more bedtime torah

Elazar does not like to do bedtime snuggle when I'm wearing my zipper sweatshirt.  I don't like to take it off.  Some nights I accommodate him.  Tonight I didn't feel like it.  After trying futilely to take it off me, he put his hands around my neck.  "Do you want me to kill you with my hands?  Because I will kill you with my hands if you don't take it off."

"Fine, you can kill me with your hands," I said.  "Hey, do you know how many aveiras it would be if you killed me?"

He tries to throttle me.  "Really?  You really want to be killed?"

I block him when the pressure starts getting uncomfortable.  "You can try to kill me," I say.  "I'm stronger than you.  I am not taking off my sweatshirt and you won't be able to kill me."  He's still trying.  "So, can you think of how many aveiras it would be?"

"What's an aveira?"

"An aveira is when you don't do a mitzva.  When you do a 'Lo Ta'aseh.'"  We've spoken about the 2 categories of mitzvos, the "do"s and the "don't"s.  I just hadn't told him that doing a "don't" is called an "aveira."

"I can think of maybe four different aveiras," I say.  He's not listening to me.  He's still annoyed about the sweatshirt and still trying to choke me.

Finally we listed: "Don't murder," "Don't hit (attack) a person," "Don't hit (make a bruise) on your mother or father," and "Respect your father and mother."

I pointed out that one action could be a bunch of different aveiros.  Then I asked him if he could think of one bite that would be 2 aveiros.

He couldn't.  I said what if the 2 aveiros are milk&meat, and bacon.  He still couldn't figure it out.  I said taking one bite out of a bacon cheeseburger.  He liked that.  Then I asked if he made "hamotzi" on his burger.  He didn't, so that's three!

I was going to start discussing the different besdin (court) punishments, but I realized I'm not knowledgeable enough.  I have to do some learning.