In the middle of 58b the gemara says Kol Davar ha'Masur la'Lev ... Ne'emar Alav v'Yareisa me'Elokecha. My question is that it does not seem to hold up. There are many other places in torah where that phrase comes up and it is not a davar hamosar llev. ex: ribis. There are others I believe.
Manny Nagel, Teaneck, USA
Why?! Ribis is also a davar hamasor l'lev, as Rashi Vayikra 25:36 writes; that a person might falsely say that the money he is lending out with Ribis belongs to a Nochri, not to himself (see Rashi Bava Metzia 61b Toleh).
An analysis of all the places in the Torah where v'Yareisa me'Elokecha is stated:-
1) The phrase v'Yareisa me'Elokecha appears 5 times in the Torah; always in Sefer Vayikra.
2) The Meiri, in our sugya, writes that every time the Torah states v'Yareisa me'Elokecha it refers to something "which human judges could not judge". Since it is only Hash-m who knows what a person's real intentions are, one must be frightened of Hash-m, because if someone is only afraid of other people, then he will not be careful with the bad behavior that the Torah is warning us against, because he can never be caught out for this by a Law Court in this world.
3) Let us see how this works in the 5 places in the Torah where it occurs. The first is Vayikra 19:14 where we are told not to put a stumbling block before the blind "veYareisa meElokecha". Rashi writes that the stumbling block in front of the blind is not necessarily to be taken literally, because it can mean that one gives a gullible person bad advice. This individual is "blind" on this matter and easily fooled. But the judges could never prove that the intention with the advice was bad, because he could always claim that he thought that what he said was the best strategy.
3) Vayikra 19:32 tells us to stand up to honor an old person. But when you see the old person coming you might close your eyes and claim you never saw him. Nobodyy could prove that you were deliberately trying not to see him. Only the Almighty knows a person's motives.
4) Vayikra 25:17 is the verse cited in our Gemara. Do not send someone else to a store where you know they do not stock what he is looking for. But the human Dayanim could never prove that he knew they do not sell this, because only Hash-m knows what is in a peron's heart.
5) Vayikra 25:36 is about ribis as we saw in the first reply. We saw that there are tricks one can do with ribis which they cannot catch you for.
6) Finally Vayikra 25:36 is about deliberately making an employee do unnecessary work. But the employer can always claim it is necessary even if in reality it is not.
Best regards
Dovid Bloom