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The shiur in English
The Yanuka’s own words in this shiur, translated into English by Lehallel · 1,229 words · 5:57. Press a time to hear it said.
0:00 How important human dignity is. Human dignity is the most important thing. A person can be punished, and live seventy, eighty years, with a claim held against him, because he pained or humiliated a fellow Jew. We must be careful not to hurt anyone, and he does not even know. We must be careful, and not hurt... In Tractate Sanhedrin, page 37, the Gemara says that we see that Adam HaRishon, his image - they say that the face of Adam HaRishon was different.
0:33 In Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 56, there is the source for the image of Adam HaRishon's face, how Adam Kadmaah looked, his description. You can read the whole description, how he looked, his appearance, in Tikkun 56, in Tikkunei Zohar, Tikkun 56. You see that the Gemara says that our faces - we all came from one man, but our opinions, just as our faces are different, so our opinions are different.
1:01 We are all one man. We cannot come and disqualify the other. It makes no difference who he is in the world, even if he looks like a drunkard, even if he looks like a fool, he may look despicable, he may look wicked, we must feel that these are the children of the Creator. I may not cast, in my thoughts, anything bad on the children of Hashem. And you remember that we learned that one who suspects the innocent is struck in his own body.
1:25 You remember that we learned this, that according to the Rosh, he must ask him for forgiveness for having suspected him for nothing, in his thoughts. Merely, Heaven forbid, if a person suspected someone in his thoughts, he must go and ask his forgiveness, for just a thought. According to the Rosh, for just a thought. What do we say on Yom Kippur? "Those You brought near I pushed away, those You loved I hated, those You hated I loved" - I did everything the opposite of You.
1:53 I may not think about the child of the Creator - the one whom the great G-d created, who put a soul within him - to think that he is some kind of despicable creature, Heaven forbid, or to push him away from before me. The moment a person does this, or thinks this of him, the Holy One, blessed be He, despises him and pushes him away. This is forbidden to do, ever. Therefore one must always respect every person. What is this: "When you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden... you shall surely help him with it"?
2:17 What is the meaning? What is this: "When you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping him, you shall surely help him with it"? What is "when you see the donkey of one who hates you"? The Torah tells us that if you see your enemy on the road - see how much the Torah teaches us boundaries, and proper conduct and good character. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying on the road under its burden, you are commanded to come and unload the load that is on the back of his animal, and take this load off the animal from its back onto the ground, so that this donkey will not be troubled, so that it will not be in pain, so that it will not be hard for it.
Read the whole shiur in English (7 more parts)
2:59 You must have mercy on it. And the reverse: if you also see the mitzvah of standing it up, then "you shall surely stand it up with him," to help him also load the donkey that is his, to load as well, to see how you load it. So from here you see that the Torah commands us. This is how the Sages learned, in Tractate Bava Metzia, page 32, side a, that the Gemara says this, that it is a dispute between the Sages and Rabbi Shimon: whether a person must be paid for the loading, also on the way back, if he loads, whether one must pay for this or not.
3:29 So as practical halachah, in Choshen Mishpat it is ruled, in siman 272, that one must pay if a person fulfills the mitzvah of loading. "You shall surely stand it up with him" - he must pay for it, it is not free. If you have to stand him up, then you must pay. But unloading, according to everyone, must be done for free, without money. You may not take money for the mitzvah of unloading. But for the loading one must pay, he is obligated to pay.
3:55 So it is ruled as halachah, like the view of the Sages, and so ruled our master the Shulchan Aruch in Choshen Mishpat. This is the halachah. There is something beautiful on this that I saw once. It is also in the responsa of the Rashba. I will try to remember. He says that if this also applies to a person who is walking with the sack - if a person is walking with the sack, does he also have to fulfill the mitzvah of "you shall surely stand it up with him," either the unloading or the loading of it?
4:23 So our teacher the Rashba learns from this a kal vachomer, he says: if a donkey is lying under its burden and you are commanded to unload the load from it, all the more so to unload it from a person. This is the view of the Rashba. So he writes in the responsa of the Rashba, it seems to me in part 1, in siman... Ah, whether this is from the Torah - he holds that it is. According to the Rashba, he says that it is from the Torah. In siman 252 and 257 in the responsa of the Rashba, in two responsa he writes this, that the Rashba's view is that it is from the Torah, and so there is a mitzvah to unload it from the person, from the person himself, even though this is a person and not a donkey.
5:02 So the Rashba learns this by a kal vachomer, and it is from the Torah. But according to the other Rishonim, there are many more Rishonim who say that it is rabbinic. What is the law if someone is now stuck with his car? The same law as the donkey, you must help him. You see him - help him, what, will you leave him like that? Today on the roads it is even more dangerous, because of danger to life, because it is a danger to life, because these are severe Torah prohibitions.
5:28 There is a very great concern that everyone can be harmed. And it is a mitzvah to help people on the roads, a person who is traveling on the road and gets stuck, and, Heaven forbid, death could befall him, Heaven forbid. The greatest mitzvah is to help travelers who are stuck at the side of the road. It is the greatest mitzvah, and it is outright saving lives from death. It is truly saving lives. To see those who are at the sides of the roads - this does not belong at all to unloading and loading.
5:55 It belongs to the fact that a person...
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