LEV1050 Perhaps the clearest picture of Judaism's attitude toward the poor emerges from Rambam's great code of law, his Yad haHazakah. There are eight levels, he writes, on which you can deal with the needy: at the lowest level, you give him your charity with a glum, mournful face. At a level above, you give cheerfully, but less than a fit amount. At the third level, you give enough cheerfully, but only after he asks. The fourth level is reached when you put the money in his hand before he has to ask. To attain the fifth level, you leave the money where he can get it without seeing you, to spare him shame. At the sixth level, not only would he not see you; he would not even know that the charity comes from you. The seventh level is reached when all charity is collected by absolutely responsible and trustworthy officials who then distribute it with utter discretion, reducing the shame or embarrassment of the poor to a very minimum. What is the eighth, the very highest level? When someone's fortune goes into sharp decline and he faces poverty, rally to his support: give him money outright [if it can be done without shaming him]; lend him what he needs [you are thus less likely to embarrass him; still better] form a business partnership with him; or give him employment--to thus strengthen his hand so that he will not have to open it and beg alms. Scripture says, "if your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall uphold him… that your brother may live, along with you." In other words (Rambam concludes) strengthen, maintain him so that he does not fall and become indigent (Leviticus 25:35-36. Rambam, Yad haHazakah, matnoth aniyyim, x 7-14). If a man is already impoverished, our Torah regards him as a "brother," a human being to be treated with compassion--not a source of irritation, not a source of amusement through derision or mockery, not someone to "organize" into a large "philanthropic" business to let you bask in glory. He has to be helped with the least possible hurt to his self-esteem; you ignore him at your peril. Above all, preventative medicine is far better than symptomatic relief. If you can save someone on the verge of poverty from the misery of begging charity, before Heaven your deed will shine brightest of all.

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NUM61 [Judah b. Tema] used to say: … the man of fifty is [of the age] to [give] counsel; Pirkei Avot, Perek V, mishnah 24. This too is implied in Scripture: The Levites were to start their training for sacred service at twenty-five, and actual work at thirty. But "from the age of fifty years," says Scripture, "he [the Levite] shall withdraw from the corps of the work and serve no more, but shall minister to his brethren…" [this verse]. How shall he minister to them? – – by giving them his wise counsel how they can best do their work, and so on. For (R. Bahya remarks) as the flesh grows too weak to bear the burden of physical labor as before, the intelligence grows clearer to foresee consequences accurately; then is he eminently suited to give counsel. And, says M'iri, "his advice will be sound; for good advice requires two things--human intelligence, and experience gathered in the course of time; as the ethical philosophers have said, the days must bring wisdoms." (Musare haPhilosofim, Frankfurt-am-Main 1896, I 10, 22 quotes in the name of Aristotle, "The days will teach you wisdom.") At fifty a man has already experienced a great deal, and his mental powers are yet in full strength… Thus his counsel is purified wisdom…" (A reverse interpretation has also been suggested: even at fifty a person should still have the good sense to seek advice when he needs it.)

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NUM115 R. Me'ir said: Whoever occupies himself with the study of Torah for its own sake merits many things; and not only that, but the entire world is worthwhile because of him. … He becomes modest, forbearing, and forgiving of insult … Pirkei Avot, Perek VI, mishnah 1. By its nature, the spirit that permeates the Torah must make a man humble and patient. The more he understands of its limitless depths and the infinite greatness of the Almighty, the more insignificant and humble must he become in his own eyes. Consider this passage from a 16th-century work: "… the Holy, Blessed One is an insulted sovereign who suffers humiliation far beyond human imagination. For certainly nothing is hidden from His watchful vision; and there is never a moment when a man is not nourished and maintained by the supernal energy which flows to him. Then never did a man sin toward Him at a time when He was not providing for the man's existence and ability to function. And still, though the man sins with that energy [from the Divine realm], He does not restrain him at all but bears the insult… and yet supplies energy and grants the man His favor…" (Second paragraph in Tomar D'vorah by R. Moses Cordovero (1522-1570), pupil of R. Joseph Karo and R. Solomon Alkabetz, who lived in Safed, where he taught kabbalah.) So will the Torah scholar reflect, "If the Almighty is tolerant and patient with my shortcomings and inadequacies, can I be different with others? And he will consider, with the Torah's insights, "If human conceit is a miserable sham, why grow angry if insulted?" If he is stirred to anger, the Torah will have taught him to rule over his destructive emotions. Moses, who is closest to the Torah, was "very humble, more than all men that were on the face of the earth" [this verse].

