Praising Intelligence & Deriding
Evil
Matt Schneeweiss
“A man should be praised according to his intellect, but the
twisted of heart should be shamed” (Mishlei 12:8)
Rabbeinu
Yonah writes:[1]
According to a man’s intellect he should be praised: It is proper that a man should be praised according to
his intellectual capacity. A person
should not disgrace his friend if he finds that his friend has a lesser
intellect than he. Rather he should
praise him according to his own
intelligence, for it is proper to praise anyone who has an intellect, whether
[his intellectual ability is] small or great.
On
the surface, this verse seems
quite easy to understand. Seichel, or intelligence, is a virtue,
which demands praise. Unlike other
qualities, seichel is not evaluated
through comparative analysis. Rather,
each man must be praised according to his own level. Upon closer examination, however, several questions arise:
Question
#1: Why does the verse insist that a
man is praised for his seichel, in particular? Judaism acknowledges many different virtues,
but it does not insist that every virtue be praised. Physical strength, beauty, good character traits, and wealth, are
virtues, yet, we do not find verses in
Tanach, which urge a person to praise those who possess these
qualities. What, precisely,
distinguishes seichel from other virtues and singles it out as demanding
praise?
Question
#2: Does the injunction to praise a
man according to his intellect apply to those who misuse their intellect? Our Sages discuss the personality of a chacham l’rah – an intelligent person
who uses his seichel for evil
purposes.[2] Does such a person deserve the same praise
for his intellect as one who lives a righteous life?
Question
#3: In a similar vein, are we to
praise a person who has tremendous seichel,
but arrives at false beliefs and distortions of the Torah? There are many people who possess
outstanding intelligence, but are led by their intellect to deny fundamental
principles of Torah. Are we to praise
such people for their intellect?
Question
#4: Finally, why must seichel be evaluated on an individual
basis? Why isn’t seichel evaluated on a comparatively, like other virtues? Take, for example, a millionaire businessman
and a shoe-polisher who can’t earn enough money to support his family. Nobody would even think to praise both
men as “wealthy,” saying, “Each individual is wealthy on his own level.” Instead we evaluate them comparatively and
praise the businessman as wealthy, compared to the poor shoe-polisher. Why don’t we use the same method of
comparative evaluation in praising intellect?
Rabbeinu
Yonah addresses all of these questions in his commentary on the second half of
the verse:
But the twisted of heart should be shamed: one whose mind is confused, who upon hearing the truth
does not admit to it nor recognize it, but instead claims the opposite due to
his distorted logic[3] – such a
person should be shamed. It is neither
proper to praise him nor honor him, for his mind is prone to support and assist
falsehood, and to call the bad “good” and the good “bad,” and it is not proper
to honor falsehood, but only to disgrace it.[4]
Rabbeinu
Yonah’s words contain one fundamental principle: seichel is praiseworthy only
insofar as it is a means of arriving at truth. Upon consideration of this principle, the answers to all of our
questions become clear. The answer to
our first question concerning the difference between seichel and other virtues is that seichel is the only virtue, which is, by its essential nature, an instrument
whose function is to discover truth.
All other virtues only aid a person in arriving at the truth insofar as
they facilitate the function of the intellect, but there is nothing inherent in
these virtues, which characterize them as instruments for discovering
truth. This distinguished role elevates
seichel above all other traits as the only virtue truly deserving of
praise.[5]
The
answer to the second question, concerning a person who uses his seichel
for evil, is based on the following premise: truth has two components – the
knowledge of the truth, and the translation of that knowledge into action. A person can have as much true knowledge as
Shlomo haMelech, but if that knowledge does not affect the way he conducts his
life, it is of no value. Truth, without
expression of that truth in action, is not truth. A person may possess the greatest intellect, but if his actions
do not reflect the truth, which his mind has discovered, then his seichel is all but worthless; a chacham
l’rah does not deserve praise.
The
answer to our third question, concering the intellectual person who arrives at
false beliefs, is clear from Rabbeinu Yonah’s description of the na’avei lev, or the twisted of heart:
“due to his distorted logic . . . his mind is prone to support and assist
falsehood.”1 A person may be capable of high-level, complex thought, but if
his rationale is distorted such that he is led to deny certain fundamental
truths,[6]
he is considered a na’avei lev. This also answers our fourth question. When praising the intellect, it is not the quantity
of knowledge a person has accumulated which matters, but the quality of
that person’s intellect. If a person’s
intellect is characterized by the quality of “prone to discover truth” he
“should be praised,” but if his intellect is characterized by the quality of
“prone to support falsehood” he “should be shamed.”[7] It is for this reason that seichel
cannot be subject to comparative analysis.
