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You shall not have in your house diverse measures, large and small. A whole and just weight you should have. (25:14,15)

Simply put, one may not keep faulty or dishonest weights in his possession, because it might  result  in  cheating  others  in  a  business  transaction.  What  about  cheating oneself? Where does the “double standard” fit in? The Torah writes in Vayikra 25:17, “Do not deceive another person.” The Kotzker Rebbe, zl, distinguishes between the actual law, prohibiting one from deceiving others, and the law’s severe implication: Self-deception. Having two sets of measures – one for myself and one for others, – can lead to a serious “double standard.” We are quick to condemn, to repudiate and rebuke – when it involves…

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And so shall you do for any lost article of your brother that may become lost from him and you find it; you cannot hide yourself. (22:3)

Horav Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg, zl, writes that he once received a brief from a law professor at the University of Buenos Aires lauding the halachic jurisprudence of the Torah. Indeed, the man wrote that he had studied the entire Torah and was able to understand and qualify the rationale for every law in the Torah – except for one. As impressed as he was by the Torah, he was extremely troubled with the one law that does not seem to make sense – at all. This is the law concerning yi’ush, whereby one who despairs of recovering his lost object…

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If a man will have a wayward and rebellious son. (21:18)

In the Talmud Rosh Hashanah 16b, Chazal teach, “A person is judged only in accordance  with  his  actions/behavior  at  that  moment,  as  it  is  written (concerning Yishmael), ‘For G-d has heeded the cry of the youth – ba’asher hu shum – in his present state’” (Bereishis 21:17). The Midrash Bereishis adds: Afilu hu asid l’harshia l’achar z’man, “Even if he will act wicked after time.” Chazal refer to the dialogue between the ministering angels and the Almighty as Yishmael lay sick with thirst. “Ribono Shel Olam!” the angels declared. “To one whose descendants will kill Your children with thirst, You…

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When you will go out to war against your enemies, and Hashem, your G-d, will deliver them into your hands and you will capture its captivity. (21:10)

The Baal Shem Tov HaKadosh says that the war to which the Torah alludes is none other  than  the  war  of  our  lives  –  the  daily  battle  which  we  wage  against  the blandishments of the yetzer hara, evil-inclination. The Torah is teaching us v’shavisa shivyo, “And you will capture its captivity,” essentially, we should grab the yetzer hara, take it captive, and learn from its strategy. Let one study the yetzer hara’s guile, how it ensnares us to sin, disregarding the type or severity of the sin. Who cares? As long as one sins, he is ensnared in the trap…

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