מצרנות ב

Vi-attu Adoanuy chunainiy vahakeemainiy vaashallimu luhem. Choshen Mishpat — Laws of Fraud (Onaah)

But You, O LORD, have mercy on me; let me rise again and repay them.

Based on what Rabbainu, may his light shine, wrote in [Likutay Moharan I] Torah 280, on the verse “When you go out” [Deuteronomy 21:10] — regarding the aspect of masa umattan be’emunah [conducting business with faithfulness]. For the purpose of masa umattan [commerce] is to refine the nitzozos [holy sparks], and this is accomplished through emunah [faith] — by conducting the business transaction with faithfulness; see there. And one must attach the inner dimension of one’s thought, during the time of masa umattan, to the Torah. And through this, emunah receives the power to refine the nitzozos; see there.

12 בְּזֹאת יָדַעְתִּי כִּי-חָפַצְתָּ בִּי כִּי לֹא-יָרִיעַ אֹיְבִי עָלָי And this is the aspect of Chochmah, Binah, Da’as [Wisdom, Understanding, Knowledge] of Asiyah [the World of Action] ascending to Yetzirah [the World of Formation], which is ו [vav], which is the Torah. (See there, all of this, well.)

Bizoas yudattiy key chuffatztu bee key low yuree-a oyivee ulluy. And behold, Yetzirah is the aspect of Matatron, which is ו [vav, numerical value = 6], which is the aspect of the six orders of the Mishnah that clarify the law: kosher and invalid, impure and pure, forbidden and permitted. And therefore, from there emunah receives the power to refine the nitzozos. For the refinement of the nitzozos is the aspect of separating the good from the bad, as is known. And this is accomplished specifically through the Torah — that is, through clarifying the law of what is kosher and invalid etc. — through this one is able to separate the good from the bad, which is the refinement of the nitzozos, as is brought regarding this in the words of Rabbainu, may his light shine, Torah 8 [Likutay Moharan I:8]. And behold, when one defrauds and deceives one’s fellow, one blemishes emunah, and the masa umattan is not conducted with faithfulness, for one has cheated and deceived one’s fellow. And therefore the measure [of fraud] is a sixth — the aspect of ו [vav = 6], which is the aspect of the Torah from which emunah receives [its power], as mentioned above. And therefore: exactly a sixth — one returns the overcharge (onaah); less than a sixth — it is not considered at all; more than a sixth — the transaction is void (bitul mekach). For the blemish of onaah is that one mixes good with bad — that is, emunah is blemished and does not refine the nitzozos, as mentioned above. And this is the aspect of blemishing the ו, which is the Torah, the aspect of Matatron as mentioned above, which is the aspect of kosher and invalid etc., as mentioned above. And therefore, as long as it is [exactly] a sixth — it is returnable. For the aspect of Matatron, the aspect of the Torah mentioned above, is divided into six — the aspect of kosher and invalid etc., as mentioned above. It turns out that when the blemish reaches only the aspect of a sixth portion and has not yet reached the aspect of more than a sixth — that is, [it has not reached the point of] reversing from kosher to invalid — therefore it is returnable. But when the blemish is in the aspect of more than a sixth, then it is the aspect of mixing good with bad — for it reverses from kosher to invalid etc. For in the aspect of Matatron, the aspect of the Torah mentioned above, there are only six aspects — which are six portions alone: kosher and invalid, impure and pure, forbidden and permitted; and there cannot be more portions than these, for as soon as something departs from kosher, it is immediately invalid etc. It turns out that as long as the blemish reaches only one portion of six — which is a sixth — and has not yet touched further, which is the aspect of having blemished one of the six aspects — for example, the aspect of kosher — and it has not yet touched further into the boundary of invalid: it turns out that kosher has not yet been mixed with invalid, only that it is close to there. And therefore it is returnable. But as soon as the blemish reaches further — that is, more than a sixth — it turns out that kosher has been mixed with invalid. For as soon as it touches more than a sixth, it touches invalid, and it is the aspect of mixing kosher with invalid. And therefore the transaction is completely void [bitul mekach], for the transaction was only for the purpose of refining [the sparks]; and since, on the contrary, through that transaction they became even more mixed — therefore it is completely void. But when it is less than a sixth, it is not considered at all. For less than one portion of six is not considered anything there, for there are only ו [six] aspects, as mentioned above. Onaah 1 gives the foundational framework for the laws of price-fraud, based on Likutay Moharan I:280. The core idea: commerce (masa umattan) exists to refine holy sparks (nitzozos) — to separate good from bad. This refinement is powered by emunah (faith), which draws its strength from the Torah. The Torah, represented by ו (vav = 6), corresponds to the World of Formation (Yetzirah) and the angel Matatron, who embodies the six orders of the Mishnah — the system that clarifies: kosher/invalid, pure/impure, permitted/forbidden. When fraud occurs, emunah is blemished and the sparks cannot be refined — good gets mixed with bad instead of being separated. Since the Torah-system has exactly six categories (three pairs), the measure of fraud is calibrated to a sixth: Exactly 1/6: The blemish has reached the boundary of one category (e.g. kosher) but hasn’t crossed into its opposite (invalid) — so return/repair is still possible. More than 1/6: The blemish has crossed the boundary — kosher is now mixed with invalid. The transaction is void, because instead of refining, it made things worse. Less than 1/6: The blemish hasn’t even reached one full portion of six — it doesn’t register in the system at all. Na Nach Nachma Nachman MayUman