«R' Pinchas said: "One must love even the sinful, but must hate their actions.»
http://twotzaddiks.org/part2.html#OnLovingTheEvilDoer
Apparently the Koretzer beat Gandhi to this quote by over a century!
See
Quote Details: Mahatma Gandhi:
"Hate the sin, love the sinner" -
The Quotations Page
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/36366.html
At least within the Jewish people we must "love the sinner" in order to do any Qeiruv [kiruv]. So our Ahavat Yisra'el quotient must allow us to at some level "love the sinner" and our duty to the Torah perforce must make us protest the sin
KT
RRW
7 comments:
Baruch shekivanta for Augustine of Hippo, City of G-d, Book 14, Chapter 6:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.iv.XIV.6.html
Is the only purpose of "loving the sinner" to do kiruv, as indicated by this post? Is that really the reason for the command of ahavat yisrael? Is it really just a means to an end, a concession necessary to help bring people toward a halachic way of life?
This post can also remind us of the famous gemara in Berachot concerning Rabbi Meir and his wife Bruriah. On the surface, it may seem that the lesson is only that we should not hate the sinner but the sin -- yet in that Rabbi Meir prayed for these sinners to do teshuva, we can further learn that we should indeed love the sinner. And what better way to demonstrate this caring then by praying for them to reform themselves and thus become good people and merit Divine reward and not Divine punishment.
This in fact may be the response to the second anonymous comment. Expressing ahavat Yisrael solely in order to draw people into an Orthodox lifestyle does seem like an expression of an agenda rather than an expression of true caring. Yet if one truly cares about his/her fellow Jew and one truly believes the dictates of Torah, wouldn't bringing a fellow Jew under the canfei haShechina not be the greatest expression of caring? (Of course with the recognition of chanoch hanaar al pi darkho, i.e. relating to someone from their perspective not your agenda.)
Rabbi Ben Hecht
That might be one component of ahavah, but it by no means encompasses it. It seems to me that focusing on that end clouds the idea of true ahavah, which, I believe, should mean loving the person as a person first--and looking out for what you deem to be his/her best interests only as a result of that pre-existing love.
I am in total agreement. Your concern regarding kiruv is that there is first an agenda and then the caring for the individual -- or, rather, this projection of caring -- is developed to further this agenda. I would be mistaken if I did not recognize that this indeed does occur. However what you describe also is found within kiruv. Such individuals interested in kiruv indeed do love their fellow Jew first and foremost. Their interest in kiruv then emerges because they truly believe that following Torah is in the best interests of the person. And such believe is actually most understandable as isn't that what God deems to be best and most beneficial for the person? Of course the responsibility is then upon one to present what God really wants from a person, not a narrow minded perception that one thinks God wants. To truly care for another means to allow this person to choosed his/her derech in Torah. One who cares first gives another this freedom to choose their path within Torah.
Rabbi Ben Hecht
Baruch shekivanta for Augustine of Hippo, City of G-d, Book 14, Chapter 6:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf102.iv.XIV.6.html
December 14, 2009 11:25 PM ""
Actually Bturiah might have gotten there first VIZ.
"yitamu Chata'im and NOT chot'im"
RRW
""Is the only purpose of "loving the sinner" to do kiruv, as indicated by this post? Is that really the reason for the command of ahavat yisrael? Is it really just a means to an end, a concession necessary to help bring people toward a halachic way of life?""
Certainly it is out of Love for one's Fellow
But it's RATIONAL Love
WHY?
Because Rational Thinkers do NOT label a person or color their judgments MERELY by a person's actions. Most people are complex and it is IRRATIONAL to magnify a deed into an inevtiable pattern. This is basic to cognitive Therapy
There INDEED would be exceptions, when a pattern of behavior is psychopathic beyond redemption, EG the Hitlers, the Stalins. Few of the people in our lives are that demented.
The average "jerk" or "dolt" is hardly intrinsically evil, just crude. A bit of enlightened education would fix the average offensive personality
RRW
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