Torah Study Blog

This week’s session was inspired by Rabbi Jaech’s trip to Washington D.C. with the current Temple Israel of Northern Westchester confirmation class. The trip was organized by the Religious Action Center, or RAC, which falls under the umbrella of the Union for Reform Judaism and acts as their hub for Jewish social-justice work.

In their work, the RAC advocates for issues confronting people today by using the words of our sages. In many cases, the issues could not have been imagined by our ancient sages. Rabbi Jaech shared with us how the RAC can address gun control with the ancient wisdom of the sages.

The Book of Deuteronomy instructs that, “When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if anyone should fall from it.” (Deuteronomy 22:8) A parapet is a low fence. In biblical times, the roof of a home was flat and was used as part of the living space. It may have been used for storage, or as a place to dry laundry, or just a place to sit and lounge. Homeowners were responsible for the safety of other people using their roof. The concept of “bloodguilt” relies on the belief that people are responsible for the consequences of their deeds.

And I will paraphrase a passage in The Book of Exodus which says that if someone owns an ox that gores a man or woman to death, the ox will be killed and the owner is not held responsible. Unless the ox has gored in the past and the owner has been warned. In that instance, if the ox gores someone to death, the owner of the ox will also be put to death! (Exodus 21:28-29)

Using Torah passages like these, the sages in the Mishnah, which is dated to about 200 CE, said that it, “is derived that one may not raise a vicious dog in his house, and that one may not set up an unstable ladder.” Because, if you did, you would “bring blood into your house,” which means that one may not allow a hazardous situation to remain in his house. (Mishnah Bava Kamma 46a)

Words like these help the RAC advocate for the responsibility of property owners to make sure that their property does not cause harm to others. Maybe they will back legislation requiring guns to be locked up when in the home, or to support the advancement of “smart” weapons – which are guns that can only be fired when the fingerprint of the owner matches the fingerprint of the user.

In the Talmud, we learn that, “One may not sell weapons to gentiles or the auxiliary equipment of weapons, and one may not sharpen weapons for them.” (Talmud Avodah Zarah 15b) The Talmudic rabbis understood that the Jews were living among gentile people and were likely to trade with them. However, a gentile could use the weapons against the Jews, which would bring bloodguilt upon the Jew that sold the weapons in the first place.

Realizing that not just gentiles could be violent, the Rabbis went on to say that, “Providing a Jew who might kill with weapons is no different from giving a weapon to a gentile, as in both cases one violates the prohibition: Do not place a stumbling block before the blind.” Which is a well-known passage from Leviticus (Leviticus 19:14)

Rabbi Jaech acknowledges that you can find material in the Bible to make a case for anything. And definitions can also be changed along the way. In the Middle Ages the sages decided that Christians were no longer idolaters, so the prohibition against selling them weapons no longer applied. This was likely facing the reality that there were more Christians and the Jews needed to be able to make a living. The fact is, if you create laws that are impossible to follow, no one will follow them anyway. It is better to adjust to changing times.

However, throughout history, Jewish law tends to put the rights and safety of the community above the rights of the individual. But our broader, American society today causes us to focus on our own individual rights and satisfaction. When the good of the community is the primary responsibility, there will be people who are unhappy because they feel that their individual needs are not being met. This has provided food for thought for 2000 years, and continues to do so today.

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misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Jaech taught us are the responsibility of Tara Keiter