The Talmud tells us that the Temple was destroyed because people were exacting towards each other and treated their fellow Jew according to the strict letter of the law¹. This is difficult to understand. Isn’t the concept of going beyond the letter of the law a stringency? Why would failing to follow it deserve such a strict punishment? Why were the Jewish people treated so harshly for being exacting on each other?

In order to answer this question, it is first necessary to identify the Torah source for going beyond the letter of the law. In the Torah portion of Va'etchanan, the Torah states: “And you will do that which is right and good in the eyes of God so that He will do good to you and you will come and inherit the land which Hashem promised to give to your forefathers².” This teaches us of the necessity to avoid being exacting in matters of law and to be forgiving what is rightfully ours in certain situations.

For example, a person finds a lost object that he is allowed to keep according to Jewish law, but he knows the identity of the original owner. The Sages tell us that even though it is technically permitted to keep the object, he should nonetheless give it back³.

Another example: when a piece of property is for sale, the prospective buyers should give precedence to the person who lives next to that property because he stands to gain the most by buying this particular property⁴. There are numerous instances when one should go beyond the letter of the law - the Ramban writes that the Torah did not want to explicitly state them all, rather we should learn from this verse that we must constantly strive to treat people in an understanding fashion and avoid always treating them according to the strict letter of the law⁵.

It seems that failure to treat people ‘beyond the letter of the law’ reflects a deep flaw in a person’s attitude to serving God. Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits, Rosh Yeshiva of Aish HaTorah teaches, based on the Ramban on this verse that the exhortation to do that which is right and good is the inter-personal equivalent of another command to ‘be holy’ in the Torah portion of Kedoshim. The Ramban there explains that a person can keep all of the commandments and yet be a “menuval b’reshus HaTorah” – depraved with the permission of the Torah. He is careful not to transgress any mitzvot but at the same time he has no interest in elevating himself in ‘non-holy’ areas such as eating and sleeping.

He believes in the authority of the Torah but does not subscribe to the overall Torah outlook; he has no interest in elevating himself spiritually and wants to instead fulfill his physical desires and attain wealth. Because of his recognition of the truth of Torah, he will never deliberately commit sins, nevertheless he will show no interest in elevating himself in areas that he is not technically obligated to do so.

Similarly, in the realm of inter-personal relationships, a person may recognize the necessity of following the laws of the Torah, however he has no desire to integrate into himself the outlooks underlying them. Thus, he will always adhere to the strict letter of the law but whenever he has the opportunity to make a financial gain in a technically permissible fashion he will not hesitate to do so.

The Torah says that this person that he is making a serious error by instructing him to “do what is right and good”, to act ‘beyond the letter of the law’, to treat people in a merciful fashion, and not be strict in every case. The Torah is instructing us that we should develop a genuine sense of loving one’s fellow Jew and thereby treat our fellow Jew in the same way that we would want them to treat us - to be forgiving and compassionate. Thus, for example, when someone has lost a valuable object, a Jew should not hesitate to return it even if he is not obligated to do so. Or, when a person is owed a large amount of money by a pauper, he should act with a degree of flexibility and compassion.

This helps understand why there was such a strict punishment when the Jews treated each other in a strict fashion - they missed the lesson of ‘doing what is right and good’, that it is wrong to treat one’s fellow Jew in a harsh and unforgiving manner this does not adhere to the spirit of inter-personal relationships that the Torah espouses.

The commentaries find another difficulty with the Talmud saying that the Temple was destroyed because the people were strict with each other. Other Rabbinic sources give different reasons for the destructions, such as murder, idol worship, immorality and baseless hatred⁶. Rabbi Yitzchak of Volozhin answered this question when he was witness to the following incident. Someone had slandered his fellow and now came on Erev Yom Kippur to ask for forgiveness. The victim refused to forgive him, pointing to the law that one does not have to forgive slander. Rav Yitzchak asked him about the aforementioned contradiction in Rabbinic sources. He explained that the Temples were destroyed because of the terrible sins enumerated in the other sources. However, he pointed out that the Sages tell us that when people treat each other beyond the letter of the law and are not exacting on every point, God acts measure for measure and is forgiving for even the most serious sins. However, when God saw that the people were treating each other in a strict fashion, He acted accordingly and chose not to be forgiving for their other sins.

So too, Rav Yitzchak said to the unforgiving person, if you treat your fellow in such an exacting way then you should expect that God will treat you in the same way. The man heard the lesson and forgave the slanderer⁷.

May we all merit to treat each other how we would like to be treated ourselves and that Hashem should react in a similar fashion.

1. Bava Metsia, 30b.
2. Va’etchanan, 6:18.
3. Bava Metsia, 30b.
4. Bava Metsia, 108a. This is known as, ‘Din d’bar metsra.’
5. Ramban, Va’etchanan, ibid.
6. It is not clear which Temple the Talmud in Bava Metsia is referring to.
7. Many other commentaries explain this Gemara in a similar vein to Rav Yitzchak, including the Maharal, Ben Yehoyada, and Chofetz Chaim.