack, pulled out two cigarettes and announced: 'Six shekels, please.' The young man paid, and the seller opened a transparent jar of round chewing gum that had seen better days, and pulled out two sticky, colorless circles.
'"Take it," he said to the boy.
""Oh, you with your nonsense," the young man responded, trying to shrug off the gesture. But the seller insisted: Take the gum, you paid for it. The young man reluctantly took his purchase and threw it in the bin at the entrance to the store.
What was here?.
It turns out that on October 21, the Law and Justice Committee approved a regulation stipulating that selling single cigarettes will cost the seller a fine of 4,000 shekels. The fine for a repeat offense will be double the fixed fine, and the fine for another repeat offense will be three times the basic fine. The rationale behind the regulation was a desire to combat tax evasion and the distribution of tobacco products.
What did the clever seller do?
He sold the guy two smelly sticks of gum for six shekels, and gave him the cigarettes as a gift. No one can forbid him from giving cigarettes to his best friend, and on the other hand charge him an exorbitant price of six shekels for two circles of chewing gum, right?
The rest of the people in line, and I too, secretly hoped that the tax authority man would come in, notice the incident, and burst out laughing.
Unfortunately, this did not happen, and a fascinating spectacle was denied us. But in the meantime, the thought kept running through my mind: After the customs officer bursts out laughing and sneers at the seller's childish philistinism, will he drag him to the police station, or will he be forced to accept his explanation, which states that at the end of the day, he did not formally break the law?
And this thought about 'law' and 'the spirit of the law' led to another thought: don't we behave this way in our lives, both on a social level and on a halakhic level?
Below are a few questions.
I assume that there are answers to the halakhic part, and yet, it is permissible to propose the questions.
• Selling chametz: As is well known, the sale is not recognized under Israeli law, certainly not until a few years ago. No one takes seriously the idea that an Arab would knock on one's door on Seder night and ask to take the noodles in the pantry on the balcony. Certainly not the owners of secular establishments. And yet the sale is valid. Where is the attitude towards the spirit of the law?
• The sale permit: The lands of the Land of Israel are sold to a Gentile, and thus the fruits that grow are expropriated in the seventh sanctity. Just like in the sale of chametz, let's close our eyes and say: Come on.
• On the other hand, when it became known that Prof. Yeshayahu Leibowitz used to stay in Jerusalem on the 14th of Adar, and then travel to Tel Aviv on the 15th of Adar, in order to 'escape' Purim, which he did not particularly like, he encountered ridicule, not to mention accusations of heresy. Formally, the man respected the law, although it ruined his spirit, so why is there any contempt for him? [By the way, I have not found a source for this rumor].
• Otzar Beit Din and Etrogim: A fancy etrog was also sold this year for $100. How so? Isn't it forbidden to make merchandise out of Sheviit fruits? The seller demanded payment for the box, not for the etrog. Incidentally, its value is the same as the colorless chewing gum from the opening.
• Shabbat clock: During the holy day, the lights in our homes are turned on and off without human intervention. All seems fine, but would a rabbi allow music, washing machines, or perhaps a train to be turned on in this way? Such actions may be 'un-Shabbat', and they go against the 'spirit of the law', as stated, but then the question arises: And a Shabbat clock of light, yes Shabbat? Maybe we've just gotten used to it?
• During the days of the Sefer, it is customary not to listen to music. There is no mention of this in the clear Mishnah, yet the 'spirit of the law' suggests that listening to songs on these days is inappropriate. The Haredi media networks play 'vocal sounds' - a choir of people who specialize in producing fascinating sounds from their throats without the use of electric instruments. Are they thereby adhering to the 'spirit of the law'?
• As is known, the Rambam [1 Kings, 5] states that a woman should not be appointed to any public position in Israel. What will we do with our graceful women who fill the positions of team leaders, heads of bureaus, and heads of departments in the Haredi municipalities?
• Our women, all or most of them, wear foreign wigs, custom wigs, or natural hair. It cannot be ignored that the formal law [or at least some of its experts - the poskim] permit this in principle, but it is clear to everyone that There is no more obvious example of an embarrassing mockery of the 'spirit of the law' than the natural, flowing custom wig, which came to provide a solution to... the prohibition of revealing a woman's head hair for reasons of modesty.
• A significant portion of the dying among us customarily tell their sons about a will they have prepared, in which it is explicitly stated that the division of the property will be equal. The biblical norm in which the eldest male child receives twice as much, and daughters do not even receive the father's Kiddush cup, does not really exist among large parts of the Haredi community today. So there is no violation of the law here [except for the status of 'no wise spirit is more comfortable than him'], but there is a rejection of the spirit of the law, and in some ways.
• Yeshiva heads, supervisors, and seminary directors are charged with educating our children in the law and its spirit, or in short, in the service of God and in drawing closer to the Shechinah, the Torah, and the mitzvot. But then they act like the worst offenders and refuse to accept students into their institutions based on ethnicity and skin color. Is this the spirit of the law?
• Opinion leaders take the trouble to explain the essence of 'Torah wisdom', and the respectful attitude required from the masses towards scholars of Torah. On the other hand, the same elements do not forget to explain why the rabbi of the other camp is worthless, and only their rabbi is 'the greatest.' Haven't we deviated a bit from the 'spirit of the law' here?
• Constant posters make it clear that a person using a non-kosher phone is ineligible to witness Kiddushin. It is also forbidden to bring him to the Torah and allow him to approach the Ark. Is this a 'law' or the 'spirit of the law'? In other words: is this a halakha, and can Kiddushin be dissolved under its auspices, and permit miscreants based on the fact that the witness had a smartphone in his pocket during Kiddushin?
• Singers, directors, and artists never stop complaining that their works are being copied via the Internet and in general with the help of technological aids that never cease to amaze. And here it is, the dry halakhic law permits this, at least according to some of the jurists, but then Avraham Fried and Ehud Banai stand up and ask: But what about the spirit of the law?
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