Siman 29 - Proper Conduct

In memory of Dr. Benjy Freedman z"l (Binyamin ben Menachem Mendel) who was niftar on 12 Adar II, 5757.  Dedicated by his wife Barbara, children Ariela, Orit, Avidan and Menachem and son-in-law Jeremy.

 

"THE WAY OF THE WORLD" - THOUGHTFULNESS

 

After Adam and Chava sinned, the Torah tells us "He banished man, and eastward of Eden He placed the cherubs, and the flame of the turning sword, to guard the way to the Tree of Life (1).  Our sages tell us that "the Tree of Life" is Torah, and "the way" is "derekh eretz" - literally the "way of the world" (2).  This ubiquitous term refers to relating to the world and other human beings in a thoughtful manner.  Once we leave the Garden of Eden and have to face the outside world, the only way that we can approach the Torah is through humane behavior.

 

This background explains the placement of this siman in the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh.  The order of the Kitzur Shulchan Arukh until now follows approximately the order of the day - waking, dressing, saying the morning prayers, maintaining a fixed time for Torah study.  This is the "Garden of Eden" part of the day, when we are absorbed in ourselves and in our personal service of God.  However, after the morning prayers and learning are done, we are banished from this early morning Eden and are called upon to interact with others.  A person returns home to his family and then goes on to work or to studies.  In these contexts is personal conduct vital.

 

Our sages went to great lengths to praise "derekh eretz" - thoughtful conduct.  The expression appears hundreds of times in the Mishna, the Talmud, and the various Midrashim.  It is frequently cited as a prerequisite to Torah, or to status as a proper Torah scholar.

 

The Torah Jew esteems the world greatly.  Our service of God through the commandments is, almost without exception, possible only through interaction with the natural world and with other human beings.  Though it seems ironic, the mundane world of things and people is the main vehicle through which we come close to God, though He Himself transcends this very world.  One way of showing our esteem is to interact with the world in a thoughtful and mannerly way, and not to withdraw from it to too great an extent - as Rav Ganzfried explains in se'if 7.

 

However, "derekh eretz" is not an end in itself.  The "way of life" is ultimately the "way to the Tree of Life."  Many people view religion as a wonderful institution because it keeps society orderly and mannerly.  They make the Tree of Life into the means, and the path into the end! Interaction with this world for its own sake is the opposite of the Torah way.

 

Indeed, this point of view - which makes a properly functioning society as an end in itself - is closely related to idolatry.  It recognizes that God exists, but makes Him subservient, as it were, to something else - namely, man!  This is a central characteristic of idolatry.  Pagan religions ostensibly view man as subject to a variety of divinities and forces, whom the pagan then serves and worships.  But this very service is actually intended to attain some benefit - appeasing the rain god is supposed to bring rainfall and so on.  In the end, man is at the top of the value ladder.  From primitive paganism through modern secular humanism, it is remarkable how many ways man has invented to worship himself.

When viewed as a mere playground for mankind's proclivities, the world is indeed worthy of disdain.  This explains the many sayings of our sages which seemingly contradict Rav Ganzfried's advice in recommending that we withdraw from the world.  The Mishna in Avot asserts on the one hand that without derekh eretz there can be no Torah (3:17), yet in the same chapter advises us to free ourselves of the yoke of derekh eretz! (3:5).  We may, and even must, participate in worldly activities in order to serve God, but we want to be free of the YOKE of such activities -  we should be servants of HaShem, not servants of worldly vanity.  We respect and even embrace the world as a means to serving its Creator, but we disdain it as an end in itself.

 

JOY (se'if 2)

 

The Kitzur sums up the description of the ideal personality balance by explaining that a person should be in a state of continual, measured joy.  The importance of joy in Judaism is tremendous.  

 

When Elisha wanted to achieve prophecy, he requested a musician to dispel his melancholy (3).  The Talmud learns from this that the Holy Spirit rests on a person only when he is in a state of joy (4).  Likewise, they advised us to approach God in prayer only while in a spirit of joy (5).

