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Why does the Torah (תורה) call both fighters resha'im when one appears to be the aggressor and the other the victim? Rashi (רש"י) explains that even raising a hand makes one a rasha, but the shiur argues both agreed to resolve their conflict through fighting—which itself is rishus for Jews. This yesod also resolves why Rabbi Akiva's students died: "shelo nahagu kavod zeh lazeh" means they mutually agreed to a culture of insults and put-downs, which is forbidden even when consensual.
The shiur analyzes a fundamental question from Parshas Shemos: when Moshe Rabbeinu sees two Jews fighting, the Torah (תורה) describes one as "the rasha" even though he hadn't yet struck his fellow. Rashi (רש"י) explains that merely raising one's hand constitutes rishus—comparable to assault in secular law, which is distinct from battery. But this creates a deeper puzzle: if one person is the aggressor and the other is defending himself, why would the defender also be called a rasha? Judaism permits self-defense, even preemptively if someone comes to harm you or take your property. Rabbi Zweig proposes a novel reading: the Torah is not describing an aggressor-victim scenario at all. Rather, both parties—Doson and Aviram—had agreed beforehand to resolve their conflict through physical fighting. This is the Torah's message: when two Jews decide that "conflict resolution" means fighting it out, both are resha'im. The gentile world may settle disputes this way—"meet after school in the backyard"—but for Jews, agreeing to fight as a method of resolving disagreements is inherently rishus. The issue is not self-defense but the mutual decision to use violence as a conflict-resolution mechanism.
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Shemos 2:13-14
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