Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Welcome to the Judaism community on Codidact!

Will you help us build our community of learners? Drop into our study hall, ask questions, help others with answers to their questions, share a d'var torah if you're so inclined, invite your friends, and join us in building this community together. Not an ask-the-rabbi service, just people at all levels learning together.

Seeking list of prohibitions which force one to do an action

+4
−0

Generally speaking, whenever the Torah tells us "do not do X," the context is "do not do a specific action" (don't eat non-Kosher, don't do work on Shabbos, etc.). In a select few prohibitions, however, one is forced to do an action in order to avoid being in violation of the prohibition, or at least has the option of actively doing something to avoid the prohibition. Among that subset, most of the relevant prohibitions have a twin positive commandment; when abiding by the prohibition, one will naturally abide by the twin commandment and thereby be forced to perform an action. These include, off the top of my head (with the mitzvah numbers providing reference within the Sefer HaChinuch):

  • Don't take the children first; send the mother then take the children (Devarim 22:6-7; Mitzvos 544-545)
  • Return a lost object; don't hide yourself from it (Devarim 22:1-3; Mitzvos 538-539)
  • Don't leave an animal struggling under a load; help to remove its burden (Devarim 22:4; Mitzvos 540-541)
  • Build a fence around your roof; don't leave dangerous objects lying around (Devarim 22:8; Mitzvos 546-547)
  • To appoint a Jewish king; not to appoint a non-Jewish king (Devarim 17:15; Mitzvos 497-498)
  • Not to be stingy with those in need; to give Tzedakah or charity loans (Devarim 15:7-11, Shemos 22:24; Mitzvos 66, 478-479)
  • Not to free a Jewish slave empty-handed; to send him with gifts (Devarim 15:13-14; Mitzvos 481-482)

The list goes on.

What's striking, however, is just how few prohibitions require an action to avoid violating them, without being paired with a positive commandment as well. To my knowledge, the only case of this is that a guarantor or lender on a loan has the prohibition against being involved in lending on interest, and they can get out of it after the fact by ripping up the loan document (Bava Metzia 62a.8).

Is this particular case the only example of a prohibition that, without having a twin positive commandment, requires one to do an action? If not, what are the other examples?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

1 comment thread

General comments (3 comments)

2 answers

+3
−0

Here are some that I believe fit what you're looking for. Please inform me if I'm mistaken:

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

1 comment thread

General comments (3 comments)
+3
−0

Another is (command 46 in the Chinuch) "not to withhold food, clothing, and relations" from one's wife.

Another is (command 348 in the Chinuch) "not to allow a non-Jew who lives in our lands to impose oppressive work upon a Jewish slave who had sold himself to him".

These negative ("don't…") commands require an action (from someone who finds himself in the right circumstances). And as far as I can tell, they have no counterpart positive ("do…") commands.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »