[Avodah] HaYashar vehaTov

[Micha Berger]

One of my pet topics is the paradox of the "QYT" mitzvos -- Qedoshim
tihyu and ve'asisa haYashar vehaTov. These are mitzvos that obligate us
to go beyond the limits of black letter halachic obligation. The Ramban's
"qadeish es atzmekha bemah shemutar lakh" means that it's not *really*
"mutar lakh" after all.

The gemara most often cited WRT haYashar vehaTov is BM 83a (end of "HaSocheir
es haUmnin"): 
    [In the course of transporting it,] some porters broke a barrel of
    alcoholic drink belonging to Rabbah b"R Chanan. So he seized their
    shirts. Rav said to him, "Let them have their shirts!" [RBRC] said to
    [Rav], "Is this the din?" He said to him, "Yes -- 'so that you may
    walk in the way of good [people]' (Mishlei 11:21)".

    [RBBC] let them have their shirts. [The workmen] said to him, "we are
    poor, and we worked hard all day. We are in need and we have nothing!"
    [Rav] said to him, "Let them have their pay." [RBBC] said to [Rav],
    "Is this the din?" He said to him, "Yes -- 'and the ways of the
    righteous [people] you shall guard.' (ibid 2:20)"

I encountered a Y-mi on the topic, Kesuvos 4:8 (vilna 28b):
    R Shimon ben Laqish in the name of R' Yehudah b' Channayah: They
    counted [the votes] in Usha, [and concluded] that a person is
    obligated to feed his young sons [or: young children; but the
    previous sentence was talking about which gender gets priority].

    R' Yochanan said, "Do we know who was in the count?"

    Uqva came before R Yochanan [note: the same person who just dismissed
    the report that it was deemed obligatory]. [R Yochanan] said to him,
    "Uqva! Feed your children!" [Uqvah] said to [R Yochanan], "From where
    do you know this [that I have to feed my children]?" [R Yochanan]
    said to him, "Rasha! go feed your children!"

    R' Ula said a mishnah tells us this, that a person must feed his
    minor children, as the beraisa says over there...

R' Yochanan attacks Uqva for asking why he had to do something that was
hayashar vehatov, given that there was no specific black-letter chiyuv
to do so.

Someone who thinks that our obligations are defined by halakhah to the
exclusion of self-evident moral dicta is a deemed rasha.

Gut Voch and a GCT!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             The purely righteous do not complain about evil,
micha at aishdas.org        but add justice, don't complain about heresy,
http://www.aishdas.org   but add faith, don't complain about ignorance,
Fax: (270) 514-1507      but add wisdom.     - R AY Kook, Arpilei Tohar