The Dangers of Facilitated Communication (article preview)

My column this week was going to be about Rav Chisda and Rabbinic “absolute theft”, but I decided to shift topic based on Rabbi Efram Goldberg’s recent Op-Ed (“The Shul With the Worst Decorum in the World”, July 13, 2023). His article was beautiful and well-written, and praised the chesed of the malachim who work at HASC and the wonderful, if alternative, tefillah of HASC campers. However, he then veered off to discussing facilitated communication – though he did not use the term – and I feel that the topic is worth discussing.

To connect this to daf yomi, the Mishnah on Gittin 59b discusses practices which don’t operate on a Biblical level but were instituted because of darchei shalom, “ways of peace”. If a cheresh, shoteh or katan pick up a lost item, by Biblical law anyone could just grab it from them, but this was forbidden because of darchei shalom. This is because these three lack the requisite daat, a level of sophisticated intellect, to effect a legal acquisition. Rabbi Yossi, a Tanna, disagrees and says that it is absolute theft, which Rav Chisda clarifies (on Gittin 61a) that this is absolute theft on a rabbinic level, with the practical difference from darchei shalom that this theft could even be litigated in court. Even for people without this level of daat, we can show compassion and look out for their interests.

It certainly is possible that this level of daat is present even if not overt. Chagiga 3a relates a case of two mute brothers,