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Some people have a minhag that around Purim time they write “Haman” or “Amalek” on the bottom of their shoe. The reason for this is that they want to “wipe out” the name of Haman (or Amalek). It could be that they want to spiritually harm Amalek/Haman or else, at the very least, show disrespect and contempt by walking all over the name.
I was walking around my neighborhood tonight and I noticed that, on the ground, a child had written her name, Aliza, in chalk. Before I realized it, I had walked over the name she had written.
I don’t want to get into a discussion about whether or not she had a right to do so and whether or not I had a legal (halachic) right to traverse there even if her name was there. That’s not the point.
The point is that I did walk over her name, contributing to the eventual erasure of her name. While I certainly didn’t *intend* to show disrespect to Aliza or cause her any spiritual harm, I wonder if, nonetheless, I did so anyway. Is it possible that I’ve harmed a little child? And, if so, do I owe her an apology (I can probably assume that she lives in the house by her name and can issue an apology to her parents)?
The Wolf
Just give an apology to be on the safe side.
You didn’t harm her. The practice of writing Haman’s name on our shoes shows our disdain for him and our wish that his name be erased. It’s not a magical charm or anything, so you don’t have to worry about causing her harm. If you’re worried about her feeling bad, I’d tell you not to because I’ve never yet seen a kid who minded what happened to the sidewalk chalk after she went inside.
No. You assisted in the erasure of one of her bad midos – destroying others’ property.
Then you’re up the creek. Maybe fast for 40 days, and have only a slice of bread with one cup of water at night.
Was her name written in Hebrew?
it is understood that by writing a name on the floor it will be stepped upon and erased. i don’t think it has any connection to the minhag of writing and erasing haman’s name. like itchesrulik i don’t think you have anything to worry about. you did not have any intention of erasing a name, the child happened to have written it in a bad spot. children do this all the time and this is the first time i have heard anyone worrying about it.
Accidentally stepping on a sidewalk chalk drawing is not a show of disdain. I think you should stop beating up on yourself.
Was it inadvertently showing my disdain for her?
No
Chumros, chumros! Stop with those chumros already! This is why kids go OTD!;-)
You did not write her name on your SHOES, did you? Then how could you show deliberate disdain. Next thing, people will be afraid to erase their names on paper, even if misspelled.
Wolf: I’m afraid there are far more sophistecated ways to spiritually harm a child.
The only way you are going to hurt this child is to show her how silly you are about not walking on a marking on the sidewalk. Personally I would be concerned about your affluence and your influence. To think that there is any spirituality associated with a written word on the ground that is to be silly beyond beleif. If it was Our Creators name I would hope that you were not so foolish to write that on a sidewalk and if the child did, perhaps you could give him or her a lecture on how we treat Gods name.
I’m surprised nobody took this approach yet: Having a girl’s name written in public is a huge lack of tznius. You therefore did a big mitzvah by contributing towards its erasure. May you go machayel lechayel in Torah umaasim tovim.
It’s Mashma that it only has meaning when you mean it. I’m not that well versed in Voo Doo, but you can travel to Haiti and check it out with the real guys.
Perhaps I am stating the obvious, but after reading your posts for some time, I believe that it I am safe in assuming that Wolf’s original post was written tongue (or typing fingers) in cheek as a social experiment to see how many people would take this seriously.
Thank you for a good laugh.
If you are seriously seeking advice on spiritual atonement, shouldn’t you be discussing this with your spiritual advisor?
Be careful Wolf, step on a crack break your mother’s back!
iamgine if we could cause harm by writing someones name and then stepping on it.
think of how easily we could have been rid of the terrorists and other evils.
somehow, i dont think it works that way.
During WWII, children played the game differently. It went “step on a crack and you break Hitler’s back”. So the object was to step on cracks with every step. Sadly, after the war many of the children got confused when the rules of the game went back to the original, sending a lot of mothers into traction.
Wolf-on the off chance that you are not talking tongue in cheek, why not dispel your doubts and trace over the faded letters-you can make it darker then before thereby possibly helping the kid. Just make sure that Aliza’s parents don’t see, they may get a tad suspicious. 🙂
Although I am still not convinced that this whole thread was ever anything more than satire, I will nevertheless lament the fact that for a significant portion of our society, torah has become confused with witchcraft. We have a torah which tells us what we may and may not believe. To believe that walking on someone’s name would cause them harm would seemingly be a violation of the issur of lo senachashu – do not be superstitious.
Tamim t’hye im Hashem elokecha
wolf, no apology needed. not at all like purim and amalek.
you have got to be kidding.
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