‘Falsification’ Parashat Ki Tetze 5784

A complaint I often hear from my secular friends is that the Torah is too invasive. It always has something to say, even about even the most intimate details of one’s life. I reply that this is precisely the point. The purpose of the Torah is to mould ethical people who can build an ethical society. When it comes to ethics, there is nothing that is extraterritorial. The Torah has something to say just about everything: the way we dress, the way we eat, the way we act towards our spouse, and the way we conduct business with others.

It should thus be unsurprising that the Torah has something to say about weights and measures [Devarim 25:13-16]: “You shall not have in your pouch alternate weights (even), larger and smaller. You shall not have in your house alternate measures (ephah), larger and smaller. You must have completely honest weights and completely honest measures, if you are to endure long on the soil that G-d is giving you. For whoever does these things, whoever perpetrates such injustice, is an abomination to G-d.” The fact that the Torah prohibits falsifying weights and measures is, in and of itself, unremarkable. These laws are as relevant today as they were when the Torah was given. Nearly every country in the world mandates and enforces standards. The American Penal Code, clearly drawing from the words of the Torah, mandates, “No person shall sell, offer for sale or keep for the purpose of sale any commodity in quantities or enumeration of less weight or measure than that represented upon such sale or offer for sale by the vendor or his agent or employee; nor shall any person sell or offer for sale any commodity in any receptacle having a smaller capacity than is represented at the time of such offer or sale.” What is noteworthy is that the Torah calls the act of falsifying weights and measures “an abomination”. The word “abomination” is not a word that the Torah takes lightly. It appears only eighteen times in the Torah and is used to describe particularly heinous sins, including idolatry, sedition, and sexual offenses. Also the falsification of weights and measures. Why is this sin considered so particularly onerous?

The Kli Yakar[1] posits that when the Torah forbids possessing “alternate weights, larger and smaller”, it is actually forbidding the use of two weights: one weight that is true while another one weighs less or more than it should. The seller will sometimes use the true weight and sometimes use the falsified one. Lest customers complain that they are being swindled, the seller can take out the true weight and disprove their claims.

In this essay, we will peer under the hood to see how a person might try to scam the system. We begin with falsification of weights. How would one go about doing this? The easiest way is to falsely mark the weights, say, by labelling a 1-kg weight as “2 kg” or “½ kg”, depending on whether one is buying or selling. This method is easiest to detect, as a 2-kg weight is significantly larger than a 1-kg weight. A more devious method involves soaking the weights in salt so that they absorb moisture[2]. This is also easily detected as the increase in weight primarily comes from the addition of an outer corrosion layer such as lead chloride, copper chloride, or rust, depending on the metal used. This layer is easily detected by the naked eye. The most insidious way to falsify weights is by falsifying the composition of the weights. Instead of using bronze, which weighs 550 pounds per cubic foot, use yellow brass, which weighs 530 pounds per cubic foot. The two metals look nearly identical and yet each false weighing nets the seller five percent additional profit.

Volume is more difficult to falsify. Here, too, the easiest method is by using containers marked with incorrect measurements or by using false bottoms. As above, this deception is easily detected by the naked eye. Noting that the Torah is referring to falsifying the volume of dry goods[3], the best way to cheat is not by altering the container, but, rather, by altering the contents of the container. Counterintuitively, one cup of wheat berries can be ground into up to significantly more than one cup of flour. The volume of flour changes depending on how finely it is ground. When wheat berries are first ground into flour, the volume increases as the particles are broken down and the increased surface area traps air molecules. If the flour is ground even more finely, the volume will begin to decrease because the smaller particles can be packed more closely together, reducing the amount of air trapped between them. It follows that there is some optimal amount of grinding that will result in the largest volume of flour for each measure of wheat berries. It is in the seller’s interest to fill the container with flour ground from the least amount of wheat berries, saving on the raw material and on the flour mill operating costs – labour hours and maintenance. He wants to grind the flour until its volume stops increasing. On the other hand, it is in the buyer’s interest for the seller to continue grinding the flour, because the more the flour is ground, the higher its quality. When the seller sells an inferior product under the guise of “fine ground flour”, he is falsifying measures.

Merging the two explanations, a new picture emerges. Falsifying weights and measures is not so much theft as it is the betrayal of trust. What the customer sees is not what he gets. The Portion of Ki Tetze contains another example of abominable falsification [Devarim 22:7]: “A man’s attire shall not be on a woman, nor may a man wear a woman’s garment because whoever does these [things] is an abomination to G-d”. Why does the Torah prohibit cross-dressing? The Bekhor Shor[4] explains that cross-dressing is a type of adultery where a person mingles with the opposite sex while his true sex is not visible. This means that cross-dressing is prohibited not merely because it might lead to some untoward act in the future, but because the act, in and of itself, is sinful. I remember the scene from “Mrs Doubtfire” when Daniel (Robin Williams) reveals to his wife, Miranda (Sally Fields), that he is not an elderly British nanny, but, rather, the cross-dressing husband from which she recently separated.

Miranda : [shocked]  The whole time? I mean the whole time?

Miranda : [furious]  The whole time?

The look on her face is unforgettable: a combination of shock, anger, and embarrassment. Her estranged husband had invaded her safe space without her knowledge. She thought she was speaking to Mrs Doubtfire “woman to woman”, revealing to her all of her deepest secrets. But all the time it was a lie. In one instant, Miranda’s world came crashing down. Her trust in Mrs Doubtfire had been betrayed. Cross-dressing is considered an “abomination” because it a betrayal of trust, no different than betraying one’s spouse, one’s ally or one’s country. Similarly, falsification of weights and measures betrays trust between the seller and the buyer. How does the buyer know he is getting what he paid for? He has no way of telling whether those weights are made of brass or bronze or 3D-printed plastic. He must trust the seller. When the seller betrays that trust, he is an abomination, plain and simple.

Commenting on the confession recited ten times on Yom Kippur, Rabbi Shagar[5] writes, “When a person takes guilt upon himself, specifically the guilt of betrayal (bagadnu), he reveals his deepest humanity. Who have I betrayed? Parents, friends, people, G-d. The perpetrator of the betrayal has undermined the most basic connections of loyalty.” Simply put, each time we sin, we betray G-d, such that every single sin we commit is in some way an abomination. Heady stuff to consider as we head into the Days of Awe.

Ari Sacher, Moreshet, 5784

Please daven for a Refu’a Shelema for Shlomo ben Esther, Sheindel Devorah bat Rina, Esther Sharon bat Chana Raizel, and Meir ben Drora.

[1] Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz, who was the Chief Rabbi of Prague in the beginning of the 17^th century, wrote a commentary on the Torah called “Kli Yakar”.

[2] This method is discussed in the Talmud in Tractate Bava Metzia [61a].

[3] An “ephah” is used to measure dry volume while liquid volume is measured in “lug” or “hin”.

[4] Joseph ben Isaac Bekhor Shor lived in Orléans, France, in the second half of the 12th century.

[5] Rabbi Shimon Gershon Rosenberg (Sha-Ga-R) lived in Israel in the second half of the previous century.