{"id":51090,"date":"2019-03-10T15:43:50","date_gmt":"2019-03-10T13:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=51090"},"modified":"2022-10-02T10:04:25","modified_gmt":"2022-10-02T07:04:25","slug":"who-can-we-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/who-can-we-trust\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Can We Trust?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[724],"acf":{"old_id":"51090","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":49419,"related_cahpter":"172","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"When the word of one, and one's word, may or may not be enough","content":"

“Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice:<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 That alone should encourage the crew.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice:<\/span>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 What I tell you three times is true.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

(Lewis Carroll, <\/span>The Hunting of the Snark<\/span><\/em>)<\/span><\/p>\n

Our chapter confronts us with the harsh realities of the law. \u201cYou shall show no pity!\u201d we are told in the final verse. The law is the law. But how can human judges apply the abstract laws of the Torah to the messy reality of actual human interactions?<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the methods that the Torah stresses, here and elsewhere, is to ascertain the truth of the situation before deciding how to apply the law.<\/span><\/p>\n

A single witness may not validate against a person any guilt or blame for any offense that may be committed; a case can be valid only on the testimony of two or three witnesses\u00a0<\/span>(19:15).<\/span><\/p>\n

What does the enigmatic phrase \u2018two or three\u2019 mean? Some modern translations simply say \u2018two or more\u2019. The ancient community in Qumran seem to have made a distinction: in a scroll known as the Damascus Document, we learn that two witnesses were needed for cases involving money, while three were necessary for cases that could lead to the death penalty. The rabbis of the Mishna (Makkot 1:8) tell us something else. \u201cThree is like two\u201d – when additional witnesses come, they should be examined and interrogated fully, and we can\u2019t rely on our favorite two witnesses – \u201ceven if a hundred witnesses come!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What about one witness? Our chapter doesn\u2019t count such testimony, but actually, our whole society is based on trusting individuals. Whenever we are guests in someone\u2019s home, we rely on the word of our host to tell us what is in the food they are serving, and how it fits our tastes, allergies, or kashrut standards. In business, we trust the word of sellers; in relationships, we trust our partner is telling the truth. Sometimes, such trust is broken – but society is built on taking that risk. We could not live any other way.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is the tension we live with. Deuteronomy 19 presents the ideal, having multiple witnesses to get as close as possible to the truth. Our everyday life is built on reality, not being sure of the truth, but trusting one another nonetheless. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: <\/span>\u00a0ESB Professional<\/span> \/ Shutterstock.com<\/span><\/p>\n

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