Exact Weights and Faith in God
Bein Adam Le-chavero: Ethics of Interpersonal Conduct
By Rav
Binyamin Zimmerman
Shiur #28: Exact Weights and Faith in God
In last weeks lesson we
discussed three prohibitions in Parashat Kedoshim that lay the
framework for a life of honest business dealings: those on falsely denying money
owed, lying for monetary benefit, and swearing falsely to support illegitimate
monetary claims. However, in guiding man to a life of holiness, Parashat
Kedoshim does not suffice with a general discussion of the need for honest
monetary dealings, but goes into specific requirements.
One mitzva that figures
prominently is found in the concluding verses of Chapter 19 (verse 15): You
shall not perform iniquity in judgment. The Torah here repeats a prohibition
mentioned earlier in the chapter, but in a very different context. Earlier the
Torahs words were directed at a judge, while here they are directed to a
businessman:
You shall not perform
iniquity in judgment with measures of length, weight, and volume. Righteous
scales, righteous weights, a righteous dry measure, and a righteous liquid
measure shall you have. I am the Lord, your God, who took you out of the Land of
Egypt. (Vayikra 19:3536)
These two verses together contain a general
negative mitzva prohibiting perversion of justice with inexact weights and
measures, followed by a positive mitzva to have exact righteous weights
and measures.
The importance of these
mitzvot is readily apparent from the verses terminology and references;
their significance is magnified further by their placement in the chapter of
holiness, as well as by their repetition in Sefer Devarim. The verses
there go further, forbidding the mere possession of inexact measures:
You shall not have in
your pouch alternate weights, larger and smaller. You shall not have in your
house alternate measures, larger and smaller. You shall have a complete and
righteous weight; you shall have a complete and righteous measure, so that you
live long on the soil that the Lord, your God, is giving you, for an abomination
to the Lord your God is anyone who does these things, anyone who performs
iniquity. (Devarim 25:1316)
The repetition and expansion in Devarim
of the requirement of honest weights and measures, as well as the promise of
long life for its fulfillment and the description of violators as abominations,
all add to the impression that these are mitzvot of fundamental
importance. This concept is later expressed in Mishlei (11:1) with the
words:
Dishonest scales are the
Lords abomination, and a complete weight is His will.
In Vayikra there
is a prohibition to employ trickery in the use of weights and measures, which is
described as a perversion of justice. Additionally, as noted, there is a
positive commandment to maintain exact weights and measures, meaning that a
seller must monitor them, periodically cleaning them and calibrating them to
maintain accuracy. Devarim, as noted, adds the additional prohibition of
possessing inexact scales and weights, even in the absence of any intention to
use them in business.
It bears note that these
mitzvot carry with them the two fundamental principles of the heritage
that our forefather Avraham imparted to his children: justice and righteousness.
The Lord said, Am I hiding from Avraham that which
I am doing? As Avraham shall surely become a great, mighty nation, and all the
nations of the earth shall be blessed through him, for I have known him so that
he command his children and his household after him, so that they keep
the way of the Lord, doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord will
bring upon Avraham that which He has spoken regarding him. (Bereishit
18:1719)
Why are these mitzvot
of such fundamental importance? Obviously one must not use illegitimate weights,
but is this not simply another aspect of not depriving another person of his
property? Any such act, we would think, should qualify as robbery or theft, both
of which are prohibited earlier in Chapter 19 of Vayikra. What, then,
makes inexact weights and measures unique, and what special connection do they
have to righteousness and justice? Additionally, why should simply not
possessing such weights and measures be reason to deserve longevity, and why
should simply possessing them render one an abomination?
Further, what follows
these mitzvot is of note. In Vayikra, they are followed by a
description of Gods taking us out of Egypt, while the verses in Devarim
are followed by the mitzva to remember what Amalek did to the Jewish people. Why
is this?
Relationship to Theft
The close relationship
between theft and inexact measures is noted in the Talmud. In Bava Metzia
(61b), the Gemara asks why false measures are specifically banned, rather than
subsumed under the prohibition of stealing. It answers that the specific
prohibition serves to cause a person to be in violation from the moment he makes
an inexact weight, even before using it. The Gemara also notes that the
prohibition of inexact measures includes not using a rope to measure for one
party during the summer and for another during the winter (as the ropes length
contracts or expands depending on weather conditions). Additionally, weights
must not be stored in salt, as this would alter their mass.[1] Finally, one also
is prohibited to heat liquid measures.
