Let My People Know: November 2008

Sunday, November 30, 2008

"So many people who are selling spirituality are doing all kinds of tricks to take your mind off of what is really important"

A few years ago, I asked Rabbi Steinsaltz to offer some advice for people looking for a Teacher. One of his suggestions was this:

"Whenever I see something very showy, very flamboyant, colorful, and impressive, I am always trying to find out, to search what is really lying beneath it.

And in so many cases--in my case--in other people's--they find out that beneath those showy garments sometimes we have nothing.

I’ve had my own experience with zoology and I remember once seeing something that made a big impression on me.

It was a plucked peacock.

When you see a plucked peacock, which looks like a rather ugly, emaciated hen, you get so very disappointed because when you see the peacock in all its glory, and it's clearly a glorious bird.

But, again, if you want to eat it or have more contact, or just look at it, then you find out what it is in truth.

So when I see peacock feathers, which are wonderful to look at, I'm always beginning to think about that plucked hen beneath those feathers.

In the same way, when someone comes and makes a big show, a very impressive show, this is the time to make a check to wonder whether you are not taken by external effects.

You know this because you are doing these things when you perform as a magician.

The secret of magic tricks is that you make people look at the wrong things.

So many of these people who are selling spirituality are really doing all kinds of tricks to take your mind off of what is really important.

I would suggest trying to look carefully at these people who are claiming or are serving as teachers."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From a conversation in New York City

Friday, November 28, 2008

"The battle against evil requires an enormous commitment on our part"

“Educating people on how to cope with evil is one element that is sorely missing in our pedagogy system.

So many refuse to even admit to the existence of the dark side.

Knowledge and awareness of the existence of evil should be a required element of both public and private education, from pre-school to adulthood.

While we all may yearn for nothing but sweetness and light in our lives, we will always find one bully trying to beat others down – or, on a broader scale, a dictator willing to kill others to attain his own goals, or a terrorist who believes that the road to heaven is paved with corpses.

Raising awareness of evil is not education for pessimism or for the notion of all-present evil.

Human beings and societies, generally, have many positive aspects as well, and they must not be ignored.

It is a simple fact of life that most people have more good in them than evil.

Even on the national and international level, there are many good intentions for solving the very real needs and problems of the world.

The best way to combat evil is to promote good.

This, too, cannot be accomplished by ignoring evil.

The battle requires an enormous commitment on our part.

We cannot simply sit and wait for a good angel to intervene.

There is nothing wrong with believing that guardian angels keep an eye on us, but we must remember that ultimately we are responsible for most of the work – and from time to time, we can accept a little assistance from the angels.”

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From the essay “Good vs. Evil” by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Thursday, November 27, 2008

"We thank You for inspiring us to thank You"

"It feels easier and more natural to give thanks when everything seems to be going well, when we have peace and security, health and bounty.

But when we are in a situation of war and fear, of sickness and poverty, when our inclination is to cry and curse, it is much more difficult — but it is still possible and necessary.

When he was poor and starving, the famous Reb Zusha is said to have thanked God for giving him such a good appetite!

It is no coincidence that Reb Zusha's profound capacity for gratitude was matched by a deep relationship with God.

The structure of giving thanks on a regular basis, even in hard times, encourages us to focus on the positive side of life.

It does not mean that we forget the dark side, just that we keep a true perspective, giving the positive side its due.

Sorrow and anxiety should not extinguish our ability to say 'thank you' for our blessings, even when they are obscured by pain.

Harder times can shake us from complacency and may enhance in us the ability to perceive the good as a gift to be appreciated and acknowledged — in good times and in bad.

Feeling and expressing gratitude is good for us.

The Almighty does not 'need' our thanksgiving.

It is we who benefit from feeling and expressing it.

Our Jewish liturgy contains a seldom-noticed prayer, hidden within a prayer, which acknowledges this.

The phrase appears at a high point in the service, yet it is said to oneself:

'We thank You for inspiring us to thank You.'

This goes well beyond being thankful for our objective gifts.

