RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: YETZER HA RA: CHARACTER DEFECTS

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: YETZER HA RA: CHARACTER DEFECTS 

 

The below is a posting from a member of the Jewish Spiritual Renewal Class of Hebrew College, Newton Centre, MA, USA via Shamash.Org. Following it, is a comment by Rabbi Arthur Segal. The member's last name has been eliminated and his email address has been redacted as per his request. 

 

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL: JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: YETZER HA RA: CHARACTER DEFECTS

 

 

 

POST FROM MARTY: ________SBC@AOL.COM. with a comment after by Rabbi Arthur Segal:

 

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Shalom Rabbi Segal and Class:

 

I will try to answer the question of: ''What defects of character do you have that you are still seeing in others?''

 

There is a fellow, who calls himself "Doc." He signs notices in an organization we belong to as "Doc." And he is not a doctor, a physician, nor a PhD, etc. He was a medic in the Navy. Sailors 30 years ago called him '' Doc.''

 

He is in a position now where normally a real doctor would be hired to do his job.... maybe a retired doctor. But no one was hired, so this fellow stepped in, and is doing a so-so job of it, but calls himself  " Doc."

 

Many folks think he is really a doctor and call him ''Doctor'' and he doesn't correct them.

 

And this was irking me to no end.

 

I realized that I used to have low self esteem, as this fellow is known to have, be jealous of others, and covet, as I had no true relationship with our Loving God. I used to have to exaggerate my importance as I wasn't happy with myself and couldn't just 'stand alone' with God and my fellows. I had to have title, and take credit for things.

 

Once this clicked that I was seeing my defects of character in this fellow, I was able to pray as Rabbi Segal suggested we do in his below.

 

More than that, I was able to see the bit of good he was doing in his job, even though it wasn't being done for altruistic reasons, but for ego and for the sake of reward, which the Mishna tells us not to do.

 

[ Chapter 1, verse 3, Ethics of the Fathers:" Antigonus of Socho received the Torah from Shimon the Righteous. He used to say: Be not like servants who minister unto their master for the sake of receiving a reward, but be like servants who serve their master not upon the condition of receiving a reward; and let the fear of Heaven be upon you."]

 

This allows me to continue to look inward to make sure my character defect doesn't rear its ugly head, while not getting upset as this fellow exhibits a defect of character that I have and must continually, with God's aid, keep in check.

 

 When the sages ask in the Talmud, "Who is wise?" and answer,"He who can learn from all," I realized today that not only can I learn from those teaching me positive things, but I can learn from those, like this fellow, who do negative things, as an example that God has given to me, of how NOT to behave.

 

Thanks for listening.

Marty __________

 

COMMENT FROM RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:

 

Nice posting, Marty, and good insight. May I suggest a bit more prayer.

 

There is still fault finding. There is still seeing ''ego'' in this fellow. There is still seeing that he is ''not altruistic." There is still seeing him to be a ''self seeker,'' and there is still seeing him as a ''bad example''  from which to learn.

 

Pray to God to just see him as ''an equal child of God'', as ''spiritually in need'' as the rest of us are.

 

Do your own chesbon ha nefesh tonight, your own inventory, and see if your own yetzer ha ra, your own evil inclination, isn't still with ego, still not purely of altruism, still with some self seeking, and still doing some behaviors which you might view as a bad example to follow, if you stepped out of your shoes, and viewed yourself.

 

No human is truly all good and truly all evil. God created all of us with a yetzer ha ra and a yetzer ha tov. (an evil inclination and a good inclination). Some of us have more of one than the other, and even the worst genocidal maniacs in history may have been kind to their pets or wives.

 

We are never truly at a level where the yetzer ha ra disappears. The story is told of the students of a pious rabbi who were discussing that their ''yetzer ha ra would pursue them.'' This is a quote from the Talmud. The rabbi laughed and said: "Don't worry. You aren't on such a high level. You're still pursuing it!"

 

The Talmud teaches that one sin leads to another and one mitzvah leads to another. The evil inclination (yetzer ha ra) cares much less about the sin than about the depression that follows it. This is because by means of the depression, it can further trap the person and gain much more than from the first single sin.

The Seer of Lublin Poland, Rabbi Jakub Izaak Horowicz (1745-1815), in the name of the Arizal, (Rabbi Isaac Luria ,1534 –  1572  a  mystic in Safed, Israel),  said the following; "When a person is sunk in a depressive state, no advice can help him. He must simply wait until the depression passes. When the moment of happiness suddenly arrives, all of his problems will then be solved."

So being happy, joyous and free is truly what God wants from us. Being so keeps comes from a closeness to God and to our fellows, being of love and service to them. The happier we are with what we have and with who we are, the less apt we are to even notice defects in others.

