`151 Who's the Crazy One?
Chananya Weissman
November 2, 2021

In an insane asylum, where insanity is the norm, a normal person needs to constantly remind himself that he isn't the crazy one. The world is a massive insane asylum right now, run by the most evil of people. Until Hashem redeems us from this impossible situation, we need to cling to our sanity and goodness.

How do I know that we aren't the crazy ones? Because the Torah says so. Right and wrong is not determined by a show of hands or by authoritarian decree, but from God's objective teachings.

Here are some common-sense lessons from the Torah to remind us of our sanity in a world gone mad.

איוב ב:ד

ויען השטן את ה' ויאמר עור בעד עור וכל אשר לאיש יתן בעד נפשו

The satan [prosecuting angel] replied to Hashem and said, “Skin for the sake of skin, and all a man has he will give for the sake of his life.” (Iyov 2:4)

Ironically enough, this common sense comes from the satan himself. If a person is attacked with a sword, he will instinctively put his hands in harm's way to protect his head. All the more so will a person sacrifice all his money for the sake of his life.

The majority of people recognize by now that the crapcines pose a serious threat to their health and their very lives. If given a truly free choice, without blackmail of any kind, very few people would continue to take these injections. However, many such people are buckling under the threat of losing their job or other coercive measures.

As difficult a test as this can be, one must remember the fundamental Torah teaching that your life is worth more than any job or material consideration. No one should be forced to make such a choice, and those doing the forcing should be punished soon with all of God's fury. However, if we must face such a test, the correct choice is not debatable.

Even the satan expects people to get this one right!

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בבא קמא פה.א

אמר אבוה דשמואל אומדין כמה אדם רוצה ליטול לקטוע לו ידו לקטוע לו ידו לא צער לחודיה הוא הא כולהו חמשה דברים איכא ועוד בשופטני עסקינן

The father of Shmuel said, “We estimate how much a person would be willing to take to have his hand cut off.” To have his hand cut off?! He is not liable for pain alone, but for all five things! Furthermore, are we dealing with fools? (Bava Kama 85A)

The Gemara is discussing the five types of damages one must pay for injuring someone. One of these is the physical pain he caused his victim. How is this determined?

The initial suggestion is to evaluate how much money the average person would take to have his hand cut off (or whatever the specific injury was inflicted). This is rejected both because this involves all five categories of damage, and because no person in his right mind would take any amount of money to lose his hand. There might be people who would sacrifice life and limb for something so profane, but they are fools, and the general laws of society are not predicated on the distorted values of fools.

Those who are far from the Torah, who see everything in material terms, will calculate how much their body is “worth”. How many people wouldn't take a few million dollars for their pinky finger? How many people dream of achieving fame and fortune from violent sports, which they know is likely to cripple their bodies and take years off their lives? How many people submit their bodies to experiments in exchange for a small payment?

How many people are doing it today for a job, or a tyranny pass, or nothing at all?

Once again, the Torah teaches that sacrificing one's body for any amount of money is utter foolishness. (For more sources on this topic, see But what if I lose my job?)

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In much of the English-speaking world, illegal aliens are being given preferential treatment over citizens. We should not need a Talmudic source to teach us that this is absurd, but we live in unusual times.

בבא קמא מב.א

אמר רבא יציבא בארעא וגיורא בשמי שמיא

Rava said, The citizen is on the ground, and the foreigner is in the highest heavens! (Bava Kama 42A)

The Gemara had previously raised the possibility that the owner of an ox that had not previously caused damage would be more liable in some cases of damage than one who had been warned that his ox was harmful. Rava retorted that this was preposterous – as preposterous as elevating foreigners over citizens.

There is more wisdom and decency in an offhand remark in the Gemara than all the world's governments put together.

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ירמיה יא:כא

לכן כה אמר ה' על אנשי ענתות המבקשים את נפשך לאמר לא תנבא בשם ה' ולא תמות בידנו

Therefore, so says Hashem about the men of Anasos who are seeking your life, who say to you, Do not prophesy in the name of Hashem, lest you die by our hands. (Yirmiya 11:21)

רד"ק

ואיך אמר ירמיהו וה' הודיעני והרי היו אומרים לו על פניו כי ימיתוהו אם יתנבא אלא שירמיהו לא היה חושש למה שהיו אומרים בפניו כי חשב כי זה דרך הפחד והגזום כי לא יתכן שימיתוהו בגלוי ולא היה מפחד מזה אך שימיתוהו בסתר על ידי סם זה היה יכול להיות כי היה דבר שלא היה נודע כי יש סם שמאכיל אותו שלא ימות מיד אלא עד שמנה או עשרה ימים ואם ימות על הדרך הזה לא היו אומרים כי על ידי סם המות מת

How could Yirmiyahu say “And Hashem informed me” [that they planned to kill him, verse 18] when they were saying it to his face that they would kill him if he prophesied? Rather, Yirmiyahu was not worried about what they said to his face, because he thought this was the usual way of intimidating and exaggerating, for it couldn't be that they would kill him openly, and he was not afraid of this. However, that they would kill him in secret through a poison, that could be, for that is something that wouldn't be known, for there are poisons that one who eats them will not die immediately, but only after eight or ten days. If he died that way, they wouldn't say that he died from a deadly poison. (Radak)

Once again, this lesson should be obvious. Those who wish to murder people without being detected will often resort to a slow-acting poison.

Our governments devote limitless resources to developing new ways to kill people. Imagine if all those resources were devoted to improving life in this world. Instead, they are devoted to destroying life and controlling whoever they don't destroy.

If the rich and powerful wanted to “reduce the population” by millions and billions of people, without destroying the land, and without being too obvious about it, what better way than toxins that would take months or years to complete the job?

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We are surrounded by people who are deathly afraid of Covid. They will do anything to potentially reduce their chance of catching it. They cover their faces with ugly, harmful, ineffective, disgusting, idolatrous masks – even when there is no one around them. They live in terror of other people's company, even if those people are perfectly healthy, and cannot possibly spread an illness that they do not have. (After all, “asymptomatic” is just a dystopian way of saying “not sick”.)

These people will gladly get injected with crap – they don't know what it is, and they don't want to know. The more they can get, the better. Every few months, every few weeks, every day if possible! Offer them an IV drip of the latest crapcines, and they will take it.

Then, in spite of everything, their greatest fear is realized: they get “Covid”. Some powerful new “strain” has “broken through” their fortress of artificial defenses, for which they forfeited so much.

One would expect these people to be filled with terror. If they were so terrified of Covid before they were diagnosed with it – if they were willing to go to any lengths to protect themselves from it – their fear levels should be exponentially higher now that the dreaded Covid is inside them.

Yet, oddly enough, they have just the opposite reaction. It's no big deal. Don't worry. I'll just stay home and rest. Vitamin D? Zinc? Ivermectin? Nah, I don't need any of that. If I have trouble breathing I'll go to the hospital, but otherwise I don't need to take anything.

Before Covid enters their body, they will do anything to keep it out, and anything to reduce their chance of a serious case. But once they have Covid, they will refuse vitamins and simple treatments that might get it out of their system sooner and reduce their chance of a serious case.

Only the most gullible skeptics, true oxy-morons, could behave like this.

According to the Torah, you're not the crazy one.