Does a Mitzvah lead to another Mitzvah, or to a Sin?

Guest Post from Eddie:

Pirkei Avot (4: 2) . BEN ‘AZZAI SAID: RUN TO [PERFORM] AN EASY PRECEPT, AS [YOU WOULD] IN [THE CASE OF] A DIFFICULT ONE,AND FLEE FROM TRANSGRESSION; FOR [ONE] PRECEPT DRAWS [IN ITS TRAIN ANOTHER] PRECEPT, AND [ONE] TRANSGRESSION DRAWS [IN ITS TRAIN ANOTHER] TRANSGRESSION; FOR THE RECOMPENSE FOR [PERFORMING] A PRECEPT IS A PRECEPT, AND THE RECOMPENSE FOR [COMMITTING] A TRANSGRESSION IS A TRANSGRESSION.

Here we see the famous saying of Avot – that a Mitzvah leads to another Mitzvah. Why then, should anyone  think that a mitzvah can lead to a sin?

NY Times recently quoted researchers that “virtue sometimes begets more virtue and sometimes allows for vice.” Is this just treif psychology, or is it applicable to Torah + Mitzvot?

The researchers point to  2 mechanisms:  consistency, which is where one mitzva leads to further mitzvas, and compensation – where we compensate for mitzvot or good deeds, by doing bad deeds.

A very counter- intuitive Gemara seems to agree with the research.

Sukkah (52a): Abaye explained that the yetzer harah is stronger against sages than anyone else. For example when Abaye heard a certain man say to a woman, “Let us arise and go on our way.” Abaye said that he would follow them in order to keep them from sin and so he followed after them for three pasarangs across a meadow. However they simply parted from each other and he heard them say, “The way is long and the company is pleasant.” Abaye said, “If I were in that situation I could not have withstood temptation.” He went and leaned against a doorpost in deep anguish. An old man came to him and taught him: To the degree that a person is greater than others, to that degree his yetzer (evil inclination) is greater than theirs.

(source kindly supplied by R' Eidensohn, from his book on Child and Domestic Abuse Vol2. And upcoming).

The gemara is very surprising, after all, are we not told that a Tzaddik, or a Gadol is very finely tuned to all sorts of things that regular people cannot imagine – and would be less likely to say an evil word, or steal a toothpick?

My own understanding of the principle  “To the degree that a person is greater than others, to that degree his yetzer (evil inclination) is greater than theirs.”, was to look at it from a psychoanalytical perspective, that the more one takes on stringencies and represses bodily instincts, the more this repression is transformed into something more pernicious.

The modern research says it is a possible compensatory behaviour, which is negative.

Another source says:

Panim Yafos (Bereishis 2:7): Our Sages (Sukka 52a) state that a person’s yetzer grows stronger everyday. Thus corresponding to the strength of the yetzer tov, the yetzer harah grows to match it. The gemora there also says whoever is greater than his fellow man his yetzer his greater than theirs. Note that it doesn’t says that he is simply greater. This is in accord with Megila  (6b) that he is great only relative to others but that he is not actually a great person. In such a case his yetzer harah grows. However if he was truly a great tzadik then his yetzer harah becomes totally good…

But Chazal were not “regular rabbis”,  if we consider their greatness, they were on much higher levels than Rabbis of today who we call Tzaddikim.  So it is not altogether convincing that the Panim Yafos is claiming a Tzaddik become totally good.

Whether there is compensatory behaviour, is a matter of empirical research. The Gemara in Sukkah is still very surprising, and it seems to me there are several approaches to it.

1) Is to “deny” or whitewash it,  and base this in our Emunas Hachamim, that they could not be so base in their yetzer hara.

2) That it is limited, and applies only to a certain type of greatness, and is not a generalisation.  The quotation was actually from an unnamed old man, so how do we know if it is true?

3) My personal view is that this is a very honest and true statement, and is counter to the kind of Tzaddikism we are taught. This is taking the Gemara at face value.  Just like in the TeNach we see that key figures were not perfect, so did Chazal recognize that this is the case with Talmidei Chachamim. The statement is made  by the Gemara, and not by a secular academic.

