When No One Is Watching
The merchant stood behind his scales as the customer waited.
The goods were placed on one side, the weight on the other. The balance settled. The customer paid what was asked and walked away, never knowing that the weight had been false.
No one had seen what the merchant had done.
At the close of Parashat Ki Teitzei, the Torah warns against keeping dishonest weights and measures:
לֹא־יִהְיֶה לְךָ בְּכִיסְךָ אֶבֶן וָאָבֶן גְּדוֹלָה וּקְטַנָּה
You shall not have in your pouch differing weights, a large one and a small one.
(Devarim 25:13)
Immediately afterwards, the Torah turns to something that appears entirely different:
זָכוֹר אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק
Remember what Amalek did to you.
(Devarim 25:17)
Rashi connects the two. If we are dishonest with weights and measures, he teaches, we should fear the attack of the enemy.
But what might dishonest weights have to do with Amalek?
The merchant who falsifies a weight does not want to be caught. He makes sure that the customer does not notice. He fears being seen by another human being, yet for that moment acts as though Hashem is absent from what he is doing.
And then the Torah tells us something about Amalek:
וְלֹא יָרֵא אֱלֹהִים
And he did not fear G-d.
(Devarim 25:18)
The dishonest merchant and Amalek are separated by worlds. Yet in both passages, the Torah draws our attention to what becomes possible when the fear of G-d no longer governs how one treats another human being.
The dishonest weight reaches beyond the marketplace.
We may never falsify a scale, yet there are other moments when we can convince ourselves that what remains unseen somehow matters less. A word of lashon hara spoken where the person will never hear it. A humiliation inflicted when we think no one will hold us to account. An advantage taken of someone who may never be able to challenge what was done.
Different actions, but the same question lies beneath them.
Who are we when no one is watching?
The Torah’s answer lies within the question itself.
There is no moment when no One is watching.
שבת שלום
שמואל
