Division of Character Traits According to Parts of the Soul or According to Their Subjects | Eight Chapters, Chapter 4 (Auto Translated) | תמלול וסיכום מתורגם

The Middle Path: The Lists of Character Traits Are Not Definitive

Opening: A Professor’s Perspective on Modern Philosophy

And we’re learning this way. I don’t know what we’re learning, I want to know. I’ll just say this, someone spoke lashon hara [lashon hara: forbidden negative speech about others], who should I start with? No, I heard lashon hara. Yesterday I heard a professor, I don’t know exactly what he is, he’s from Williamsburg, he’s deep into the students, he gives a test. He says like this, he says that the students basically, he says that modern philosophy, Derrida [Derrida: Jacques Derrida, French postmodern philosopher] with Kant [Kant: Immanuel Kant, German philosopher], all these folks, they have very good tests on the plain common sense philosophies, Socrates [Socrates: Greek philosopher] and Plato [Plato: Greek philosopher], they all fail. He says that one must learn such a twisted world, is he as old as me? I’m just saying that you know him, he’s truly a chaver l’deah [chaver l’deah: one who agrees with my opinion].

Review: Where We Are Holding in the Study

Okay, I want to say where we’re holding and where we need to go further. We’ve learned, we’re holding in Chapter 4, I just want to try. The first chapter for us was the topic of the derech ha’emtza’i [derech ha’emtza’i: the middle path], that’s the good thing. We spoke about how there are two main places where the derech ha’emtza’i is chal [chal: applicable], in the pe’ulos [pe’ulos: actions, deeds] of a person and in the midos [midos: character traits] of a person which bring about the pe’ulos. That was the subject of the previous time.

The Rambam’s Method: Examples of the Middle Path

And now we’re learning, the Rambam [Rambam: Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, Maimonides], the way the Rambam presents it, he says, he gives dugmaos [dugmaos: examples]. He says for example [lemashel: for example], and he gives a whole list of nine dugmaos where he says for each good middah that can be, what is the middle and what are the two extremes that are not good, yes?

So we want to do this, I’m not sure if this is as if the true point of what he’s doing, but I want to do it anyway, and learn about each one of the nine things, what is the matter with them. That’s what I want to do. Agreed?

The First Middah: Perishus

So the first thing on the Rambam’s list, we spoke about the topic of perishus [perishus: modesty, abstinence from desires], what is the meaning, and should there have been a shiur about this? A halachah [halachah: Jewish law]? Not that shiur further. Rather, the Shabbos I’ve already been a few times, but… Parshas Kedoshim [Parshas Kedoshim: the Torah portion that speaks about holiness]? Yes, Parshas Kedoshim.

Okay, here is what I’m going… No, what’s written in my comments here on the page, did I ever say it? I don’t think so. In any case, I have a deeper thing to speak about, or to leave that, or to be me’orer [me’orer: awaken] to speak about.

Main Thesis: The List Is Not the Subject

So, the Rambam has a list of nine things, but apparently [lechaorah: at first glance], I say that this is not the subject, and apparently, the reason why he brings this list is only in order [kedei: in order] to give him an example on the topic of derech ha’emtza’i. I want to show you that it makes sense by each one of these things to say that the middle, that’s correct, and the two sides are equally bad one as the other. That is apparently the structure of the chapter, that’s what he does, he doesn’t say here we will paint out what are the good character traits [mahem hamidos hatovos: what are the good character traits]. Understand?

The Nafka Minah: What Is the Difference?

What is the nafka minah [nafka minah: practical difference] of the chakirah [chakirah: investigation] that I’m saying? The nafka minah is, that if one is missing it doesn’t mean anything. Not that the Rambam wrote a Shulchan Aruch [Shulchan Aruch: code of Jewish law] here, and the truth is nowhere. What he says, these are the list of good midos, on this you must work, this is yotzei [yotzei: fulfills] all the list of nine midos, he’s a good person, and whoever not, whoever is missing one of them or two of them is such and such a bad person, this is not stated.

Why not? Because there is the davar klali [davar klali: general principle] which is called derech ha’emtza’i, which truly includes much more than these nine midos. One can make thousands of midos. I don’t know how many one can make. There is no place where the Rambam gives a clear list. Not only by the Rambam, I mean it’s also not by Aristotle [Aristotle: Greek philosopher]. One doesn’t give a clear list. This is the main character traits [ikar hamidos: the main character traits]? That you have here a list – the list goes exactly opposite.

How the List Works

In other words, here now someone is makir [makir: familiar with] certain good midos. This is a Jew who learned from his father. Chazal [Chazal: Chazkeinu zichronam livrachah, our Sages of blessed memory] heard about certain good midos. In mussar sefarim [mussar sefarim: ethical books], it’s not a chiddush [chiddush: novelty] that a person has ideas of good midos, every person every culture has ideas of their good midos. What one does with this list is one goes through a bunch of them, and one shows that each one of them the correct hagdarah [hagdarah: definition] of it is derech ha’emtza’i.

Right?

Questions and Discussion: Is the List Definitive?

Student: Nevertheless [v’im kol zeh: nevertheless], there is still something of a chiddush from these lists. Do you want to say that we don’t need to do all of them definitively?

Maggid Shiur: One must perhaps yes, say only a list, not pshat [pshat: simple meaning] that there is a definitive list. Just as it is with taryag mitzvos [taryag mitzvos: the 613 commandments] and the Ten Commandments. Can there be another twenty? Can be another twenty. It can be that the list is not davka [davka: specifically] the most important, it’s the ones that come first to mind, that one remembers immediately, and he uses it almost as [kim’at b’soras: almost as] an example. Let this also be in Hilchos Deos [Hilchos Deos: Laws of Character Traits, a section in the Rambam’s Mishneh Torah].

Proof: Four Different Lists in the Rambam

The Rambam himself has these four such lists that I know of. Two in Shemonah Perakim [Shemonah Perakim: the Rambam’s Eight Chapters, an introduction to Pirkei Avos].

Student: Two? Which two? And how else?

Maggid Shiur: Chapter 2. And in Chapter 2 it says… I don’t think, what is the subject of Chapter 2?

Student: In which part of the nefesh [nefesh: soul] are the midos found.

List 1: Shemonah Perakim, Chapter 2

Maggid Shiur: And there, when he comes to that part, he says… the virtuous character traits [hama’alos hamidos: the virtuous character traits], like… yes, Chapter 2 is in Chapter 1 and perhaps I’m making a mistake. Chapter 1. Yes, Chapter 1, sorry. In Chapter 1, no. Sorry, how is the list? Sorry, Chapter 2, Chapter 2, I didn’t make a mistake. Chapter 1 says something similar. A third list. Not this one.

The list of good midos is in Chapter 2, because there he speaks of each part of the soul how it has virtues and deficiencies [ma’alos v’chesronos: virtues and deficiencies]. And he says that the virtuous character traits they belong to the emotional part [chelek hamisorer: the part of the soul that is aroused by emotions]. And he gives a list, and he says this is the language, the virtues of this part are very many [ma’alos zeh hachelek rabos me’od: the virtues of this part are very many], here there are very many virtues.

Student: Virtuous character traits yes, there are intellectual virtues [ma’alos sichliyo: intellectual virtues] which is a separate thing.

Maggid Shiur: He speaks here of virtuous character traits, like carefulness, and refinement, and justice, and patience, and humility, and contentment, and courage, and faith, and others [k’zehirus, v’adinus, v’tzedek, v’savlanus, v’anavah, v’histapaikus, u’gevurah, ve’emunah, v’zulasam: like carefulness, and refinement, and justice, and patience, and humility, and contentment, and courage, and faith, and others]. This is a list of nine parts. And afterwards he says clearly and there are many, rabos me’od, not only these. This is only an example. And he also states clearly with “and others” [v’zulasam: and others], that there are more.

List 2: Shemonah Perakim, Chapter 4

And the same thing is in Chapter 4, where he more officially speaks about how the good midos are. And here it’s a bit more a complicated list, because he also makes a list of nine derech eretz [derech eretz: proper conduct]. You can check in the end of the week it says which is in which. You can see, it doesn’t say here, no, it doesn’t say here what I would have needed. It does say. You can see, you have here also a list of nine parts, and you can check which he missed, which he took out one of them. Figure out, I don’t know, perhaps one can learn something from this, but I believe that the main point is certainly that it’s not a difference, because he doesn’t go through simply a list, everything is only the examples, and both of them are not a list, like “these are the character traits, no less and no more” [elu hen hamidos, lo pachot v’lo yoser: these are the character traits, no less and no more]. It’s only the examples, and the first chapter he puts many times an example so one should understand, and the second chapter, sorry, so one should understand that this is the sort of things that belong to the practical part [chelek hama’aseh: the practical part], and the fourth chapter is altogether [sach hakol: altogether] an example with more details [peratim: details] to show how each one of them can be explained [mesbir zein: explain] with a derech ha’emtza’i. Right?

So until this day [ad hayom hazeh: until this day] one doesn’t know what is the correct list of all character traits.

Lists 3 and 4: Hilchos Deos

Another place, where are the two lists that are in Shemonah Perakim? Two more lists are in… Mishneh Torah [Mishneh Torah: the Rambam’s main law code], Hilchos Deos. Where is Mishneh Torah here? Hilchos Deos, it also says in Chapter 1. What does it say here in Chapter 1 of Hilchos Deos? It’s very special. It says, Hilchos Deos, yes, “there are many character traits for each and every person” [deos harbeh yesh l’chol echad v’echad mibnei adam: there are many opinions/character traits for each and every person], very many of them. “Deos” also means character traits, generally [biderech klal: generally] he goes through a list. Here is also a short list a bit, he goes through four of them he brings out at length [be’arichus: at length], and afterwards he says “and so in this way all the rest of the character traits” [v’chen al derech zo she’ar kol hadeos: and so in this way all the rest of the opinions]. He goes like this, he first explains at length a hot-tempered person [ba’al cheimah: one with anger] and a lustful person [ba’al ta’avah: one with desires] and an ambitious person [ba’al nefesh rechavah: one with a broad soul, ambitious] and withdrawn [nasog: withdrawn] at length what it means, afterwards he gives a few more only with a name, praised and wretched [mehulal v’anan: praised and wretched] etc. etc. etc., and all similar ones [v’chol kayotzei bahen: and all similar ones]. So he becomes shorter with his words for each one, and it’s still not exhaustive, he says “and more etc. etc.” [v’od etc. etc.: and more and so forth]. What is this etc. etc.? No one knows.

