[Avodah] The Right Way to Give Tochachah

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Sep 02, 2013 at 03:23:23PM +0300, Marty Bluke wrote:
: R' Yaakov Kamenetsky asks why should they be the klei kodesh? Yaakov
: Avinu was not happy with their actions. He answers that to be a klei
: kodesh you need to be a kannoi. Things have to bother you and you have
: to act on it.

I'm pretty close to finishing translating section II of an essay by
R' Shlomo Wolbe titled "Psychiatria veDat" written in Laniado Hospital's
journal Bishvilei haRefu'ah vol. 5 (Sivan 5742) pp 57-90, this section
is just 60-70. HebrewBooks' copy is at
<http://hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=2840>.

Why one section from an article in an obscure journal? Because RSW opens
the comparison by laying out how he sees the world the Torah is trying
to build and the kind of person it can shape us into to accomplish that.
Which he then positions in comparison and constrast to psychiatry's view
of the subject. (People in the field tell me, though, that RSW's notion
of pyschiatry was not up-to-date as of its writing in 1982.)

This notion that qanna'us is a tool to be harnessed by seikhel and Torah
reminded me of this section of my translation (please email me privately
with any suggested corrections):

    What is this process of alienation? There isn't any power in the soul
    which is specifically evil. (Naftali Wessley, Sefer haMidos part
    I, ch. 4) Every power has some place in the World of Yedidus. Even
    egotism and anger are necessary sometimes. When you use each power in
    its proper place and time -- it is good, and every force in the soul
    is necessary. However, in order to build the World of Yedidus, there
    has to be coordination of all the forces together, so that they work
    together in cooperation and a proper distribution of their duties.

    The ruling power, which sets each of the other powers in their
    proper place, is the intellect, which is therefore the central
    power of yedidus in a person. (C.f. Kuzari, Rav Yehudah HaLeivi,
    3:2 onward.) Without the rule of the intellect, there is no World
    of Yedidus. ...

    In the Talmud we find an example of this: A person born under the
    sign of Mars will be a person who sheds blood -- a bloodletter, a
    thief, a ritual slaughterer [for meat] or a mohel. A person cannot
    change the basic inclination, in this example -- the inclination to
    shed blood. But this inclination can be used for good, and the range
    of possibilities is broad: he could be a doctor, a slaughterer or
    a mohel. Only the thief is not deterred from murder -- he uses his
    attribute in a manner of alienation. Here we have an example of an
    extreme inclination, and even so there is nothing that compels a
    person to be evil because of it. He has the choice to use it for
    more beneficial ends.
    ...
    Here the Torah comes to the aid of the intellect, to strengthen
    the person to choose good. The Torah of Israel wages an all-out war
    against all the forces of alienation. Therefore, first of all, "The
    intent of the Torah is to extend the intellect to all the desires
    of the soul, and to assert its power over them." (Chovos HaLvavos,
    Shaar Perishus, ch. 2) ...

: R' Yaakov then pointed out that Levi fulfilled the beracha while
: Shimon did not. Levi rallied to Moshe Rabenu's side when he said [Mi
: [Lashem Eilai] by the [eigel], however, Shimon did not. In fact,
: Shimon used his kannaus for bad in the maaseh of Zimri where the Nasi
: of Shimon was a kannoi against Moshe Rabenu and acted out his desires. And
: in fact, who killed Zimri, Pinchas from Shevet levi.

Is that really qana'us? I thought "acted out his desires" is weak
unprincipled caving in to ta'avah. Whereas qana'us is the chasing of
an ideal (whether an appropriate ideal or not, whether blind to more
pressing ideals or not) to the exclusion of primative self-interest.
(I left in that spelling error on the grounds that "primative" relays
what I mean better than "primitive" would anyway.)

Side-note: I think it's interesting that these two brothers are also
the only ones without nachalah -- Levi by design, Shim'on because they
failed to overthrow the Pelishtim (and ended up living in an area within
Yehudah).

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             One who kills his inclination is as though he
micha at aishdas.org        brought an offering. But to bring an offering,
http://www.aishdas.org   you must know where to slaughter and what
Fax: (270) 514-1507      parts to offer.        - R' Simcha Zissel Ziv