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Shiurim by Rav Davidson in KBY.
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In פרק ד,
the person who puts himself in a dangerous situation.
What's going to happen?
Will השם take care of him?
Or will השם say,
"I told you not to test me,
you're on your own,
what's going to happen?" האפשרות אחת שימות.
One option is that השם will remove his special השגחה,
meaning if השם puts you in a test then השם says he'll protect you.
But if you put yourself in a test that was not השם will,
you put yourself in a dangerous situation then there's no guarantee.
ואז יהיה הוא הרוצח את עצמו,
he's considered that he took his own life.
ויענש על זה כאילו רצח אדם אחר,
and that's considered murder as if he would have murdered another person.
למרות שמותו בדרך זו הוא על פי גזרת אלוקים ורשותו.
Even though it's true that השם wouldn't have allowed it to happen if השם
didn't want it to happen,
that's true.
It's still part of השם will,
meaning in the fact that השם enabled it,
but nevertheless this person's considered accountable for putting himself in a situation which was
dangerous.
וכבר הזהיר אותנו השם לא לרצוח שום אדם על ידי אף גורם,
לא תרצח.
וככל שהרוצח קרוב יותר אל הנרצח מגיע לו עונש יותר חמור.
As the פסוק in עמוס says:
על רדפו בחרב אחיו ושחת רחמיו.
You're supposed to have more mercy on your brother.
ושחת רחמיו,
he destroyed his own mercy.
If you were to kill someone you don't know at all,
that's bad.
But if you kill someone who's supposed to be someone that you have a
love for,
that's worse.
ואהבת לרעך כמוך,
the assumption is that you love yourself.
That was the assumption.
ואהבת לרעך כמוך as you love yourself.
That was the default thought.
So the love you have for yourself is supposed to be the greatest love.
If a person doesn't have that love for himself,
then ושחת רחמיו.
So that's interesting.
As far as the בית דין is concerned,
רצח is רצח.
And for killing oneself it's not רצח according to the בית דין.
Too late,
what's the בית דין going to do?
But as far as the בית דין של מעלה is concerned,
then killing someone who one is close to is considered more severe.
ולפיכך מי שהרג את עצמו עונשו יהיה עוד יותר חמור ללא ספק,
מפני שהוא נמשל בזה לעבד שאדונו ציווה לו לשמור על איזה דבר למשך זמן
מסוים והזהיר אותו לא לעזוב את המקום עד שיבוא אליו שליח אדוניו.
וכיוון שראה העבד שהשליח בושש לבוא הוא עזב את המקום לפני בוא השליח וכעס
עליו אדונו והעניש אותו בעונש חמור ובדומה למשל זה מי שהמית את עצמו עזב
את עבודת האלוקים והמרה אותו בזה שנכנס לסכנת מוות.
Just like the story that we heard at lunch from the nice דבר תורה
that was told,
and he started off with a משל.
And he said המשל למה הדבר דומה that there's someone who's we're about to
reach the station,
we've lasted so long and then suddenly just before we get to the final
destination,
the marathon,
the person turns off and misses.
So too over here in the משל that he gives,
an עבד was told to watch something and his master will send someone to
come pick it up.
And he's waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting.
Eventually just before the time where his master was going to come pick it
up,
then he gives up,
I'm not interested anymore,
he abandons it and he leaves.
So too in our משל here,
נמשל,
הקדוש ברוך הוא has given us a particular lifespan.
That lifespan is for us to do all the עבודת השם that we need
to do with our זמן time that we have.
If a person says,
"Okay השם,
I know you gave me this פיקדון to watch,
my body,
my life,
to watch,
but and you said you'll take it back at some point but I've had
enough,
I'm not interested anymore",
so then we're betraying הקדוש ברוך הוא.
And therefore obviously we're talking here about someone who commits suicide,
but even someone who puts himself in a dangerous situation where he's not supposed
to and he's putting his life on the line,
he's considered accountable.
Now I don't think most people here are doing that in their day-to-day.
Pretty hard to envision someone in ישיבה just putting his life on the line
on a daily,
even weekly,
or even monthly.
But where that happens pretty regularly is where the way people drive.
That if the country gives particular guidelines of how to drive,
then keeping I'm not saying that someone who goes a couple of kilometers over
the speed limit,
that's like he's putting his life on the line.
