Ki Teizei -Doing business honestly כי תיצא

Deuteronomy Chapter 25:13 דְּבָרִים

יג  לֹא-יִהְיֶה לְךָ בְּכִיסְךָ, אֶבֶן וָאָבֶן:  גְּדוֹלָה, וּקְטַנָּה.

You shall not keep in your pockets two different weights, one large and one small.

You have to be honest in business you are not allowed to have different size weights or stone you just can’t have a small stone and a large stone!

So, what does that mean? Is the Torah saying that if I have a fruit store I can’t have weights such as 1/4 lbs, 1/2 lbs , 1 lbs, 5 lbs etc.?

Of Course not! That is not what the verse mean.

Rashi says you can have small weights and large weights but you can’t have weights that contradict each other.

גדולה וקטנה A GREAT AND A SMALL — i.e. you shall not have a large one that contradicts the small one, — that one must not buy goods by the larger and sell by the smaller (Sifrei Devarim 294:1)

For example: You are a produce store owner and you go to the market to buy fruits. You take with you weights such as: 1, 5, or 10 lbs but each one is a ½ more which means now that actual weight of the weights are 1 ½ lbs, 5 ½ lbs and 10 ½ lbs. That would be stealing and when people come to your store to buy now you have another set of weights each one is a little less then what it should really be. Phony weights? That is stealing. Be Honest! This is what the verse meant but Rabbi Zav Wolf who died in 1798 said in one of his books that he wrote, “Or Ha’Meir”, he says that in Kabala, Stones also refers to words and letters. And so Rov Zav says that our verse/ posuk that talks about Aven/Stone refers to and hints to words

. יג  לֹא-יִהְיֶה לְךָ בְּכִיסְךָ, אֶבֶן וָאָבֶן:  גְּדוֹלָה, וּקְטַנָּה – You shall not keep in your pockets two different stones (weights), one large and one small.

Don’t buy with a large stone in your favor and resell with smaller stones in your favor.

And he continues and says that very often when people are in great trouble financially, or G-d forbid Lo Alynu Sick, or they can’t find a shidduch, they cry and beg Hashem for help, they daven and say Tehillim every day, every hour of the day and Hashem answers their tafilot.

This is with Rov Zav says refers to BIG LETTERS Avanim Gadolot / Big Stones and that is exactly what we should do.

However, once our prayers/tafilot are answered do we continue praying with the same PASSION day after day hour after hour with the same enthusiasm?

Very often people may forget to thank Hashem, their prayers are not the same as they were when they needed Hashems help!

This Rov Zav says is what the Torah means by Small Stone Aven Katana. When its time to give back to Hashem, use the same size words, the same Tafilot with the same passion and enthusiasm.

By Rabbi Yamin Goldsmith