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Tuesday, January 24, 2006
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Fence around the Law
This is an expression that defines rabbinic laws which are intended to protect
Jews from violating the commandments of the Torah (Five Books of Moses). It can
be traced back to Leviticus 18:30: “U’shmartem et mishmarti—Keep
[the Hebrew word for “keep” can also be translated ‘protect’] My commandments.”
The Midrash (Biblical commentary) defines this as meaning: “Make a
protective fence for My commandments” (Jew. 21a).
It then adds: “Sanctify yourself by forbidding yourself to do that which is
permitted!” In other words, we should avoid even giving the impression that we
might be sinning so there cannot be the slighest suspicion that we have acted
unfaithfully.
One classic example of building a fence around the Law is from
Exodus 23:19: “You are not to boil a kid in the milk of its mother.” From this
comes the rabbinical law which forbids mixing dairy products with meat.
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