A child of eight and a chacham of eighty should both be praised
for their intellect, for each one discovers truth at his own level, and that is
all that matters.
There
is a fifth question, which remains unanswered: eevut ha’lev, “distortion
of the heart,” may be a bad trait, but why should a na’avei lev be shamed? Judaism rarely encourages people to openly
scorn and deride people who possess bad character traits. What differentiates eevut ha’lev from
other traits in this regard?
The
Rambam sheds light on this issue in the introduction to his commentary on Masechet
Avot:[8]
[Concerning]
man’s speech: a person should speak only those words that are necessary to
bring him a benefit or to ward away harm from his soul or body, or to learn a
positive virtue, to praise a virtue or a great man, or to criticize a bad
character trait or an evil man, for the condemnation of people who
possess bad character traits and the deprecation of their esteem is an
obligation and a virtue when one’s intent is to belittle them in people’s eyes
so that others will take heed and refrain from emulating their conduct.
Seichel is man’s most valuable asset, for it is his only
means of relating to his Creator.[9] The nefesh hamaskelet, the
intelligent aspect of man’s soul, is what defines him as man and differentiates
him from the animals.[10] Hence, corruption of the seichel is
the corruption of man’s essence, and the severance of his only connection to
HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Consequently, a
person whose seichel is distorted ought to be discredited in the eyes of
others in order that they not err in his ways and be influenced by his twisted
ideas. Other character flaws are
damaging, but their harmful effects can be avoided through the strategic
implementation of chochma and mussar, combined with reliance on
Hashem. A corrupt seichel, however,
impairs man’s ability to employ these strategies, rendering him vulnerable to
bad traits and false beliefs. Thus, the
verse urges us to openly condemn and deride[11]
those who possess this destructive trait, and in doing so, exemplify the
attitude expressed by David haMelech, “You who love Hashem, hate evil! .
. . Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for those with straight minds.”[12]
[1] Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerona (Gerondi), Commentary on Sefer Mishlei 12:8
[2] Sefer Yirmiyahu 4:22. See the Rambam’s commentary on Masechet Avot 5:13.
[3] Literally: “his topsy-turvy reasoning.”
[4] See also Rabbeinu David Kimchi (Radak), Commentary on Sefer Mishlei 12:8 for a similar approach.
[5] See Rabbeinu Menachem ben Shelomo haMeiri, Commentary on Sefer Mishlei 12:8, who states this explicitly.
[6] This is a necessary implication, for a person who makes a mistaken judgment in the area of kashrut is not comparable to someone who makes an illogical mistake in the area of yichud Hashem – the Oneness of God. A mistake in the latter is catastrophic compared to a mistake in the former. It is absurd to think that a person who makes a few small mistakes in relatively insignificant areas would be classed as a na’avei lev. This classification must, by necessity, be reserved for only those who arrive at false conclusions due to their distorted logic continually, and even then, only in areas of fundamental importance.
[7] It is difficult, if not impossible, to say who and at what point a person may be classified as a na’avei lev (except for extreme cases, like a chacham who openly professes belief in a corporeal God or denies the authenticity of Torah). But one may ask: if such classifications are virtually impossible to make, why did Shlomo haMelech include them in Sefer Mishlei – a practical guide to living a life of chochma? The answer is actually quite simple: Mishlei deals in absolute classifications – tzadik, chasid, chacham, rasha, leitz, k’siel, etc. But these personalities are not meant to be treated as rigid stereotypes which are to be applied to people in the real world. Rather, they are to be treated as abstract characterizations, “personalities” whose traits we must look for in ourselves to either cultivate or reject.
[8] Rabbeinu Moshe ben Maimon (Rambam / Maimonides), Commentary on the Mishna, Shemoneh Perakim: Hakdama l’Masechet Avot; Chapter Five.
[9] See the introduction to the Rambam’s Commentary on the Mishna in the section where he explains Aggadata. There, the Rambam discusses the role of the intellect and its role in the purpose of man.
[10] See Rabbeinu Yonah of Gerona (Gerondi), Commentary on Sefer Mishlei 1:22; Rabbeinu Bachya ben Asher, Kad haKemach: Taanit; and Rabbeinu Avraham ibn Ezra, Commentary on Sefer Kohelet 3:7.
[11] Needless to say, one must study the relevant halachot of lashon hara before taking this course of action.
[12] This translation of “yishrei lev” is based on Rabbeinu Ovadiah Sforno, Commentary on Sefer Tehillim 97:10-11, who explains the injunction of “hate evil!” as “distancing oneself from all false ideas and repulsive actions,” and “upright of heart,” as “those who grasp the truth of Torah.”