«The expression is commonly misquoted as simply "Money is the root of all evil"»
Properly the original Quote is actually:
«"The love of money is the root of all evil" (1 Timothy 6:10, KJV)»
[See Root of all evil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_of_all_evil]
Thus a "perfect misunderstanding" - I.E. It's not the money that is evil, it's obsession with money or greed that is being castigated.
So the New Testament sees the Fault as "Greed, Love of Money."
[While Shakespeare would have it:
«"The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings." Julius Caesar (I, ii, 140-141).»
Nevertheless, R.S.R. Hirsch has a different take on the Root of Evil
Breisheet 5:1 P. 151 new edition, commenting on R Aqiva and "v'ahavta l'rei'acha kamocha" R. Hirsch emphasises:
"Indeed the truth is that there is only ONE Aveira; selfishness, egoism. Once a person has freed himself from egoism, and his fellow man is dear to him[self] as his own soul, he is capable of performing ... All Mitzvos"
And so as per R. Hirsch
The fault lays not in money or the stars but in ourselves in that we think of ME and not of WE.
KT
RRW
1 comment:
The Orchos Tzadiqim identifies the yeitzer hara with gaavah, and the yeitzer hatov with anavah. According to the OTz, all the other negative middos flow from egotism, and if someone were able to, they could work on anavah and everything else would fall in line. (In practice, one may have to pick battles that could be won rather than starting at the root of all evil.)
Interestingly, the same answer.
-micha
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