It is a recognition that even the ability to know that we should be grateful is a gift from God and worthy of thanks."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From "Thankful for Thanksgiving,' an essay by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

"A symptom of the spiritual malady we are suffering from"

"When the general knowledge of the Jewish intellectual is on a university level, and his Jewish knowledge is on the grade-school level, his Jewish knowledge cannot compete and it will always cause some kind of a rift and some degree of self-contempt.

Because you cannot live with an abnormal rift like this; you cannot work with it.

It is not only a matter of learning Jewish studies, but also of trying to see things Jewishly -- in a thousand different ways.

When we speak about 'Jewish myth' for example, and we discuss whether it is a good or a bad thing, this in itself shows that we accept the outlook of the world around us.

Indeed, we don't look at our history and life from our own point of view, but from without, like strangers -- and this is a symptom of the spiritual malady we are suffering from."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From On Being Free, p.47, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

"Too often the wrong tools are used to illumine certain concepts"

"The reality of the world is nowadays apprehended in terms of electromagnetic fields.

But when I look at the world I do not see electromagnetic fields, nor do I perceive any diagrammatic representation of a mathematical formula.

What I see is, again, table, chair, arm, and leg.

Which is to say that my organs of perception do not see.

And it is known that our vision is limited to a narrow range of light-waves of a certain size.

From which we may conclude that we have to use our understanding to see that which our vision cannot ascertain.

In the same way, since the eyes of the body cannot hope ever to see the Holy One, Blessed be He, the problem is one of using the right means of explanation.

All too often the wrong tools are used to describe or illumine certain concepts, as for instance, to say that an intelligence is so complex that it cannot be touched.

It becomes absurd because intelligence is not touchable.

The two essences do not belong together."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From The Sustaining Utterance, p.32, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Monday, November 24, 2008

"How do I prepare to receive the unique message God's Torah has for me?"

"The Torah is not a textbook.

If a textbook is objectively good, I may study from it, but how I relate to it is irrelevant.

I cannot argue with the mathematics it presents.

I cannot argue with the rules of grammar it lays out.

Certainly, I can learn from it, but it is not important to me, because it is utterly independent of me.

It says what it says.

With the Torah, on the other hand, I have to find my message.

I have to figure out our relationship.

Therefore, I have to care.

I cannot glide over the text.

I have to engage it.

But how do I prepare myself to receive the unique message God’s Torah has for me?

How do I get ready to convene with God?

According to Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, the 18th century mystic and Talmudist , the pre-condition for this meeting is what he calls “self-nullification.”

As developed in the Tanya, his quietly revolutionary work, self-nullification requires one to separate from his ego, his smugness, and his importance.

This is not to denigrate the ego.

We need our egos in order to grow, in order to fulfill the Biblical charge to master the world, in order to affect tikkun olam.

But, just as we suspend our physical creativity, the tangible expression of our ego, on Shabbat and Yom Tov, we must also subordinate our egos, on the deepest level, during those activities in which we seek to join our will to God’s."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Sunday, November 23, 2008

"Imagine a person does not know that he has a head and that he discovered it accidentally"

"I grew up in a family where neither my mother nor my father went to synagogue.

Not even on Yom Kippur.

My father said that he did not go because he has too much respect for the place.

He said -- and I completely agree with him -- that the synagogue is not a theater. Either you are a participant or you don't go there.

Because he could not be a participant, he would not go to watch.

My father was not particular about eating kosher when he was in Israel.

But whenever he was abroad he always ate kosher just for everyone to see.

He was proud of being a Jew and of Jewish knowledge.

When I was 10 years old my father hired a tutor to teach me Talmud.

My father said, "I don't mind if you're an athiest, but I don't want any member of my family to be an ignoramus."

It is a shame for a Jew to be an ignoramus.

Perhaps it is the lowest of the low that a Jew can reach.

It means he lacks some essential knowledge about himself.

Imagine that a person does not know that he has a head until he is 65 and that he discovered it accidentally.

