Information AboutKavod Habriyot |
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The Gemarrah of the Talmud which applies in discussions of contemporary Jewish Law under certain circumstances. The nature and scope of the concept is a matter of contemporary dispute. Kavod HaBriyot is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud in Berakhot 19b; Shabbat 81b, 94b; Eruvin 41b; and Megillah 3b. ETYMOLOGY The recent opinions discussed in this article all base the concept of Kavod HaBriyot on a section of the Gemarrah in Berachot 19b. The words ''kavod {Link without Title} briyot'' bear some resemblance to a phrase found in the the Mishnah's Pirkei Avoth : "Ben Zoma says: איזה הוא מכובד--המכבד את הברייות ...Who is honored? He who honors others, as it is said: 'For those who honor Me ( God ) I will honor, and those who scorn Me shall be degraded' ( Samuel I 2:30)" (Avot 4:1) {Link without Title} The words ''kavod'' and ''mechubad'' are different uses of the Hebrew root word "''כבד''" (in this sense "honor"). According to , the two concepts are related. TALMUDIC CONTEXT The Talmud in Tractate Berachot 19b cites it in a Baraita that the Gemara eventually ''rejects''! according to , in that Sugya in Berachot 19b it's cited as part of an ''attempt'' to ''challenge'' an earlier statement by Rav Yehudah in the name of Rav that someone who discovers that he is wearing a garment with Shatnez in it must remove the garment ''even if he is standing in the middle of the marketplace''. "Why so?" he asks, and answers by citing from the verse in the Book Of Proverbs 21:30 אֵין חָכְמָה, וְאֵין תְּבוּנָה וְאֵין עֵצָה, לְנֶגֶד יְהוָה "There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord" {Link without Title} and reinforces it by declaring that this teaches that wherever there is the threat of (see below). The Gemara (Berachot 20a) had gone even further, when it reinforces a statement by . He asked her: What is your name? She answered him: My name is Matun. He said to her: ''Matun matun'' was worth four hundred zuz to me!" (''Matun'' resembles the Aramaic word ''matan'', which is 200. Thus the woman's name portended this outcome, 2x200=400 Bercahot 20a2:17 .) The Gemara is thus clearly reinforcing its point that "Kavod HaBriyot" is ''not'' some kind of "ironclad" rule that can never be breeched because, on the contrary, the sages of the Talmud were not afraid nor ashamed to act in a manner that would defy a false application of the notion of Kavod HaBriyot when the honor the mitzvot, the Torah, and God are at stake. Of course, no-one in any modern application has ever claimed that it is an "iron-clad rule that can never be breached", only that it is a principle that can sometimes be used in practical applications. IN LATER COMMENTARIES The Rishonim and Acharonim accept Rav's statement and conclusions, and carify them further, showing where there may be delays or alternatives to immediate action, based on Kavod HaBriyot, but not that Kavod HaBriyot can be summoned to justify or rationalize acts and actions that were neither widely practiced nor accepted by Jews during Jewish history. For example, Maimonides in the Mishneh Torah , Zera'im, Hilchot Kilayim 10:29 states: :One who sees Kilayim ( Shatnez ) forbidden by the Torah on his friend even if he was walking in the marketplace, he jumps on him and tears (his clothing with shatnez in it) from him immediately, even if it was his rabbi who had taught him the majority of his (Torah) wisdom because honoring people (''Kavod HaBriyot'') does not push aside a negative commandment that was specified in the Torah ("Thou shalt not wear a mingled stuff, wool and linen together" Deuteronomy 22:11 that which is forbidden by rabbinical decree (''divreihem'') can be pushed aside by the principle of Kavod HaBriyot in every place...therefore if someone was wearing shatnez forbidden by the rabbis one does not tear it from him in the marketplace and does not remove it from him in the market place until he gets home and if it was indeed from the Torah he removes it immediately. [http://www.chabad.org/library/archive/LibraryArchive.asp?AID=7109 Maimonides is thus making a number of differentiations between negative commandments (''lavin'') and positive ones (''esehs'') and between commandments of the Torah (''de'oraisas'') and those from the rabbis (''derabanans'') so one would need to be very highly regarded qualified 99a, and Mishneh Torah Mada, Hilchot Teshuva 3:11) IN THE SHULKHAN ARUKH The Halakha in the Shulkhan Arukh goes according to Rav (as quoted above): '' from friend even in [the marketplace: : Mechaber '' : One who sees kilayim of (forbidden by) the Torah on his friend even if they were walking in the marketplace [he] jumps upon him and tears it from upon him immediately even if he was his rabbi :['' in the name of the Rosh ) : And if it was [forbidden by the words the rabbis (''divreihem'') he does not tear it from him and he does not remove it in the marketplace until he arrives at home : {Link without Title} : And also (likewise) in the Beth Midrash there is no need to hurry to leave (Tur) : {Link without Title} : But if it was from (forbidden by) the Torah he removes immediately. RELATED TO SIMILAR CONCEPTS IN THE TORAH According to Kavod HaBriyot is