This also ties in with a recent post  about being Frum vs. being normal.  Also the Chatam Sofer reminds us of the dangers of taking on too many chumras, and how this led to the fall of Adam and Chava, after they added a gezeira to NOT touch the tree.

In conclusion, it seems to me there is an encouragement to fulfil mitzvot as per the Mitzva goreret Mitzva of Avos, with a warning that becoming great, taking on many strictures, has its own dangers as per Sukkah, and also Avot 'd'Rabbi Nathan, who tells us of how Chava added to the Torah by being shomer negiah of the Tree.  These dangers were learned of empirically  by the greatest leaders in Orthodox Judaism.  I suggest that the lesson for today's  period is that overemphasis on matters such as ultra-znius dress, buses, and computers may also have its risks, since nobody is on such a level to be frum on the micro-level of every area of their lives, eg business, politics, bein adam l'chaveiro.  

Growing hasidic population in N.Y. causing conflicts

NY Times   Needing to abide by their tribe’s traditions of modesty, Hasidic women want the city to post a female lifeguard during a women-only swim session at a municipal pool in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and have lobbied a local councilman to take up their cause. 

On another front, Hasidic matzo bakeries, citing ancient Jewish law, have insisted on using water from groundwater wells rather than from reservoirs in preparing the dough used for matzos and have found themselves tangling with health officials worried about the water’s purity. 

And on a public bus service that plies a route between the Hasidic neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Borough Park, Brooklyn, men sit up front and women in the back, hewing to the practice of avoiding casual mingling of the sexes, even after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg condemned the arrangement. 

While these episodes may not have reverberated beyond New York’s Hasidic enclaves, taken together they underscore a religious ascendancy confronting the city’s secular authorities in ways not seen in decades. 

The remarkable rise in the population and the influence of Hasidim and other ultra-Orthodox Jews has provoked repeated conflicts over revered practices, forcing the city into a balancing act between not treading over constitutional lines by appearing to favor a particular religious group and providing an accommodation no more injurious than suspending parking rules for religious holidays.[...]

Pedophile claims he was married to the boy he was convicted of abusing

NY Daily News    That’s chutzpah.

A Jewish pedophile who publicly professed his love to the boy he molested is now trying to beat a federal sex rap by claiming he and the child victim were married.

Andrew Goodman, 28, stunned a Brooklyn state courtroom last summer when he turned to the traumatized teen and said, “I fell in love with you,” before a judge gave him only two years in prison for years-long abuse that started when the kid was just 12.

Then just as Goodman was about to get sprung from jail after time served, the feds in October 2012 charged him for taking the then-15-year-old across state lines to Atlantic City, where he sodomized him and took him to dinner and a Kid Rock concert.

Goodman now faces a life sentence if convicted.

Unbelievably, the defendant, who's representing himself, argued in a motion to dismiss the case that the trip, on Valentine's Day 2010, was for his and the boy’s nuptials.

“The union resulted in a honeymoon, feasting, celebratory concert attendance,” he wrote in papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court last week. “A valid Jewish Wedding and Marriage occurred.”

The document points out that Jewish matrimony is allowable at age 13 and does not require parental consent. It fails to mention that Jewish Law forbids same-sex relationships and it doesn’t offer proof of the so-called union.

Lakewood: Gender segregation on buses

bhol

האם האוטובוסים היוצאים מהעיר לייקווד שבניו-ג'רזי יהפכו לקווי מהדרין?

בכינוס חירום בהשתתפות רבנים וראשי מוסדות חינוך שיערך הערב בעיר, מתכוונים להוביל מהלך שישדרג, כדבריהם, את הצניעות בקווי האוטובוסים החרדיים של לייקווד, ולכונן בהם מחיצה, כדוגמת המחיצה הקיימת בקווי האוטובוסים הנוסעים למונסי, לניו סקוור ולמונרו.