That is the kind of feeling that results from a Jew being ignorant."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From a talk given in New York City

Friday, November 21, 2008

"God is still uttering the Ten Commandments"

"The event at Mount Sinai is an ongoing Revelation which repeats itself whenever one studies Torah.

One may not be aware of standing before the Holy Mountain, but God is still uttering the Ten Commandments.

Even if one does not hear them, the standing itself, in awe and terror, is enough to establish the correct relationship to Torah.

The realization of this is, in turn, something acquired by study."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From The Long Shorter Way, p. 52, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Thursday, November 20, 2008

"The more we judge others based on the body and its characteristics the more unequal society becomes"

"Children make friends, based on their particular preference, a certain set of criteria.

As they grow older, those criteria become less important.

We evaluate others according to our own set of values, not according to their own.

There are always particulars that we do not take into consideration, since we don't consider them to be as important.

For example, to one person the shape of someone's nose may be very key, while to someone else it is completely irrelevant.

One can construct a set of values in which all physical attributes are as unimportant as the size of a person's nose.

In such a framework, it is possible to relate to others solely in terms of their souls -- those traits that divide us, such as jealousy and hatred, become completely inconsequential.

This is not because people are truly equal but because the differences between them are of no account.

The more we judge others based on the body and its characteristics, the more unequal society becomes.

When we believe that one person is somehow superior to another, true equality is impossible.

Under these circumstances, there cannot be real love of others."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From Understanding the Tanya ,p. 122, by Rabnbi Adin Steinsaltz

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

"Paradoxes and logical contradictions"

"One can ask questions--all kinds of questions-- without those questions undermining one's faith.

I was once a student of mathematics.

I know about so many unanswered problems and so many paradoxes and so many logical contradictions.

Do these things undermine my belief or understanding of mathematics?

Not at all."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From a lecture by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz delivered in New York City

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

"The secret that God exists"

"Our forefathers' legacy to us is the secret that in essence God exists here.

From generation to generation, they whispered into the ears of those who would follow them:

'Within your house, within the house of all humanity, there is a hidden treasure, a knowledge that is the secret of the true unity of God, a treasure more precious than those of all earthly kings -- the awareness that God exists despite all the concealment.'

And we offer thanks for this inheritance:

'How goodly is our portion ... and how beautiful our heritage!'

For compared to it, everything else is dwarfed and of no value."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From Understanding the Tanya, p. 152, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Monday, November 17, 2008

"The struggle with the evil inclination"

"It makes no difference whether the struggle with the evil inclination, the yetzer hara, is over something great or something small -- whether one struggles to withstand sinning or one struggles to use one's time wisely.

In either case, the battle is of equal intensity and importance.

For instance, a person who has learned Torah for nine or ten hours may feel unable to continue.

At that moment, the effort to go on is a battle no less demanding than the war against the evil inclination's most fiery desires.

In the final analysis, there is no qualitative difference between a person who sins because he gave in to the distractions of the street and a scholar who does not increase his study schedule or pray with kavvanah.

Neither is prepared to struggle, and neither steps beyond his limitations."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From Understanding the Tanya, p. 84, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Sunday, November 16, 2008

"What a child learns has to be correct"

"One should not educate a child to believe something that is correct only for one's childhood and that has to be changed for more correct beliefs later on, erroneously assuming that 'he will understand when he grows up.'

On the contrary, a child has to be helped to understand in accordance with his capacities, but what he learns has to be correct, so that even when he grows up he won't find any discrepancies and it will still be correct."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From The Sustaining Utterance, p.1, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Friday, November 14, 2008

"When a digit is placed before a few zeros, a number of great value can result"

"Intention is like zeros added to a basic number.

The Seer of Lublin is said to have interpreted the verse "The Lord shall count in the register of the nations" (Psalms 87:6) in this spirit.

Whereas the digit zero appears in the number systems of other nations, no Hebrew letter corresponds to the zero.

If a person prays, learns Torah, or performs a mitzvah without intent, he is recorded "in the register of nations" -- with a zero.

