[Avodah] ein shaliach lidvar aveirah

[Zev Sero]

On 2/06/2011 2:47 PM, Arie Folger wrote:
> RZS wrote that a crime boss ought to be considered blameless al pi din Torah, since the moral imperative is on the actual actor. He claims that that is the moral import of ein shaliach lidvar aveirah.
>
> However, I am afraid Natan haNavi disagrees, as he told David regarding
> Uriah haChiti Ito haragta becherev bending 'Amon, calling David a
> murderer even though he did not act in this story; he merely gave orders.

But Yoav had no choice but to obey that order; he was *obligated* al pi
din to obey it.  So in this matter he was no more than an automaton, and
David was the real actor.

In any case, the whole case is different, because al pi din David was in
the right.  He *wasn't* a murderer -- his real crime was chilul hashem.
As is often the case, the problem was in the coverup rather than the
original incident.  By acting in this sneaky way instead of openly trying
Uriah for insubordination, he made it appear to be murder, and made people
suspect his motives.  That's very different from a godfather who tells
people to do things that are actually wrong, and that they know to be wrong,
and that they have the choice to refrain from.

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                      - Margaret Thatcher