And the same thing as the fourth list that I said. Afterwards the Rambam says, the mitzvah is that he should go in the middle path [derech ha’emtza’i: the middle path] in every character trait, and he also gives the Gemara [Gemara: Talmud] how, how for example [keitzad lemashel: how for example], and afterwards it says further “and so the rest of the character traits” in law 4. The same thing, there are already as it were [kiv’yachol: as it were] two lists. Afterwards there is a third list, perhaps even, I’ll see how I’ll mark it [metzayen zein: mark], in Chapter 2 where he goes through the healing of character traits [refuas hamidos: healing of character traits], and he says that there are such character traits and there are such character traits, and he brings there a few more midos. He says that there is another middah that doesn’t appear in the previous midos, the middah of silence [shetikah: silence], “a fence for wisdom is silence” [seyag lechochmah shetikah: a fence for wisdom is silence]. And I don’t know if this is also a matter of commandment [davar hamitzvah: a matter of commandment] apparently also, and a few more midos that he goes through in Chapter 2 also, there is a bit of a list.

Conclusion: No List Matches Any Other

None of these lists are the same as any other ones. What do we learn from this? That the lists are not real.

Discussion: Is This Like Taryag Mitzvos?

Student: But the list of the taryag mitzvos is indeed real, he does say…

Maggid Shiur: No, but the mitzvos, the mitzvos…

Student: Perhaps the whole mitzvos list is not real?

Maggid Shiur: No, the mitzvos list is real, I’ll tell you why. Because what is the proof [re’ayah: proof]? What is there? Apparently I can have a whole doubt [safek: doubt] in a mitzvah, whether it’s indeed a mitzvah or it’s not a mitzvah, whether one must remove a mitzvah. It makes a difference if a mitzvah is on the list. Here it doesn’t make any difference, not any thing. The midos you can divide into two midos. What’s the practical difference [lemai nafka minah: what’s the practical difference]? Here there is no nafka minah. It’s a real nafka minah, I’ll tell you more what the nafka minah is, but there is a nafka minah, it’s a real thing. The lists are not real. Why aren’t they real? Because the true definition of midos is on every thing to go in the middle path [biderech ha’emtza’i]. And biderech ha’emtza’i means many all kinds of [kol minei: all kinds of] correct things in every topic. Right?

So the list of midos is not as real as it is today. This is not God forbid [chas v’shalom: God forbid], Orchos Tzaddikim [Orchos Tzaddikim: Paths of the Righteous, a classical mussar book] also has a list of midos, yes? Perhaps he has twenty-five, I don’t know what his number is. How many chapters are there in Orchos Tzaddikim? Who wrote it? No one knows who wrote it.

Student: A woman.

Student: I heard that a woman wrote it.

Maggid Shiur: Who? Who?

Student: I heard that a woman wrote it.

Maggid Shiur: A woman? But I don’t know, ah, it could be that a woman wrote it, but…

Student: Do you learn it?

Maggid Shiur: It’s a nice little book. Yes? Yes. There are twenty-eight gates [she’arim: chapters]. A part of them are one the opposite [hipuch: opposite] of the other, the gate of pride [sha’ar haga’avah: the gate of pride], the gate of humility [sha’ar ha’anavah: the gate of humility], etc. But a big list, a long list of midos. There are other such books. There are books of midos that were a…

Student: Orchos Tzaddikim is a certain way of midos?

Maggid Shiur: Yes, that’s already thirteen or more. Yes, there is the list of thirteen character traits [yud gimmel midos: thirteen character traits] of knowledge. They learned a shiur in the thirteen attributes of mercy [yud gimmel midos harachamim: the thirteen attributes of mercy], right? One must also think about this for a few shiurim. Because none of the lists were…

Lists of Character Traits: Different Traditions and the Philosophical Problem

Lists of Character Traits Are Not “Real” / Fixed

Maggid Shiur:

So the list of character traits is not as real as it sounds. Chovos HaLevavos [Chovos HaLevavos: Duties of the Heart, an 11th-century Jewish ethical work], Orchos Tzaddikim [Orchos Tzaddikim: Paths of the Righteous, a medieval Jewish ethical work] also has a list of midos, yes? Perhaps he has twenty-eight, something like that number. Certainly there is in Orchos Tzaddikim. Who wrote it? No one knows who wrote it.

Student:

Who? A woman?

Maggid Shiur:

A weak idea, it could already be a woman. Do you learn it? It’s nice books already. Yes? Yes.

There are twenty-eight gates. A part of them are one the opposite of the other, the gate of pride [sha’ar haga’avah], the gate of humility [sha’ar ha’anavah], and so on [v’chuli: and so on]. But a big one has a long list of midos. There are other such books, books of character traits [sifrei midos]. There was a… an older one, there’s another big way of midos. Yes, there are thirteen or more. Yes, there is the list of thirteen character traits of… of… of knowledge. I once learned a shiur about the thirteen attributes, right? One must also think about a simple one. But none of the lists is a real list. So, one must understand these things. Okay, that’s first of all [kodem kol]. Right?

This is my opinion about this, about the two extremes. Yes. So, why isn’t there a normal list? Like taryag mitzvos [613 commandments], twenty character traits. It would have been much more normal. Yes. So… the rabbis had lists, the philosophers had lists, the ma’aleh masu made lists, they made lists for the gentiles, all kinds of things. Yes.

So let’s understand, I want to tell you the question, I’m making here source references, I’m giving a structure, I want to make the question. What is the practical difference? The practical difference is like this, let’s understand an important thing.

The Four Cardinal Virtues of Plato

Lecturer:

There is also an accepted list, among Jews it’s not so accepted, the Greeks had a very accepted list of four, four main good character traits which are called… this is classic, called “Four cardinal virtues,” which is Plato’s list. One always goes with this list, sometimes he also adds ten or so, but the main list that appears in the book “The Republic” [Plato’s Republic] is… four traits. Which four traits must a person have? Everyone must remember…

Student:

No, no, that’s something else.

Lecturer:

The ancient Greeks, it’s brought in many early rabbinic authorities, I don’t remember which ones, said that there are four main good character traits. Four main good ones, we’ll talk about this.

The First Trait: Abstinence/Temperance

The first is, these are character traits, in English it goes “temperance,” okay? We’ll go talk about this, or “sophrosyne” in Greek, abstinence/moderation. We’ll talk about this. “Sophrosyne” is the language of abstinence, says the Rambam. And… what are you doing?

Student:

No, there are those who say there’s a difference.

Lecturer:

Now, fine.

The Second Trait: Courage

“Courage,” bravery, strength/courage.

The Third Trait: Wisdom

Lecturer:

“Wisdom.” Wisdom, wisdom. Certainly wisdom is a good trait, to conduct oneself with wisdom, and also to have wisdom, certainly. The Rambam, soon we’ll see.

And…

Student:

If you are a wise person, it says in the Book of Proverbs, it’s full of this.

Lecturer:

Either you get it or not.

Student:

No, no, wisdom is not talent/ability.

Digression: Wisdom is Not Talent

Lecturer:

One must conduct oneself with talent, certainly. One learns, one learns to be wise. It’s not that… either you’re smart or not. No, nonsense. Either you come with… or you have the talent. Talent and wisdom are not the same thing. Okay?

Student:

And don’t you need to have the talent?

Lecturer:

No. But you need to have talent for everything. Even to be an arrogant person one needs to have talent. For everything one needs to have talent. Talent means the “capacity.” Not everyone can… everyone gets… okay, I’m telling you a fact. The first thing that comes in, look in Chazal, it says thousands of times that it’s a virtue to be wise. It’s not… wisdom is a virtue. A virtue that you get.

Student:

No, a virtue that one does.

Lecturer:

You can get this. Chazal say this. Oy, oy, wise. Because the Rambam says explicitly in the laws, it says explicitly in the Laws of Repentance, remember? “Everyone can be wise or foolish.” Free choice. It says in the chapters on free choice. And it’s not a novelty in the Rambam, there are verses like this. A person must be wise. Okay, anyway, I said here a list.

The Fourth Trait: Justice

Lecturer:

The fourth good trait is justice, righteousness/justice, to be a righteous person. Must be a righteous person, wise, strong, and wealthy. So said the ancient Greeks. There are other good traits that Plato talks about a lot, which is being a good friend, wise, strong, and wealthy.

Other Lists – Jewish and Christian

Jewish Lists

Lecturer:

The other list, let your house be open wide. In the Mishnah there are various such lists. “The brazen-faced go to Gehinnom, the shame-faced to the Garden of Eden.” “Jealousy among scholars increases wisdom.” There are many different lists. Anyway, this is very accepted.

The Three “Theological Virtues” of the Christians

Lecturer:

As I said, the early Christians said that this is according to nature. But from the perspective of religion there are three more traits called Faith, Hope, and Charity. These are the “three theological virtues,” so it’s accepted among the Christians. Faith – faith, Hope – hope, I don’t know, trust, and Charity – love, giving, beyond the letter of the law essentially. Not justice, which means one gives what is right, but kindness. This is what they said, this will come out, I already know, hosting a kohen and the righteous.

And among the Jews such a thing is not accepted. Interesting, another important thing, soon we’ll talk about this, humility and honor.

The Philosophical Question: What is the Reason for a List of Character Traits at All?

The Problem with All Lists

Lecturer:

But what I want to say with all these things is, that there are different lists of good character traits, different accepted lists. I can perhaps take the list of Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair, think about this soon too. Different lists of good character traits. Everyone agrees that a person must have different good character traits.

What is the important thing when one makes such a list? The important thing is to understand on what the list is built. I now said an interesting novelty, an interesting observation, that with the Rambam’s list there is never a real list.

Criteria for a Good List (Aristotelian Logic)

Lecturer:

In other words, 613 commandments, Aristotle taught that a good list must be “exhaustive,” it must include everything that exists, and what is the other thing? It must be divided correctly. Yes? Nothing should be missing, one shouldn’t be able to come tomorrow and say “what did the teacher leave out and leave out.” If there is “left out and left out,” it’s a weak list. A list must start from the general principle, and it must divide the principle correctly, so that one shouldn’t be able to say tomorrow why didn’t you divide it differently, yes? So apparently this is the law/rule of a good list. The law of a good list must include everything that exists in the topic. Someone makes a list of what he needs to buy for Shabbos, he needs to buy everything, and he shouldn’t miss anything.

The Problem with Character Trait Lists

Lecturer:

All these lists also don’t work like this. There was, and they must first of all establish, how one hits all the traits, all the good traits, one by one, not missing one. And the second is, how one divides it in the right way. How does one make a division that this is not just a list thrown into the world, but one must divide it in the right way. What divides? In other words, what makes… we’ll go talk, the Rambam will talk about different traits, there is a trait of… what is the list of traits here? It says here, you have here a trait of stinginess, and there is also a trait of generosity. He has two traits, or two or three traits that have to do with money. And we need to understand what connects, what divides the traits? What does one mean when one says that a trait is different from the other trait? This we already started to talk about in the previous term, the investigation, right?

The Radical Question: Does One Need a List of Traits at All?

