Schadenfreude III - Correcting Torah Readers

A recent MAHPACH thread dealt with Torah Readings that need correction, and the best strategies to make the Torah Readings as accurate as possible - and to protect the feelings of the reader - especially a YOUNG Reader.

Probably the most counter-productive form of correcting a reader is the "attack" mode. Like a sniper lying in wait, some people can't wait to say "Gotcha". Underneath it all, what motivates the aggressive correcter? Is it hyper-vigilance for excellence? Perhaps. And this may be true for many "correctors". But it would seem that some who lie in ambush do so because they enjoy detecting an error. Now this might be in good fun, or it might be having fun at the expense of another [viz. The Lainer].

Too much joy attaching to correcting - seems to point to the underlying motivator as "schadenfreude", the joy of seeing others in shame.
So what alternatives have we?
Let's snip a few points off of the Mahpach thread:

__________________

Poster Chaim: «but where the Halacha requires that you correct - I am all for respecting the feeling of individuals, but please, let's have some Rachamanus on the Torah»

My response: AISI - Corrections are [sometimes] a must and dignity is a must A Wise rabbi-gabba-congregation will respect BOTH feelings and proper diction w/o sacrificing either. It takes compassion, wisdom, and accurate editions to work from. When I am a gabbai, I can pause most readers and whisper the correction in his ear. If they are not rushing they fix it w/o any hard feelings or loss of composure.

The problem AISI is correcting by "attacking". [And as noted here - sometimes motivated by "gotcha"-itis.]

Kol Tuv
RRW

Schadenfreude II - More on Anti-Semitism

Schadenfreude – Part II Parshat Balak

I always intuitively felt that the mindset or hashkafa of the Anti-Smite was predicated on Schadenfreude. It both surprised me and pleased me to find evidence for this in the previously posted web site:

http://www.answers.com/topic/schadenfreude

It surprised me to find that my intuitive guess re" Anti-Semitism had been documented about AH [Yimach Shmo] himseff. So I found my suspicion confirmed in one of History's most outstanding Anti-Semites. To wit:

In popular culture

• In his memoirs, Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer described Adolf Hitler's sense of humor as almost entirely based upon schadenfreude. Some examples were mean-spirited jokes played on ministers such as Joachim von Ribbentrop, many initiated by Hitler or his friends.
  

Now the connexion between Schadenfreude and Anti-Semitism seems to have a serious nexus in the most heinous anti-Semite since Haman. True, it could be chalked up to co-incidence, but I think this character flaw goes to the core of the mind-set of the typical Anti-Semite and dovetails well [see Schadenfreude I] with the characterization of Balak as:

• out to Curse Israel with Downfall
  rather
• than to Bless His Own Nation [Mo'ab] with Success.
  

It is fair to say that not all those who engage in Schadenfreude are or will become Anti-Semites. It is also possible to say that Anti-Semitism is further down the continuum of the Schadenfreude-oriented persona, or iow Schadenfreude is a typical - if not necessary - prerequisite or component of the prototypical Anti-Semite.

KT,
RRW

Schadenfreude I - Parshat Balak

Schadenfreude –I Parshat Balak

The Torah Claims that Balak hired Bil’am because:
“Those whom he blessed were blessed, and those whom he cursed were cursed.” Rashi objects to a literal read, because after all, Balak is seeking ONLY a curse and he considers the Blessings just so much flattering blather But what would happen if the literal truth were true and Bil’am was equally capable of blessing as well as cursing? If that were the case, then Balak would have had a choice in how to deal with the Israelite threat to his territory:

1. Curse the Israelites to make THEM vulnerable
2. Bless the Moabites to make HIS nation invincible.

And what choice did Balak make? And why is that an important Torah lesson? Well the choice he made was indeed to have Bil’am curse the Israelites. The psychology of Balak was that it was overall MORE important to curse the Israelites than toe Bless his OWN people?

What does the Torah tell us about life in general? The first lesson the Torah teaches us is: It is more important for the Anti-Semite to do harm to the Jews than it is for him to obtain his own success. We will BEH explore this further on a series of posts
Shabbat Shalom,
RRW
.
Background Information:

See: http://www.answers.com/topic/schadenfreude
Dictionary: schadenfreude (shäd'n-froi'də) n.
Pleasure derived from the misfortunes of others.[German : Schaden, damage (from Middle High German schade, from Old High German scado) + Freude, joy (from Middle High German vreude, from Old High German

Word Overheard: schadenfreude
Columnist George Will, who seems to enjoy the seven deadly sins almost as much as he does baseball, decided to add a pleasurable eighth — schadenfreude. "Sins can be such fun. Of the seven supposedly deadly ones, only envy does not give the sinner at least momentary pleasure. And an eighth, schadenfreude — enjoyment of other persons' misfortunes — is almost the national pastime."
Link: The economics of baseball — George Will
Posted October 15, 2006