In short, not only is the
possession or use of inexact measures barred, but one must go out of his way to
ensure that even proper measures are used fairly. Elsewhere (Bava
Batra 89b) the Gemara adds that weights should not be made from tin or other
metals, but from hard stones or glass, so that they remain true longer.
Notwithstanding the
strictures that pertain specifically to weights and measures, their misuse
certainly can result in illegally taking money from another person, which is
equivalent to stealing. Thus Rambam codifies the halakhot of weights and
measures in Hilkhot Geneiva the halakhot that concern stealing
due to the close relationship between the two.
One might still argue
that these are mere precautions or, as Rabbeinu Bachya explains, that the
prohibition of inexact measures must be emphasized because a merchant is
unlikely to be able to obtain forgiveness from all the people he cheats if he
uses imprecise weights and measures systematically. Nevertheless, the general
impression made by the Gemara is that this prohibition is much more expansive
than those of stealing.
First, the Gemara (ibid.)
forbids possession of an inexact measure even if it is used only for urinating.
The Gemara also indicates that one cannot legally waive anothers obligation not
to use inexact weights, as well as that the use of inexact weights remains
forbidden even if the parties involved are willing to adjust the price to ensure
that the deal is fair. Further, the Gemara explains that one is forbidden to
have measures or weights that are of confusable sizes, and must be careful to
measure according to local convention.
In fact, Chinukh writes
that while the prohibition of theft is violated only if the equivalent of a
peruta is stolen, the prohibition of improper weights stands to be violated
even if a lesser, insignificant amount is at stake. Meshekh Chokhma understands
from the verses that even if a person knows that another has stolen from him and
can retrieve his money by altering weights, he is forbidden to do so. The Gemara
even requires a court to appoint officers to prevent the use of improper
weights.
What is more, the Midrash
(cited by Rashi and Sefer Ha-chinukh) states that five tragedies result
from abuse using weights and measures: contamination of the Land of Israel,
desecration of the name of God, removal of the Divine Presence from the world,
causing the people of Israel to fall by the sword, and exile from the Land.
Stealing, though a terrible transgression, is not addressed with such severity.
Beyond these punishments,
Sifra describes how the verses in Vayikra underscore the
importance of this mitzva. It understands from the verses reference to justice
that one who uses weights and measures is like a judge, so that improper use of
scales is comparable to false judgment. Sifra also interprets the
reference to the Exodus as an indication that God took the Jewish people out of
Egypt specifically on the condition that they fulfill the mitzvot of
proper weights and measures (as cited by Rashi and codified by Tur).
Finally, the Gemara (Bava
Batra 88b) states that one cannot fully repent after violating this
prohibition:
Rabbi Levi said, The
punishment for transgressing the halakhot regarding measures is harsher
than the transgressions involving sexual immorality, as for the latter one can
repent, whereas for the former it is impossible to repent.
It is clear, then, that
this mitzva is quite severe and entails much more than not stealing. What is it
that makes the requirements of exact weights and measures so fundamental?
Honesty and Faith
Chafetz Chaim writes that
these mitzvot are associated with the Exodus because by fulfilling these
commandments, one testifies that God supervises the world and performs miracles
as He did during the Exodus.
Rabbeinu Bachya explains
why a person who has illicit weights and measures is in violation for their
possession even before he actually uses them to cheat:
This recalls what Shlomo
said in Mishlei 20:9: Who can say, I have made my heart pure, I am free
of sin? Just as a man is culpable for evil intentions even when he has not yet
carried out the felony, so he will be held responsible for making false weights
and measures.
Netziv of Volozhin, in
his Torah commentary Haamek Davar, explains that use of improper weights
is treated so severely because it is rooted in a lack of faith in God:
Let us consider the
Sages strong position
that the sin of weights is more serious than that of
illicit relations. Why is it more serious than other types of embezzlement?
Moreover, what similarity does it have to illicit relations, so as to lead the
Sages to say the one is more serious than the other?
A person who commits a
sin transgresses in one of three ways: either by lack of faith in God and His
teaching, or because of a welling up of desire, or because of a welling up of
anger or other adverse traits that adversely affect relations between one person
and another. [Of the three cardinal sins] idolatry is paradigmatic of lack of
faith; illicit relations, of desire; and bloodshed, of a lack of personal virtue
Now the worst of these three sins is idolatry, as it touches on faith. It also
is far removed from repentance, and all those guilty of it do not turn back to
God. A person who steals a precious object from his fellow might have been
motivated by desire for that object, so this would be like illicit relations.