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NUM180 R. Me'ir said: Whoever occupies himself with the study of Torah for its own sake merits many things; and not only that, but the entire world is worthwhile because of him. … it puts him far from sin and brings him near to virtue. … Pirkei Avot, Perek VI, mishnah 1. We cannot shut out or control the world about us. At times the leering visage of sinful temptation will loom before us. Then we must remember the Torah's words, "you shall not follow after your heart and after your eyes" [this verse]. True, sin may rise up unbidden to tempt your heart or lure your gaze. But you need not follow after it. You need not welcome it, dwell upon it, explore the possibilities. The beginning of sin, say the Sages, is in the heart's cogitation. (Talmud, minor tractate Derech Eretz Zuta vi). Neither judo nor karate can deal with the evil Tempter when the heart is seized with wicked thoughts. Therefore the Sages advise, "If this repulsive degenerate [Satan, the Tempter] encounters you, drag him into the beth midrash, the House of Study. If he is stone, he will be dissolved; if iron, he will be shattered to smithereens…" (T.B. Sukkah 52b, Kiddishin 30b). The strongest temptation will not survive in an atmosphere of Torah. It is said you must fight fire with fire (Montaigne, Essays (1594), iii 5 ("Fire is put out by fire"; Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (1595), i 2, 46 ("One fire burns out another's burning"). If sinful temptation can inflame the passions with desire, the Torah can counter it. In Moses' Divine imagery, "The Lord came from Sinai ... at His right hand a fiery law ..." for, as the Sages envisioned it, the Torah was primordially written in "black fire on white fire" (Deuteronomy 33:2 and Rashi on it; Midrash Tahuma, B'reshith 1; Zohar III 132a). Its flaming truth alone, given amid fire at Sinai by the Diety, Himself described as a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, 9:23. That it was given amid fire, see Exodus 19:18, Deuteronomy 4:11-12, 5:4, 20-22), can subdue man's base animal passions. For it sensitizes and deepens our awareness of right and wrong, then ingrains in us the great, transcendent principle of reward and punishment. Through the Torah man learns that his deeds bring a response--good for good, evil for evil. And as it weans man from the pursuit and gratification of his animal drives and vile passions, it gives him a vision of higher goals to attain. The ordinary man may need a beth midrash, saturated with the Torah's atmosphere, to help him overcome evil temptation. The dedicated student of Torah has his own "built-in protection." With constant study he has absorbed its teachings of reward and punishment; with its mitzvoth he has learned to regulate and control his life in accord with the Divine will.

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NUM246 Ben Bag-Bag said: Turn and turn about in it [the Torah] for ... there is no better portion for you than this. Pirkei Avot, Perek V, mishnah 25. ... From eighty to one hundred, says the earlier mishnah [24], man deteriorates and declines, on his way to his ultimate passing. Says Ben Bag-Bag, ובלה בה -- literally, "disintegrate in it." Even in these last decades, when health wains and fails, remain immersed in Torah. Said R. Jonathan: "Never should a man keep away from the beth midrash and the words of Torah, not even about the time of death; for it stated: This is the Torah, should a man die in a tent… Even at the time of death, be occupied with the Torah" [this verse, T.B. Shabbath 83b].

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NUM256 … rarely did Moses retort with impatience or anger. Fundamentally he was a leader with a boundless love and devotion for his people. As the Midrash put it, he had a pact with the Almighty: "When Moses grew angry at the people Israel, the Holy, Blessed One would reconcile him. Should the Holy One be angered at the Israelites, Moses would reconcile Him" (Midrash Rabbah, Exodus xlv 2; Deuteronomy iii 15; Midrash T'hillim xxv 6). Every present-day Jewish leader would do well to study and emulate Moses--be he Prime Minister of Israel, Rabbi of a synagogue, or the president of an organization. Should he begin to falter or weaken under a steady barrage of petty, carping criticism, let him remember our Law-giver, and bear with our people, as Moses did. Despite massive doses of frustration and irritation, Moses never condemned his people out of hand, to send them to perdition. Over and over again he defended them before the Almighty, and returned to guide them gently but firmly, slowly but surely toward righteousness and moral achievement. The Hatham Sofer, though, raises an objection: If, as the mishnah teaches, no sin could occur through him, how could Heaven let him smite the rock at Kadesh instead of speaking to it, when the error was to cost him the right to enter the promised land? [this verse, Numbers 20:7-13]. The answer lies in the reason behind the principle: No sin will occur through the leader, we noted, so that his disciples should not go on to eternal life in the Hereafter and he to perdition; once he has brought a multitude to virtue, his destiny remains linked with theirs, that he may share fully in their eternal reward. The generation of the wilderness, to whom Moses taught and gave the Torah, had already been sentenced to die without reaching the promised land. Therefore Heaven allowed Moses this one serious transgression, that his destiny should remain linked with theirs. And so, when Moses later told of his sentence, he said, "the Lord was angry with me on your account ..." (Deuteronomy 3:26). But though he did not enter the promised land, he had a share in mitzvoth which could be observed only there, when they were done there by the younger entering Israelites; for he had taught them the mitzvoth.