 

The fact is that someone with genuine faith in God and His supremacy will naturally be in a spirit of joy.  As servants of God, our will is that His will be performed.  Despite the seeming imperfection that we see in the world, a person of deep faith is aware that at root everything was willed by HaShem.  A person is certainly joyful when his deepest wish is being fulfilled, and the true believer is certain that his deepest wish - the realization of God's sovereignty - is a reality, though sometimes a hidden one.

 

In this sense, sadness is almost a kind of denial.  It is as if a person feels that he personally, or mankind collectively, is abandoned and forsaken.  A person once went to Rav Arieh Levin, a saintly person who lived a generation ago in Jerusalem.  The man was extremely worried about being fired from his job.  Rav Arieh replied that he wasn't worried a bit.  If he heard they were going to fire the Holy One blessed be He, now that he said, would be a reason for worry.  But since He is certainly staying on the job, what reason is there for concern (6)?

 

This kind of joy does not contradict having a sense of sorrow at all of the suffering we see in the world, and on the contrary our sages were adamant that a Jew should be sensitive to the suffering of others - even of animals (7).  Misfortunes and suffering are real, and it is part of our mission to try to repair misfortunes and relieve suffering (see se'if 19).  However, behind the emotion of suffering and empathy there should be an underlying feeling of certainty that ultimately God's will is sovereign.  This certainly leads to an inner tranquility and a foundation of joy in our personalities.

 

Rav Arieh Levine himself was outstanding in his sense of empathy for even minor sorrows that people bore, and he was certainly not insensitive to the poor functionary who came to him with livelihood worries.  But together with sensitivity to difficulties and a genuine desire to alleviate them, we require a firm belief that God remains in charge, and that He is on the job at all times.

 

The Chasidic movement, following the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov and his students, particularly emphasize the centrality of joy in God's service.  Following the example of the prophet Elisha, the Baal Shem Tov gave music a central place in worship.  The favored kind of music was a simple melancholy melody known as a "niggun," sung without accompaniment and either without words or using a single verse or saying from the prayer service.  The Chasidic leaders also emphasized various meditations which help restore a person's sense of rejoicing even in the face of hardship - for instance, meditating on the immense privilege of being a Jew, with our unique relationship with HaShem and our unique ability to serve him through the holy commandments of the Torah.

 

PRIDE, ANGER AND IDOLATRY (se'ifim 3 and 4)

 

At the beginning of our siman, Rav Ganzfried advises that we should have balanced personalities.  While allowing for individual variation, a person should not tend to extremes - miserliness or extravagance, sadness or elation, privation or pampering.  All personality traits were created by HaShem to relate to different aspects of our experience, and a person needs all of them in order to adequately appreciate the world and to fit in to human society.

 

However, there seem to be two exceptions.  In se'if 3, Rav Ganzfried urges us to distance ourselves from pride to the greatest extent possible.  And in se'if 4, Rav Ganzfried quotes a well-known midrash which asserts that becoming angry is like worshipping idols! The Talmud cites the verse which admonishes us that there should be no strange gods "in you," and asks, what strange god is inside a person's own body - this is the evil impulse, which stirs him up to rage (8).

 

It is important to emphasize that being humble does not mean having a poor opinion of our abilities.  We find many instances in which the sages emphasized their own attainments - including their very humility (9)! The foundation of humility is rather the recognition that all of our abilities and attainments come from, and belong to, HaShem.  Thus, we are likely to highly esteem our abilities - just as we esteem and wonder at the beauty and perfection of other elements of God's world.  However, there is no longer any reason to take pride in them, any more than we may take pride in a stunning waterfall!

 

We see that self-esteem and pride are not at all the same and are even opposed to each other.  When we recognize that our abilities belong to God, we will have the highest esteem for them without seeing any reason to elevate ourselves over our fellow man.

 

CLEAVING TO TORAH SCHOLARS (se'if 11)

 

Rav Ganzfried cites the inference of our sages that the commandment to cleave to HaShem is fulfilled by cleaving to Torah scholars.  Since the day when the Jewish people received the Torah at Mount Sinai and decided that hearing the Torah directly from HaShem was too terrifying and overwhelming (10), the connection of each Jew to HaShem has demanded connection to a Rav, that is, a master.