But when he prays, learns Torah, or performs a mitzvah with intent, a number is placed before all of the zeros he has amassed.

The zero in itself has no numerical value -- however, when another digit is placed before a few zeros, a number of great value can result."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From Undertanding the Tanya p. 248 by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Thursday, November 13, 2008

"No one is great enough to reach the heavens"

"Once, two great people were speaking.

One said, "I have reached the seventh heaven!"

The other replied, "I am so small that the seventh heaven comes down to me."

No one is great enough to reach the heavens.

Indeed, the greater a person is the more he prevents the heavens from descending to him.

However, when a person is small, the heavens can reach him."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From Understanding the Tanya, p. 11 by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

"The Torah was given to the entire Jewish People--men and women""

Here is a slightly edited version of yesterday’s Talmud commentary drawn from the Hebrew edition of the Steinsaltz Talmud.

If you want to subscribe to receive this daily commentary from Rabbi Steinsaltz on the day’s “Page of Talmud”, click here and follow the link from the Aleph Society:

http://visitor.constantcontact.com/optin.jsp?v=001AAPQafplpnK49PS2TkbTtpVrkAaTxkIQ

Kiddushin 34a-b
November 11, 2008

The Mishnah (29b) taught that women are not obligated to perform positive commandments that are dependent on time (“mitzvot aseh she-hazman geramah”).

Our Gemara asks for a source that frees women from these commandments, and presents tefillin as the archetype:

Just as women are not obligated to lay tefillin, similarly all mitzvot “positive commandments that are dependent on time” are not obligatory for women.

The Shittah Mekubetzet (Rabbi Betzalel of Tzfat, c.1520-1591) questions why the Gemara asks for a source freeing women from “positive commandments that are dependent on time” rather than asking how we know that women are obligated to perform any positive mitzvot at all.

Anyone who studies theTorah knows that it is written in the masculine, and appears to be directing its commands to men.

Furthermore, the Gemara later on (35b) feels obligated to prove that women are obligated to refrain from negative commandments (mitzvot lo ta'aseh).

The Shittah Mekubetzet answers that we know that the Gemara has sources indicating that women are obligated in certain positive commandments that are dependent on time (e.g. the commandment to eat matzah on Pesach), thus it is only natural that the Gemara would seek a source for the fact that women are not obligated in other mitzvot.

He also points out that the entire question is predicated on a misunderstanding of the foundation of the Torah, since it is well known that the Torah was given to the entire Jewish People - men and women - based on the passage (Exodus 19:3) “This is what you must say to the family of Jacob and tell the Israelites”, which is understood by the Sages to mean that Moshe was obligated to teach the Torah to the women (referred to as Bet Yaakov) as well as the men (referred to as Bnei Yisrael).

It is interesting to note that the 20th century movement of formal Torah schooling for women that was the brainchild of Sarah Schenirer, who recognized that in the modern age in order to ensure that women kept mitzvot it was essential that girls join their brothers in the study of Torah, was called Bet Yakov based on this midrash.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

"The unending cycle of creation and recreation--in which there is no death at all"

"Death is terrible, but it is terrible only from our own personal, limited viewpoint, which is attached to certain forms.

Let us, then, distance ourselves from our preference for certain forms that are close to our hearts, and try to see things from a place where everything is equally close to us, equally loved by us.

Or, in more precise words, let us try to see things from the perspective of the Creator, with Godly eyes.

If we look at things in this way, we can also try to see the world from the point of view of the microbes, of the worms and flies living in the dunghill, of the growing green grass and the animal that eats it.

Then when a body dies, it is now the property of microbes, worms, and other creatures. Now the form of the dead person, who was so close to our hearts, changes into another, very different, form of life.

The microbes and worms, too, die in their turn and in their death they nourish the growing grass.

And the animal who eats the grass also gets eaten in due course, and becomes a new form of life in an endless life cycle.

Is this really cruelty and horror?

If only we detach ourselves from our habitual viewpoint we shall see that death, the cruelty of the struggle for survival, is merely one point in the cycle of life, the unending cycle of creation and recreation, of shifting from one form of life to another -- in which there is no death at all.