קדם לכינוס פירסום מודעות תחת הכותרת "ולא יראה בך ערוות דבר ושב מאחוריך". במודעות נאמר: "בדבר הנסיעה בבאסעס שנוסעים אנשים ונשים הנני להודיע דעתנו דעת תורה חייב מדינא שיהא מחיצה להפריד בין אנשים ונשים. אנחנו זקוקים לכח הרבים כדי להביא לאישור הקמת המחיצה". על המודעה חתום הרב אברהם יוסף רוזענבלום, מבכירי תלמידיו של הגאון רבי מלכיאל קוטלר, ראש ישיבת לייקווד.

קו האוטובוס לייקווד אקספרס, הנע בין לייקווד לשכונות פלטבוש ובורו פארק שבברוקלין, מופעל על-ידי 'מונסי טריילס', חברת אוטובוסים פרטית, הפעילה את קווי האוטובוסים למונסי סקווער, לייקווד, ומונרו.

Blood test indentifies high suicide risk

Times of India   A simple blood test can now identify people most prone to committing suicide.

Scientists from Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have found a series of RNA biomarkers in blood that may help identify who is at risk for taking their on life.

Researchers said the biomarkers were found at significantly higher levels in the blood of both bipolar disorder patients with thoughts of suicide as well in a group of people who had committed suicide.

Researchers now believe the results provide a first "proof of principle" for a test that could provide an early warning of somebody being at higher risk for an impulsive suicide act.

"Suicide is a big problem in psychiatry. It's a big problem in the civilian realm, it's a big problem in the military realm and there are no objective markers. There are people who will not reveal they are having suicidal thoughts when you ask them, who then commit it and there's nothing you can do about it. We need better ways to identify, intervene and prevent these tragic cases," said investigator Dr Alexander B Niculescu, director of the Laboratory of Neurophenomics at the Institute of Psychiatric Research at the IU School of Medicine.

Weberman Case: Video of interviews on Huffington Post

הרב אופמן נגד הגאב"ד: "אין קברים בבית שמש"

Update: Rav Chaim Kaniefsky & Rav Karelitz protest attacks on Rav Sternbuch
Update: Rav Oppman defends Rav Sternbuch's view
Update: Rav Schlesinger defends Rav Sternbuch's view
Kikar Shabat

 הרב עמרם אופמן, מו"צ 'העדה החרדית', יוצא במכתב בתמיכה בראב"ד הגר"מ שטרנבוך וקובע כי אין קברים בבית שמש - נגד עמדת הגאב"ד ומוחה על הפגיעה בראב"ד: "מחובתי לכתוב מחאה על מה שמבזים את רבינו שר התורה הראב"ד - הוא פשע בל יכופר". וכיצד התבטא האדמו"ר מדושינסקיא? 

 סערת הבנייה במתחם גולובנציץ': בשעת אמירת דברי התורה בטיש ה"סעודה שלישית" התייחס כ"ק האדמו"ר מדושינסקיא לסערת הבנייה במתחם גולובנציץ' ולמחלוקת בין גאב"ד העדה החרדית הגרי"ט וויס לראב"ד הגר"מ שטרנבוך ואמר כי אין לציבור להתערב במחלוקת בין גדולי עולם ולא להרהר אחריהם.

"המצב המידרדר, כואב לי עד מאוד, וגורם לי לחולי, ועל כן אני זועק מעומק ליבי הרפו מזה", אמר הרבי לחסידים.

גם המנהיג הרוחני של קהל חסידי ירושלים האדמו"ר רבי אברהם שמחה חנון הודיע בסוף השבוע לחסידיו ולמתפללי בית מדרשו קהל חסידי ירושלים בבית שמש, שכל אברך מהכולל של הקהילה שילך להפגנות במתחם גולובנציץ' יורידו לו את זמן ההשתתפות בהפגנה ממלגת הכולל, והדבר לא ייחשב כשעת לימוד.

גם מו"צ 'העדה החרדית' הגאון רבי עמרם אופמן, גינה ביום שישי האחרון את הזלזול החמור בראב"ד העדה החרדית הגר"מ שטרנבוך כשבנוסף הוא קובע כי אין כלל קברים בכל המתחם בבית שמש

Drastic cuts on yeshiva stipends starting this month

JPost   Haredi politicians and media have reacted furiously to deep cuts to stipends received by yeshiva students which are due to take effect this month.

