[Avodah] Two Ideals

[Micha Berger]

Last from my hit parade of divrei Torah I really enjoyed over Shavous,
the following thought is from R Lord Jonathan Sacks
http://www.chiefrabbi.org/ReadArtical.aspx?id=1641

I commented once on Aspaqlaria
<http://www.aishdas.org/asp/2007/10/anger-and-the-golden-mean.shtml>
about the Rambam invoking two different ideals in Hil' Dei'os. In
pereq 1 he described the chakham, who always seeks the Golden Mean. But in
pereq 2, the description differs, we find cases (in particular avoiding
gaavah and kaas, but also in any middah which needs correction) where
one goes beyond the mean. This is the chassid.

Rabbi Sacks notes this as well, and uses this notion to explain an
apparent contradiction in the Rambam's discussion of the nazir. In Dei'os
3:1 the Rambam speaks out against asceticism, but in Nezirus 10:4 he lauds
the nazir for consecrating himself by swearing off these pheasures --
comparing the nazir to the prophet! R' Sacks generalizes the idea:

    These are not just two types of person but two ways of understanding
    the moral life itself. Is the aim of the moral life to achieve
    personal perfection? Or is it to create gracious relationships and
    a decent, just, compassionate society? The intuitive answer of most
    people would be to say: both. That is what makes Maimonides so acute
    a thinker on this subject. He realises that you can't have both --
    that they are in fact different enterprises.

    A saint may give all his money away to the poor. But what about the
    members of the saint's own family? A saint may refuse to fight in
    battle. But what about the saint's own country? A saint may forgive
    all crimes committed against him. But what about the rule of law,
    and justice? Saints are supremely virtuous people, considered
    as individuals. Yet you cannot build a society out of saints
    alone. Indeed, saints are not really interested in society. They
    have chosen a different, lonely, self-segregating path. I know no
    one who makes this point as clearly as Maimonides -- not Plato,
    not Aristotle, not Descartes, not Kant.

RL JS notes that the same answer could be invoked to explain the Rambam's
contradictory attitude toward nezirim. Society must be based on wisdom, on
chakhamim. A society of nazirim wouldn't work. However, the nazir pursues
the ideal of the chassid, which is a holy choice for those called to it.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             I long to accomplish a great and noble task,
micha at aishdas.org        but it is my chief duty to accomplish small
http://www.aishdas.org   tasks as if they were great and noble.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                              - Helen Keller