Brachos 23
Yankel was once walking home from yeshiva. Needing to relieve himself, he placed his
tefillin in a hole in the wall close to the public thoroughfare. All of a sudden, while he was facing the
other way, a harlot came along and pinched the tefillin. The next day, she walked into the Beis
Medrash (study-hall) and announced, “Look what Yankel gave me as payment!” Imagine the rumours that began to circulate
around the yeshiva about the poor young man.
Unable to take it anymore, he went up to the top floor of the building
and fell to his death.
One who enters a lavatory should remove his tefillin at a
distance of four cubits and place them by the window near the public
thoroughfare, and then enter. Upon
exiting, he should stand at a distance of four cubits and don them, according
to Beis Shamai. Beis Hillel says he
should hold them in his hand and enter.
Rabbi Akiva says he should hold them in his garment and enter. But he should never place them in a hole in
the wall close to the public thoroughfare, just in case passers-by pinch them
and accuse him of immoral behaviour. At
that time [following the aforementioned story], the Rabbis decreed that one
should hold them in one’s garment and hand and enter.
All this young man was guilty of was relieving himself and
leaving his tefillin outside the restroom.
And before he knew it, the entire yeshiva was talking about him. Nobody wanted to sit with him in the
lunchroom. People crossed to the other
side of the hallway when they spotted him approaching. His shidduch prospects were destroyed. And some of the bachurim (yeshiva boys) had
started a petition that he be expelled from the yeshiva.
Long before modern society became aware of the prevalence of
mental health concerns, our Sages were attuned to the matter. Tefillin are holy and should not be brought
into the bathroom. But Beis Hillel and
Rabbi Akiva were concerned not just for theft, but for the – somewhat
far-fetched –ramifications that might arise from missing tefillin.
But that’s how concerned we must be about mental health
matters. We can’t just assume that since
we would not react adversely in a certain situation, then Yankel must be
over-sensitive and overreacting. True,
most people wouldn’t commit suicide in the same situation. But people with a certain mental state might
be pushed to do so. And the Rabbis
decided to ‘relax’ our otherwise-stringent attitude towards sullying the
holiness of our tefillin. In this case,
they determined that it would be better to disrespect the tefillin than cause
potential loss of human life.
When we see someone being bullied in the schoolyard,
workplace, or online, we may not ‘stand idly by’. Even if we’re not the ones participating
actively in the bullying, if we, so much as, believe the rumours, we are aiding
and abetting the tail-bearers. Most of
us assume that ‘where there’s fire, there’s smoke.’ Our Sages caution us against such
assumptions.
It’s vital that we remove any suspicion of wrongdoing from
our minds unless we have first-hand information that we are required to act
upon. And whether the stories are true
or not, we must be vigilant in our efforts to stand up for vulnerable
individuals who are being harassed by those who think they’re somehow better
than them.
Nobody deserves to be bullied. And nobody ever knows how much the negative
energy is affecting them. If they’re
dealing with mental health vulnerabilities, a little bit of bad publicity might
be enough to push them over the edge, G-d forbid. If you know of anyone who is being bullied
for any reason whatsoever, true or not, you have a duty to do whatever you can
to stand up to their tormentors.
Mental health issues are real and must be addressed. Our Sages were willing to design halacha
(Jewish law) based upon the need to protect the vulnerable members of
society. May you be ever-vigilant and
stand up for those who are unable to stand up for themselves!
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