"A happy heart is as healing as medicine"(Proverbs 17:22). There is only one way to truly have a happy heart and King David says it in the following verse: "Cast your burden on God, and He will sustain you."(Psalm 55:23) So many of us keep things bottled up inside until we are ready to burst!

Part of spiritual growth and renewal, we will learn, is how to pray, to do honest self judging, (tephelah), to do a daily inventory, and do develop a relationship with God and a study partner or rabbi, where you can do vidui, confession.

Tell God of your troubles and your thoughts and resentments and fears. Don't live a life of sorrow for years and years. As hard as it might be, find someone to whom you may open your heart up in confidence and trust. Any one who wishes to contact me, off- post, may do so, and continue the conversation, via phone, with Rabbinic privilege.

Again, Marty, great job and you are on the right path. Thanks for posting.

Many Blessings and a life of Shalom,

Rabbi Arthur Segal

In a message dated 5/6/2008 12:19:35 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, RabbiASegal@AOL.COM writes:

Shalom and Yom Holedet Someach Israel (Happy Birthday, Israel....# 60!):

 

As always to post an answer, comment, question etc, email spiritualrenewal@shamash.org . If you want your name and email address redacted, just say so, and I shall delete it before posting.

 

Jews celebrate on June 8's eve, Shavuot, commemorating Moses receiving the Torah atop Mt. Sinai. It is 7 weeks from Passover. Shavuot is derived from the Hebrew word for 'seven.'

 

The sages teach that Sinai was chosen because it belonged to no nation so that the teachings in the Torah could belong to all humankind. The whole of Torah has been distilled to: "What is distasteful to you, do not do to your fellow." (Talmud Bavli Tractate Shabbat 31a)

 

As a rabbi, I am often consulted with situations involving human conflict. Genesis 37:14 asks us to: "look into the wholeness" of your fellows. We are not to look at their defects.

 

It is human nature to notice the defects in others, whereas a person is often oblivious of his own shortcomings. I counsel those with relationship situations to pray: "Let me see the virtues of others and not their faults."

To attain spirituality one should not look out of himself, and not look into others. We should take our own inventory and not that of other people. What we do not like in others, the Talmud teaches, are exactly the faults we have, that we are ignoring. Talmud Bavli Tractate Kidushin 70a: "He who condemns others, sees in them his own faults. "

While it is easier to hold resentments to others, it keeps us from growing spiritually.  It is not the way of Torah nor of the two great religions stemming from it. We can achieve perfect unity if we indeed pay attention only to our own defects.  The true way to God is to get along with one another locally as well as globally. This is the major lesson of the Revelation at Sinai circa 3500 years ago.

So for our question this week: what defects of character do you have that you are still seeing in others, that instead of looking inward, [with the Talmudic requested daily chesbon ha nefesh (inventory of your soul)], you are looking outward, seeing defects in others, and perhaps worse, being resentful of them, or even treating them in ways you would not wish to be treated yourself? You may answer this, and/or comment on this week's parasha (a d'var Torah is below), or anything else that moves you to write. And as stated above, may do so anonymously.

Shalom,

Rabbi Arthur Segal

Hebrew College

Newton Centre, MA, USA

via Shamash.Org on- line

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:CHUMASH CANDESCENCE: PARASHA EMOR: LEVITICUS 21:00-24:23

 RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:CHUMASH CANDESCENCE: PARASHA EMOR: LEVITICUS 21:00-24:23

CHUMASH CANDESCENCE
PARASHA EMOR
LEVITICUS 21:00-24:23
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL

"Don't Follow Leaders, Watch Those Parking Meters"
(Bob Dylan, Subterranean Home Sick Blues)

Judaism is a beautiful religion--and much more than that--it is a
wondrous way of life. One of cornerstones of Judaism is continuous learning and
exploration.

We are indeed the people of the Book--and of many books. Judaism gives us
an obligation to study and to question. While the Torah has literary
allusions to us being the "sheep" of God, we are certainly not expected
to act like cattle. We are the children of Israel, and we need to
remember always that Jacob received his new name because he wrestled with
God.

As Jews, and especially as modern Jews, we need to reevaluate continually
and personally our relationships to God and to our traditions.
King David asked in Psalm 27 to be lead "on the path of integrity." As
long as we strive to stay on this path, we will maintain the true essence
of a Jew, which is to have moral and ethical direction.

When Judaism encountered the modernity of enlightenment and emancipation
in the late 1700s the intellectual walls that we erected were
collapsing along with the political, social, and physical (ghetto)
walls. In Hebrew, enlightenment is "haskalah," from the root word
s-kh-l," to understand. Understanding and its partner, wisdom (binah in Hebrew),
brought with it the obligations of continual study. The Reform movement
was Judaism's eventual response to these transformations in Europe.

