[Avodah] Im ANi Latzmi Ma ani

[Micha Berger]

On Mon, Apr 28, 2008 at 10:52:49AM -0400, Rich, Joel wrote:
: Ha-Rav Shlomo Aviner 
...
: Answer: Your analysis is correct except for one detail: It applies not
: just in this generation but throughout all the generations. People have
: always been more interested in themselves. They've always had an
: exaggerated self-love, and they've always had an evil impulse which
: said, "Me! Me!" I am not against self-love. After all it says, "Love
: your neighbor as yourself" (Vayikra 19:18). That's a sign that you've
: got to love yourself, too. Yet I'm talking about exaggerated self-love. 

I have to quote the famous words of RSS on this (translation mine,
from <http://www.aishdas.org/asp/ShaareiYosher.pdf>:

    HOWEVER, what of a person who decides to submerge his nature,
    to reach a high level so that he has no thought or inclination in
    his soul for his own good, only a desire for the good of others? In
    this way he would have his desire reach the sanctity of the Creator,
    as His Desire in all of the creation and management of the world
    is only for the good of the created, and not for Himself at all. At
    first glance one might say that if a person reached this level, he
    would reach the epitome of being whole. But this is why our Sages of
    blessed memory teach us in this Midrash that it is not so. We cannot
    try to be similar to His Holiness in this respect. His Holiness is
    greater than ours. His Holiness is only for the created and not for
    Himself because nothing was ever added to or could ever be added to
    the Creator through the actions He did or does. Therefore all His
    Desire could only be to be good to the created.

    But what He wants from us is not like this. As Rabbi Aqiva taught us,
    "your life comes first." [Our sages] left us a hint of it when
    they interpret the scripture "Love your neighbor as yourself" in
    a negative sense, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your
    peers." In terms of obligation, it is fitting for a person to place
    his own good first.

    ...

    Although at first glance it seems that feelings of love for oneself
    and feelings of love for others are like competing co-wives one
    to the other, we have the duty to try to delve into it, to find the
    means to unite them, since Hashem expects both from us. This means [a
    person must] explain and accept the truth of the quality of his "I",
    for with it the statures of [different] people are differentiated,
    each according to their level.
    
    The entire "I" of a coarse and lowly person is restricted only to
    his substance and body. Above him is someone who feels that his "I"
    is a synthesis of body and soul. And above him is someone who can
    include in his "I" all of his household and family. Someone who walks
    according to the way of the Torah, his "I" includes the whole Jewish
    people, since in truth every Jewish person is only like a limb of the
    body of the nation of Israel. And there are more levels in this of
    a person who is whole, who can connect his soul to feel that all of
    the world and worlds are his "I", and he himself is only one small
    limb in all of creation. Then, his self-love helps him love all of
    the Jewish people and [even] all of creation.

    In my opinion, this idea is hinted at in Hillel's words, as he
    used to say, "If I am not for me, who will be for me? And when I am
    for myself, what am I?" It is fitting for each person to strive
    to be concerned for himself. But with this, he must also strive to
    understand that "I for myself, what am I?" If he constricts his "I"
    to a narrow domain, limited to what the eye can see [is him], then
    his "I" -- what is it? Vanity and ignorable. But if his feelings are
    broader and include [all of] creation, that he is a great person and
    also like a small limb in this great body, then he is lofty and of
    great worth. In a great engine even the smallest screw is important
    if it even serves the smallest role in the engine. For the whole is
    made of parts, and no more than the sum of its parts.


Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Today is the 8th day, which is
micha at aishdas.org        1 week and 1 day in/toward the omer.
http://www.aishdas.org   Chesed sheb'Gevurah: When is holding back a
Fax: (270) 514-1507                           Chesed for another?