OHR SOMAYACH'S ASK THE RABBI
Issue #282 July 22, 2000 / 19 Tammuz 5760
Parshat Pinchas
=====================================

In this issue:
HARRY POTTER
DIRECTION NEEDED
WHO KNOWS ETC.?
PUBLIC DOMAIN

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HARRY POTTER

From Zev Schwartz in Maryland, Baltimore
<teamzev@juno.com>

  Dear Rabbi,
  In America and the U.K. , the Harry Potter series of novels has
  swept millions of fans  into their "spell."  The popular books are
  about a young wizard and his friends who  attend the distinguished
  Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Many states in America
  have officially banned the books from public school curriculum
  because of biblical injunctions against these two activities.  May
  we read the books with a clear conscience?

Dear Zev Schwartz,
Isn't all mindless activity performed with a clear conscience?

What I mean is, life is like a business.  A good businessman carefully
takes inventory, buying more of the hot movers and chucking the duds.
In life, too, we should weigh each activity as to its benefits and
drawbacks.

Does reading this book benefit you?  If it relaxes you, that's a
benefit.  If it strengthens your bond with your kids because you read
it to them, that's a benefit.

But if it wastes your time, that's a drawback.  If it weakens your
bond with your kids, because you hide in your room and read it instead
of spending time with them, that's a drawback.  Every activity has the
"opportunity cost" of what you could have done instead.

So, while there's no specific prohibition against "wizard" stories,
the question is how much time, if any, to spend on them?

=====================================

DIRECTION NEEDED

From:  Name@Withheld

  Dear Rabbi,
  I am a film director.  I work in advertising.  After much pressure
  and considerable preparatory work on my part, I reluctantly agreed
  to direct a TV advert.  I felt very uncomfortable about my decision.

  Meanwhile, although I had said "yes," no-one was in a position to
  reciprocally confirm the job as mine, i.e. the actual client had as
  yet to say "yes."  A weekend passed.  I then said I was declining to
  pursue the job.  I was accused of unethical conduct.

  I reasoned that my doubts and discomfort about the project's outcome
  would seriously impair my creative performance, and that it was in
  the client's best interests that I withdraw, even though such a
  withdrawal would constitute a serious embarrassment for me, the
  production company and the client's ad agency.  Was I wrong?

Dear Name@Withheld,
This is a tough one.  And since it is a financial issue that involves
others, it requires a real live Rabbi to hear both sides.  I can just
give you basic guidelines based on your side of the story:  (In my
answer, I will assume that you were not yet legally committed by
implied contract or industry standard.)

The Talmud says:  "Your YES should be righteous," meaning that a
person should stand by his word.

The Shulchan Aruch rules that one who breaks a verbal agreement in a
business transaction -- even if the deal has not been legally
concluded -- is considered unfaithful and "out of favor" with the
Sages.

So, for example, let's say I'm selling you my car, and we agree on a
certain price.  As you begin writing out the check, someone comes
along and offers me more money.  It would be unscrupulous for me to
cancel my deal with you and to sell it to the newcomer, even if
legally I am able to do so.

Now, your case appears to differ from a standard "business
transaction."  You aren't selling a car.  Rather, you're "selling"
your talent and creativity.  According to your description, you agreed
to take on the project thinking you would be able to put your creative
talents to it, but later you realized that you don't have it in you.
This is more like agreeing to sell someone a car which you later
realize you don't own.  In such a case, backing out isn't as much a
lack of faith as a mistake made in the beginning.

So, if you think you can do a good job without harming the client's
interest, you should reconsider in order to uphold your word.  But if
you can't, you can't.  I'm sure you will make apologies to the
appropriate parties, as well as a commitment to exercise more care in
future agreements.

Sources:
* Tractate Bava Metzia 49a
* Shulchan Aruch, Choshen Mishpat 204:7

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WHO KNOWS ETC.?

In the song at the end of the Pesach Seder we describe the
significance of the numbers from one to 13 as they relate to Jewish
life and thought:  "Three are the fathers, Four are the Mothers...12
are
the Tribes of Israel..." What about the next 13 numbers?  And after
those?  What significance do they have in Jewish tradition?

Here are some reader responses:

18 is the amount of time it takes to turn matza dough into chametz
(leaven).
                                      Mazal Zirkind
                                      <mazalz@thekosher.net>

19 is the number of years in a Jewish calendar cycle.
                                      Stuart Wise
                                      <swise@amlaw.com>

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THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
Comments, quibbles, and reactions
concerning previous "Ask-the-Rabbi" features

Re:  ADDICTION TO MITZVOT (http://www.ohr.org.il/ask/ask279.htm#Q1):
ROTFLOL (Rolling On The Floor Laughing Out Loud)!!!  I am sorry but I
had to write and tell you how you made me laugh on a stressful day,
thank u....I see you are addicted to mitzvot...so be it with us all!
Shalom U'brachot!
                                      Madeline Ortiz
                                      <maddielovesyah@juno.com>

I know people who are so given to Torah study that they can't stop
during davening (prayer time).  The halachic works say you're not
supposed to do that.  That could be an addiction.  We used to call it
the "frumer yetzer hara."
                                      Name@Withheld

In "Getting Up When You're Down," (available at
http://www.artscroll.com/ohrsomayach) Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski M.D.
notes that among religiously observant people, OCD (obsessive
compulsive disorder) can often involve "religious" rituals.  He cites
the case of a woman who went to absurd lengths to keep her house clean
of "chometz" (leaven) for Passover by refusing to allow any bread in
the house all year round.  Rabbi Twerski writes that OCD requires
treatment; people who give counsel to others must be aware that there
may be emotional disorders of a medical nature which require
treatment!
                                      <Name@Withheld>

Re: YOU ARE THERE:
Ohr Somayach, thank you for being there!!  I very much look forward to
your email.
                                      Chuck Wintner
                                      <Cfwintner@aol.com>

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