Shoftim: “The Space-Time Continuum”

Shoftim: “The Space-Time Continuum”

Rabbi Jeffrey Miller

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In an age before surveyors with tripods, properties were often demarcated with stones.  The problem, of course, was that these “landmarks” were not unmovable, hence the exhortation in the Torah:

Deut. 19:14

The plain meaning is simple.  Do not cheat your neighbor by encroaching on his property.  And further, do not do so surreptitiously, moving the physical evidence to cover your tracks.

Ibn Ezra points out that the Torah quickly moves on to the prohibition of bearing false witness, followed by disputes between men requiring adjudication, before concluding with a repeat of “lex talionis”, “an eye for an eye”.

Ibn Ezra (and Chezkuni) point out that property disputes between neighbors lead to ever increasing troubles:

It didn’t take long for the Biblical prohibition against moving a homeowner’s fencepost to morph into a grander rule beyond its original intent.  Thus, the term “Hasagat G’vul” was used in Sifre (Devarim, 188) in connection with misappropriating and misattributing ideas:

“Hasagat G’vul” also entered the economic realm as the term became the catch-phrase for unfair competition.  There is a tension in Rabbinic law – as there is in Western law – between free enterprise (generally good) and unfair competition (generally bad).  Halacha steps in to protect someone’s market when an interloper comes late to the party and tries to capitalize on the pre-established work.  See, generally, Journal of Halacha and Contemporary Society, Vol. 29, p. 5ff.

Perhaps the most far-reaching expansion of the “Hasagat G’vul” concept combines the different clauses of our verse: (i) fixed boundary, גְּב֣וּל רֵֽעֲךָ֔, (ii) ancestors, גָּֽבְל֖וּ רִֽאשֹׁנִ֑ים, (iii) inheritance, נַֽחֲלָֽתְךָ.  From here, Rashi draws the conclusion that the verse prohibits us from deviating from (otherwise nonbinding) customs.  Rashi makes this bold statement in connection with Mishle 22:28, which reiterates our verse but replaces רֵֽעֲךָ֔, your neighbor, with “עוֹלָ֑ם”, ancient.

There, Rashi comments:

This idea is also found in the Midrash on our verse as well:

What prompts Chazal to make this leap is the use in Proverbs of the Hebrew word “Olam”.  The word “Olam” appears hundreds of times in Tanach and is almost always a reference to time.  It can mean a remote period in the past or “in perpetuity”.

God uses “Olam” in the very beginning of His Torah to convey eternity:

Therefore, when King Solomon wrote (in Proverbs) אַל־תַּ֖סֵּג גְּב֣וּל עוֹלָ֑ם, he likely intended to convey a sense of time.  “Do not turn back on the ancient ‘boundaries’ of our forefathers.”  From here it is no longer a stretch to understand “boundaries” as “customs”, and to see this verse as a requirement to honor the ways of old.

Only later did the word “Olam” take on a meaning of “world”.  See, e.g., Daniel 12:7.  In fact, look at various English translations of “Adon Olam” and you will see alternatively “Master of the World/Universe” and “Master of Time”.  Olam HaBah is both the “World to Come” and the “Time to Come”!

We see here that Chazal anticipated Einstein’s Space-Time Continuum!  Time and space are not separate realms; they are interconnected and inseparable.  After all, Rashi’s first comment in Chumash points out that the Jewish claim to Eretz Ysrael rests on God’s Big Bang and His subsequent Promise to bequeath that particular land to us.

Reading Devarim 19:14 together with Mishle 22:28, we see that just as we must respect our neighbor’s physical boundaries, so too must we respect and honor the boundaries of law and culture that were bequeathed to us.  Our right to live in peace and harmony is codependent upon our obligation to treat Torah laws and customs with profound respect.  We must see customs as boundary markers, demarcating what is authentic Judaism.  We must not move these boundaries.  And we must certainly not do so furtively.

I’m not sure what the parameters are of maintaining ancient customs.  Our Sages probably (hopefully?) did not mean to include consuming chicken soup on Friday night as the kind of immutable custom that must be kept across generations.  But surely, we should appreciate that Judaism is a compilation of laws and customs, national history and personal stories.  Each of these elements contributes to Judaism’s richness; each is an essential ingredient to our bond with God.

Rabbi Avi Miller offered the following insight.  When Rashi expands “Hasagat G’vul” to include ‘respecting ancient customs’, we should look at both sides of the ‘mashal-nimshal’ (loosely translated, but lacking the poetry of the Hebrew, “meaning and teaching”):

It’s not just that we must view old customs as the boundaries of proper behavior.  We must also view our Sages as our contemporary neighbors.  They are close to us, living side by side with us.  They share our space and time and inspire us.  And like many neighbors, they and their teachings keep a watchful eye over us.

Shabbat Shalom!