[Avodah] Vayeitze "Watch Whom You Marry"

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

R"n Toby Katz (or possibly someone else; I can't follow some of the quoting conventions which some people use) wrote:
> "Taryag mitzvos shomarti" is shverr even without Yakov marrying
> two sisters. NO ONE can do all 613 -- unless you are a man, a
> woman, a kohen, a levi, a Yisrael, a king, a judge, a witness,
> the brother in law of a childless widow, and so on, all at the
> same time.

R"SBA disagreed:
> I disagree. Most mitzvos can be fulfilled via Yidden being
> areivim zeh lezeh etc etc. But when one has been oyver a lav -
> there is no way that he can claim to have observed the taryag
> mitzvos.

I disagree with RSBA's logic. You can't take one without the other. If we want the zechus of mitzvos done by unknown areivim, then we also have to accept responsibility for the aveiros done by unknown areivim.

For example, I am not personally aware of anyone who has performed chalitzah or testified to beis din. If I want to use "areivim zeh lazeh" so that their actions count towards me being "shomer taryag", then I also have to use "areivim zeh lazeh" so that the actions of a mechalel Shabbos prevent me from being a "shomer taryag".

Akiva Miller