[Avodah] Three Gems from RSRH

[Yitzchok Levine]

[I folded three RSRH snippets sent in the past week into one post. -mi]

Subject: Two Kinds of Fools
Date: Sun, 06 Dec 2009 04:51:03 -0500

The following is from RSRH's commentary on Bereishis 37

	34 Ya'akov rent his garments and put sackcloth upon his loins,
	and he kept himself in mourning for his son for many days.

    There are two kinds of fools. One of them changes his mind all
    the time. Everything is unclear to him. He says "yes" one minute
    and "no" the next, according to his mood. He is the foggy-headed,
    fantasizing fool: the avil. In contrast to him is another kind of
    fool: the narrowminded person, who, once he has formed an opinion,
    sticks to it and cannot be convinced he is in the wrong; he is the
    obstinate fool, the k'sil.

I must admit that I have met my share of both kinds, however, it seems
to me that today the second kind proliferates. Please see
<http://www.jewishpress.com/content.cfm?contentid=16669>
"My Mind Is Made Up. Do Not Confuse Me With The Facts!" The Jewish Press,
August 25, 2004 pages 7 & 77.

Date: Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:22:18 -0500
Subject: How a Chocham Looks at the World

The following is from the commentary of RSRH on Bereshis 40
	7 So he asked Pharaohs court officials, who were with him in
	custody in his masters house: Why are you looking so grim today?

    Unless we are entirely mistaken, Scriptures purpose here is to
    indicate Yosef s extraordinary genius, his Chochma. He noticed that
    they were distraught, had no idea yet about what, and so he asked
    Pharaohs court officials . . .

    An ordinary persons way of looking at the world and at things differs
    from that of a Yosef. An ordinary person sees only in general
    categories. A Chocham , on the other hand, sees the uniqueness
    and individuality of every person and of every thing. An ordinary
    person speaks with businessmen, with learned people, and so forth. A
    Chocham is ever mindful of the person with whom he is speaking,
    always cognizant of this persons special qualities and relationships.

    Yosef never forgot for a moment who and what these men were and
    for what purpose they were there; he kept their whole situation
    sharply defined in his mind. They were Bamishmor (in this respect,
    the Egyptian Pharaoh differed, for the better, from his later Persian
    counterpart: Pharaoh did not, when angered, issue an irrevocable
    order; see Daniyel 6), and the next day they might be set free. Also,
    they were Ito, together with him there.

    Perhaps Yosef had a vague idea that, since these men were only being
    detained pending an investigation, they might later have a favorable
    influence on his fate. Perhaps he sensed that they had been brought
    together with him in this place by Divine providence.

    Precisely because he remained ever aware of the person and all his
    connections, he heard all their words and saw all their actions
    their dreams, too in connection with their individual personalities;
    and through each unique personality, he was able to understand and
    evaluate everything he saw and heard.

Date: Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:32:02 -0500
Subject: Danger to be Feared by a Jewish Minority

The following is from the Collected Writings of RSRH, Volume II, Kislev
IV, pages 246 - 248. This essay deals with the Jews being a minority
and how this is both a plus and a minus.

YL

    There is one other particular danger which is to be feared by a Jewish
    minority. It is what we would like to call a certain intellectual
    narrow-mindedness. This danger becomes especially acute the more
    closely a minority clings to its cause and the more anxious it is to
    preserve that cause. We have already pointed out that, by virtue of
    its weak position, a minority depends for its survival on whether
    it can further and foster within all its members the spirit of
    the cause it represents. In order to prevail, a minority must be
    wholly imbued with the truth for which it stands. We have already
    noted that such intensive spiritual concern with its cause is the
    essential prerequisite for the minority's survival and have hailed
    this concern as the most significant advantage that a truth stands
    to gain when its guardians constitute a minority.

    However, precisely such complete dedication to its cause may easily
    lead the minority into intellectual one-sidedness. This may well stunt
    to a degree the development of the minority's unique intellectual
    life, Furthermore, it may make that minority incapable of representing
    its cause effectively to the outside world. Thus, such one-sidedness
    in a minority may do grave damage to the very cause that the minority
    seeks to preserve and to promote. The richer the minority's cause,
    the more will the minority treasure it. But then it may easily come
    to regard all other knowledge in "outside" domains as unnecessary,
    or even as utterly worthless. It may reject all intellectual activity
    in any field outside its own as an offense against its own cause,
    as an inroad upon the devotion properly due to that cause and an
    infringement on its prerogatives.

    Such a one-sided attitude does not stop at mere disregard for other
    intellectual endeavors. Once this attitude has taken hold in a Jewish
    minority, that minority will be unable to form a proper judgment and
    a true image of those intellectual pursuits which are not cultivated
    in its own ranks but pursued mainly by its opponents. Then, as a
    result of simple ignorance, the minority will begin to fear that
    which at first it merely neglected out of disdain. Consequently the
    minority will begin to suspect the existence of an intrinsic close
    relationship between these "outside" intellectual pursuits and those
    principles to which the Jewish minority stands in opposition.

    Indeed, the minority may come to regard these "outside" pursuits in
    themselves as the roots of the spiritual error which it deplores in
    the majority. Eventually it may reach a point where it will fearfully
    shun all intellectual endeavors other than those directly related
    to its own philosophy as an enemy of its cause and as a threat to
    the purity and loyalty of its adherents. Rather, it has cause to
    regard all truth, wherever it may be found on the outside, as a firm
    ally of its own cause, since all truth stems from the same Master
    of truth. Finally, the minority should not regard all disciplines
    that are compatible with its own principles as enemies. The cause
    represented by a Jewish minority is not purely theoretical but also
    involves the practical life of its adherents.1t demands the dedication
    of all aspects of life to the realization of its principles. It can
    have real, true existence only to the extent to which it can mold
    and dominate the most varied facets of everyday living. Thus, it
    is only natural that such a minority must attach maximum importance
    to the realization of its principles in practice. Indeed, it will
    have to recognize its adherents by the extent to which the latter
    fashion their lives in accordance with its principles.