Hello Everyone,
Yesterday we continued our discussion of פרישות based on Chovot Halevavot by Rabbeinu Bachya.
Having discussed misguided attempts at practicing פרישות in the previous chapter today we saw Rabbeinu Bachya’s discussions of proper פרישות. In chapter four, Rabbeinu Bachya discussed the פרישות espoused by “certain pious people.” The פרישות practiced by these “certain pious people” was totally focused on human relationships. The wrong-headed פרושים about whom we read last week did not see any spiritual value in cultivating relationships with other people. The most extreme of last week’s פרושים actually fled society to live in the desert. The most moderate of them would interact with other people in order to support themselves, but their main interest was in the World to Come. They spared no time to care about their neighbors.
The פרישות of the “certain pious people” is radically different from anything that we read about until now. These people were not ascetics in the usual sense of the word. Their lives were dedicated to helping others. They spent their time with the poor, the bereft and the lonely. They spread happiness. Their spiritual goal was to make the lives of other people better. They did not practice the self-centered asceticism about which we read until now. If פרישות does mean asceticism, then these פרושים were simply busy helping others and did not have the time to indulge in physical pleasures. Other פרושים saw people as a hindrance to spiritual growth. These פרושים understood that meeting spiritual goals does not excuse us from fulfilling our social obligations[1].
In the next chapter, Rabbeinu Bachya begins his discussion of the Torah’s ideal of פרישות. He writes that פרישות relates to three areas of our lives:
1) how we relate to other people
2) how we enjoy the things of this world
3) how we develop our minds.
With regard to the first item on the list, the “Torah פרוש ” resembles the פרושים of the previous chapter. The true פרוש seeks to help others when they have troubles and he avoids being a burden to his neighbors. When the פרושis faced with a crisis, he reaches out to God and not to other people.[2] However, inasmuch as he seeks to be a good neighbor he does not go to gatherings where the other guests are celebrating in ways which are incompatible with the Torah.
With regard to abstaining from pleasure, Rabbeinu Bachya explains this issue as follows. He writes that all of the pleasurable items in the world fall into one of these two categories:
- a) items that the Torah forbids
- b) items that the Torah permits.
The category of items forbidden by the Torah can be divided into a further three categories:
- a) items that are desirable (e.g. stolen property and certain forbidden foods)
- b) items towards which we have no particular feeling (e.g. garments made from wool and linen which are forbidden because of the laws of שעטנז)
- c) items which arouse feelings of revulsion ( e.g. rodents).
Rabbeinu Bachya says that the פרוש should train himself to loathe all forbidden items, in the same fashion that he loathes rodents. The פרוש should have absolutely no yearning for anything forbidden by the Torah. When the פרוש is able to purge himself of any desire for the forbidden he will be safe from sin, as is written:
משלי פרק יב
(כא) לֹא יְאֻנֶּה לַצַּדִּיק כָּל אָוֶן וּרְשָׁעִים מָלְאוּ רָע:
Rabbeinu Bachya is very definite about this goal for the פרוש. It raises the question if the Rambam would agree with him. In his introduction to Pirkei Avot ( known as שמונה פרקים)the Rambam presents the views of “the philosophers” and of חז”ל on this question.
The philosophers compared the “inherently good” person to the person who has to exercise self-control in order to be good. The philosophers concluded that the inherently good person who has no desire to do evil is superior to the person who does desire to do bad, but is able to hold himself in check. The fact that a person desires to do bad makes him inferior to the person who has no such desires.
With regard to the Jewish attitude towards this question, the Rambam sees two approaches. On the one hand there are several verses in Tanach which seem to support the view of the philosophers. On the other hand there is a well-known saying of Chazal which seems to say the opposite:
שמונה פרקים לרמב”ם פרק ו
“רבן שמעון בן גמליאל אומר, לא יאמר אדם אי אפשי לאכול בשר בחלב, אי אפשי ללבוש שעטנז, אי אפשי לבוא על הערוה, אלא אפשי, ומה אעשה ואבי שבשמים גזר עלי”.
The Rambam resolves this apparent contradiction by saying that there are two types of prohibitions. There are prohibitions which agree with our innate sense of morality. There are also prohibitions which have no connection to human morality The Torah forbids theft and the Torah prohibits the consumption of pork. If a person has the desire to rob a bank we could agree that this is bad, but is there anything bad about the desire to eat ham? When the Tanach ( and, l’havdil, the philosophers) praise the person who has no desire to do bad, they are referring to the desire commit the immoral. On the other hand the philosophers would of course see nothing wrong with the desire to eat pork, and even Chazal saw nothing immoral about violating the laws of kashrut. Therefore, if a person abstains from eating pork he is demonstrating that his behavior is regulated by God and not by his own sense of what is proper or improper.
Do the Rambam and Rabbeinu Bachya disagree? Rav Kaffach zt”l, in his notes to חובות הלבבות wrote that Rabbeinu Bachya’s advocacy of viewing all prohibited items with revulsion is not in agreement with the Rambam who quotes רבן שמעון בן גמליאל approvingly.
I am not worthy of disagreeing with Rav Kaffach zt” of course, but it may be that Rabbeinu Bachya is not addressing the issue which the Rambam was addressing. The Rambam was discussing a value system; which type of person is more admirable, the person who is innately good or the person who struggles to be good? Rabbeinu Bachya is not addressing that point. Rabbeinu Bachya is discussing asceticism, specifically what sort of ascetic practice should be practiced by Jews. Since asceticism is ultimately about spiritual development, and spiritual development requires avoidance of sin, Rabbeinu Bachya is telling us how to avoid sin. It seems clear to me that the person who trains himself to loathe pork is less likely to eat pork, and that is what concerns Rabbeinu Bachya in this chapter.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the shiur. Stuart Fischman.
[1] We read a passage from Rav Kook’s עין איה who explained why so many people who engage in spiritual activity make the mistake of seeing other people as obstacles to their own development.
[2] During the shiur, I mentioned that the Gemarah in Shabbat (67a) says that if a person has troubles he should tell his neighbors about them so that they know to pray for him. It may be that when Rabbeinu Bachya says that a פרוש does not speak of his troubles to other people it is because the פרוש does not seek their material assistance.