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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>I </span>wrote:<br>> I would phrase it differently. I think what most people would say,<br>> and I believe it is hones to say this, is: "I did what I had to do<br>> although I was taught that the halacha says to do otherwise. I will<br>> defend myself before God at the appropriate time, and if my action is<br>> found to be improper I will accept the consequences."<br><br><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>RMG responded:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><br>That is a very slippery slope, where does it stop? When do we say no more and observe the halacha? The Conservative movement used similar reasoning to allow people to drive on Shabbos, everyone here agrees that they went too far, but how do we know that? How do we know that driving on Shabbos is too far, but eating non-kosher food instead of human flesh is not?<span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Me: RYBS often referred to the fifth chelek of the SA: common sense. I would amend that somewhat for this discussion and speak about moral sense. Will some people abuse this? Probably. But that shouldn’t stop others from acting, in the extenuating circumstances we are discussing, acting in a way that their moral conscience demands. So my answer (FWIW which probably isn’t much) to your question would be when you moral conscience doesn’t allow you to act differently. While this may violate halacha, if used seriously and honestly it wouldn’t apply to too many situations and would not result in any significant broad non-observance of halacha.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>RD Gerald (Ya’akov) Blidstein has told an interesting story about RYBS whose student Prof. Blidstein was . A story had been printed in the Israeli press about a frum Jew who wouldn’t help an ill non-Jew on Shabbat. (The story proved to be completely false, as it turned out.) This became an issue in the US and was brought up in shiur. RYBS immediately said that the frum Jew had acted improperly and that he should have helped mishum eivah. Prof. Blidstein asked (I’m paraphrasing but the story can be found, I believe in a Tradition article) but rebbe does that answer satisfy you morally? RYBS thought and replied “no.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Joseph<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div></body></html>