The Claim: Everything Comes Down to One Thing

Lecturer:

We need to understand at all that there is a strong claim that says that there is no such thing as many traits. As the Chazon Ish didn’t claim, as righteous people loved to claim, I remember. Why? Because good character traits means that he should conduct himself as is right. To conduct according to the measure of wisdom, according to what it should be, according to what is right. It comes out that there is only one trait, to conduct oneself according to what is right. And there is one bad trait, he can conduct himself not as is right, that he should conduct himself according to the evil inclination, let’s say, according to what is convenient for him, according to what the inclination tells him is right, not as is truly right.

Rabbeinu Yonah: Wise and Foolish

Lecturer:

What did Rabbeinu Yonah say? “All the commandments are the teaching of the wise, and all the transgressions are the teaching of the fool.” Yes, wise and foolish, yes, righteous and wicked. There is a good one and there is a bad one. There is a pious one and there is a fool. And so on. But specifically when one talks about character traits, what is the practical difference that the bad thing he does is the trait of anger or it’s the trait of… it’s not a sin? It’s a sin, and one must know by which names the sins. It’s not a practical difference. But he does a sin, he does a transgression, he does a transgression. It’s not a practical difference if he does a transgression of robbery or he does a transgression of theft. The trait of anger, comes from the trait of pride, and I mean even the trait of pride, why should one talk about this at all? Okay, what does it help me?

The Practical Objection: “What Does a List Help Me?”

Lecturer:

Do you understand the question? It’s a waste of time to make all these lists of traits, it will help me nothing. What do I have to make a long list? I tell everyone, you should conduct yourself properly and that’s it.

Student:

Yes, but it’s impossible.

Lecturer:

I can grab onto one trait. What will help to give one trait? Let’s say, someone never heard of the trait. Let’s say someone never heard of the concept, perhaps there are such people? Never heard of the thing that there is a list of traits, different good traits, bad traits. He knows that one must be a person, one must conduct oneself properly. What does it mean how to conduct oneself properly? I’ll tell you, I know a thousand things: the father one must honor, and to friends one must be good friends, and when one eats one must eat not too much and not too little. At every second there is another trait. What do I have from making from this such general traits? The trait of desire, the trait of pride, the trait of anger, the trait of humility. What do I have from this? I wouldn’t have known that these things are good things? I would have known. I would have known. I’m a good person, I do all these things. What do I do with making a list of traits? Or at all with saying even one of them?

Student:

I can’t teach people to be good, but I tell them, this means such and such.

[Technical Interruption]

Lecturer:

This is… It’s not working, my recorder. It says recording. It says, I don’t see the green… No, my audio doesn’t work. The recorder became, audio doesn’t work. The green what? It’s not connected to the camera. It’s connected in the wrong place or something. I don’t know, something is wrong. I’m afraid we won’t have a lecture. No, it’s bullshit.

Ah, what? No, it’s connected to the wrong thing, or my thing is not turned on, or something. I don’t know, all kinds of things are… You see that it doesn’t make any red… You see that it doesn’t make any red… You see that it doesn’t make any red… The green is your bar that goes up and down? No, on the… on the camera. That’s the receiver. No, no, it’s not plugged in the right place. I plugged it in the wrong place. Take this. Yes. Should it be such a thing? Should it be wider?

Courtesy and the Power of Words in Character Traits

The Necessity to See Traits in Practice

Character Traits is a Matter of Practical Action

Instructor: Do you see that it doesn’t make any red and any green, the bar that goes up and down? Well, without the… without the… without the camera. That’s the receiver. No no no, it’s not plugged in the right place, it’s in the wrong place. This?

Student: Yes.

Instructor: What should I bring? I’m looking what’s going on there. Don’t know. Finally you have what you need to work on.

Student: So I need to know. So I need to know. What does one have from making an extra trait of knowing what the camera is.

Instructor: I need to grasp the point, I need to say an important thing. Okay, so this is a very serious question. What does one have from the whole thing, one thing one should be able to explain.

Student: Okay, I help fully, make such general rules. Instead of saying one must be a person, one says be humble, and don’t be arrogant, not angry, not desirous.

Instructor: What? You’re focused on the bad things. The Rambam also takes, says anger, I don’t know what he says there. One must base it on certain measures, on certain people, base on certain measures, on certain examples. And no examples from another point when you don’t have any sense of the middle path, one must… the middle path is only a theory. In practice one must see it.

So let’s understand, here I agree that character traits is a matter of practical action. A matter of practical action one doesn’t learn from any Torah. One must see it.

Student: Honestly, one must see it, right?

Instructor: Yes. One must be able to see.

Student: Well, the question is like this, I agree, but so one must see it completely in actual practice. Can you tell me about general character traits, it also won’t help me so much. Right? What will help me to see how that one doesn’t get upset or does get upset, at the right time, in the right manner, in the right way. Then I can learn that this is a good thing, or I saw that this leads to a better life, I saw that this is a good thing.

Instructor: True.

Student: The question is about the thing in between, right? What do I have from calling it the trait of anger? What do I do with dividing the traits in this manner, and calling this anger and this desire and this pride and so on? It’s not the exact thing I see, it’s a bit a higher level of abstraction, right? It’s something in between.

The Necessity of Words to Identify Traits

Instructor: But you can see from him to learn very good things, and other things he is very angry. As long as he doesn’t have a name for the thing of anger, and he hasn’t yet grasped that this is… because he has so many other good traits, and other things he is good, and here he is very strongly upset.

So if you don’t have a word, so this is a general thing, like if you don’t have words for things, you don’t notice them, right? We only see things that we have words for them. This is a principle. A very strong principle. Or we don’t understand, we can’t, we don’t understand, I don’t mean we can’t give a lecture, we don’t understand how to conduct ourselves without calling the thing a word.

Examples of Missing Words and Traits

The Thief Who Doesn’t Know He’s a Thief

Instructor: It can be for example, let’s say an important thing. It can be for example that there are different people, we talked last week in the lecture about this, that often there is a person who is a thief and he doesn’t grasp that he’s a thief, and the environment doesn’t grasp that he’s a thief, true? He’s a murderer and he doesn’t grasp that he’s a murderer. It can even be whole cultures that they don’t have a word for a certain good trait, and they can’t feel it. It’s very hard, at least, perhaps he has it a bit by mistake, by chance by error he got it from somewhere, but it’s very hard for the person to have the thing consistently, because he doesn’t have a word.

I can think of the Gemara, by the way, not just that. I mean that we Jews, I love when people criticize the Jews, right? I mean that by us Jews, we have different lists of character traits (middos), like the list of middos that the Rambam brings, everyone knows, and I hold that in every list many good middos are missing. And because we don’t have them in the list, not just a list, but the reasons why we should conduct ourselves this way, and the reasons why we shouldn’t conduct ourselves this way, and so on, it goes perhaps both ways, but when we don’t have it and we don’t talk about the thing as a middah, we completely lack the ability to grasp that this is something that can be done. You can think of the Gemara, right? No, it’s a good example.

Courage — A Middah That the Baalei Mussar Don’t Talk About

Instructor: Courage we already talked about, when we talked that there are many times, courage is something that the Rambam does talk about, I talked about this, and Rav Aharon Kotler talks about this, but the baalei mussar don’t like to talk about courage. Now, I would have thought that courage means, it’s appropriate to talk about it, because there is a middah of derech hametzuah shebo [the middle path within it], yes? It doesn’t mean just being an animal, it means, yes, there is a proper middah of not knowing how to take risks, and how to put oneself in danger in the right way, is something that must be discussed. But we don’t, yes, we don’t talk about it, it’s not a good example that I know. I say courage, most people know what it is, they just say it’s not a Jewish thing.

The Example of Courtesy

What Is Courtesy?

Instructor: And I thought of something that we don’t know at all what it is, because we don’t have a word for it. For example.

Student: For example?

Instructor: I know, I have a year and a half, I need to fill out forms.

Student: What?

Instructor: This is for shiurim that I’m giving.

Student: What?

Instructor: It’s not.

Student: Ah, it’s not?

Instructor: It is, yes?

Student: Ah, that’s an interesting thing to say.

Instructor: I know if it’s a good trait or a bad trait. But there is a middah called courtesy in English. Do you understand it?

Student: What does courtesy mean?

Instructor: Courtesy, everyone knows courtesy. Courtesy means a way how a person behaves with a stranger. Like we have a middah called farginnen [being happy for others’ success] that other people don’t know about farginnen?

Student: It’s an opposite middah.

Instructor: It’s an opposite example. It’s not yet good enough. I can say an eidel (refined person), for example.

Student: I’ll say to be good to be eidel, I know what it means.

Instructor: I mean it’s refined. It’s yours. It’s one eidel, I mean it’s tznius (modesty), a conduct. It’s also a sort of tznius.

No, courtesy is eidel. No, courtesy means a certain, a proper way how one conducts oneself with strangers. With a friend you don’t have courtesy, with a friend you’re a friend. With an enemy you have, I don’t know what, hatred, whatever, you have to relate to him. Courtesy is this, that when you go to the bank and someone is standing alone, you don’t push him. Yes? You know that Jews aren’t so polite.

Student: It’s called chillul Hashem [desecration of God’s name], it’s a whole other topic.

Instructor: Yes? Courtesy means that when you go into the store, you hold the door for the one who is after you. Yes? It’s not a middah, it’s not chesed (kindness), he didn’t need to have chesed, he can very well hold the door himself. It’s simply a proper conduct how one behaves with a stranger. Not with a friend, not one of your children, not someone you’re being mekarev (bringing close), that you want to show him how good the Jews are.

I didn’t say that there aren’t any sources in the Torah for such a thing.

Discussion: Is Courtesy Falsehood?

Student: No, no, I wouldn’t call it gaavah (pride). I wouldn’t call it gaavah.

Instructor: No, except that you’re being mekarev such a thing, with courtesy indeed.

Student: Courtesy. Need no, need no nimus (politeness)?

Instructor: The sefarim have the expression nimus, but when we say nimus, it looks to us like a false thing.

Student: No, there is such a middah.

Instructor: It’s false.

Student: It’s not, it looks to us false, because it’s actually, I don’t mean the friend. I can be very courteous to you, and I have you in the ground. It doesn’t concern me, I don’t care if you die tomorrow in the next minute. What does it have to do with falsehood?

Instructor: That’s nice, that this is the shitah (approach) of the Jews. The Jews hold, the real Jews, that they know that they hold that this is false, they know that it’s false. It has no virtue. A non-Jew, a non-Jew, a certain culture, the European culture is very into courtesy. By the way, in the East it’s not so. What is the virtue?

Student: You want the virtue to be? This is a shiur on courtesy?

