Joel Webbon on X
The clip of Dennis Prager alleging that animated child exploitation videos aren’t immoral has gone viral again, as part of a broader conversation on “Judeo-Christian ethics.”
Some have claimed that he’s a closeted pervert. That may be true, but he’s not unique.
He’s Jewish.
This is a teachable moment for Judeo-Christians to finally figure out that we do not, in fact, share a religion heritage, common worldview, or values.
Prager is just drawing from this Rabbinical ethical system and to Christians, it looks atrocious and evil. Which makes sense, because it is.
When Prager asked, “Who’s the victim?” about animated child exploitation films, he’s asking a Rabbinic question.
The Talmud is very clear that unless there is a person who can be paid restitution, it’s not a sin.
In Rabbinic Judaism, sin is transactional.
It’s not a sin because it’s unlike God, or because it offends God. It’s a sin only because there’s someone due a cash payment for quantifiable harm.
This is why Ketubot 11b doesn’t prescribe punishment for someone who molests a girl younger than 3, because “her hymen will grow back.”
No harm, no foul.
In Christian Ethics, something is sinful because it’s unlike God and offends his nature. But not in Rabbinic Judaism. Because Halakha requires a chavero – a specific person who was harmed and who can be repaid and can grant forgiveness before it can classify an act as a sin – it’s not technically immoral.
Rabbinic teaching withholds the label “sin” from bad thoughts, no matter how bad those thoughts are.
Tosefta Peah 1:4 states the rule as a direct maxim, “A good thought Hashem combines to action; a bad thought Hashem does not combine to action.”
This is exactly the opposite of Christian ethics, in which Jesus teaches that sin in the heart is just as much sin as sin in our actions (Matthew 5:27-28).
But Rabbis don’t study the Bible to learn more about God to become more like Him. They study the Scriptures to find loopholes in God’s Law, to learn how much they can get away with and the best way to evade consequences for their behavior.