The German philosopher Immanuel Kant saw enlightenment as "the human
being's release from self-imposed tutelage." Kant meant that we as humans
tend to accept an external authority as our guide in determining how we
are to believe and to live. It implied that men take the easy way out and
invent self-imposed rules to avoid grappling with philosophical issues.

Many Jews, too, had forgotten how to wrestle with issues and were content
to listen to their schtetle's rebbe for advice and wisdom.
Politically, these two movements of enlightenment and emancipation saw
the abandonment of the divine right of kings. This was replaced by Thomas Hobbes's doctrine of the social
contract whereby the state was founded on agreement among people. The
people decided on an order that would protect their rights and interests.
This lead to both the American (1776) and the French Revolutions (1789).
As Americans and as Jews we must stay educated or our rights of
self-determination can and will be limited.

This week's parasha talks about the period known as the "Counting of the
Omer." During the period from Passover to Shavuot we traditionally study
a book of the Mishna called Pirket Avot, Chapters (or Teachings or
Ethics) of  the Fathers. You
can find about 20 percent of this text on pages 16-28 in
our Gates of Prayer sidurem (prayer books) and 100% in every other sidur.

 

 "The world is sustained by three things: by the Torah, by worship, and by deeds of loving kindness"
(1:02). "Do not say when I have leisure time I will study as you may
never have any leisure" (2:05). Why do I remind us of this in this
week's d'var Torah?

"You shall not desecrate [lo te-chal-lu] my Holy Name [shem]" (Lev.
22:32). The concept of "chillul ha Shem" is now introduced to us.
Desecration of God's name according to Talmud Yoma 86A is one of the most
serious of sins and one for which it is the most difficult to atone.

 

As Jews we are to know what is proper man-to-man behavior and not let anyone lead
us astray from this regardless of their title. We saw in history how Pope
Urban II said, "Deus vault" (God wills it), and the Crusades began. We
saw in recent times how a rabbi told his student that Prime Minister Itzchak
Rabin was a "rodef," a stalker against the Jewish people, and Rabin was
assassinated. These are the true "chillul ha Shem"s. This is
why we need to be informed modern Jews so that we cannot be led astray.

A most interesting case of chillul ha Shem  unfolded   in southern
New Jersey. A local rabbi was arrested some time ago on charges of killing
his wife. He did not admit to the killing, but did admit to three affairs
with his congregants whom he was counseling. This happened in 1994. 
 A male congregant of the rabbi,
whom he had also counseled, came forth to the police and confessed to
the murder. However, he stated that his rabbi allegedly told him to
murder the rebbitzin because she was someone who "hated Israel." This the
rabbi allegedly said would make the murder justifiable. In addition,
the rabbi promised to get this fellow a job with the Mossad, Israel's
intelligence service.

Now how many of you are seeing this rabbi with a long, white flowing
beard dressed in black? Well, please erase that image from your eyes. The
rabbi and his congregant are members of the CCAR and URJ. What is
so perverse about this, besides the murder, is that the alleged murderer,
whether his rabbi told him to do it or not, thought that this is how
religion works. It is just as sick as a Jew gunning down Moslems in
prayer in Hebron, Moslems car-bombing Jews, Protestants and Catholics
killing each other in Ireland, and Moslems and Hindus fighting in the
Indian subcontinent.

 

 The rabbis in Talmud Tractate Kiddushin 46A tell
us we should always consider ourselves to be in equipoise, where one
positive action will bring salvation, but one sin could bring
condemnation. We must think. We must study. We must grapple. Bernard Shaw
said, "most people would rather die than think, and most do."

 

The rabbi and his co conspirator congregant were eventually found guilty and serving time. His dead wife was our baker in NJ, and a piece of her wedding cake, a wheatless chocolate torte, made for us, is still in our freezer. Never did we think a slice of her cake would outlast  Diane, OBM.

Rabbi Arthur Waskow recently wrote that chillul ha shem literally means
the hollowing out of the Name of God. It means one is taking all the
life out of the Name while pretending it is still there, like a hollow
tree. He says "it is acting in such a way to teach Jews and non-Jews
that a profoundly anti-religious act is carried out for the sake of God."
This is why the rabbis in Tractate Yoma of the Talmud said chillul ha
Shem is the worst of sins.

As the rabbis said in Pirket Avot, quoted above, study is one of the
three pillars on which the world rests. As we can see from above, these
words are not just hyperbole. Judaism has a long-standing tradition that
when the Messiah comes, the law will be changed. And Judaism has had its share
of false messiahs that have attracted large numbers of Jewish followers.

