העורך Editor
The Twitter Lesson: It’s the Exploiter Class Versus the Productive Class
Ryan McMaken on Mises.org:
This is all a helpful reminder that the true divide in society is not between the “private sector” and the “government sector.” Since at least the days of mercantilism, the private sector has often been eager to assist the regime in imposing more controls on the public. Rather, the true divide is between the exploiter class and the productive class. The productive are the true entrepreneurs, the net taxpayers, and those who receive no special favors from the regime. The exploiter class is the FBI, the bureaucracy, the tax collectors, and the other enforcers of the state’s regulatory apparatus. But the exploiter class also includes those “private sector” entities that seek to help the exploiters carry out their mission. Clearly, this includes a sizable portion of today’s corporate class, especially in Silicon Valley.
מלכות בית דוד היא תנאי לנחמה אבל אינה נחמה גמורה לבדה
רמב”ם הל’ ברכות פרק ב’ ד’:
ברכה שלישית פותח בה רחם יי’ אלהינו עלינו ועל ישראל עמך ועל ירושלים עירך ועל ציון משכן כבודך. או נחמנו יי’ אלהינו בירושלים עירך וחותם בה בונה ירושלים או מנחם עמו ישראל בבנין ירושלים. ולפיכך נקראת ברכה זו נחמה. וכל מי שלא אמר מלכות בית דוד בברכה זו לא יצא ידי חובתו מפני שהיא ענין הברכה שאין נחמה גמורה אלא בחזרת מלכות בית דוד.
Don’t Go Out of Your Way, Said Rabbi Ploni Almoni
A certain God-fearing Torah scholar who doesn’t shy away from controversy when there is no choice (acting truly for the sake of heaven) once related to me that he tried hard to marry his daughter into an illustrious rabbinic family (in his thinking, anyway), but the shidduch failed.
Why? Because someone whispered to the potential mechutan about the father’s controversial actions. “Not that there’s anything wrong with him, chalilah! He is (probably) doing the good and proper thing. And the family (may) have great qualities. But still, what does that have to do with you? Find a different kosher family, minus the baggage. What do you need a headache for?!”
The non-mechutan is quite famous. I’m sure you heard of him: the “Ploni Almoni” Rebbe!
From the book of Ruth (thinking along the lines of the famous explanation of the Brisker Rav):
…
And he said, “Who are you? ” And she said, “I am Ruth, your handmaid, and you shall spread your skirt over your handmaid, for you are a near kinsman.”
And he said, “May you be blessed of the Lord, my daughter; your latest act of kindness is greater than the first, not to follow the young men, whether poor or rich.
It wasn’t just Boaz who realized her nobility:
And now, my daughter, do not fear, all that you say I will do for you, for the entire gate of my people know that you are a valiant woman.
And now, indeed, I am a near kinsman, but there is a kinsman closer than I.
Stay over tonight, and it will come to pass in the morning, that if he redeems you, well, let him redeem you, but if he does not wish to redeem you, I will redeem you, as the Lord lives; lie down until morning.”
…
And Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there, and behold, the kinsman of whom Boaz had spoken was passing, and he said, “Turn aside, sit down here, Ploni Almoni,” and he turned aside and sat down.
Why is his name erased?
…
And Boaz said, “On the day that you buy the field from the hand of Naomi and from Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the deceased, you have bought [it], to preserve the name of the deceased on his heritage.”
And the near kinsman said, “I cannot redeem [it] for myself, lest I mar my heritage. You redeem my redemption for yourself for I cannot redeem [it].”
Or, as the expression goes in Yiddish: “Don’t lie down with a healthy head in a sick bed.”
… And Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David.
That David, huh? Must be chance.