[Avodah] Lifnei Iver/Kanaus

[Shoshana L. Boublil]

 From: "Doron Beckerman" <beck072 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Avodah] Lifnei Iver/Kanaus

> On page 297, the following appears:
> "Question: A Bachur has a radio in his room in Yeshiva, and his friend 
> wants
> to break it and pay for it. Maran HaRav Shach zt"l once said that it is
> allowed for a child in his home to take his parents' radio and dispose of
> it.
>
> Answer: He can break it, and not pay. I don't know if he is obligated to 
> do
> so but there is an Inyan to do this. The Chazon Ish was once asked about a
> Bachur who saw heretical material by his friend, and he told him to 
> dispose
> of it, and that he is absolved from having to pay."

I find these examples (and the ones I deleted) TRULY frightening.  We are 
apparently advocating a totally lawless society.

How can this be, when the stories are based on asking a rav a psak?

The answer is that these are all issues of judgement, and they are being 
judged in a one-sided manner; before a single judge, and they are based on 
Da'at Yachid in the sense that there are plenty of other rabbis who pasken 
to allow the ownership and use of the radio (just listen to all the Arutzei 
HaKodesh that abound....).

As to the heretical material, again, this is one sided, based on a single 
witness proclaiming them heretical, and based on these examples, it's 
possible that one person's heretical material is actually another person's 
history book, or mathematics book or a volume of Shakespeare.

To pasken in such a way that without witnesses, without warning, without any 
Jewish judicial process, you can invade and harm another person's things, 
and not fear for Gezeila is extremely worrisome.  It also explains where 
people get the idea that throwing stones at cars for any reason they 
consider legitimate is okay, or starting fires in garbage cans is fine, 
despite the sakanat Nefashot involved.

I feel a measure of pity for the Mashiach who will try to restore order and 
Batei Din and find himself facing some very frum people who have gotten used 
to ignoring all the halachot of mishpat in their daily lives.

Shoshana L. Boublil