 

On the other hand, this very process of intermediation allows us to continue the Mount Sinai experience to this day.  From the beginning of the reception of the Torah, the precedent was set that Torah scholars transmit God's word to the people, and this enables the words of today's sages to constitute an unbroken chain connecting us directly to the giving of the Torah.

 

This also explains why the commandment of cleaving to HaShem is fulfilled by cleaving to Torah scholars, and not to charismatic, spiritually charged individuals.  While the individual ecstasy of transcendent spirituality is something recognized and valued in Judaism, there is a need for such experience to be placed on a firm basis of tradition, in order that it should bring us near to HaShem and not God forbid distance us from Him.  (This was discussed at length in siman 19.)

 

The Mishna tractate Avot, devoted in large part to character improvement, begins by relating the chain of transmission of Torah from Moshe down through the sages of the Mishna.  Later on in the same tractate, our sages admonish us to be "be a tail to lions, and not a head to foxes" (11).  A tail may be less important than a head, but it is in every way part of the lion, the king of beasts.  By clinging to Torah scholars, we remain in every way an integral part of the body of the Congregation of Israel which connects us to our King.  

Conversely, repeated unfortunate experiences have proven that any approach to Torah which weakens this connection and makes some individual into a "head of foxes" results in schism and ultimately breaks away from the living tradition of Judaism (12).

 

BROTHERLY LOVE (se'ifim 12-13)

 

Rav Ganzfried reminds us that we are commanded, "Love your fellow as yourself."  By virtue of this commandment the Jewish people are more than a faith community, more than a nation - we are an actual family.  

 

One of the aspects of this commandment mentioned by Rav Ganzfried is to speak favorably about one's fellow.  The commandment to love our fellow "as yourself" does not only mean "as much as you love yourself" but also "the way that you love yourself."  People have a remarkable ability for rationalization - to explain away their own misdeeds and make them seem not so terrible or even commendable.  Through the commandment of judging our fellow man in a favorable light, the Torah urges us to apply this ability to others as well.  The Baal Shem Tov in particular used to emphasize the importance of judging one's fellow favorably.  He taught that such an attitude has the ability to soften the judgement of the transgressor, and even to ameliorate his wrongdoing.  In some sense, the act is in the eye of the beholder, and if we view the act in a favorable light, we have the ability to elevate the act.

 

LOVING ALL HUMAN BEINGS

 

The special commandment to love every Jew is connected on a mystical level with the special connection the Jewish people have with HaShem.  Fundamentally, ever since the giving of the Torah every expression of Divinity given to mankind is transmitted primarily through the Jewish people.  It is remarkable that the other main religions which preach monotheism, Christianity and Islam, recognize as their main prophets the Jewish prophets.  Both revere Moshe and acknowledge the revelation at Mount Sinai.

 

In a sense, the Jewish people as a whole ARE the living expression of God's presence among mankind, and so loving our fellow Jew is closely related to loving HaShem.

 

Of course, the Torah tells us that ALL human beings are created in God's image, and it is appropriate for us to love our fellow human beings whether or not they are Jews (13).  However, this imperative is not given as a commandment.  It belongs to the vast area of "derekh eretz" - proper conduct - which, as we explained above, precedes Torah and serves as the foundation for it.

 

Furthermore, the entire natural world is God's handiwork, and for that reason should be appreciated and respected.  Many laws of the Torah instill in us respect for our natural environment, including the special benediction which is made on impressive cites of nature (siman 60 se'if 5).

 

 

Endnotes:

 

(1)  Bereshit 3:24.

(2)  Eliyahu Rabba 1 on this verse.

(3)  Melakhim II 3:15.

(4)  Shabbat 30b.

(5)  Berakhot 31a.

(6)  Simcha Raz, "Ish Tzaddik Haya", pg.  125.

(7)  Bava Metzia 85a.

(8)  Shabbat 105b.

(9)  Sota 49b, the very end of the tractate.

(10)  Shemot 20:15-16.

(11)  Avot 4:15.

(12)  Examples: "Tzedukim" (Sadducees) and Karaites who emphasized the written Scripture over the tradition - in effect making each individual a head; Christianity and other messianic movements which emphasized the individual spirit over the tradition.

(13)  Rav Chaim Vital, Sha'arei HaKedusha, part I shaar 5, cited in Igrot Ra'aya 11.