Lifnei Iver - Accountability

QUESTION: Sefer Hachinuch (Mitzvah 232) writes that one who offers his friend bad advice or enables him to sin, has transgressed the prohibition of “lifnei iver” and it is as if he has disobeyed the will of the King. All sins are an act of disobedience. Why is it, that specifically in regard to the sin of lifnei iver did the Sefer Hachinuch feel the need to point this out?

ANSWER: Rabbi Genack in his sefer Gan Shoshanim (siman 19) explains that the Chinuch is teaching us that one who enables others to sin, will be held accountable as though he did that sin himself. If one offers non-kosher food to others, not only did he violate “lifnei iver” but it is as though he himself ate non-kosher. This is what the Chinuch is teaching. He will be held accountable as though he personally has disobeyed the will of the King. 

However, the Ran (Sanhedrin 18a) seemingly disagrees with this approach. He explains based on the Gemara Sanhedrin (74b) that if one is asked by an idolater to provide an offering, and if he refuses, he is afraid he might be killed, he may provide the idolater with the “donation” he requested. The rule is that one must give up his life rather than transgress idolatry, and this applies even to secondary prohibitions of idol worship. If so, shouldn’t one be obligated to give up one’s life rather than “donate” an offering? He answers that acquiescing to the idolater’s request is a violation of “lifnei iver”, but not of idolatry itself. “Lifnei iver” of idolatry is not a secondary, lower level of idolatry which would require giving up one’s life, but rather it is a separate unrelated prohibition. 

The Bal Ha’Mor (Sanhedrin 18a) gives a different answer to the Ran’s question. He answers that since the idolater was requesting the donation for his own benefit, and not because he wanted to cause the Jew to sin, under these circumstances, one is not required to give up their life. Rav Soloveitchik zt”l pointed out that the Bal Ha’mor seemingly viewed “lifnei iver of idolatry” to be a subset of idolatry which in theory (if not for the fact that his intent was to for his own benefit) would require giving up one’s life. This approach is similar to that of the Sefer HaChinuch and not like the Ran. 

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