This is how our ancient sages interpreted the verse 'He shall be our guide even unto death' (Psalm 48:15): He will guide us up and above death, in eternal life.

The strong may overpower the weak, but here there are no strong ones, no weak ones.

The tiger devours the doe, but the worms who eat up the tiger are not strong, nor is the grass that is nourished by worms.

And the doe eats that grass.

There are no weak or strong here, only a long cycle of life, no cruelty, but rather a transformation of familiar forms into new forms, new lives."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From “And His Tender Mercies Extend over All His Works” p. 212-213 in On Being Free by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Monday, November 10, 2008

"Israel is in a stage of adolescence, asking: Who am I?"

TIME Magazine, in a feature called, "Israel in 2068 Envisioning Israel's Future” asked twelve prominent writers, statesmen, and thinkers the following:

Israel has existed for sixty years so far…how do you feel it will respond to the challenges and opportunities of the next sixty?

Rabbi Steinsaltz, who was one of the twelve participants, responded:

“The continuation of the State of Israel depends on the ability of the state, or better still its people, to solve the problem of its identity.

As an entity, the state is in the stage of adolescence, asking: Who am I?

From its inception, it has had two very different answers:

Israel is a Jewish state, or Israel is a state of Jews.

This reflects the basic ambivalence of Zionism, which is, on the one hand, the desire for complete assimilation, to become a normal nation to the point of annihilation.

But at the same time, Zionism was a Messianic movement (even when not always religious), craving for definition and difference.

This problem is expressed in every facet of life — law and education, economy and defense.

So far the answers are mixed and confused, erratic like any adolescent.

As a general collection of Jews (by any definition), Israel may continue to exist by inertia, although the constant outside pressure, internal friction and the ability to immigrate and disappear will eventually disrupt the state.

The only way to ensure the state is, strangely enough, spiritual — by deciding that Israel is a Jewish State that has to find its strength in reconnecting to its past, to a feeling of a mission.

Army and economy may help but the state can exist only when it is built on a dream.”

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Sunday, November 9, 2008

"The greatest legal authorities were immersed in Kabbalah"

"The Shulhan Arukh, the great work that has become the fundamental halakhic text for all of Jewry, was written by Rabbi Joseph Caro, a sage whose authority rested not only on his very broad learning but also on his many-sidedness and mystic insight.

He wrote other books of halakhic procedure and law, exegesis on Torah and the like, and in addition he wrote a treatise called Maggid M'esharim, which was certainly a kabbalistic work and showed him to be a man who had mystical experiences and visions.

Those of his generation who heard about his revelations were inclined to say that it was the voice of the Mishnah speaking from his mouth.

To this day, the inspired orders of prayers we follow on the all-night tikkun of Shavout are those of Rabbi Joseph Caro.

And one of his closest disciples wrote the famous Shabbat song 'Lechah Dodi,' now accepted in all circles of Jewish worship, which is obviously a kabbalistic poem.

So we see that the greatest of the halakhic legal authorities was very much immersed in the mystical world of Kabbalah."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From On Being Free, p. 190, by Rabbi Adin Steinssaltz

Friday, November 7, 2008

"Our greatest test is making the permissible holy"

"Nachmanides explains that the mitzvah of 'Ye shall be holy' means that a person must sanctify himself with those things permitted to him so that he will not be 'a degenerate with the Torah's sanction.'

Each of us must make moral choices as to how we will conduct ourselves.

The Torah permits marital relations, yet a person can, while acting wholly within the framework of the law, indulge a greedy lust born of unrestrained desire.

The Torah allows the consumption of meat and wine, yet a person may, while eating only kosher foods (even simple food, as he exercises proper table manners), become obsessed with gratifying his palate.

Or someone may be honest, yet immersed in the pursuit of money with such utter self-abandon that it becomes his personal idol.

In this sense, the Kotzker Rebbe states that a person can commit adultery with his own wife.