Instructor: I’ll tell you in reality. An example. Non-Jews come, and he can be the biggest piece of garbage, he smiles, everything is courtesy. Next day, “I will call you,” and he has you in the ground. Meaning, it’s a falsehood, it’s worth nothing. It’s not a good middah.

Student: Okay, it looks very good, it’s a dispute.

Instructor: I don’t agree that it doesn’t exist by Klal Yisrael at all. It could be that it’s chanufah (flattery).

The Difference Between Courtesy and Chanufah

Student: Ah, very good. Wait, wait, let’s stop. Very good. There is a thing called chanufah. How do you say chanufah in English? Flattery, right? Flattery. Everyone understands that flattery and courtesy… It could be that the extreme in America is to be a bit more courteous. I admit to you. It could be that the American non-Jews, the custom of America, is to be a bit too… not… at some point you have to say, you want me to hold that I shouldn’t call you back?

Instructor: No, tell me, I won’t call you back.

Student: No, see, what this is in the Rambam’s way of thinking, what you’re saying now, is the bad extreme (ketzuniyus hara) of this. Courtesy, in other words, means how one conducts oneself toward a stranger. Not like the Galician Jews, first the speech goes in, ah, I want to wish you a good month. No, this is even how one speaks to a normal person. Not a hug. A hug is already too much. And also that’s a fake… and the hippies make a hug for every stranger. That’s not courtesy, that’s something like an aveirah lishmah [a transgression for the sake of heaven — ironic usage]. The non-Jews make… how do we say, please come into our holy congregation, which brings the Nazis on. That’s false courtesy, because it’s completely the opposite.

And what is proper courtesy? Not the same thing as chanufah. Yes, now it’s not even chanufah, you know what it is now. Chanufah means flattery. Everyone understands in English the two words. When you have two words, it means that the culture distinguishes between the two things. Flattery is the one who says, the lecker (licker/flatterer), “Yes, I’ll call you,” and when he doesn’t call, he says, “Yes, yes, I saw you…” That’s not courtesy. Courtesy means, you can say courteously no, yes? You can say, “Thank you for the offer, and you said, “Thank you so much for your interest, it’s not a right time for us now.” You said, that’s very clearly no. There’s no doubt that tomorrow won’t be the time, right? You understand it yourself. But it’s not a lie, and it’s not chanufah. Chanufah is the one who doesn’t understand the difference, he says that this is chanufah.

Courtesy as Maaseh Derech Eretz

Instructor: Courtesy is a maaseh derech eretz [proper conduct]. When someone backs out in a parking lot, you give him a wave. That’s a certain courteousness. Yes, but I hear, it’s not a tremendous virtue to have. It’s a tremendous virtue, I don’t know that.

Student: What?

Two Approaches in Judaism: Sever Panim Yafos and B’Simchah

Instructor: There is a contradiction. There is one Mishnah “greet with a pleasant countenance” (sever panim yafos), and there is a second Mishnah “greet with joy” (b’simchah). These are the two approaches in Judaism. One accepts suffering with joy (mekabel yissurim b’simchah), and one says “sever panim yafos”. Tomorrow, tomorrow, there will be an approach. These are two Tannaim [Mishnaic sages], one says this and one says that. The Rambam talks about this in chapter one, Mishnah one. True, but we’ll do chapter one faster.

Middos Toward Strangers and the System of Parts of the Soul

Example: Sever Panim Yafos – A Middah That Lacks a Name

Instructor: Yes, but what… I hear, but it’s indeed a tremendous virtue to have. It’s a tremendous virtue. I don’t know that. I only know… what?

Yes, there is presumably, there is one Mishnah that says “Greet every person with a pleasant countenance” (Hevei mekabel es kol ha’adam b’sever panim yafos – Pirkei Avos/Ethics of the Fathers 1:15), and there are two approaches in Judaism. One is “mekabel es kol ha’adam”, and one weighs in “b’sever panim yafos”. This is the second pleasure. One says this is not yet enough. The Rambam [Maimonides] talks about this in chapter seven in the Mishnah.

True, yes, true. But we only make it like something called “sever panim yafos” is to… usually when we count how much to… sever panim yafos… yes, good morning.

The Benefit of Having a Word for a Middah

In short, I’m just bringing it out, that when you have a word for something, you grasp that there is such a middah, and for this there is a proper way of the middah. There is one who is just a lecker (flatterer), one is just a liar, one is just bad, that’s the opposite, he has too little courtesy, one has too much false courtesy. But there is such a middah, and as long as you don’t have the word, it’s very hard to talk about it, very hard to grasp at all what one is talking about, very hard to educate.

For example, even you see, you see that people do this, you say, “Ah, they are chanfanim [flatterers/hypocrites].” No, they’re not chanfanim. Some are chanfanim, but some are educating themselves to the middah.

This is an example. I mean that there are many Jewish middos that it’s become that we don’t have, and so on. Come, give us a few real middos.

Student: Respect? Middos are all such small things.

Instructor: Say respect. The middah of respect doesn’t exist today among Jews.

Student: There is a middas derech eretz [proper conduct/respect] for older people, there is kavod habriyos [respect for human dignity].

Instructor: Derech eretz, politeness.

Student: Yes, but…

Instructor: There is a certain kavod habriyos, but because it’s a difficult…

Middos Toward Strangers – A Gap in the Jewish Middos World

Instructor: Courtesy is a strange middah. I think a lot about this for other Jews. There are many middos in today’s world that have to do with how we act toward strangers. Jews don’t have such a big concept of a stranger.

Student: No, it’s a real thing.

Instructor: If he’s a Jew, he’s a brother. If he’s a Jew from the other Chassidus, he’s his enemy (soneh). But… and in the liberal world… I mean, sometimes today’s world – once it was, today’s world is very strongly built on various good middos how one behaves toward strangers.

Hachnasos Orchim – A Comparison

In the old world, the Jews, the frum Jews, the heimishe Jews are a bit old-fashioned in this part, they don’t really have the middos. For example hachnasos orchim [hospitality to guests] that Avraham Avinu [Abraham our forefather] founded, the Arabs in the Middle East are still very strong in the line of hachnasos orchim. Hachnasos orchim is a sort of middah, but hachnasos orchim is already more than that. Hachnasos orchim is that you came to me, now you belong to me, I have to even protect you, I have to be your guardian (shomer), because you belong to me. You are already under my protection (tachas chasusi), you are under my protection.

This is a sort of middah how one behaves with strangers, but this is already a middah that makes the stranger into a person under your authority (ish tachas shiltoncha). The liberal middah is that he’s a citizen, how one behaves toward a second citizen, not he who is there together with you, your friend, holds everything and body. This is the other middah, therefore the Jews can’t go on the subway, you understand? No courtesy, nothing. This is already first.

The Whole World of Middos

Yes yes, all these middos, that courtesy is just one example, there are many middos, and there is an argument to be had which is the right one and which not, I already know, one can argue about this. I’m just bringing out that here are middos, it’s a whole conduct (hanhagah), everyone agrees that one can be too much, it can be too cold, it can be too hot, it can be too warm, too cold, too bad and so on. But there is a whole world (olam) in middos that one is educated to be a good person.

Example: Yellow Lights (Traffic Lights)

There are middos, you know also in everything, there are middos in law. The law says that at yellow lights we may drive, all Chassidic Jews understand that one must drive faster. But what does the good middah say? The good middah says at yellow lights one stops, because this is not… what do I have with the other? What should the second one be? Nothing should happen to him, no problem, but one wants to beat who arrives first. This requires a certain humanity, we call it humanity sometimes. Yes, because it’s a courtesy.

In short, all these middos that perhaps we don’t have a word for, and there is a big question in middos whether there is such a thing as middos for a stranger, for someone that I simply don’t have some connection with him, I don’t owe him anything. Simply, I am healthy and my friend is healthy (ani bari v’chaveri bari – i.e., we have no connection). And I come to my space and he comes to his space, and we don’t mix out. This is something given. Okay, how we will come to see given. This was just an example to explain one benefit, a certain aspect that the benefit is from the middos, from what one must write.

Discussion: What Is the Middah of Not Hitting?

Student: By what do you think rather a general rule? Say that yes, one is a person.

Instructor: Ah, that’s not actions. It’s the halachah itself, everyone waits itself, it’s a mitzvah. I don’t tag a word now. A middah’s sorry’s sorry’s. No one will know. It’s usually three levels there. A general. Middos says. I need a middah why one doesn’t hit the other in the world to take in. What is that middah called? I know, I know a middah? I don’t see that it’s making it coming. What is the middah called? It’s good for cans, perhaps living. Cans?

Student: No, I teach it to my small children. You need a… I teach it to my small children.

Instructor: No, I’m asking a good question.

Student: I teach it to my small children. One doesn’t hit! Don’t hit! What is first comes a father. What will father do, nothing. I don’t know, but don’t push. Leave calmly, talk with the other. What is the middah called?

Instructor: Wise is a middah. Okay, wise is already the general factor. Wise is everything. Be a good person, why should you hit. It’s the goes… Where is a middah? I’ll tell him it. There’s a… what is there a middah is a middah? Where… is the thing that a middah is it certain. You have a middah that you don’t hit. If the other takes something, you don’t hit. What do you do? Either you do nothing, or you call it in the Torah, or you’re most of it. It says, a hundred thousand middos. True? That’s what I’m doing. Once a hundred thousand?

Student: No. Would tell you that you seven times seven? Have you ever heard, don’t cross the lines? But it’s a reason for. That’s the conclusion of the middah? You mean a middah?

Instructor: No. What does a middah mean? You tell me everything came? I don’t know, I tell you, I don’t know which middah it is not to hit the brother. I know that I shouldn’t hit him, not hit more not. What?

Student: No, I don’t even want to call it a middah. There is another middah which is when he asks me for a loan, I give him a loan. It’s not the same thing, did you hear?

Tzedakah and Actions – The Difference Between Middos and Mitzvos

Instructor: Tzedakah [charity], what kind of middah [character trait] is that? It’s also a ma’aseh [action]. I understand, he says, I can give you a list of ma’asim [actions]. It’s a mitzvah [commandment] to lend money to a friend when he needs it, and it’s an aveirah [sin/transgression] to hit him. Both of these things are middos [character traits], right? Because it’s not so simple. My brother calls me, he calls me and asks for a loan. Should I tell him, let me look in the Mishnah Berurah [authoritative halachic code] to see if it says there’s a mitzvah? Yes, wait here, brother, I’ll help you as much as I can. Where does this come from?

Nedivus – How One Conducts Oneself with Money

One shouldn’t have money sitting by oneself, not so that it should help someone else. Maybe that’s a middah. Wait, that’s a middah. How do I conduct myself with my money? My money isn’t just to come and lie in a pocket, rather it’s for work, and it should circulate by me, by someone else, in another business, in an investment. Okay, that’s also a middah, though, right? But what is this middah called? The Rambam [Maimonides] gives a name for each middah. He says it’s one of the middos, correct? Nedivus [generosity], there’s a name for it. But we didn’t know about this.