But one who makes false weights is not motivated by desire, but rather by lack
of faith in God, who by divine providence provides for each person according to
his deeds. So this brings it under idolatry.
Therefore they said that
the sin of unjust weights, although only a sub-branch of idolatry and still far
from actual heresy, is more serious than illicit relations, which is the
ultimate sin of desire, as a sin involving lack of faith is difficult to repent
and also offends the Almighty.
One who truly trusts in God, notes Netziv,
will not resort to dishonest means of obtaining money.
Rav Hirsch gives inexact
measures harmful effects on society as part of his explanation for the severity
attributed to the crime:
The sins of illicit
relations are extremely grave and therefore they are punished by kareit
[i.e. being cut off from the people of Israel]. However, in many instances their
pernicious effects do not extend beyond the individual sinners. Conversely, the
sins involving weights and measures have a pernicious effect on broad circles,
and hence
the overriding severity of the responsibility. With illicit
relations, even though their punishment is kareit, one can repent by
expressing regret and accepting the law in the future. In contrast, repentance
for sins regarding weights and measures is conditioned, first and foremost, on
returning the stolen property to its owners but this precondition is generally
impossible to fulfill [because the merchant has robbed so many customers].[2]
Rav Hirsch also discusses
why the mitzvot in Vayikra conclude with a reminder that God took
the Jewish people out of Egypt:
The section on measures
concludes with the Exodus from Egypt, which reflects the importance of this
section in the Torah. Through the Exodus from Egypt we learned of Gods
providence in the life of nations on Earth. We also learned then that we belong
to God, and the foundations of our obligation to Him were established for all
time. On the basis of all this
whoever accepts the mitzva of measures affirms
the Exodus, and whoever denies the mitzva of measures denies the Exodus.
Further, says Rav Hirsch,
the reason there is no room for repentance of such a crime is the emphasis
placed by the Torah on the dominance of justice in Jewish society:
Every measure owned by
every Jew, any material measured out by any Jew, becomes a Jewish act of
mishpat, a symbol of respect for Jewish justice. Thus the Torah represents
justice itself in its most absolute form, as a sanctuary to be kept inviolate by
every Jew. The Torahs will is that a sense of justice, respect for justice, and
honesty be basic character traits of the Jewish nation.
Just as a judge weighs
issues in scales of judgment, a layman must exercise proper judgment in all his
actions. A life of dishonest business practice is a falsification of the very
core of an individual, and causes him to lose his entitlement to the beautiful
gift of divine justice: true repentance. A person who weighs his actions and
sees Gods hand in all he does has no trouble maintaining his honesty, even when
violating it would be very lucrative (see Year 1, Lesson 11).
In Devarim, the
juxtaposition of the account of the attack by Amalek to the verses on weights
and measures underscores the relationship of these transgressions to lack of
trust in divine providence. Keli Yekar explains:
By way of homily, one
could say that just as the section of Remember what Amalek did to you follows
the section of weights, thus [in the annual Torah reading calendar] we schedule
the section of Remember
after the section of shekels, whose purpose is to
atone for the sin of the Golden Calf, which was made of shekels of gold
because they were too desirous of wealth
So too whoever is desirous of it
[money] also falsifies his weights.
The connection, though,
may run even deeper. There is good reason to believe that Amalek did not doubt
the existence of God, attacking as it did after the world had witnessed the
miracles of the Exodus. Amaleks belief was that God was a miracle worker, but
not involved in the day-to-day. Therefore Amalek arrived on the scene after the
Jewish people questioned whether God exercises providence on a day-to-day level
by providing man with water: Is the Lord present in our midst or not? (Shemot
17:7; see Haamek Davar).
Thus the Torah associates
one who falsifies weights with Amalek because of his failure to understand that
the hand of divine providence is what truly brings wealth to the world.
The Element of Justice
We recall that the Torah
links commercial use of weights and measures to judicial activity, introducing
the former with the words you shall not perform iniquity in judgment. Rav
Hirsch explains the nature of the connection between judgment, or justice, and a
merchant who falsifies measurements:
The kind of justice
discussed here is indicated by
with measures of length
It is the justice
of those things on whose correctness the honesty of human intercourse depends.
