Rabbi Weissman – Craziness According to the Torah Part 2

Now that the science is settled, let's see what the Torah has to say.

The standard term in halacha for a crazy person is shoteh. The same word is often used pejoratively to refer to a fool or someone whose behavior is worthy of contempt. Whereas such people are legally responsible for their actions, a true shoteh lacks mental competence. Like a child, he is exempt from keeping the mitzvos.

Naturally this has tremendous ramifications. For example, a shoteh cannot effect a legal marriage or divorce, nor do we accept testimony from him. It is critical to differentiate between a true shoteh and someone who is merely eccentric.

The best example in Tanach of a crazy person is someone who was actually pretending to be crazy. David was on the run from Shaul, and fled to the land of the Plishtim. The servants of Achich, king of Gat, recognized the man who had killed so many of their people in battle, seized him, and brought him before the king. Desperate, David behaved like a lunatic in their presence, scraped on the gates, and drooled on himself.

Achish rebuked his servants: “Do I lack crazy people that you brought this one to be crazy by me?” (Shmuel I 21:16)

This indicates that a crazy person is someone who behaves in ways that defy all rhyme and reason, who has no understanding of appropriate behavior.

Indeed, Chazal explain that a shoteh is someone who engages in entirely senseless behavior, such as going out alone at night (it was different back then, though places like New York City and Chicago are turning back the clock), tearing his clothing, and sleeping in cemeteries. The Gemara acknowledges that such behavior does not necessarily render one a shoteh, for competent people might engage in such behaviors for specific reasons (see Chagiga 3B and related sources). The clearest indicator that someone is a shoteh is that he destroys valuable things that are given to him (Chagiga 4A), like a child who doesn't distinguish between a rock and a bar of gold.

The Rambam in Hilchos Eidus 9:9 (also see the Tur Choshen Mishpat 35:9) elaborates as follows:

A shoteh is ineligible to testify according to the Torah because he is not liable to keep the mitzvos. A shoteh is not only one who walks around naked, breaks utensils, and throws stones, but anyone whose mind has been torn apart, and his mind is always distorted in a certain matter, even though he speaks and asks questions appropriately in other matters, he is ineligible and is considered to be in the category of shotim.

The Rambam acknowledges that even a shoteh may behave appropriately at times, but if he has taken leave of his senses, he remains a shoteh. The Rambam then contrasts this with one who suffers from epilepsy. When such a person experiences a seizure, he is ineligible, but when he is healthy, he is eligible. The Rambam notes that some people with epilepsy are not mentally competent even when they are physically healthy, and concludes that we must deliberate very carefully when it comes to accepting testimony from such people.

The Rambam continues in halacha 10 as follows:

Those who are extremely foolish, who don't recognize when things contradict one another, and do not have basic understanding of things like ordinary people, as well as those who are terrified and impulsive in their minds, and who are extremely deranged – these are in the category of shotim. And this matter goes according to what the judge sees, for it is impossible to precisely define this in writing.

Although there are strong indicators that someone is a shoteh, it's not always black and white, and every case must be examined on an individual basis. Sometimes we know it when we see it, but sometimes it's complicated.

One thing that is very clear is that we cannot define someone as a shoteh for drawing conclusions that go against a supposed consensus. Today it is fashionable to label someone crazy for their beliefs about Covid, vaccines, and official narratives on a wide range of subjects. Some of these people might fall into the category of shotim depending on how they process information and jump to conclusions, but there is no doubt this would apply to a very small percentage of people, regardless of the veracity of their beliefs. After all, reasonable people can draw different conclusions even if some of them are terribly wrong at times. Being terribly wrong is not synonymous with being incompetent and crazy.

This is a vital point. Nowadays people can easily be diagnosed as “crazy” and stripped of their liberty like the lowest of criminals. Governments around the world weaponize “mental illness” against those whose beliefs may threaten their hegemony, but can't easily be prosecuted for a crime. Labeling people as crazy is a most convenient way to stifle discourse and eliminate the most troublesome dissenters – all for their own safety, of course.

At the same time, liberally referring to people as mentally disabled absolves them of responsibility for their actions when a free pass is unwarranted. If we are to think of everyone who believes that masks and vaccines saved humanity as crazy, then we are denying their possession of free choice, and essentially giving up on them as people. These people are extremely wrong, and their ability to make responsible decisions has been seriously impaired, but they are not necessarily shotim in a legal sense. It's critical to make this distinction.

Rav Moshe Feinstein makes this distinction in Igros Moshe Yoreh De'ah 1:235. This responsa concerns the case of a Jewish woman who had fallen prey to the Christian cult of scientology. She believed that it was forbidden to avail herself of medical treatment, but only to pray to “that man”. She had since passed away, and the question was if she could be buried in a Jewish cemetery despite becoming an apostate, for one of two reasons. The first reason was as follows: “Perhaps she should be considered a shoteh because this belief is crazy, since it prohibits medical treatment even though we see that their prayers to what they believe in do not help at all.”

Rav Moshe rejected this argument out of hand. He explained that all idolaters who worship wood and stone are behaving foolishly, yet they are still punished for their sins and executed. This proves that when a person does something because of a sincere belief – even if it is illogical – he cannot be considered to have lost his mind. Even highly intelligent people can be misled to believe in nonsense, or can misinterpret dreams and other such experiences, and become totally devoted to their faith, to the point of giving up their lives.

Again, these people are terribly wrong, and might behave in extremely irresponsible ways as a result, but they are not crazy. They are still responsible for their actions...and they can still potentially be persuaded away from their erroneous beliefs.

The Amalekites in power wish to leverage this designation to marginalize and eliminate those who dare oppose them, and sow discord among the citizens. The Torah, however, dissuades us from labeling and libeling the people around us as crazy, even if they hold “unacceptable views”. Our relatives and neighbors might be very wrong about things that we consider to be obvious, but that does not make them mentally ill.

It makes them human.

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Here's an important new expose from the Dangerous Docs Team on religious-looking moles and mosrim in the Orthodox World: The Unidirectional Commission.

Here's another important article with vital information: The Elephant in the Room: Part 1

The author made reference to a statement from a Torah scholar that is kefirah, but did not identify the person behind the statement.  As I noted in a previous email, this individual is none other than the disgraceful Asher Weiss, and the organizations promoting this kefirah are Hatzoloh and Chai Lifeline.  

Saving lives indeed.

They are no longer worthy of our trust and support, and we cannot be afraid to openly oppose those who collaborate with our worst enemies.  

If they molested a single child or made an aguna out of one woman no one would have a problem with naming them.  If you knew a child molester was still actively teaching and molesting children, would you wait even one day before taking action?  Especially if the evidence was already overwhelming?

What these people have done is incalculably worse, and they are continuing in their wicked ways.  There is no acceptable reason to cover them; on the contrary, these wicked traitors need to be exposed and driven from our midst.