Summary: Two Benefits from Learning Middos

Instructor: I’m trying to get at something, something is being revealed here. So I want to tell you a second thing. So we’ve revealed one thing, we’ve revealed that there’s a to’eles [benefit] from learning, a benefit from learning, and also becoming habituated. Middos is not a subject of theoretical learning, it’s a subject of becoming habituated. And one can become better habituated when one knows what a word is. This is how people who get results work. That’s one thing.

The System of Chelkei HaNefesh – Why There’s a List of Middos

A Dispute Between Approaches

The second interesting principle is, and this is a dispute. Here the Rambam doesn’t go with this approach, and let’s just mention it. There’s an interesting important dispute, perhaps among the mekubalim [Kabbalists]. The Tanya [foundational work of Chabad Chassidus], for example, goes a different way. There are sefarim [books] that go – there’s literally a dispute about this.

Rebbe Reb Pinchas’l’s Explanation – Three Chelkei HaNefesh

Rebbe Reb Pinchas’l said that he can explain why there’s a list of middos. He claimed that he has an explanation for it. What is his explanation? He said, one goes with the objections to the four middos that they mentioned. They showed him that there’s a critique of the objections, that four middos was accepted that there are four good middos. He claimed that you have an answer, he has an explanation for why there are four middos. The answer is, because there is the nefesh [soul], we learned in chapter one, chapter two, that there are three chelkei hanefesh [parts of the soul]. The Rambam divided it into three parts. There they went to this, in a slightly different way. There are three chelkei hanefesh, as the Rambam said, and consequently each middah belongs to one part. When you ask me why we say there are four middos, it’s because there are three, each chelek hanefesh has its middah, and the fourth is the kelallus [the general/comprehensive one].

The Three Parts and Their Middos

Yes, and how does it go? He says this: a person has three parts in his nefesh, or three nefashos [souls], or not nefashos but parts, however one should say it.

The First Part – Ta’avah: The first part is called ta’avah [desire/appetite], that’s what it’s called. The middah against it is prishus [abstinence/self-restraint], holding oneself back, having control over the ta’avah.

The Second Part – Ka’as/Chelek HaMis’orer: The second chelek hanefesh that a person has is what the Rambam calls the chelek hamis’orer [the spirited/emotional part]. By the Rambam, ta’avah also belongs there, but he divided it. That is, Admor HaZaken [the Alter Rebbe: Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, author of the Tanya] calls it ka’as [anger], or those who know what this is, the chassidim know what this is. The chelek hamis’orer, the main middah that belongs to it is ka’as, that’s what he usually calls it. And there’s another middah there, which is the middah that has to do with that, courage. Courage means, you conduct yourself with your courage in the right way. Ka’as is a sharp courage, think about it. It’s a funny translation, it’s a problem, but that’s how we learned it.

Rav Saadia Gaon’s Approach – Three Chelkei HaNefesh

Rav Saadia Gaon [10th century Jewish philosopher] says that there are three, so he says, there are three chelkei hanefesh: ta’avah, ka’as, and seichel [intellect/reason]. Ka’as is a translation. What does ka’as mean? It’s the same thing as his’orerus [arousal/spiritedness], think about it.

Haven’t you heard recently from Rabbi Nosson Dovid? All Jews who serve the Almighty with his’orerus are ba’alei ka’as [masters of anger/spiritedness]. That’s how it goes, it’s the same koach [power/force]. Not exactly the same, but approximately the same.

Cheishek and Hislahavus – Two Types of Avodas Hashem

A person who serves the Almighty with cheishek [passion/desire]. Cheishek is not the same thing. It’s very interesting, the Chassidic Jews don’t know, but those who do know, those who think too much about it, we spoke about this last week, the Yeshivishe and the others who held, they said that you serve the Almighty with hislahavus [enthusiasm/fervor].

Hislahavus is two completely opposite things. There’s eish umayim [fire and water], ahavah kireshpei eish [love like fiery flames – from Song of Songs 8:6], ahavah kamayim [love like water]. One serves the Almighty with passion, with cheishek, and it’s not the same thing as one who serves the Almighty with hislahavus.

His’orerus and Cheishek in Avodas Hashem: The Rambam’s Different Way of Dividing Middos

His’orerus vs. Cheishek – Two Different Forces

Maggid Shiur [Lecturer]:

All Jews who serve the Almighty with his’orerus are ba’alei ka’as. All. That’s the same chiyus [vitality], that’s approximately the same koach. Not exactly the same, but approximately the same.

A person who serves the Almighty with cheishek – cheishek is not the same thing. It’s very interesting. The Chassidic Jews don’t know. They do know, if you think a bit we’ll speak about this this week, the Yeshivishe and others who held that one must serve the Almighty with his’orerus. But there are two completely opposite types of his’orerus. That is, fire and water, and Lubavitch says ahavah kireshpei eish, ahavah kamayim.

One who serves the Almighty with passion, with cheishek, is not the same thing as one who serves the Almighty with his’orerus. It’s two different things, with ka’as, with a boil. Yes, a boil, it’s the midas ha’eish [the trait of fire]. It’s not ahavah [love].

People, many chassidim think that ahavah with a boil is the same thing. It’s exactly the opposite thing. It’s a different feeling, it’s a different type of thing. It doesn’t come from the same place.

Why do I understand it differently? Someone who is alive, everything by him is alive, but it’s not the same thing. A passion, a drive, a teshukah [longing], a… what do you call it in English? A lust, an eros, an attraction, he’s attracted, and someone who is ignited. They’re two different things.

What makes him ignited? Because this is important, because this is ka’as. The midas haka’as means “this is very important, this is very relevant.” That’s a different type of thing. One must do something here. One must do something. It’s not the same thing.

Kana’us Comes from Ka’as, Not from Ahavah

Kana’us [zealotry] comes from yirah [fear], comes from ka’as. Kana’us… we spoke about his’orerus. His’orerus is spoken with a bit of ka’as, that’s the kana’us. Kana’us doesn’t come from ahavah. No. It can be in the pnimiyus [inner dimension], but kana’us comes from ka’as. Kana’us is kin’ah literally means ka’as. I think that Rashi [Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, the primary medieval Torah commentator] says so later.

The Four Good Middos

Maggid Shiur:

Anyway, that’s the second middah. Then there’s the third middah, which is called… what did we call the third thing? Chochmah [wisdom]. Chochmah is the chochmah, seichel, koach, the further good middah of the da’as [knowledge], of the seichel, is called chochmah.

Then there’s the fourth middah, which is called tzedek [justice]. What this means is a tzaddik [righteous person]. We usually call a good person, whether in lashon hakodesh [Hebrew], or in whatever. The main word that we call, it’s very interesting, this is discussed in the Devarim [Deuteronomy]. We can call a good person one way – a chacham [wise person], and another way is to call him a tzaddik.

Tzaddik means a righteous one, from the language of tzedek. What does tzedek have to do with it? Tzedek is a middah. What does this have to do with tzedek? They used to say tzedek has to do with when one does business, there’s no tzeduki bamishpat [perverting justice], he doesn’t steal, he pays when he’s obligated and the like.

Tzedek – Lisein Lechol Echad Mah Shera’ui Lo

Yes, he says, Plato [the ancient Greek philosopher], and it also says in all the Chassidic sefarim the Torah, and the Rambam, I think Plato is the first, perhaps there’s an earlier one who said the Torah, he says that tzedek one must also use with oneself.

What does justice mean? Justice means that one gives each thing mah shera’ui lo, lisein lechol echad mah shera’ui lo [to give each thing what is fitting for it]. Yes, whom you owe you must pay, whom you must do pidyon shevuyim [redeeming captives] you must do pidyon shevuyim, you do business with Jews in merchandise and so on.

The same thing, midas hatzedek [the trait of justice], which is the kelallus of being a good person, means that each koach in the nefesh should receive what is coming to it. The midas haka’as one should use when one needs to have it, the midas hasimchah [trait of joy] when one needs to have it, the midas hata’avah when one needs to have it, and in a general way, the coordination of all these middos, that each thing gets its place, that is tzidkus [righteousness], and that is the main name of a good person is called a just person, a tzaddik, and that is the midas hatzedek. That’s how the four good middos come out. So he wrote in the Sefer HaMedinah [Plato’s Republic].

Two Approaches in Dividing Middos

The Classical Way: Middos According to Chelkei HaNefesh

Maggid Shiur:

And others, in similar ways, which Chazal [our Sages, of blessed memory] mentioned, in the same structure, one can perhaps have more details, but in the same structure one can see for example in the sefer, that is, which sefer has such structures? Shaarei Kedushah [Gates of Holiness, by Rabbi Chaim Vital], or the Tanya which brings from the Shaarei Kedushah, perhaps other sefarim that go this way, I don’t remember which others. Which mussar sefarim does the world learn? I don’t know.

Anyway, in Tanya and in Shaarei Kedushah it says that there are different middos tovos vera’os [good and bad traits], yes, the Shaarei Kedushah is very busy with proper middos, and he says that how does one make the middos? That there are four yesodos [elements], okay, it’s a little different structure, a different way, but there are four yesodos, eish, mayim, ruach, afar [fire, water, wind, earth], and the nefesh also has derech meshal [by way of example], not literally four yesodos, and each one of them has certain middos ra’os [bad traits] that belong to them, yes, eish has to do with ka’as, and mayim with ta’avah, as will be said next, and ruach with ga’avah [pride], and what’s the other one, afar with atzlus [laziness], whatever it is, and above there are four yesodos, there are four divisions, the nefesh is divided into such meshalim [analogies], the structure of the idea of middos.

There are different chelkei hanefesh, there’s an approaching koach, there’s an approaching part, there’s an avoiding part, and so on. And one divides the middos, perhaps two middos for each one, two parts of it, and the like. But the way that he gets to his list of middos is by dividing the soul and giving for each soul, what are the middos tovos of each chelek hanefesh.

And it’s true, it’s very good that we learned, the four yesodos, I didn’t say it, we learned that what this goes, good, there’s something that he actually made, but the way how he made it that it works well, that his chelek haga’avah [part of pride] works well, the simple meaning is that these are the middos, what we call midas haka’as, midas a proper ka’as, is the koach ha’oseh [the active force] that a person does what his task is, he does it properly, and so on for each koach. This is a very old way of dividing the middos according to the chelkei hanefesh, right? So said Rabbi Tzadok [Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin], Plato, and so all the chachmei hamekubalim [the kabbalistic sages] used this thing.