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NUM267 See [[EXOD220]] Exodus 15:9 pursue SINAI3 196

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NUM296 Whoever has with him these three qualities, is of the disciples of Abraham our Father; but [if he has] three "other" qualities, he is of the disciples of the wicked Balaam. … Pirkei Avot, Perek V, mishnah 22. … the Midrash distinguishes between the "pairs" by noting their actions. Yet our long history has known of great resemblance between "pairs," between conflicting leaders and contending groups, where Jewry cannot decide by their respective actions: both may act piously; both may claim to be on Heaven's side. Our mishnah's view is longer and more penetrating: By their disciples, it suggests, you shall know them. Balaam was an excellent prophet. When we enter the synagogue of a morning, the first words we utter in prayer are, "How goodly we are your tents, O Jacob; your dwelling-places, O Israel"--from Balaam's oracular apostrophe recorded in Scripture [this verse]. But to judge him, look at his "disciples," those who learned from him to bring Heaven's death to 24,000 Hebrews at Shittim, by enticing them to the greatest sin (Numbers 25:1-9. T.B. Sanhedrin 106a). Down to our day the problem continues: How do you tell the good from the bad when all seem equally worthy? And the mishnah's formula remains valid: watch the disciples. Many believed Moses Mendelson and Avraham Geiger worthy, perhaps eminent links in the chain of developing tradition. Yet see the "disciples" their philosophies spawned! Today we have Jewish academies of study and schools of thought, all claiming the mantle of authority and authenticity. Where does the truth lie? Again, watch the disciples. Note which produce half-baked "leaders" who make up in arrogance what they lack in knowledge, and walk through the garden of sacred values with spiked shoes, blithely unaware.

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NUM311 There four types of temperament: He who is easily angered and easily pacified, his loss is canceled by his gain. One whom it is hard to anger and hard to pacify, his gain is canceled by his loss. He whom it is hard to anger and easy to pacify, he is a hassid (pious). He whom it is easy to anger and hard to pacify is a wicked person. Pirkei Avot, Perek V, mishnah 14. R. Yonah makes an astute observation: even the pious hassid, in the mishnah's words, does not rule out anger; it is merely hard for him to become enraged. But anger is sometimes required, for the sake of Heaven, as when Pinchas took spear in hand because he saw the prince of a Hebrew tribe vaunting his immorality [this verse]. The reflective Solomon says, "with much wisdom there is much vexation" (Ecclesiastes 1:18). The more we learn and know, the more we can see behind surfaces and illusions, and find conditions and relationships that are inherently wrong, cruel, or perilous. These should arouse deeply-felt opposition and, on occasion, anger. The wiser a human being is, the more sensitive and aware he will be of matters that are unjust, fraught with danger, or stupid. Yet, the mishnah indicates, let the wise man be a hassid and control his anger. R. Yonah concludes with a maxim of the ethical philosophers, "Be not sweet, lest you be swallowed up." In many situations, show anger. If we refuse to react properly after extreme provocation, we run the risk that people will exploit us and take advantage of us, believing us fools and easy marks. Often, in dealing with children, it is wise to make at least a pretense of being angry. The expression of impatience, annoyance or rage has its place. The important thing is that, like the hassid, we should use it as a tool infrequently, only if it is clearly called for. When you no longer need anger, put it away: return to inner calm.

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NUM313 See [[NUM296]] Numbers 24:5 fair SINAI3 200

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