Rabbi Aharon Kotler and the Toll collectors

Rabbi Aharon Kotler lived from 1891 to 1962. He was legendary for his erudition, brilliance, and passion with respect to Torah study and dedication to and as a leader of the Jewish people. Escaping the Holocaust in Europe, he came to America and founded the Lakewood yeshiva that is a beacon of Torah to the entire world. Rabbi Kotler is considered by the Torah scholar cognoscenti class, as being one of if not the leading Rabbi of his generation.

The story is told that whenever Reb Aharon as he was affectionately known, was being driven through a toll booth on the highway, he would instruct the driver to specifically take the lane that had the human toll collector rather than the exact change mechanized collection baskets. He stated something to the effect that it is not Kavod Habriyos to bypass a person in favor of a machine. Kavod Habriyos is loosely translated as the dignity of Man or the dignity of Human Being's. The Talmud makes the comment that the doctrine of Kavod Habriyos is so important that it abrogates a negative commandment in the Torah.

Who could have foreseen back in the 1950s how important a lesson Rabbi Kotler was conveying to us in 2022? At the time it probably seemed like a typical mussar movement style lesson in sensitivity to another persons feelings. That in itself is a great lesson to our day and age. However now that we are faced head on with the poisonous notions of the great reset, the singularity,trans-humanism, the creation of a "useless class" of nonworking people, and the obliteration of the concept of the sanctity of life, we can now begin to appreciate how prescient the great Reb Aharon Kotler was. 

Indeed the dignity of man is an overarching principle that must govern society, and is arguably part of the category of "Derech Eretz Kadmah Latorah" - Loosely translated as the proper character traits and behaviors are a prerequisite to Torah. In other words if one is not a "Mentch" first and foremost, than religious observance and ritual will be meaningless.

Likewise we must give honor to our fellow Humans by virtue of the fact that they are "Briyos"  - creations of God. The notion that one could replace  human beings with machines and AI is a breakdown in Kavod Habriyos and ultimately a slap in the face to belief in GOD and his creation.

The entire war on humanity by all the governments of the world and their transnational corporate partners can be viewed as the end result of disregarding Kavod Habriyos. The New World Order  has the viewpoint that  man is not a divine creation with a soul but simply a "hack-able animal" with no free will. Therefore Humans are replaceable,expendable, and deserving of no special treatment or respect. The thirty days from Purim to Passover is the time when God gives us the opportunity to pull ourselves out from the impurity of Amalek and become free. May it by the will of almighty GOD to rescue humanity speedily in our days.