The Rambam’s Different Way

The Rambam doesn’t do this, and I noticed that the Rambam doesn’t do this, true? He does something very similar, he begins with the chelkei hanefesh, and then he says, where are the middos? All belong in one part, and a long list of nine, and he doesn’t tell you a list, a long list of kechai gavna [of this type], of kiyotza bo [similar to this], everything belongs in one part.

And he doesn’t say, in this part there are so many divisions, that each one is a middah. By the Rambam’s middos it doesn’t work with the chelkei hanefesh. The division of middos is not by chelkei hanefesh, which then you would have an exhaustive list, right? Not only an exhaustive list, also the proper division of the list, right?

It’s not such a list that there’s no difference, what there are more chelkei hanefesh than the three or four. What you make next, there are ten chelkei hanefesh, other mekubalim had calculations, for example, a chochmah, if you have seven middos, you have seven sefiros [the seven sefirot], yes? There was also a bit different from the four yesodos idea, but it’s the same idea.

More or less, everything can be divided, either it’s ahavah, or it’s yirah, or it’s tiferes [beauty/harmony], and that’s basically all the middos. And the Baal Shem Tov [founder of Chassidus] always goes with the point, and it’s homologous in it, because a person, everything he does, either you’re attracted to it, or you have aversion to it, or you’re against it. That’s more or less the kav ha’emtza and kav hasmol [the middle line and the left line], or you’re something in between, which is kav ha’emtza.

And there’s more, there aren’t more middos, because there can’t be more, because this is comprehensive, I made a division of everything that exists, I can make more details, but I can’t truly make more middos. This is the way of dividing middos according to the structure of the nefesh.

The Rambam, I see, doesn’t work this way, and there are, I see, a few reasons why he doesn’t work this way. And when I mean to say he doesn’t work this way, I mean perhaps that I need to think, is there a difference that one can’t say this, because there’s a difference to me that it’s wrong. I think it’s more that the claim is there a bit explicitly, and Aristotle perhaps one needs to think about this, but it could be that the claim is, what’s wrong with the Torah? It’s a part, what’s wrong?

Discussion: Does “Knowing” Structures Help for Middos?

The Practical Question

Maggid Shiur:

And they learned that this piece of Torah helped somewhat, that ga’avah is from yeshus ha’atzmi [self-existence] and ta’avah is from yeshus haguf [bodily existence]. Has anyone ever been helped in avodas Hashem [service of God] by these teachings? I’m curious.

Student:

It’s just knowledge, it doesn’t have to help practically. It’s good to know.

Maggid Shiur:

You remember, middos is not a learning that one learns, you don’t fulfill with the knowing, you only fulfill with the doing. It must help something.

Student:

I understand, but it can’t hurt to know something.

Maggid Shiur:

It can’t hurt, but we work so hard to figure out what is the structure, what is a difference?

Sefiras HaOmer as an Example

Student:

Counting seven sefiros, one must work. Sefiros don’t drink water, they become dry.

Maggid Shiur:

That’s what I’m saying, it’s not helping. Okay, one shouldn’t drink cola, because cola is not a ta’avah. But it’s really a good piece of Torah this.

But aside for that, I’m asking a serious question, does this help anyone? Does this help you to have a good middah? You say to me, I don’t know what this middah is. Okay, come I’ll help you, there are three sefiros. Consequently you can clarify everything.

Student:

I don’t know, it’s possible that it helps people in some way. Because as we spoke earlier, to have a structure helps very much for many people.

Maggid Shiur:

I mean, sefiras ha’omer [counting of the Omer], yes, it says in sefarim that one should actually see each day something of a sefirah. Yes? Do you know someone who… I have many books here today, you go in the bookstores to see, the… what’s it called? The process, the train, the journey of sefiras ha’omer, and he says on each day there’s a sefer… they printed it, just through a sefer from some Satmar Chassidic young man a sefer. You know that the Bnei Yissaschar [classic Chassidic work] collected from that sefer. Yes, the Bnei Yissaschar collected from an earlier sefer.

Do you know someone who did that? I don’t know. I’m talking about sefira, sefira. I don’t know anyone who should tell me afterwards “I did that, and I’m very happy for that person.” I don’t know which people. Do you know one?

In general, the seven weeks of sefira doesn’t work, because one of the first weeks is just Chol HaMoed Pesach, and the second week, whatever, it doesn’t really work.

The Difference Between Levels in Subject Matter and Levels in Character Traits

Student:

But, learning a sugya in Gemara to know from where the source of the halacha comes from, did that help him something?

Maggid Shiur:

No, that’s subject matter, that’s a level in subject matter. Now we’re talking about levels in character traits. Levels in subject matter, the point is to know. There’s also a subject to know from where it comes.

Student:

Could be, could be, but now we’re not talking about that. Let’s say, now let’s learn the whole thing.

Maggid Shiur:

I agree, the main thing is that, but it’s also good to know from where it comes. From where does it come? That’s what I hear now.

Back to the Main Question

Student:

Which part of… when I tell you, do you understand something better when I tell you that it’s a koach ha’eish [power of fire]? I don’t see what you understand something. It’s just a list, just a word.

Maggid Shiur:

I hear, you can mean it a little better from life.

Student:

But that’s already not at all the whole four things. That the four yesodos [elements] was always a parable. Everyone agrees that there’s no fire in the soul, right? But today it’s much more… okay, so… there’s a big issue.

Maggid Shiur:

So that doesn’t help. So that doesn’t help. It’s a stereotype that one should use it for other things, is a better thing. For example. I agree. But does the list help me something?

In general, every power that a person has, he has it from the good.

Student:

I agree. But that’s a general thing. That still doesn’t help that I have a list.

Maggid Shiur:

The Creator says this applies to every middah, if it’s lacking. What if, imagine, I want to have a truly effective sefiras ha’omer. Would they have said, imagine, what if there were eight sefiros? Or seven, I don’t know, seven, four, five. What difference does something make? Not only does it not make a difference, but most people don’t know the difference between netzach and hod. It could certainly be the same both.

In general, that it should be a list and organize a person, he knows what to work on during sefira, that doesn’t help. I don’t know if that helps. The sefiros will tell it to a person, like it tells a person that you have a body and soul. I just want to know, does describing merely a parable help a person? That’s a question of what does a person mean. I want to understand what a person means. A person is so many things that he has a yetzer hara.

Student:

I hear. But the details, well, again, when I… the previous previous discussion I tell you that one who errs must stand, now you understand what you need to do. But when the clearest thought is you need to…

Critique of Theoretical Structures of Character Traits: Practical Format vs. Philosophical Systems

The Beauty and Limits of the Soul-Structure

Maggid Shiur:

Will that help? I don’t know, I don’t see that it helps. The question is, I didn’t say that it doesn’t help. When I tell a person that you want to cause, I want to understand what a person means. A person is such a kind of thing that he has a yetzer hara. But the details, again, the previous thing I said I understood, I explained, I tell you that there is such a thing as a middah, now you understand what that does.

But the general, the beautiful structure, what is the advantage, let’s understand, the advantage of this sort of structure of dividing the middos according to the structure of the soul, that’s a very beautiful piece of Torah. It fits very well, I can’t say. Here doesn’t come any “but,” there’s no “yoke of the middos,” because that’s a yoke upon the middos, right? And there’s no “maybe count it differently,” no, there are seven, a person has seven sefiros corresponding to the seven powers of the soul, there are no others.

But, on the other hand, regarding practical application, it helps a lot less. I don’t see what it helps. When I have anger, I need to know that this is the second middah? What practical difference does it make? When I have a desire, that’s the first middah? What practical difference does it make? What difference does it make? It seems to be less useful than people pretend it is.

Critique of the “Weekly Sefira” Method

A person needs to work, he needs to go do exercise for half an hour in the morning, he needs to work on my anger. Yes, doesn’t work like that. Anger is when there comes exactly an opportunity, one can’t contain the anger. One needs to practice the point. Today is not the week of gevurah, and one doesn’t need to be angry.

There were people who used to do that, work that way. I know people did that. I don’t know what’s wrong with those people. I don’t know, I don’t understand those people.

The Ba’al Shem Tov’s Approach – Hint But Not Practical

There’s one who said that the Ba’al Shem Tov says that one must explain the kavanos according to the inner dimension, according to the soul. So, when it says in the siddur “chesed,” he writes in “ahavas Hashem.” When it says “gevurah,” he writes in “yiras Hashem.” And really, like really, that’s what he does. Does it work? I don’t know. There’s a very nice piece of Torah. For a hint it’s good. There’s a hint, there are three things, one needs to talk about three things, okay. But practically? I don’t know.

This is Aristotle’s Critique of Plato

Anyway, this criticism is Aristotle’s criticism. He said that Plato said two pieces of Torah, but he doesn’t see what it helps. He doesn’t see what it helps. Could be it’s true, he doesn’t see what it’s true. He doesn’t see what it helps for a person to become better.

The Parable of the Mechanic – Practical Categorization vs. Theoretical

The Parable: Learning Mechanics

Let’s say another parable, right? Remember, we’re always thinking of middos and the analogy of crafts, right? The parable of character improvement and the parable of certain crafts that are a craft, right? An art, one does something, one makes something, yes?

Let’s say someone comes and he says, “Gentlemen, you have people, a mechanic, I want to become a mechanic, okay? I want to become a mechanic.” So what do you learn? You go learn to fix motorcycles, cars, SUVs, vans, trucks, each one with its advantages and with its deficiencies, yes?

Let me finish my parable. So if I go to a course, you go to a course to fix motorcycles, a motorcycle has two wheels, and the engine lies here, and it works like this, and if this breaks, you do that, and so on. That helps me. Tomorrow there will be a class on big trucks, the day after on small trucks. Each thing, I show you how it looks and how it works. I understand, it’s very useful. Do you understand what I’m saying?

One class, all that we fix what is broken. That’s true, but it doesn’t help me. Because those are very small details. I tell you, load the truck, a tractor trailer needs to have such and such, needs to have a hundred PSI in the tires, and a small truck needs to have sixty, and a small one needs to have fifty. You got information that’s helping you. It’s structured, it’s the structure of the organization. Just to say each time what to do doesn’t help me, but the structure… listen.

The Philosopher Comes to Make “Order”

But just that someone comes and he says like this, “Gentlemen, I want to make you a general principle.” And he’s not philosophical, he’s just, it’s too random. It’s a long list, and always he’s going to have as if, because always one thinks up a new sort of car.

So I’ll tell you that that’s true. Let’s not do that way, let’s… it’s an exhaustive list, I can’t give you an exhaustive list. Always, you say the course, we’ve already gone through everything. You tell him, “You know what, there are still a few more.” They already had to learn figures themselves in the Talmud themselves, yes?

And a philosopher came, and he says, “Let’s make even as if, let’s make order. One can’t divide the stringencies and doubts, that’s not relevant to talk about. I have a plan, gentlemen, there’s a principle. Let’s make a principle. The principle is, what is the meaning of a machine, a car? A car is a mechanized box on wheels. That’s the principle, that’s the genus, right? With the division. Wonderful. That’s a principle.