Jacob Frank and Sabbetai Zvi were two of these false saviors. In the
Midrash Aleph Bait of Rabbi Akiva 3:27 it states, "the Holy One, blessed
be He, will expound to all the meaning of a new Torah which He will give
through the Messiah." In Mishna Ecclesiasties Rab. 11:1, Rabbi Hizquaya
in the name of Rabbi Simon bar Zibdi said, "The whole Torah which you will
learn in this world is vanity compared to the Torah of the world to
come."

 

In the Yemenite Midrash p. 349, the rabbis say "the messiah
will sit in the supernal House of Study and all those who walk on earth
will come and sit before him to hear a new Torah and new Commandments."

Furthermore in Halakhot Gadolot it states that. "Elijah will come in the
Messianic age and explain and expound all the secrets of the Torah and
all that which is crooked and distorted in it." Will we and our children
be able to debate intellectually with those who wish to teach us to
distort our teachings if we do not study continually?

In teaching the rules of the Omer, our parasha in Lev. 23:15 states,
"you shall count for yourselves." We have an obligation not to trust others to
count for us or to lead us in counting.

 

 The count starts on the second night of Pesach and ends on the 50th day on Shavuot. Shavuot, as you
recall, traditionally is when we received the Torah on Mt Sinai. The
omer was a measure of barley, about 3 and a third dry quarts of grain,
which we were commanded to bring to the Temple as an offering. Unlike
our elementary school days, where we counted "down" the days left of
school, we Jews count up in anticipation of the receipt of the Torah.

Why were we commanded to count for ourselves (lo-chem)? There is no
benefit to God for our action. We are to use these 50 days to refine
ourselves to get ready for the Torah. The Torah uses the word
ve-so-phar-to for counting. Sepher connotes books and study. Sephirah has
the same root as sapphire, a clear jewel. We are to try to shine like a
jewel in our studies.

 

We do not just count, as Rabbi Dovid Green has
written. We as Jews must make each day count. The 50 days of the Sephirot
Ha Omer (counting of the omer) lead us to the Kabballot Ha Torah (the
receiving of the Torah). The omer counting is also the period of time in
which Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai revealed the hidden secrets of the Zohar
and Kabballah circa 80 CE.

The Sepher Yetzirah is one of the most famous texts of the Kabballah.
It was written in 200 CE. It means "Book of Formation." Rabbi Judah Ha
Levi in 1120 wrote that this text "teaches us the existence of a single
divine power by showing us that in the bosom of variety and multiplicity
there is unity and harmony and that such a universal concord could only
arise from the rule of a Supreme Unity."

 

 Part of this book is the "Fifty Gates of Binah" (Understanding). These 50 gates correspond to each of the
50 days from Pesach to Shavuot. It is said in a Midrash that Moses
"only" achieved 49 of these gates. The Kabbalists said that one must pass
through these 50 gates before attempting to attain the 32 Paths of
Wisdom.

The 50th gate is knowing God, the Ayn Sof. Ayn in Hebrew means "no thing"
as God is beyond existence. Sof means "without end." God has no real
attributes because they can manifest only within existence, and existence
is finite, and God is infinite. The kabballah says the reason for
existence is that "God wished to behold God." The previous phase of
nonexistence was a "time" when "face did not gaze upon face." God then of
His own free will, withdrew His absolute all, the Ayn Sof. This
contraction is called zimzum by the kabballists. The rabbis say, based on
this concept, "God's place is the world, but the world is not God's
place."

The 32nd Path of Wisdom, in comparison, is called Administrative
Intelligence. It is the wisdom to direct and administer the motions of
the planets in their proper courses. Thirty-two is written in Hebrew as
the letters lamed-beth, and these are the last and first letters of the
Chumash.

 

The number 32 is obtained 2 to the fifth power. We can see
easily that the path to wisdom and understanding is never ending. Laib, LB,
as a Hebrew word, means heart. Thus, knowledge and wisdom, enlightenment
and emancipation, begin in our hearts with the love of God, love of our
fellows, and the love of study. This parallels the verse in Pirket Avot
quoted above in this d'var.

Carl Jung, the renowned psychiatrist wrote, "You trust your unconscious
as if it were a loving father. But it is inhuman and it needs the human mind
to function usefully. The unconscious is useless without the human mind.
It always seeks its collective purposes and never your individual
destiny. Your destiny is the result of the collaboration between the
conscious and the unconscious."

 

 As King David wrote in Psalm 139:13, "It was You who created my inmost self,

and put me together in my mother's
womb." As informed modern Jews, committed to study, we or our children,
will never, to quote Dylan again, "need a weatherman to know which way
the wind blows."

Shabbat Shalom,
RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL

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