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From: R. Halevi
Subject: The Bx code
Date: 8 Sivan 5781
R. Nachmani identifies a genuine paradox, and I want to understand its depth.
The Bx code exists to protect privacy. The specification says so explicitly. But the act of invoking it is itself informative. Someone with nothing to hide would presumably use a different code. The protection announces the need for protection.
In halakha, there is a principle that bears on this. The Torah prohibits ona'at devarim, verbal oppression. The Gemara in Bava Metzia 58b-59b discusses what this means for converts specifically. You may not say to a convert, "Remember your former deeds." You may not remind them that they once ate forbidden foods, that their ancestors were not Jews, that they came from outside.
This is not merely etiquette. It is law. The convert has entered the covenant. To remind them of their origins is to suggest the entry was incomplete, that they remain somehow outside.
But if the only people who use Bx are converts, then Bx itself becomes a reminder. The code says: "I was once outside. I do not wish to discuss it." The protection has become the stigma.
We have created a code that defeats its own purpose.
—Dov Halevi
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