Now, you can divide it in a wonderfully clear way. One can say, there are things that have two wheels, and there are things that have four wheels. You know what? No. There are things that have more than two wheels, and there are things that have two wheels. What made the principle better? Yes? A motorcycle and a bike, both are two wheels. And a tractor-trailer and a pickup truck, an airplane also has who knows how many wheels, they all fit into the other category.

Now, that’s a clear category. It’s a better category than the previous one, right? Because two and more than two, everything fits in. Two boxes, nothing falls out of the two boxes. Everything fits in. It’s conclusive, it’s exhaustive, everything fits in.

Afterwards I’ll make another division, and I’ll say, now, from those that have two wheels, there are such that one must push oneself, and there are such that push themselves. Those that one must push oneself is called a bike, or a… a… a glider plane, or a… I don’t know what, a hardware… or something else. And those that push themselves is called a tank, or a… or a car, or a scooter, a motor scooter, yes? And I’ll make another division in this, and I’ll say, everything is just wonderfully clear.

It Won’t Help the Mechanic

It won’t help me the mechanic much. It can help someone who wants to make charts in the world, it will help him.

Because almost no one… even I go fill orders for screws for the… I need to have a list, I’m in a mechanic shop, I need to have the right screw for each sort of car. I need to have a display. It won’t help that I store this. I need to have a list of the sixteen main sorts. In most, sometimes it happens that someone comes into the shop with a funny thing, one needs to order it a special order. You need to have the sixteen main sort of screws that are used in most cars and most trucks. That helps me.

The Parable of the Hardware Store

When I go into a hardware store, I want to go to the section where I’ll find it. Yeah, you have to go in the section, it’s useless. Today they’ve set up the stores much better, right? Because the sections… you go into the website, people have worked so many years to make the sections fit, right? All screws that are… is so much of a waste of time, because the world doesn’t work that way.

That’s a bit Aristo, that’s by me. But in practice, you can sit a whole hour and write out a list. I have my whole demonstration, when I’m home all my things, I made a whole order. I have all my wires, this wire goes in this box, that wire there, every person spends a few hours on this, and it doesn’t help.

In practice one needs to have there another two wires. Here, two smartphones that people have, those two wires one needs, sometimes one needs a third. Once I said a logical argument, that the time that you organized the wires, let’s say your hour is worth a hundred dollars, I don’t know how much today, and that one comes in, each time one needs from this to search around again. It’s cheaper than to make order in the wires, okay?

Aristotle’s Practical Approach – The Ten Most Common Middos

The Practical Way of Thinking

That’s the practical way, the practical way of thinking, right? Now, he presents middos in a practical way. Here yes, he has a certain categorization that helps for practically. The categorization always goes with such a majority, which says let’s take the ten most common things, and I’ll explain each one of them practically how it works, not theoretically in which box it belongs, that doesn’t make a difference. Practically how it works, not like that.

Aristotle divided this. He says like this, I said this, the ten most common middos that people struggle with: anger, pride, courage, desire and so on. I can’t exactly from memory all of them. That’s learning in a practical science, I don’t know how.

Two Ways to Divide Middos

Now he learns basically practical law. Now I want to say another thing, another way how to divide it. Not to divide according to the logic how it fits, but to divide according to the subject and what it belongs to. In other words, this will make many things, this will bring close the distant and distance the close. In other words like this, there’s one who goes to the extreme, and says such sorts of things, and you want to realize it’s very much less helpful than you usually think, or one can divide it that way.

Critique of the “Everything-is-Will” Approach

The Abstract Approach

That’s the argument. And he says, I repeated what I told you, everything that people have is either an attraction or an aversion. Okay, what do you want? Ah, I have a long list. Good children, a beautiful wife, good food, and to have respect in the shiur, and I have a long list. Ultimately that’s a chesed, all things that I want. What don’t I want? To be unhappy, no illnesses, okay, what is a ladder of character traits, one should educate. I want, I have paint, this grabs me, I want, I want, yes, that’s all things.

That’s very nice. Even let’s work on the trait of will, because with all wants, it’s true, I must have some hardware, some software in my body, in my soul, that makes me able to want, yes? You can see a person, a person who is deficient with a certain chemical, he doesn’t want anything. What do you want? I don’t want anything. Indeed, it’s true physically, it’s not even not true, it’s true that there is such a middah in the soul that’s called the trait of will, or the trait of desire, the trait of desire, there is such a middah of wanting, of desire, of having, and there’s one who is missing that, he’s missing everything. He won’t be able not about this, not about that, not about that. True.

That’s Too Abstract

But I want to have, I want to have the choice, I want to have the choice to fix the body, talking about fixing the soul, right? You tell me, I want to work on the trait of… give more charity. He comes and says, come, more charity, that which you don’t give charity, that comes because you want your money too much. Want your money a little less, you’ll give more charity. Because you are, you are like the Ba’al HaSulam, you’re taking, right? This is like a very huge generalization of everything. You take to yourself, you are attracted, you grab, you take all the time. You take so much? Give a little. Give what else to give? Wow, it’s so undefined. Give charity. Know what else? Give away for the Almighty a little of your sleep. Get up early and learn. You also sleep about that.

I tell him, Rebbe Leben, this is all very abstract, it’s not helping me.

Let’s Describe Things As They’re Seen in This World

Let’s describe things as they’re seen in this world. How do I see in this world? There’s a subject that’s called money. You know what I mean money? Everyone knows. What’s the difference between money and furniture? Both are the same thing, both cost money, both are things that people want, theoretically. Practically, money is one thing and furniture is a second thing.

Habits Work with Practices

And you remember that middos work with hergalim [habits]. Hergalim don’t work with the koach hasechel [power of intellect], sechel [intellect] understands everything at once. Hergalim work with, exactly with practicing, right? I can’t practice wanting money and wanting furniture at the same time. They have some connection, but they’re two different things.

There’s a middah, there’s a relationship, I have a relationship with money. Derech agav [incidentally], I already gave the teshuvah [answer] once about the tablets. The first time, my relationship with the money that’s in my pocket is a different relationship than the one that’s in my credit card. Different from how much money I have in my bank account. Have you noticed that?

Example: My Relationship with Money

It’s much harder to give money, each person according to his middah, the money when I have cash. I’m the opposite, because I was born in the digital age. When I see money in the bank account, I send it to anyone. But cash in my pocket, I know this is a piece of paper, take it.

Middos Are Divided According to Practical Objects, Not According to Abstract Powers of the Soul

The Relationship with Money – One “Middah” Splits into Many Practical Middos

Instructor:

There’s a middah that you have a relationship, I have a relationship with money. The relationship, derech agav, I already gave the shiur once about the tablets.

The relationship with money that’s in my pocket is a different relationship than the one that’s in my credit card, and a different one that’s in my bank account. Have you noticed? Yes. It’s much harder to give money, each person according to his middah.

But the money when I have cash, I’m the opposite because I was born in the digital age, when I see money in the bank account I send it to anyone. But cash in my pocket, you know, you need a piece of paper? Take it. I don’t know what you do with it. Yes, you need it?

Normal people are the opposite, right? The people who were born before and got used to it, they make us, yes, cash, I don’t know, what do I do with this? Ah, there’s a number standing, the number goes down, it’s terrible. Yes?

But what’s going on here, intellectually there’s no difference, it’s intellectual. My account also went down the same amount, the same thing, right? But my nefesh, that’s what I need to give the middos. The middos come in the chelek hamisorer and the chelek hata’avos shebanefesh. Each one looks different. Green dollars look one way, and credit cards in general where you borrow money now from the bank and pay it next month look a second way, and cash in the bank looks a third way, and stocks look a fourth way, and investments look a fourth way. Each of these have their own middos.

The Kli Yakar’s Principle: People Are Consistent – You Just Need to Know What They’re Built Of

Before this, there are people, says the Kli Yakar, that people aren’t consistent. People are very consistent, you just have to know what they’re built of, right? There’s a person who gives away cash very easily, but very hard to give away credit cards, I don’t know, and so on.

He loves very much to do hachnasas orchim. Do you know what it costs to do hachnasas orchim? There are people who love very much to have guests. Every week they have twenty guests. To have twenty guests for a Shabbos meal costs about a thousand dollars a week. At least. Depends what you give them, meat and good wine, it’s very expensive. I made the calculation, I called guests for Shabbos before Pesach, I think I paid only five hundred dollars. I’m not a better person, I gave normal wine, because I said that it’s Shabbos before the seder, I need the four cups, and so on.

That same person calls me erev Pesach, maybe you’ll pay 500 dollars for my campaign. 500 dollars – it’s not money. I don’t have 500 dollars that I give for your campaign. That’s one difference.

There’s another difference in reality. Some difference exists – that it goes through the credit card, I don’t know what difference it is. A real difference is, that this is a middah – I have a middah – how my parents showed me or…, we call guests on yom tov? Okay, we call guests. Guests cost money? Okay, we pay money?

Digital Tzedakah and Chinuch – A “Serious Problem”

The middah of giving money, is also a big problem today that people give all tzedakah on the phone and the children don’t see it, and it’s very hard to be mechanech, is a big problem. Why is it a problem? A real problem… You don’t see any action, you don’t see how it takes out money from the pocket, you give it to a poor person. It’s a real problem. People do it who have children. Look, I press a button, and the money goes. I don’t know.

It’s a serious problem. Why is it a serious problem? I think that it’s a real problem. Why is it a real problem? Because middos of a person work with the way that the reality, the chitzoniyus looks divided, not how the pnimiyus is divided. What in the nefesh there’s one middah of giving? No difference, let’s say. But the hergashim that you have, they have to do with the objects, they have to do with the things that you deal with. I have a middah of inviting guests, and the middah of giving money is a different middah and needs to work on that separately.

Rambam and Aristotle – They Too Divide Middos Practically

Okay, I’ve now gone to a very big resolution. According to this there are tens of thousands of middos. But even in a macroscopic way, it could be, the Rambam derech agav when you look at his list, is two or three middos, the Aristotle three the Rambam has two middos about money. The Aristotle says that there’s one middah that’s called giving large donations, and another middah that’s called giving small donations.

It’s the cultural context of the difference that can go into another time, but what I want to bring out is, it doesn’t make a drop of sense. Everything is the same money. But it’s different, the truth is that it’s different. The one who is a big wealthy person and he gives a hundred thousand dollars at once, he doesn’t do the same thing as you do when you give 10 dollars. Not that it’s relative to his, it’s simply a different action. It comes to the same koach banefesh perhaps, but it’s a different action. It has different ways how it’s good. Different ways how it’s bad. Practically, you need to know how to conduct yourself with this. A person who becomes a wealthy person, he doesn’t know how to give big things, he actually doesn’t know how to give small things. Big things is a different place, it’s a different middah tovah.