In 2012, full-time married yeshiva students received NIS 900 a month, while single students received 500 shekels a month in government stipends, while in 2013, the stipends were reduced to NIS 720 for married students and NIS 400 for single students.

As of this month, married students will now receive just NIS 279 while single students will get NIS 139, the Association of Yeshivot has said.

Although the cuts were expected, a source in United Torah Judaism said that the reduction was expected to be not more than 50 percent. [...]

Eichler continued, taunting Bayit Yehudi for being part of a government that released “100 murderers with blood on their hands and [acquiesced] to advanced talks for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the ruins of their own homes,” two sensitive topics for the national-religious party and its voters.

“With the breaking of these commitments, the Bayit Yehudi people have become the dirt rags of Lapid and Bibi,” Eichler said.

“They’re using you like a ‘use and discard’ product. Today they’re using you to burn the sanctuaries of Torah and tomorrow your ‘brothers’ will chuck you from your houses in the settlements, as they are accustomed to, but ‘sensitively.’” A spokesman for Bayit Yehudi said in response to Eichler’s comments, “It is better to deal with matters one wishes to resolve with sensitivity and responsibility, and not with hasty statements to the media, and we hope that MK Eichler also understand this.”[...]

Not everyone should be a professor - or gadol!

Wikipedia an English author, speaker, and international advisor on education in the arts to government, non-profits, education, and arts bodies. He was Director of The Arts in Schools Project (1985–89), Professor of Arts Education at the University of Warwick (1989–2001), and was knighted in 2003 for services to education.A popular speaker at TED conferences, Robinson has given three presentations on the role of creativity in education, viewed via the TED website over 18 million times (2013). Robinson's presentation Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity is the most watched TED talk of all time (2013).

   Why you should listen to him:

Why don't we get the best out of people? Sir Ken Robinson argues that it's because we've been educated to become good workers, rather than creative thinkers. Students with restless minds and bodies -- far from being cultivated for their energy and curiosity -- are ignored or even stigmatized, with terrible consequences. "We are educating people out of their creativity," Robinson says. It's a message with deep resonance. Robinson's TEDTalk has been distributed widely around the Web since its release in June 2006. The most popular words framing blog posts on his talk? "Everyone should watch this."

Video of settler brutally tasered by police causes uproar

YNET   The settler whose arrest led to the unusual decision of the police commissioner to freeze all use of Taser stun guns knows it was not his arrest which led to the decision, but the video that documented it.

"I am glad the chief of police realized the severity of the act," said Boaz Albert, a resident of Yitzhar who violated a restraining order and was violently arrested during the weekend. Earlier Sunday, Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino announced his decision to temporarily prohibit the use of Taser stun guns by officers. [...]

"The police officers broke into the house, I instinctively ran to the bedroom, lay on the floor and screamed 'I'm not leaving the house, take me.' Within seconds, a police officer came next to me and said 'come with me'. He expected I would go with him, I told him I'm not going and then he shocked me two or three times in my leg, while my wife is at the door in shock," Albert said."

According to him, in segments not seen in the video, the policemen kept Tasing him after they left the house as well. "There was another act of walking to their car that was parked in a nearby Arab village, after I agreed to cooperate and walk on my own they continued to electroshock me, it is extremely painful, but what hurts more is knowing my kids saw everything."[...]

Rape: Trauma to victim or simply sexual violence, a power struggle, a financial issue - or family shame?

While trying to understand the Torah view of rape and sexual abuse, it is important to be aware that these same questions apply in the secular world. Furthermore the current understanding of rape and sexual abuse as primarily psychological abuse and trauma to the victim - is only about 30 years old. The following are some of  many articles on the topic.