The Torah considers everybody who counts, measures, or weighs anything and on
that declares its content, or who declares an object to be a measure of some
definite size, to be and to have the responsibility of a judge. He is an officer
of justice, he pronounces judgment as to what is right and fair, his word is
judgment: a declaration of what is right. But this places the responsibility for
the honesty and legality of things in general in the hands of the conscience of
every individual person. Everyone is placed in charge of it, over it, and any
misuse of this power is iniquity: just as great a wrong as a misuse of the
legal power of a judge.
However, Scripture does
not discuss here a person who abuses the legal trust placed in him by actually
defrauding his fellow man. Using false weights and measures in buying and
selling, or having correct weights and measures but using them in a fraudulent
manner, is outright robbery and theft, and there is no need to mention this at
the conclusion of the chapter on the holiness of life.
Rather, the prohibition
stated here regarding weights and measures calls us to account even before a
fraud has actually been committed, for any act that would allow for the
possibility that our friend would be cheated, or even for any failure on our
part to prevent his being cheated
The Need for Honesty
The Gemara (Bava
Metzia 49a) uses the formulation of the mitzva in Vayikra to teach
that not only must one have proper weights and measures, but ones word must be
honest to the core. The verse, again, states:
Righteous scales,
righteous weights, a righteous dry measure, and a righteous liquid measure shall
you have. I am the Lord, your God, who took you out of the Land of Egypt.
The Talmud expounds this verse to mean that
your yes[3]
must be righteous and your no must be righteous. Abbayei clarifies: This
means that one may not speak one thing in his mouth and another in his heart[4] (see Year 1, Lesson 26).
Rav Hirsch (Vayikra
19:26) comments on the Gemaras choosing to derive the need for an honest word
from this verse:
We also derive from here
the principle that a Jew must maintain sanctity of his word, whether in
testifying to something or promising something.
Indeed every measure and
everything that is measure are nothing but the simple and far-reaching
embodiment of a mans word. It is on the truthfulness of your word that your
pound is actually a pound, for you alone testify to this and your word
guarantees this truth. Truth and justice came down to the world wrapped up
together, for the truth of ones word is the basis for just relationships in
society, and the first representative of a just word is a just measure.
Rav Hirsch then notes
that this is the reason for the severity of the transgression: it is a sin that
shakes one of the pillars of Jewish society. He concludes his remarks by
explaining why this mitzva is found at the conclusion of the Torahs guide to a
life of holiness:
The chapter of holiness
previously mentioned the first principle of respect and love for ones fellow
man, culminating with granting the stranger equality with the native-born in
state and society before the law and in feelings of love. The second principle
is respect for law and justice, which is expressed in honest weights and
measures.
Dishonesty in the Synagogue
Let us conclude with a
short story. Once, during the holy season of Rosh Ha-shana and Yom Kippur, the
Chasidic master Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev paused in his devotions and,
looking at his disciples with sad, tear-laden eyes, remarked, What a funny
world it is that we live in these days. There was a time, you know, when Jews
would be scrupulously honest in the marketplace and the most outrageous liars in
the synagogue. These days, however, everything is reversed. The Jews are
surprisingly honest in synagogue, but in the streets and marketplaces Im
ashamed to tell you.
But rabbi, his followers asked, why are you
so distressed. How can it be bad if Jews are telling the truth in synagogue?
Ill tell you why Im distressed, answered
Levi Yitzchak. In days gone by, Jews were known for their honest dealings. They
took the words of the Torah seriously. Their yes was always a yes and their
no was always a no. They had honest weights and fair measures. Yet on the
Days of Awe they would fervently recite the confessional prayers declaring that
they had lied, cheated, swindled, and dealt dishonestly. This was a lie.
Everyone knew that truth and faithfulness were the lamps lighting their way.
But these days, the reverse takes place. In
the streets and in the marketplace, the world of commerce and social
interaction, they lie and cheat, but when they come to synagogue, they, sadly,
profess the truth.[5]
[1] Whether such duplicity
benefits the seller or the purchaser is the subject of a dispute between Rashi
and the Tosafot.
[2] Some translations are from
Yair Barkai, Honest Weights and Measures (Bar-Ilan University Parashat
Hashavua Study Center, September 10, 2011)
<www.biu.ac.il/JH/Parasha/eng/kiteze/875Bar.doc>.
[3] The Gemara renders the
Hebrew hin tzedek (righteous liquid measure) as hein tzedek
(righteous yes).
[4] This description refers to
one of the three individuals described in Pesachim 113b as despised by
God.
[5] Adapted from Martin Buber,
Tales of the Hasidim: The Early Masters, p. 230 <http://www.berdichev.org/honest_weights_and_measures.htm>.
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