Our greatest test, therefore, is making the permissible holy."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From Understanding the Tanya, p.87, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Thursday, November 6, 2008

"Covering one's head expresses one's awe and reverence of God"

"A Jewish person covers his head not only in a holy place (such as a synagogue) or when engaged in holy matters (such as learning Torah or performing a mitzvah) but wherever he may be and all the time--the reason being that the Divine Presence, the Shekhinah exists everywhere and always rests on his head.

Covering oneself (and in particular one's head) expresses one's awe and reverence of God and His glory.

For that reason, the sages wrapped themselves in their robes when they sat to administer justice or speak words of Torah.

Similarly, in most congregations, the men cover their heads with their prayer shawls when reciting the Shmoneh Esrei.

Wrapping oneself in one's garment is a sign of accepting authority.

Contrarily, an uncovered head is an expression of throwing off a yoke, of liberty.

The Aramaic phrase reish gali, 'an uncovered head,' expresses that point exactly.

Thus, the Aramaic translation of the verse 'The children of Israel went out with a high hand' (Exodus 14:8) is 'The children of Israel went forth with an uncovered head.'

A person removes articles of clothing when he feels at ease, and he covers himself when he believes that he is being judged from above.

Therefore, covering one's head is an expression of the sense that the Shekhinah is to be found everywhere and that one is always subject to the immediacy of the omnipresent Divinity."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From Understanding the Tanya, p.191, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

"Where is God?"

"The Rabbi of Kotzk once asked one of his disciplines, 'Where is God?'

The disciple answered, 'Why, of course, he is everywhere!'

The Rabbi of Kotzk shook his head and said, 'Not so. He is only where He is allowed to enter.'

It may be concluded that the person who permits God to come into him is the one who is close to God.

There is no need to draw and pull God to oneself or to climb and struggle to Him.

One has only to allow Him to be present, or at least one's actions have to be such that God can participate in them."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From The Long Shorter Way, p. 225, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

""Be satisfied with less...and become more holy"

"In the realm of this-worldly matters, a person should compare himself to those who are less well-off and to learn how to be satisfied with less.

In the realm of the spirit, by contrast, he should compare himself to his betters, to realize how imperfect he is and to feel the urge to become more holy.

Unfortunately, many people do the opposite.

In regard to this-worldly matters, they compare themselves to those who are better off than they are and as a result grow depressed and envious.

And in the realm of the spirit, they compare themselves to their inferiors, as a result of which they become self-satisfied and dull-hearted."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From Understanding the Tanya, p. 103 by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Monday, November 3, 2008

"One knows one's faults and sins better than one knows those of others"

"How is it possible to carry out the mitzvah "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" if the other person is an evildoer and a sinner?

How can one bring oneself to love anyone with whom there is no natural affinity?

The answer given is connected with the words 'as thyself.'

Just as one knows one's own faults and sins better than one knows those of others, one does not hate oneself; so it is necessary to relate to another.

Even when a person hates himself, he continues to love himself also.

As it is written: "Love will cover all your transgressions."

Of course, love does not really do more to the transgressions than put some sort of veil over them to keep them from being seen.

They cannot usually be made to disappear.

Nevertheless, one's evaluation of the same facts can be altered.

Just as one tends to gloss over one's own transgressions, so one should try to confute the negative reaction to someone else's transgressions, thereby seeing the other as one sees oneself.

The double-mindedness here is not a matter of hypocritically closing one's eyes to sin, but rather, seeing it from a different angle -- as though it were I who did it and not someone else."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From The Long Shorter Way, p215, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

Sunday, November 2, 2008

"Man is not born human"

"Judaism never looked on children as innocent and pure.

They were never considered little angels.

On the contrary, they were considered liable to sin and cruelty out of ignorance.

Man is not born human; he comes into the world as a wild young creature.

As he grows, he may become tame.

His wildness as a child is a result of not grasping the existence of the other.

It is ignorance, a lack of knowledge, that makes empathy impossible."

--Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

From The Sustaining Utterance, p. 100, by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz

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