They probably took into account around ten percent that people are going to do
a bit more and they don't stop you and fine you if you go
up to ten percent more.
So they probably took into account a bit of a space where Okay,
if it's ninety and you did ninety-one,
you can't say you're putting your life on the line.
But if a person is driving in a way which is considered life-threatening and
reckless,
then that's ממש this,
you know,
if חס ושלום there would be an accident and he would lose his life,
then he's fully responsible for בית דין של מעלה and you can't say that
that was his time to go.
If he killed someone else,
that's an interesting theological question about do we say that that person's time to
go?
But for the person who did the accident himself.
There was a story that happened very recently in America.
There was a man who came out of his house and he saw that
there was something happening and הצלה just in front of his house.
And when he looked,
he saw that his friend and חברותא who worked for הצלה was right there.
So he saw okay,
if he's here everything's under control,
everything's okay.
And when he came,
he came kind of from behind,
couldn't see what exactly was going on,
he saw the friend and he said oh,
what's happening?
Can I help?
And the friend just looked away and didn't look at him.
He didn't understand,
it was a strange thing because it was his friend and חברותא and then
he went round to look and he saw his own daughter on the floor
no longer alive.
And he realized that his friend and חברותא who works for הצלה,
he had killed her.
Does that make sense?
This person's friend who also happens to work for הצלה and also happens to
be his חברותא had been driving in front of this man's house,
the daughter had come out and she was hit by his car.
So you can understand why the friend looked away.
He said,
I think her name was שולמית.
And he said,
this is something which could cause מחלוקת,
it could cause accusations,
it could cause tearing apart of the community and it's not going to bring
her back.
Right there and then while this was all here and the daughter was in
front of his eyes and this friend was looking away,
he took upon himself that he's going to ensure that no negativity is going
to come out from this.
And he stood at the הספד just over a week ago over his daughter
and he said along these lines,
and he did this with rabbinical approval.
He first spoke to three רבנים,
Rabbi Elephant and two other רבנים who he saw as his פוסקים or guidance
to get to check this השקפתית what's sound what he was doing.
And he said,
we've lost שולמית and now the יצר הרע is trying to bank on this
and cause tremendous friction in our community and in our society.
The חשבונות שמים which are not our חשבונות,
but part of our חשבון is how we're going to respond.
And if we cause מחלוקת,
that's not going to be לעילוי נשמה של שולמית.
But if we make שלום,
that will be לעילוי נשמה של שולמית.
I hereby request from every person who's listening to this that they take upon
themselves in her merit that any מחלוקת they have,
any friction they have,
any grievance they have in her merit,
they bypass,
they work on,
they overcome.
And at this point where the potential for מחלוקת and friction and grievance is
so great,
we can do a תיקון.
And I read it and I was crying when I read it.
Like where does he have the אמונה and the כוח to be able to
say such a thing in such a situation?
He said that part of it was because he knows his friend and he
knows his friend is someone who is a careful driver and he knows his
friend is someone who is a good friend of his and he knows his
friend is someone whose whole life is about helping other people working in הצלה.
So he knows that it doesn't make sense.
It doesn't make sense that such a thing would happen.
It doesn't make sense.
But if it happened,
how are you going to respond?
That's the real question.
If it happened,
how are you going to respond?
And they received an overwhelming outpouring of letters or emails and messages from people
who were inspired by his message and what they did as a result in
the last week.
And they printed it up and they asked to distribute it that this should
become a merit for שולמית and that will be a much greater than being
מקפיד on people and taking people...
So that's a good response.
It's not an easy response.
And השקפתית you have to check if it's always the right response because you
have to ensure that people aren't חס ושלום going to become reckless and say
oh,
if you kill someone with אמונה then it's okay,
they forgive you easily like it's not a big deal.
You can't...
no benefit's gonna come from me being upset with them,
and benefit will come from being מוכל and overcoming grievances,
then that's what's going to be the best outcome that could potentially be after
this has already happened.
If there's still something to do then you still do,
but once that's what's happened.
So a person is considered accountable for his own actions.
If you are doing something by choice which is considered dangerous,
then you're considered responsible for the outcome.
ולכן אתה מוצא,
and therefore you see שאמר שמואל הנביא עליו השלום כאשר השם שלח אותו למשוח
את דוד המלך איך אלך ושמע שאול והרגני.
So השם from שמואל's perspective was sending him to the lion's den.
