ארבע אבות נזיקין השור ןהבור ןהמבעה וההבער
There are four master categories of damages the שור (ox), the בור (pit) the מבעה (?) and the הבער (fire).
The first, third and fourth terms are absolutely clear, and in sequential lockstep with their appearance in Parshat Mishpatim. Damage related to oxen is described in Exodus 21:25-32 and 35-36. Damage caused by a pit is in 21:4. Damage by fire is in 22:5.
Yet NOWHERE in Mishpatim, NOWHERE in the entire Torah, NOWHERE in the Hebrew lexicon – ancient to modern – can the word
מבעה (mav’eh) be found.
The scholars of the Talmud (
amoraim) were at a loss to make sense of this unknown word. Indeed, they go through incredible contortions and flights of fancy in their attempts to find anything even remotely cognate in Scripture. Ever since, thousands of gallons of ink have been spilt and countless hours in the yeshivahs and kollels have been expended on decoding this mysterious word
Pearl Harbor, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Vietnam War, the Watergate Scandal, NASA’s Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters, and the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Psychologists have linked all of these tragic events to the concept of groupthink. As Dr. Irving Janis originally described in 1972 in in his pioneering book,
Victims of Groupthink, groupthink occurs when likeminded people gather to make a decision, and due to social conformity, they all gravitate towards the same conclusion, without fully analyzing all sides of the issue.
There are a number of factors that make groupthink more likely, including high group cohesiveness, high stress situations, a closed leadership style by the leader of the group (i.e., a style by which the leader states his or her decision first, and suppresses dissenting views).
gaon Rabbi Moshe Feinstein (
Responsa Igrot Moshe 4:60) ruled that itâs prohibited.
To understand this very complex issue, itâs important to review some of the relevant verses in the Torah relating to the prohibition of working on Shabbat.
The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:10) states: â
Veyom haâsheviâi shabbatlaâShem Elokecha lo taâaseh kol melacha ata uâvincha uâvitecha avdecha vaâamatâcha uâvehemtecha veâgercha asher biâsheâarecha â But the seventh day is a Sabbath to Hashem, your G-d; you shall not do any labor â you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your maidservant, your cattle, and your convert within your gates.â