[Avodah] Critique of Mussar

[Prof. Levine]

At 08:44 PM 1/31/2008, Micha Berger wrote:
>The way I formuilated things, your saying the ikkar of mussar is not
>the notion of having a program for reaching qedushah, but rather the
>holistic definition of qedushah. (With nothing said about the role of
>tiqun hamidos.)

It is hard for me to believe that if someone put real effort into 
modelling the actions of RYS that the result would not be that he 
would end up with good midos, whatever this means. Indeed, if one 
takes the dictum of RYS that "The other person's gashmius is your 
ruchnius." seriously, I cannot see how he would not end up with good midos.

Then again, I am reminded of the following story.

There was an older unmarried fellow who was approached by a Shadchan 
and asked what he was looking for in a prospective wife.  He replied 
that he wanted the most nasty and abrasive woman that could be found. 
When asked why, he replied, "It says that a man who is married to a 
bad wife gets a big share in the world to come. That is what I want."

Well, the Shadchan eventually found someone who was "suitable," and 
they got married.

A couple of months later the new chosson came to the Shadchan and 
said, "What have you done to me? You know the kind of woman I was 
looking for. However, my wife it the perfect mate. She is always 
cheerful. The house is always spotless. When I come home from shul 
there is a delicious breakfast waiting for me. Lunch is always on 
time and excellent as is dinner.  She never says an unkind word and 
never argues with me. What have you done to me?"

The Shadchan was surprised and so she went to the new kallah and 
said, "You know, before you were married you were known as not being 
the nicest woman in the world. Now your husband tells me that you are 
the perfect wife. What is going on?"

She replied, "He is not going to get Olam Haba because of me!!!" >:-}

Yitzchok Levine 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20080201/80adb51a/attachment-0002.htm>