Views which grate on modern sensiblities

Wikipedia about Rape

Statutory Rape - In History Context

===================================

Guardian   In 1862 the US physician Dr Edmund Arnold testified in court that it was "very improbable" that pregnancy could result from rape, because "in truly forcible violations … the uterine organs cannot well be in a condition favourable to impregnation". Before dismissing such comments as a relic of the 19th century, fast forward to last year, when Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association claimed that trauma from a "genuine case of forcible rape" would make it "difficult" for a woman to conceive a child.

That rape has long been contested ground is perfectly illustrated by a new book, Redefining Rape: Sexual Violence in the Era of Suffrage and Segregation. Written by the feminist historian Estelle B Freedman, the book covers key moments in the history of rape, and includes more recent controversies – such as the speech by US Senate candidate Todd Akin last year in which he used the term "legitimate rape" to argue against abortion in cases of rape and incest.

In British law, which provided the basis for many American statutes, the term "rape" originally referred to the nonsexual crime of violent theft (from the Latin raptus or rapere). It was not until the 12th-century Codex of Gratian that a clear distinction was made between abduction and rape, with the latter defined as "forced sexual intercourse".

In the 15th century, the father or husband of a raped woman pressed criminal charges because the legal definition of rape in England had narrowed to apply to the theft of a woman's virtue, either a daughter's virginity or a married woman's honour.[...]

Former "hilltop youth" saves Arab's life at Damascus Gate

Times of Israel   In Jerusalem, a city too often divided among religious and nationalist lines, unusual heartwarming encounters do take place from time to time.

Haim Attias, a resident of the Mitzpe Yericho settlement and volunteer at the “Hatzala” emergency medical organization, and Haitham Azloni, an Arab resident of East Jerusalem, met Thursday for the first time since Attias saved Azloni’s life last week. 

Azloni was somehow electrocuted while sitting next to a stall in the Arab bazaar near the Old City’s Damascus Gate. His heart had stopped beating and “he was dead,” a local Arab man who witnessed the scene recalled. “I couldn’t bear to look. I walked away.” [...]

No one came to help me, none of the brothers, no Arabs. Only one Orthodox Jewish man came to help me,” Azloni’s brother recounted him as saying upon his awakening. “I want to meet the man that saved me.” [...]

Attias, who described himself as a former rebellious “hilltop youth,” said that when it comes to helping others, nationalities and religious affiliation must never stand in the way. [...]

Kashrut supervisor arrested for molesting children

YNet   Border police arrested a 45-year-old kashrut supervisor at the airport earlier this week, on suspicion of child sex offenses committed in the south of the country. The suspect, whose name is under gag order, fled the country in 2001 and has lived in Brooklyn ever since. He was arrested shortly before he boarded a flight to the United States. [...]

The arrest took place after the young man complained that the suspect sexually harassed him 12 years ago. Since then, police received three more complaints from members of the Chabad community, who told of sexual offenses the suspect had allegedly committed against them during their childhoods. Police believe there are others who are afraid to file complaints.


The same victim told of “an instance in which the suspect went to one of the mothers and told her he wanted to bring her son closer to religion, he took him once a week to the mikve, took him to slaughter houses in the nearby towns, and every one of these times, he assaulted him sexually. [...]

Stop and Frisk: Police must ignore that minorities are more likely to be commit crime

NY Times   The long-awaited decision declaring the New York Police Department’s use of stop-and-frisk tactics unconstitutional was mostly expected; even the staunchest defenders of the practice anticipated that Judge Shira A. Scheindlin would find the stops violated the Fourth Amendment’s protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. 

But it was her other finding — that the police had violated the 14th Amendment by engaging in racial profiling in carrying out those stops — that drew blood. 

The police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, said he found the racial profiling characterization “most disturbing and offensive,” as well as “recklessly untrue.” 

There is little precedent for a local police force to go to trial in such a case, or for a judge to issue such a verdict. In the process, Judge Scheindlin coined a term, “indirect racial profiling,” to explain how the department’s reliance on data indicating that black men committed a disproportionate amount of crime led to what she saw as violations of the Constitution.[...]

The “city’s highest officials,” Judge Scheindlin wrote, “have willfully ignored overwhelming proof that the policy of targeting ‘the right people’ is racially discriminatory.”