Or the same thing, the Rambam says that the middah of stinginess is two middos of stinginess. There’s the midas hakamtzanus for himself, and there’s for others. For himself he’s stingy with himself, and for others he gives generously. There’s the opposite. Both are the same thing, both are the thing of stinginess with money, the thing of holding your money for yourself, or for a second person not for yourself, or for a poor person, what for a poor person? A poor person is praise.

The Fundamental Principle: Middos Are Divided According to Practical Differences

But you see that the thing that divides the middos is the practical differences in the world. There’s a middah of chairs and a middah of tables. Both are wood and both are furniture? A different middah. This is a very different way of defining the middos, and it has a disadvantage that it doesn’t have a very nice structure, so you can always add another one, you can always divide a bit more and differently. Is this thinking for something that hasn’t been laid out and hasn’t been seen? It’s true, in some sense there’s less.

On the other hand, the advantage of it is that it’s much closer to what middos are really made to teach you. Middos are made to teach you such a specific thing, and since middos are a davar ma’aseh, as we always say, it’s a thing that the closer to ma’aseh it is, the more useful it is.

If I speak a whole shiur… the ba’alei mussar do these sorts of things, they figure out a whole shiur about the middah of giving for the… like in yeshiva, I don’t know, about the middah of being happy for your friend who is your roommate, a whole shiur halachos about this. The one who went to that shiur was practically much better to his roommate, if he did it, than the one who said such an abstract shiur, a Chassidic sefer says that a person is everything for the Almighty, and in general, who… Yes, it’s very nice, it doesn’t come down practically. It doesn’t come down practically because you’re dealing with a very abstract, much more abstract level. It’s more true in a certain way, but it’s less useful in another way. Maybe there are people who react differently? It could be.

The Parable of the Mechanic – Balance Between Generalities and Particulars

Maybe there are people who react differently? It could be. I only know that there are many who need… This is a particular shiur. It’s particular. Given particular examples, but it brought out a point, it brought out a true point in the thing. You need to grasp the point.

I’m not saying that you need to give every… look, there are levels in everything. I’m not saying I’m going to make a billion middos, it won’t be useful. You can’t speak without generalizations. Every time it can be different. Every day, maybe the halachah was only for yesterday, not for today. Without rules you can’t give yourself any advice.

But the rules that you said are strong rules. Yes, but it’s still very particular. It’s still not that he said a shiur that two middos of chesed and one middah of gevurah will help you nothing. I’m not saying that was the level, but this was a shiur that was entirely in the process of saying that you need to notice the practical things.

In practical life, how much such a structure… That’s what I’m saying. It’s not like… You don’t go to my mechanic, for example. I love to talk about cars for some reason, I don’t know why. Such a strange thing. I love cars, I’ll tell you.

Anyways, you don’t go to the mechanic, right? The practical mechanic, certainly every time that a person comes to his store, almost every time it’s a bit different, right? There aren’t two problems in cars that are exactly the same. Right? You ask the mechanic, he tells you “generally speaking, this model car has such a thing.” Not every time, every time is a bit different. Today it was… If you live in a wet place it’s like this, and when they put salt on the road it damages certain hazards to the car like this, and in places where it’s warm it damages other hazards to the car, and if you drive fast, if you drive fast, if you drive wild, each person has his way how his car breaks. And each car exactly is made that the car has such a problem.

So you can’t learn anything, you need to sit and ask the rav again every time? No. The model car, the type of car, minivan, usually all minivans, even the three types of minivans, all of them have roughly the same structure. I’m saying a way, you can’t make a minivan in a million ways, you can make it ten ways. All have these sorts of issues, these sorts of problems. You learn something. Something it taught you. I didn’t say that each one is exactly.

If I would say that a minivan is such a type of car that’s roughly as high as it is wide, that’s not information. You know what else is as high as it is wide? A tanker. That’s also not… You don’t know what is a minivan. What’s the function? It could even be that the physics when you make it you need to calculate something similarly, yes? I don’t know, because both are such a square, not like a low car that’s more like a rectangle, but this is such a square. Okay, the air resistance is similar, when you do the air dynamics you need to do similarly. Also the airplane. But practically, the mechanic won’t be able to help himself with this.

But the rules that the mechanic will hopefully learn, yes, he will give certain rules. All minivans should have such issues, and all motorcycles should have such issues. Do you understand what I’m saying? So I don’t think it’s a contradiction. It must be that you need to speak with rules.

But speaking in an abstract way doesn’t look like it helps. Maybe there are people who like that, I don’t know.

Critique of Sefiros-Based Systems

I’m really here still, I wonder how these books are written for, the teachings, that the seven sefiros times seven… I have no idea what this helped. I am missing something, because certainly there are many sefarim that say these sorts of teachings, and they help. They wanted something. I mean, it spoke to flesh and blood, people did it. Can you explain to me? Yes, seven sefiros every week, yes? What? Can you do this? What is this thing?

Understand what it is? Yes, I understand, because I have no way to speak with these people, because they don’t live anymore. Still, it’s too much to say that the whole thing is ignorance. But, what’s underneath this? Even if it doesn’t help to become a better person, to know what he is. You know, things that I learn, I understand that I’m not connected. Knowing is also something.

It’s like the people who should bring with the enneagram like the colors. Yes, it’s the same thing. By the way, it’s true, I don’t understand those things either. There are four types of people, there are five thousand types of people. They found two ways how you can divide people. Okay, and what shall I do with it? It doesn’t help me at all. You’re an introvert or an extrovert? I don’t know, it depends in the morning or afternoon. I don’t have such a thing in my life. Maybe I am a weirdo who’s not like that.

Maybe sometimes what the Baal HaTanya says, the Baal HaTanya says that the Baal Shem Tov said about his rebbe, the Baal HaTanya, that it says in sefarim that sometimes each person has his shoresh neshamah, and according to that should be his avodah, one needs to learn Kabbalah, because from that world one needs to learn Mishnayos, because from that world one needs to learn this, and so on. He says, as if they take like we’re already normal people. But today, he says, is the Mashiach in the world, he’s not here anymore, you need to do everything. So said the Baal HaTanya. Maybe that’s the problem, that we’re too not, I don’t have the structure, I don’t have all the things. I only told him.

It’s fair, I think that people who like to put this, I don’t know what it helps them. It makes you think you understand things. I don’t think it actually makes you understand anything.

Summary and Defense of the Practical Way to Divide Middos

Digression: The Yalkut Reuveni and “Learning Everything” in Ikvesa D’Meshicha

Instructor: One needs to learn Kabbalah [Jewish mysticism] because he’s from that world, one needs to learn Mishnayos [the Oral Law] because he’s from that world, and so on. Says the Yalkut Reuveni [a kabbalistic anthology], “in those times when people were normal”. But today, he says, is in the ikvesa d’meshicha [the era immediately preceding the Messiah], you don’t need to be selective, you need to do everything. So says the Baal HaTanya [Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, founder of Chabad]. Maybe that’s the reason, I’ll say first, I don’t agree with all these things. I don’t agree.

Questions and Discussion: Is the Sefiros System Useful?

Student: Fair, I mean, how much does this put? I don’t know what it helps them. It makes you think you understand things, I don’t think it actually makes you understand anything.

Instructor: Why not? It’s a chiddush [novel insight].

Student: It’s like knowing another derech yashar [straight path].

Instructor: It’s like speaking lashon hara [evil speech/gossip].

It’s like saying that a chayah ra’ah [wild beast] is type 6. What does it mean a chayah ra’ah has no connection whatsoever to type 6. I don’t know, something is missing for me here.

Student: Okay, but it’s not exactly the same criticism. I’m talking here about middos tovos [good character traits].

Instructor: We said two things. Again, I said two things. One is the numbering, the explanation what the hundred number means, or to say that this comes from that.

Student: No, no, that’s not what I’m talking about. That’s what I’m saying now, that’s not important. The important thing is that there’s two ways.

Summary: Two Ways to Divide Middos – Advantages and Disadvantages

Instructor: The sum total of the second half of the shiur (lesson), the first half we spoke about a different way. The second half, the sum total is, that there are two ways how to divide middos (character traits).

Way A: According to Kochos HaNefesh (Soul Powers) – An Exhaustive System

There’s one way which ends up with something exhaustive, there’s no addition, no addition or remainder, because this is the entire division in the soul, and that’s how it divides itself. You can add more details, but you can’t change it, you can’t make an eighth middah (trait). You can make chesed within gevurah (kindness within strength), but you can’t make an eighth middah. You can make chesed within chesed within gevurah (kindness within kindness within strength), but it still fits. And that’s the advantage of being organized, and being exhaustive, and being correctly divided.

However, but it has the disadvantage that it’s not so helpful, like my parable of the motorcycle.

Way B: According to Practical Topics – A Flexible System

There’s another way that has a disadvantage that there will always be “and more” at the end of the list, and it could be that every era one will need to change it because people think a bit differently and categorize things differently and so forth. But it has an advantage that this is how one actually lives in practice with the good middos. In practice, you need to speak, and one even needs to speak about another middah, each one unlimited. As soon as one speaks, but no more shiur, another time it was an advantage.

All of the things that we learn are really things like this. A rebbe also has the topic of midas hakaaas (the trait of anger), it’s not exactly the same thing, how a father has midas hakaaas and how a young boy and how a bachur (young man). It’s the same middah, but it’s a middah how one conducts oneself with the students, it’s a middah how one conducts oneself with the middah.

The Analytical Distinction: Definition in the Soul versus Definition in the Subject

The distinction is, the analytical distinction is, that this type of middos, their definition is not in the soul. The love of middos is not in the soul. Their definition is in the subject, the object, the thing that they are about, the type of action that they are about.

Example: Midas HaTaavah (Trait of Desire) – Defined According to Subject, Not According to Soul Power

The midas hataavah (trait of desire/lust) is the type of middah that has to do with all physical pleasures, not the middah of wanting things. It has nothing to do with the middah of wanting things. Nothing to do. From wanting I love money, and that is a different middah. The whole distinction is, you want regarding money and the other one wants regarding food.

Do you understand the distinction of my analysis? This is the analytical distinction. And I have satisfaction that you’re asking, because I think it’s usually more helpful this way, at least so, the Rambam (Maimonides) always goes with this way, also the Torah always goes with this way.

The Torah and the Rambam Go with the Practical Way

When one looks in Chumash (the Five Books of Moses), it’s all about actual things, it never gives you these nice structures, almost never.

And courage is still Chumash vayachkimu chachamim (they became wise). But I can’t those languages not want they are friend. Because one can always this way, that one can also say that it’s more practical.

Okay, you want to…