[Avodah] Lifnei Iver/Kanaus

[Danny Schoemann]

> In Derech Sicha (discussions with R' Chaim Kanievsky arranged in the order
> of the Parshiyos) pg. 369 the following is brought:
> ... in the waiting room there was an immodest picture, and he immediately
> ripped it... The Rav responded that he certainly did a good thing Al Pi Din,
> since this is Lifnei Iver, but if it were a Goy he would have to ask permission...
> On page 297, the following appears:
> ...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... 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 wonder what the source of this is. I can think of possible sugyot
but nothing concrete:

There's the sugya of "Ein Adam Oseh Din L'Atzmo" discussing
saving/retrieving personal damage. All the cases there seem to refer
to monetary personal loss. Not potential spiritual harm. Not sure how
we pasken.

There's the sugya of ripping the red dress off a woman. It seems that
if she would have been Jewish then the perpetrator would have been
absolved of punishment. Yet I'm not sure if this is paskened
l'halocho.

There's also the sugya of ripping off a woman's head covering. Even
after proving that she didn't care the perpetrator still had to pay
her damages.

Where do we see in SA that you can take the law into your own hands?

What if the owner of the "heretical material" was studying it in order
to "know how to respond"? Would you then be allowed to destroy it? May
you make assumptions as to who is reading it for what purpose?

What if the parents don't want to keep the chumra of not owning a
radio - but simply enjoy listening to classical music? May one impose
one's Rov's psak as "law" against one's parent's Rov's hashkofo?

Why couldn't the immodest picture simply have been covered or taken
down? After all it could presumably be sold to a goy. AFAIK you may
not kill a rodef if the nirdaf can be saved by merely wounding the
rodef.

The main "Lifnei Iver" I see here is educating the generation to not
respect other people's property, haskofos and feelings.

- Danny