מכות ד

A man who was paranoid and thought that everyone was stealing his money, was looking for a safe place to hide it.  After considering several alternatives, he decided that the safest place would be beside the seventh commandment, Thou Shalt Not Steal.  And that’s what he did.  He went to Shul, opened the ארון קודש, took out the ספר תורה, rolled it to the עשרת הדברות and put his money besides על תגנוב.  The money remained there unti פרשת יתרו when the סופר came to check the ספר.  When he saw the cash, he thought to himself “If the money were in a different spot, perhaps I would say it’s הפקר.”  So he simply moved the cash to the next week’s פרשה and continued to do so week after week until פרשת מטות.   When he saw the words מחציתם תקחו, he said:  “I was מקיים the לאו when the money was next to it.  Now that it’s next to an עשה, I’ll be מקיים it as well.”  He took half the cash and moved the remainder to the following week’s פרשה and continued to do so until he got the פרשת שמות.   When he saw the words ולא תותירו עד בקר, he said: “I was מקיים the עשה when the money was next to it.   Now that it’s next to a לאו, I’ll be מקיים it as well.”  So he took the remainder of the money.

06/10/2021