Fire on Shabbat and Rationalizing Sin
Adapted from Rabbi Braun’s sermon in 5771
“I eat out dairy.” Well, I don’t; but that is something I hear all the time. I don’t mean to pick on that particular issue, but it seems to be a very good example of Jews illogically rationalizing things that they should not do. Allow me to explain.
The commandment to observe Shabbat and not perform prohibited activity on Shabbat is repeated numerous times throughout the Torah and at times it is specifically connected to the building of the Mishkan.
The connection between the prohibitions of Shabbat and the Mishkan is made in last week’s parsha, at the conclusion of the command to build the Mishkan (31:12-17), and again at the beginning of Parshat Vayakhel.
Moshe calls the people together to tell them about not working on Shabbat and then about the construction of the Mishkan. There is, however, one major difference between this time and the prior mention. Here, in addition to the general prohibition of working on Shabbat, the Torah adds a specific prohibition.
שמות פרק לה – ג) לא תבערו אש בכל משבתיכם ביום השבת:
Do not transfer fire on Shabbat.
Why add anything here; and, more interestingly, why does the Torah choose this specific activity to prohibit? The Mishna in the seventh chapter of Talmud Shabbat lists 39 prohibited activities, yet there are only 2 mentioned explicitly in the Torah.
Most of the primary medieval commentators argue that this specific instruction is coming to contrast Shabbat with Yom Tov. On Yom Tov we are allowed to cook and transfer fire. One might then think that is ok on Shabbat as well; and so, the Torah comes to remind us that this is forbidden on Shabbat. Don’t think that: because it is ok on Yom Tov, it is ok on Shabbat as well. This approach can be found in the commentary of Rashbam and others.
There is one main problem with this approach. It has nothing to do with the Mishkan. This detail, the transfer of fire, is given specifically in the context of the Mishkan (and also through different language).
Rabbi Ovadiah Seforno, the great Italian commentator, offers another approach. He argues that: even though very often fire is destructive, it is involved in all (or, at least most) of the melachot and is therefore prohibited. In other words- fire is singled out because it is the most common and important melacha.
This approach is subject to the same criticism as the last one. It has nothing to do with the Mishkan. It is also unclear if his argument is even true. Many melachat do not involve fire at all.
To gain a better understanding of the why fire is referenced here, I think that we first have to figure out the connection between the Mishkan and Shabbat.
In general, the connection between the Mishkan and Shabbat is explained as follows: you might think that something as important as building the Mishkan would allow you to override Shabbat. The Torah then comes to remind us that Shabbat takes precedence over the Mishkan. We don’t violate Shabbat in order to build the Mishkan.
What does this have to do with fire?
The commentary of Tosafot to the Torah offers a wonderful explanation that speaks to the heart of one of the real religious issues of our time.
They write that God specifically warns us about transferring fire more than the other melachot because it does not appear to be so much of a melacha; and maybe people will say: “we are not really doing anything” and, thus come to violate Shabbat.
God understands that we Jews rationalize: “this is not really so bad”; and, if we can convince ourselves of it, then we allow ourselves to violate the halacha.
Thus the message of the Torah here is twofold:
- When an activity is prohibited, don’t argue that it doesn’t apply because we have a greater and nobler ideal that is driving us. The Mishkan does not override Shabbat. Building God’s house is not a good reason to violate Shabbat.
- Do not fall into the trap of violating a clear halacha, because you think that it is not a big deal.
You are not the judge of what is serious and what is not.
I must admit, and lament, that these are arguments and sentiments that I hear often in modern orthodox communities.
Who hasn’t heard “but I don’t want to offend my friend or relative etc. They won’t understand why I have to do ‘x’ or why I can’t do ‘y’.” We take a value, consideration to others feelings, which are a real value, and use it as an excuse not to keep halacha. We forget that the Mishkan does not override Shabbat. Yes, we should try our best not to offend anyone, but that is not an excuse to violate halacha.
We are also experts at convincing ourselves that “we don’t really have to do that, because it is not a big deal” or “that is just a crazy stringency for the right wing communities, but is not really the law and thus we don’t have to do that.” What often ends up resulting is: we violate clear halachot, because we feel that they are not real, and convince ourselves that we don’t have to do it. Instead of starting with the halacha and allowing it to determine our actions, we let our intuition determine what is real halacha and what is not.
I have heard these arguments in one form or another regarding hair covering, eating out dairy, not immersing dishes, and the list goes on.
I want to return to “eating out dairy” to show how easy it is for us to rationalize illogically. In our homes we keep separate meat and dairy pots, because we understand that a pot can become milchig or fleishig; and that if you heat up milk in a fleishig pot, the milk becomes forbidden. That same principle applies to the pots that cook kosher and non-kosher fish, and the same pots that heat pasta sauce after heating bacon for carbonara.
That very same principle, which we accept in our homes, we can rationalize away in a restaurant. We convince ourselves it is not a big deal so easily – even though if we stopped to think about it for a moment- the rationalization would fall away.
The clear message from our parsha is – that is not your call to make. You may not rationalize halacha away. The Mishkan does not override Shabbat!
