[Avodah] Lifnei Iveir

[Micha Berger via Avodah]

On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 04:04:33AM +0000, Kenneth Miller via Avodah wrote:
: I will be the first to point out that Lifnei Iveir is one the many
: topics where my learning and expertise is severely lacking. Even so,
: I suspect that there is something missing from RMB's definition...

: It seems to me that RMB is giving a useful tool to distinguish between
: category 3 and category 4, but that tool is useful only in the case where
: a person already has the *desire* to commit a sin, but it lacking the
: *ability* to some degree...

Correct. I was only thinking of the original question, and the gemara only
discusses the one chiluq -- between lifnei iveir (deOraisa) and mesayeia'
(deRabbanan).

: But what of the case where a person does *not* yet have a desire to
: sin? Rabbi Kaganoff is saying that one who incites or encourages him
: to do it is violating Lifnei Iveir. Even if the person already has the
: ability to do the sin, it was below his "bechirah point" until he was
: egged on to do it...

I didn't understand Orpah's offer that way. She was convinced her
daughters-in-law "converted" for the sake of marriage; and depending
which midrashim you quote, that likely wasn't even an actual conversion.

But if Rus didn't really buy into Jewish beliefs, she would be better
off not going through a pro-forma conversion than in the same boat
as Delilah or Shelomo's wives.

Gut Voch!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             A wise man is careful during the Purim banquet
micha at aishdas.org        about things most people don't watch even on
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Fax: (270) 514-1507                       - Rav Yisrael Salanter