connected to the concept of the ''Tselem Elokim'' (the "image of God" or "Godly image") in every person, based on the Torah in Genesis stating that Man was/is created in the image of God (the ''Tselem Elokim''): "And God said: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (בְּצַלְמֵנוּ כִּדְמוּתֵנוּ)..." Genesis 1:26 "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them." (וַיִּבְרָא אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ, בְּצֶלֶם אֱלֹהִים בָּרָא אֹתוֹ: זָכָר וּנְקֵבָה, בָּרָא אֹתָם.) Genesis 1:27 [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0101.htm#27 ; "Then the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (וַיִּיצֶר יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים אֶת-הָאָדָם, עָפָר מִן-הָאֲדָמָה, וַיִּפַּח בְּאַפָּיו, נִשְׁמַת חַיִּים; וַיְהִי הָאָדָם, לְנֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה) Genesis 2:7 [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt0102.htm#7] Thus when God breathed his spirit into Adam giving him life, Adam is an "extension" of God through the spirit that God breathed into him, so that when we honor any human we are also honoring God. Many episodes in the Torah such as are based on "Kavod HaBriyot":
RELATED NOTIONS IN PIRKEI AVOTH AND THE ORAL TORAH According to The principal is related to a variety of citations in the Mishnah 's Pirkei Avoth ("Ethics of the Fathers") which is considered to be the Oral Torah s primary source of Jewish Ethics :
According t the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva died because They Did Not honor Each Other . KAVOD HABRIYOT AS A HALAKHIC PRINCIPLE The Tannaim (rabbis of the Mishnah) and the Amoraim (rabbis of the Talmud) applied the concept of 'Kavod HaBriyot'' in their interpretations of and rulings on halakhah. The following is an example of this from the Mishnah . :"Ben Zoma says: איזהו מכובד? המכבד את הבריות Who is honored (mechubad)? He who honors ('''mechabed''') others '''habriyot''', as it is said: 'For those who honor Me ( God ) I will honor, and those who scorn Me shall be degraded' ( Samuel I 2:30)" (Avot 4:1) {Link without Title} Examples of the use of this principle in the responsa literature include:
Orthodox Rabbi Menachem Elon , in his Encyclopaedia Judaica article on ''Takkanot'' emphasized the importance of Kavod HaBriyot: The scholars stressed the need to guard, in the exercise of such wide legislative authority, against doing undue injury to man's image and dignity: "All these matters apply to the extent that the dayyan shall find them proper in the particular case and necessitated by the prevailing circumstances; in all matters he shall act for the sake of Heaven and he shall not lightly regard the dignity of man... "(Yad, Sanhedrin 24:10; see also Resp. Rashba, vol. 5, no. 238) In the Encyclopaedia Judaica article on ''Honor'' Rabbi Louis Isaac Rabinowitz writes that "So great was 'the honor of God's creatures' regarded that 'God has regard to the dignity of His creatures' (Sif. Deut. 192) and honor annuls even a negative commandment of the Bible (Ber. 19b), especially the honor of the community (TJ, Ber. 3:1, 6a)." Most classical Poskim , however, maintained in accordance with the opinion in the Talmud that ''Kavod HaBriyot'' can only justify overriding rabbinic restrictions. Dispute as to scope The applicability of the concept to contemporary controversies is a matter of dispute. Conservative Rabbi Joel Roth wrote that the concept allows one to override certain rabbinic injunctions out of honor or respect for someone else, but never out of ones own honor. Rabbi Roth argued that the idea that a person's own honor (as distinct from giving honor to someone else) could justify overriding an injunction was not only inconsistent with any fair reading of the history of the concept, but theologically unjustifiable, because traditional Judaism has long recognized that a person can honor God by honoring others, but the idea that in matters between oneself and God only one can or should consider owns honor as more important than God's represents a completely different concept. Rabbi Joel Roth, "Op-Ed: Law committee in its gay ruling stepped outside halachic framework", JTS News, December 10, 2006 Roth's reasoning was disagreed with by the Dorff, Nevins, and Reisner responsum, which claimed that the Talmud refers to "human dignity" without making the distinction between ones own and others that Rabbi Roth claimed. The Dorff, Nevins, and Reisner responsum explained its reasoning as follows: :Rabbi Roth believes that human dignity may not be used as a rationale by a person to violate the law for his own sake–this, he argues, would be a theological absurdity in that an observant Jew would be invited to place his own dignity higher than God’s. Of course, this is precisely the argument used in the Talmud for why human dignity does not supersede biblical law. Yet the Talmud does not discern a theological objection when human dignity supersedes rabbinic law. It even provides a drashah to explain that “sometimes you can ignore the injunction” because of human dignity. Dorff, Nevins, and Reisner, p. 15. The responsum footnotes Brakhot 19b, Bava Metzia 30a, and Sanhedrin 18b. REFERENCES -> |
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