Hello again, we are meeting to study the book Brit Shalom, and we are continuing in the fifth chapter.
There are many laws relating to the prohibition of bloodshed.
Sometimes a person can cause harm to his fellow. For example, if someone spilled oil on the road—now, spilling oil itself doesn’t kill anyone, but it might end up killing someone. Or if a person places an obstacle in the way, or if he has a pit that he opened and did not close. About this it is said here, in paragraph 31: Be careful not to leave an obstacle in the road, in a way that a person might be harmed by it. And remove any obstacle from a place where people pass and could be injured.
Therefore, if a person, for example, has a living fence with thorns, and those thorns stick out into the public domain, he must trim those thorns so as not to cause harm to his fellow.
And we also have another important law: according to morality, included in the prohibition of murder is any conduct that diminishes the life of another. For example, humiliating him—meaning shaming him publicly—mocking him, or even engaging in unfair commercial competition.
Yes, if my friend opened a store on the street, and I open right across from him a competing store, this is not appropriate, and in a certain sense it is somewhat like murder.
One who intrudes on his friend’s livelihood is essentially committing something that falls under the category of bloodshed.
