In general, concerning "fences", I have heard many people express their
frustrations that the fences sometimes seem so farfetched and unnecessary
that they seem to take away something from the essense of Torah. First of
all, the Torah itself alludes to the building of fences in a few places i.
e. by the nazirite, who may not drink wine- yet the Torah also prohibits
him from eating grapes, grapeskins, .. to prevent him from drinking
wine.(See Mesilas Yesharim, "Path of the Just" ch.11) The Talmud also
derives from a verse in the Torah, that fences should be made to protect
the Torah.(ibid. ch.13) Obviously, not everybody is authorized to make
these fences.Were that to be the case, many people may indeed have gone
overboard.However, the Chazal, the Sages from the Talmudic era and before,
had been granted that authority.This was either in their capacity as
Sanhedrin, the high court, or as the unanimously accepted leaders and
teachers of the nation. We don't find new fences decreed from after that
period. The Talmudic Rabbis had an amazingly keen appreciation of human
nature and its weaknesses. They also had a true understanding of the
negativity and poisonous effect of sin.They knew where people were capable
of "slipping up" and therefore instituted these fences to prevent people
from doing so. Ultimately, it was the fences that have preserved Torah
observance throughout the exile, in the face of all the confusing signals
being sent to us from the outside world. I'm always reminded of the Tylenol
scare from around 14 years ago, where one sick person poisoned a couple of
bottles of Tylenol.It resulted in a few people dying. That incident
literally changed our lives. Since then, almost every medication and jar of
peanut butter, etc. comes with a protective seal, that if tampered with is
not sold.Although the cost is passed on to the consumer, rarely do you hear
people complain. Mathematically, the chances of taking a tainted aspirin
are non-existent, yet realizing the seriousness of the consequences, we can
appreciate the "fence". Were we to appreciate the consequence of sin, we
would have a better appreciation of the fences too.
Ephraim Nisenbaum