שמואל said,
go and appoint דוד,
but שאול's still the king.
So שמואל was scared.
What are you scared?
השם is telling you,
no?
So השם's telling you it's going to be okay?
Not necessarily.
Not necessarily people can use their free will,
you don't know what's going to be the outcome.
How am I going to go?
If I go,
I know you're telling me to go השם,
but if I go then שאול's going to kill me.
והססותו לא נחשב לחסרון בטחון.
And we don't see anywhere in the פסוקים that השם's upset with שמואל,
don't you trust me?
I told you to go,
it's going to be okay.
On the contrary,
from the answer that הקדוש ברוך הוא answers him,
you understand that was praiseworthy what he said.
Because what does השם answer him?
He says,
you're right,
but don't worry,
here,
עגלת בקר תקח בידך,
take this animal,
ואמרת,
and you can say,
here's an excuse of how you can get out of it,
that you can how you're going to why you're there,
you can say לזבוח להשם באתי,
I've come to bring a sacrifice to השם וקראת לישי בזבח ואנכי אודיעך את
אשר and you go for that purpose,
and while you're there I'll tell you who the right son is and you
can appoint him according to what I tell you.
If שאול being scared would have been considered a lack of faith,
then השם would have answered him אני אמית ואחיה.
What do you mean?
I'm the one who causes people to die,
I'm the one who causes people to live,
don't be scared,
I told you to go,
just go.
Like השם said to משה,
because in משה's case it was considered a lack of faith,
when משה had already been commanded to go and he said כבד פה כבד,
I don't think I'm the right guy for the job.
That's not a healthy thing to say.
I'm not the right guy for the job.
If השם said you're the right guy for the job,
then believe that you're the right guy for the job.
But if you're scared of someone else coming to harm you,
that's a valid concern.
השם,
when משה complained that he's not the right man for the job,
then השם said מי שם פה לאדם מי ישום אלם או חרש או פקח
או עור הלא אנכי השם.
What are you worried about?
I run the world.
You're worried that you can't speak?
I cause you to speak,
you should go.
That was considered a bad and lack of faith claim,
I can't speak.
But the claim of if I go there someone's going to harm me,
that's a חתיכה of a good claim.
You're right.
You're right.
Why didn't השם say,
but I'll cause you to live or die?
No,
because it seems that people can use their free will to harm beyond הקדוש
ברוך הוא's will.
Even that to some degree is השם's will,
right?
But it's not what His plan was.
And you're held accountable.
So שמואל was a צדיק גמור and he didn't want to put himself in
a small danger even after השם told him to go.
It was considered dangerous,
he didn't want to go.
And he found a פטנט,
he found a way out,
that he could say he's going for a different reason.
למרות שהיה נכנס לסכנה על פי ציווי הבורא.
That's crazy,
think about it.
We put ourselves in danger without ציווי הבורא.
And here שמואל wasn't willing to go and put himself in a dangerous situation
even though השם told him.
Because השם told him מלא קרנך שמן ולך אשלחך אל ישי בית הלחמי.
Go fill up the oil.
אם כן מכל שכן הדבר מגונה כשמישהו אחר עושה אותו בלי שיהיה מצווה על
כך מהבורא.
So that was all the first option.
So what are we discussing here?
We're discussing where a person does something which is dangerous and it's not for
the sake of a מצוה where it needs to be done,
just סתם he does something dangerous.
There was a woman a hundred years ago who was very poor.
And she wanted to make money.
She didn't know how to make money.
She was sixty-two years old,
or sixty years old,
sixty-three around there.
And what's her name?
So she said how can I make money?
So she had an idea.
She'll go into a barrel and she'll roll over the Niagara Falls.
You heard the story?
And if she survives,
then she'll be famous and then she can make a lot of money.
Her plan worked out.
So she went in and she went over the Niagara Falls.
23,000 people were watching and they gathered her in,
they took her out alive and well,
waving.
She had a cut on her ear,
otherwise she was fine.
And so it was successful.
But it wasn't successful because she had a manager who was taking her around
the whole of America to tell her story and see the barrel and signing
the pictures of the Niagara Falls and her and the barrel,
and the manager stole all the money.
So she ended up being poor again.
So it worked and didn't work.
Are you allowed to do that according to הלכה?
She became famous from it,
she didn't become rich from it.
But הלכה-ly you're not allowed to put yourself in a danger for no reason.
