[Avodah] Redemption

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 14/06/17 03:50, Marty Bluke via Avodah wrote:
> The Sefer Hachinuch (Mitzvah 241) explains the prohibition of lo sikom 
> as follows (my rough translation):
> 
> "A person should understand in his heart that everything that happens to 
> him good or bad is caused by Hashem and between people there is nothing 
> but the will of Hashem. Therefore when someone bothers or hurts you, you 
> should know that your sins caused this and whatever happened is a gezera 
> from Hashem. Therefore, you should not think about taking revenge 
> because the other person is not the cause of your troubles, rather your 
> sins are the cause. "
> 
> Based on the Chinuch's explanation there should be no difference between 
> taking revenge on a Jew or a Goy. In either case they are not the cause 
> of your suffering they are just the instrument of Hashem and therefore 
> there is no reason for revenge.

That is the basis for Chazal's dictum that "Whoever gets angry [over 
*anything*] is as if he serves idols", but there is no actual mitzvah 
against anger.   Obviously one who truly believes in and fully accepts 
what we on Avodah have dubbed "strong HP" has no need for either of 
these two mitzvos, because it will never occur to him to hold a grudge, 
let alone to take revenge; but one who *does* gets angry or upset at 
what a fellow Jew does to him, but doesn't hold a long-term grudge 
against him over it is not violating a mitzvah.  One mitzvah is that 
even if you *do* feel upset you shouldn't hold it against the person who 
did it, and another mitzvah is that even if you do hold it against him 
you shouldn't punish him for it.  Therefore despite the Chinuch's 
relating this mussar idea to these two mitzvos, it cannot be the actual 
reason.


-- 
Zev Sero                May 2017, with its *nine* days of Chanukah,
zev at sero.name           be a brilliant year for us all