Sometimes I wonder whether some religious Jews (obviously not the majority) consider mitzvot bein adam lechavero to be helpful suggestions rather than commandments. Such people make me shake my head in wonder at how one could learn Torah, and forget basics like "Lo Tignov" and "Lo Tonu Ish et Re'ehu". Allow me to start from the beginning: My Obiter Dicta posted about a tefilin store in Meah Shearim that sells "cheap" tefilin in more ways than one - including barely kosher parshiyot. This story itself was bad enough, but it turns out it was only the warm-up for the clincher. In the comments on this post, Rabbi Mordechai Scher of Santa Fe described a reality of endemic fraud among many of the stores in that area. Apparently, at one of the places, they had no problem directing fluent Hebrew and Yiddish speakers to average mezuzot. "Tourists" on the other hand (i.e. people who don't speak Hebrew/or Yiddish fluently), were shown barely kosher mezuzot at the same or higher prices?! To add insult to injury, apparently there is a phenomenon of people stealing other people's tefillin and re-selling them!!!!!!! God only knows what else goes on?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?!!?!?! We're not talking about a case of the rule of caveat emptor (let the buyer beware and check). This isn't even an issue of the attitude towards medinat yisra'el (i.e. paying taxes). These are clear cut, unequivocal examples of theft and fraud. The fact that Rabbi Scher was told that he would be risking his life if he publicized the issue is simply jaw-dropping. Imagine, a frum God-fearing Jew publicizing about Torah violations risks being killed by other God-fearing Jews for publicizing the fact. Forgive my french, but....WTF?!
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1 comment:
The word is Choshen, not Choshem.
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