Maybe השם was teaching her a lesson.
Okay,
it'll work,
but you're not going to gain.
I don't know,
I don't know if השם was making such a calculation with Annie,
I don't know how it works.
But option number one is that you won't survive.
That's option number one.
If you put yourself in a danger,
you won't survive because it was going against the will of השם.
השם has a special השגחה when He puts you in a test.
If השם puts you in a test,
there's השגחה.
You're in a test,
okay I put you here,
I'll protect you.
But if you put yourself in a test in a dangerous situation,
there's no special השגחה that you could say השם help help help,
wait a minute,
you put yourself in that situation to begin with,
you shouldn't be there.
That's option number one.
Option number two,
אמנם ינצל בעזרת הבורא מהסכנה,
השם will save you,
אבל יאבד על ידי כך זכויותיו ויפחית שכרו,
but you'll lose the merits that you had,
you'll lose reward potentially that you have.
לעולם אל יעמוד אדם במקום סכנה ויאמר שעושים לו נס שמא אין עושים לו
נס ואם עושים לו נס מנקים לו מזכויותיו.
If you do it then so משל למה הדבר דומה.
A kid,
four years old,
climbs on top of the very very high shed in the garden,
which if he jumps off that shed he's going to break his legs at
the least,
worst things could happen.
So he says,
"Dad!" His dad says,
"What are you doing up there?" "I'm going to jump!" "Don't you dare jump!"
"No,
I'm going to jump!" "If you jump,
I'm not going to catch you!
You'll fall,
you could die!" "No,
I'm going to jump!
You'll catch me!" "I'm not going to catch you!
Don't you dare jump!" The kid jumps.
What's the dad going to do?
Of course he's going to catch him,
of course he's going to catch him.
He runs over,
catches the kid and the kid survives.
The kid says,
"You see,
you caught me!" And then the father gives a smack to the kid.
"What were you thinking?
Why did you do that?" Angry with him,
upset with him.
I love you.
I'm not going to make you lose your life over this,
but you're going to lose your merits over this,
right?
Until now you were a בן אהוב עלי חביב עלי,
I'm upset with you now.
Why are you putting your life on the line?
I gave you a life as a פיקדון as השם and now you're mistreating
it like that,
that's how you're treating it?
I'm happy to protect you and give you השגחה and take care of you,
but don't mistreat it.
So don't judge it by the outcome.
It could be that a person puts his life on the line and he
dies,
that's obviously wrong.
It could be that a person puts his life on the line and he
survives,
but that doesn't mean it was okay.
That doesn't mean it was okay.
It could be that הקדוש ברוך הוא saved him because השם is an אב
הרחמן,
but He's still upset with him for doing such a thing.
Don't,
that's not the way you should treat the life that I gave you.
יעקב אבינו עליו השלום said קטנתי מכל החסדים.
And the אונקלוס says זעירן זכוותי,
limited,
small are my merits,
מכל חסדין ומכל טביין,
through all the חסדים השם has done for me.
Meaning if if יעקב saw himself in dangerous situations and he needed a special
hand of השם to take him out of those dangerous situations,
then his merit was limited as a result.
So moral of the story is:
recognize that your life was given to you as a gift,
it's not yours to do as you wish.
You have to be with a שמירה with guarding yourself,
especially in the area of driving,
that's the area that I see is the most relevant and common where we
do risk our lives and people do חס ושלום put their lives and other
people's lives on the line.
In driving especially,
and you can't judge by the outcome what the outcome is going to be
because it could be the outcome will be okay.
משל למה הדבר דומה,
if a person walks across the road of a busy high junction and his
eyes are closed and the cars are driving,
and he makes it through,
then he was lucky.
Maybe השם went out of His way and caused it to be that just
there where nothing would happen,
but that doesn't mean that he's a hero.
That doesn't make him a hero.
"Oh you made it through,
you have special זכויות",
no,
on the contrary.
הקדוש ברוך הוא would say why are you doing that,
don't you care about your life,
isn't your life important to you,
I've given it to you to do מצוות in this world,
to do תורה in this world,
to bring benefit to the world.
and you're just so flippant about the way you're treating it?
To take care of yourself.
השם loves you,
and I assume you love yourself too.
If you don't love yourself,
then recognize that השם's belief in you and his love for you is so
great that if you're worthy of love by him,
then you're worthy of love by yourself as well.
יישר כוח.