B"H
Sivan 17, 5772 * June 7, 2012
========================================
Q U E S T I O N O F T H E W E E K
========================================
What Does Judaism Say About Taking Revenge?
By Dovid Zaklikowski
===========================================
You shall not take revenge…
— Leviticus 19:18 [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=F60D8958B70231745E684D4299E3F674&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ]
What is taking revenge?
Taking revenge is when you ask someone, "Lend me your sickle," and he says no. The next day he comes to you and asks you "Lend me your hatchet." You respond, "I am not lending to you, just like you did not lend to me."
This is an example of revenge.
—The Talmud, Yoma 23a
It is human nature. When someone wrongs us, we want to retaliate. We are infuriated and hold onto memories of these "wrongs," and when given the opportunity, we respond in kind.
Taking revenge is prohibited in Judaism.
Maimonides [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=197490BC6DD888D462503185C154B7B6&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ] writes about revenge in his code of Jewish law:
Taking revenge is an extremely bad trait. A person should be accustomed to rise above his feelings about all worldly matters; for those who understand [the deeper purpose of the world] consider all these matters as vanity and emptiness, which are not worth seeking revenge for."[1]
Rather, Maimonides continues, if someone who has wronged you comes to ask a favor, you should respond "with a complete heart." As King David [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=66DD25A4D879F095D589017E2BA46E75&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ] says in the Psalms [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=5E32DDCD683E304A25931F72541815AA&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ], "Have I repaid those who have done evil to me? Behold, I have rescued those who hated me without cause"(7:5 [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=7064A2C246FDABF3A0EBB8DD485BC198&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ]).
In addition, Jewish law forbids us to bear a grudge. Thus, the Talmud explains, you may not even say to the person who wronged you that you will act rightly, even though he or she did not.[2]
Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=655500906ABBE4C0AB2F6207B2EEADB5&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ] in his code of Jewish law concludes that, "one should erase any feelings of revenge from one's heart and never remind oneself of it."[3] The Heart
Not taking revenge is not just about modifying one's actual actions; it is also that the thought of revenge never even enter one's heart.[4]
The 13th-century Talmudist, Rabbi Aharon HaLevi of Barcelona, explains:
One of the roots of this commandment is that a person should know in his heart that all that happens to him, whether good or bad, is because it is G-d's will that it happen to him... It was G-d who wished this to happen, and one should not consider taking revenge from the other person, because the other person is not the reason for what happened.[5]
(Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi explains in his Tanya [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=BD411C721031B23C33ED1EF4AABC9CAE&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ] that while the person wronged needs to forgive, the person who did the action is still held accountable, for "G-d has many agents" through whom He can act.[6])
The verse prohibiting revenge ends with the famous maxim, "You should love your fellow as yourself." Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=E56D19ECFBEF315BEF2D8C4EFC2E275C&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ], "Nachmanides [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=E56D19ECFBEF315BEF2D8C4EFC2E275C&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ]," explains that erasing the event from your heart will guarantee that you will never come to transgress the commandment, allowing you to love your fellow, no matter what transpires between the two of you.[7]
See Is Turning the Other Cheek a Jewish Value? [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=CF910398475C88D918AB86F6928FC184&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ] from our Jewish Ethics & Morality [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=F18A802144DD4238ACE651180CA0FDA3&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ] section.
FOOTNOTES
1.Paraphrased from Mishneh Torah, De'ot 7:7.
2.Talmud, Yoma, ibid.
3.Shulchan Aruch Harav, end of 156:3 (in the new Kehot editions (2001) p. 393).
4.See Rabbi Jonah Gerondi (1180-1263), Shaarei Teshuvah 3:38. See Nachmanides on Leviticus, ad loc.
5.In the classic volume Sefer HaChinuch, Mitzvah 241.
6.Igeret HaKodesh, Epistle 25.
7.Ibid.
- Dovid Zaklikowski [ http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=92A0CA9438214233C4FCC9F9E25934D7&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2 ] is the director of Lubavitch Archives and is on the editorial staff of Chabad.org. Dovid and his wife Chana Raizel are the proud parents of four: Motti, Meir, Shaina & Moshe Binyomin.
- To view this article on the Web, or to post a comment, please click here: http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=AAFE41C19886107CAEB8B9E463EA0FD7&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
This subscription is available and better viewed in a graphic (HTML) format. To update your preferences, please click here:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=AD7AF71B8E99C7A484237AEDBD10BC5A&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Copyright © Chabad.org
For more Torah study and inspiring articles, please visit:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=76E58814F40EB3D83D43C121C5199781&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
** Enjoyed this email? Please help us continue sharing the
study of Torah and Jewish traditions:
Dedicate or sponsor an email to mark your special occasion!
Please click here: http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=EE1CA24FB01A12BFCEB7A8E499B50024&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
Please click here to make a donation to Chabad.org:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=FB2767EB7F1FB67991061570BD08A89C&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
** Important Tip: In order to guarantee that your Chabad.org subscription
emails continue to be delivered to you, please make sure to add our
address, subscriptions@chabad.org, to your address book, or "whitelist"
it in any spam filters or spam programs you may have.
** Manage your complete subscription profile online: Subscribes,
unsubscribes, address changes, vacation holds, and more. Register here:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=93DE72E25C655D26F620DA148950F02C&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2&emailpk=_331593_1826535@
** To subscribe to more Chabad.org email lists please click here:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=1AEACA480229980586338A360AF75C8A&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
** To be removed from this email list please click here:
http://www.chabad.org/unsub.asp?i=5AF469836754813034EFA65A511F56323B2538C5CA051DEE54728077E3CD1A62
If you would just like your email suspended and resumed at a later
date, please let us know here:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=69E7157B425C832152593859CC28925C&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2&email=yurochkadrugach.yurochka@blogger.com
** You are subscribed to the "Question of the Week" email list as:
yurochkadrugach.yurochka@blogger.com. If your e-mail address is changing
please send us your new email address here:
http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=8FD060BC2A9D529F0EE7C3C745A7759B&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2&email=yurochkadrugach.yurochka@blogger.com
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Chabad.org
Chabad Lubavitch Media Center
770 Eastern Parkway * Brooklyn, NY * 11213
Web: http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=BA19495B019F1948AE23082FB8DA001C&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
Feedback: http://link.Chabad.org/go.asp?li=8F5A300CDF7E4AA37261D54A215005FB&ui=F8C16ABBBCDB72AD0024EE2F647D78D2
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Комментариев нет:
Отправить комментарий