[Avodah] 12 Step Programs

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, October 12, 2006 1:06 am, R Moshe Yehuda Gluck wrote:
:                              I understand M'sayin Oso as excluding a complete
: spiritual makeover with no effort on the supplicant's part (as I think you
: do) in the context of your standard Bah L'taher, who is taking concrete
: steps to Teshuvah and needs some assistance. I think that the Maharsha, when
: he applies this Chazal to someone who isn't doing anything other than
: Davening to Hashem to make him return in Teshuvah, does not mean to limit
: this person to getting only assistance....

Doesn't this require ignoring the literal meaning of the word "mesayin"? The
Aramaic beseyata diShmaya is a loose translation of be'ezras Hashem. Mesayei'a
lidevar aveirah doesn't do the aveirah for the other person. The word means
help; how can the Maharsha use the word and be discussing "doing for" rather
than assisting?

:> (Although really lehefech: Isn't the point of shemiras hamitzvos to move
:> the nequdah which in and of itself is the cause of sechar?)

: This reminds me of a Kash'ye on the Mishna of Mitzvah Goreres Mitzvah. If
: so, then one who does one mitzvah shouldn't get s'cher for the second, and
: the reverse by Aveiros. Also, why doesn't this Mishna take away from our
: Bechirah? The answer I remember getting is that someone said that Ein Hachi
: Nami, everything goes back to the firast mitzvah and Aveirah that one does.
: I remember being a bit dissatisfied, but it was said (IIRC) in the name of a
: Rishon. Any thoughts?

Again, I'm viewing the causality in the reverse. Ha'adam nif'al lefi
pe'ulosav, and the sechar/onesh is a consequence of who he is ba'asher hu
sham. Thus, it's not a question of being rewarded for a given action, but the
resulting person who was the impact of the chain of mitzavos by the nature of
being better will consequently be capable of receiving more of His Tov.

The statement is therefore just pointing out a natural feedback loop: doing a
mitzvah once moves the bechirah point, thereby making it easier to do a
mitzvah again. And r"l on the other side too.

The question is based on an accounting-payoff mentality. But once looks at
sechar in terms of the payoff of spiritual fitness, your question wouldn't
arise. Hashem tells you that doing these 613 things makes you fit, and thus
more able to receive tov. Which is why the Zohar calls them the 613 itin.

The causality isn't that there are mitzvos, and therefore one gets sechar for
doing them, but it's a mitzvah because HQBH wants us to know how to get more
of His Tov.

Tir'u beTov!
-mi

-- 
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