[Avodah] Judaism abhors extremism, as tempting as it may be

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, April 24, 2007 6:54 pm, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
: I am befuddled by Prof. Levine's posting from the Chazon
: Ish. "Extremism" is neither a virtue nor a vice, much like a gun or a
: knife, or, for that matter, a pen or an antibiotic. It all depends on
: what you use it for.

Extremism can be qana'us or qitzoniyus. There is a difference between
the one who veers from the shevil hazahav and the one who staunchly
and passionately defends a position. The former, the one at the
qatzeh, is wrong (at least lefi haRambam), the latter, the qana'i, is
as wrong or as laudable as the position in question. There is the
qana'us of Shim'on veLevi, or that of Pinechas.

Tir'u baTov!
-mi

-- 
Micha Berger             Spirituality is like a bird: if you tighten
micha at aishdas.org        your grip on it, it chokes; slacken your grip,
http://www.aishdas.org   and it flies away.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                            - Rav Yisrael Salanter