The Pious Animal Soul

Self Deception Is Not Reserved For The Wicked

By Rabbi Yoseph Kahanov Jax, FL

David Goldberg runs into somebody in the street who looks like his old friend Jack.

“Jack,” he says, “Is that you?! You’ve put on a bit of weight and your hair has turned gray. You seem a few inches shorter than I recall and your cheeks are puffy. Plus, you’re walking differently and even sound different. Jack, what’s happened to you?”

“I’m not Jack,” replies the gentleman, half amused, half repulsed.
“Wow!” says David, “you son of a gun, you even changed your name.”

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When Kaiser Wilhelm sought to invade Belgium, he was reminded of the signed treaty agreements to which his action would be in blatant violation. Dourly brushing the matter aside the Kaiser declared: “We shall take Belgium! As for the treaties? It is for the philosophers to supply the necessary explanations.”

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“Philosophy,” asserted a contemporary thinker, “is simply the formation of bad reasons for what we believe on instinct.”

Indeed, we humans all have a built in “philosopher,” which is capable of justifying any act to which we set our mind. Reason, more often than not, serves as a handmaiden of man’s will; providing creative explanations and rationalizations for any objective upon which his heart is set. No wonder that Judaism has always had a healthy dose of suspicion of man’s capacity to rationalize.

An act for which we are quick to criticize another, is often quite all-right for ourselves. People who insist they are honest and fair, may tear the other guy’s reputation to shreds without compunction. They will not hesitate to air harmful rumors and speculation, fomenting thereby animosity among family and friends.

Worse even, there is a breed of people who wrap themselves in the mantle of piety while indulging in the aforementioned disparaging activity. These are the guys who manage to garb their self-serving destructive agenda in some holy cause. They often carry this profane ethic into the workings of religion.
In the name of holiness, they turn Jew against Jew, Synagogue against Synagogue and ideology against ideology for the sole purpose of political or “Market-share” advantage. Ironically, some of these very people, when not preoccupied destroying others with their evil tongue, are in the habit of preaching about “Shmiras Halashon” and “Lashon Hara.”

Preaching about Shmiras Haloshon in one setting, while indulging in this destructive conduct in another, is equivalent to raising a white flag, approaching the enemy lines as if to surrender and then lobbing a grenade. That soldier has not only perpetrated a fraud on his battalion and the enemy; he has betrayed a symbol of civilization.

And it’s not just Lashon Hara, as a good friend once said to me: “Do you know, Yossi, how many Shidduchim are destroyed because of a simple “Krim mit de nuz?” (crooked nose, Yiddish).

In his anthology, Hayom Yom, the Lubavitcher Rebbe relates the following episode in the name of his father in law, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneerson:
“My grandfather said to my father: ‘The Yetzer Hara (evil impulse) is called “Animal soul,” not because it is necessarily a brute animal. At times it may be a fox – the most cunning of beasts – whose machinations require great wisdom to perceive. At other times, it may clothe itself in the garb of an earnest, straightforward, humble Tzaddik – possessing fine traits of character.

The animal soul manifests itself in each person according to his individual character. One person may suddenly experience a powerful urge to study Chassidus (Chassidic philosophy) or to meditate deeply on some Divine concept. In truth, however, this is nothing more than the Yetzer Hara’s counsel and its machinations to prevent him from engaging in what is actually required of him at that time, i.e. prayer [with a Minayn] or the like. . .
My father concluded: ‘Until then, I had not known that there can be a ‘pious’ animal soul, let alone a ‘Chassidic’ animal soul.’”

Our Parsha – Shoftim – begins with the commandment to appoint judges and law officers throughout the land: “Judges and officers shall you appoint for yourself in all your gates [cities].” (Deuteronomy 16:18).

The use of the words for “You” and “Yourself,” which in the Hebrew language are in the singular, indicate that this is not only a communal command but also one that is directed towards the individual.

Indeed the Zohar (classic Kabbalistic text) states that the concept of “judges and officers” applies to each individual with regards to his own persona. In order to triumph over one’s evil inclination and tendencies, one must develop an internal judicial system within one’s self. One must exercise enormous acumen in evaluating one’s own choices and decisions and their true motivation.

In this regard the prohibitions in our Parsha against perverting justice and taking bribe apply to each individual as much as to a public adjudicator. Everyone – even an accomplished Torah scholar – no matter how much greatness and stature he has achieved, must scrutinize his every action to determine its true and inner motivation, for he is no less partial to his own benefit and interests. Self deception is an equal opportunity human trait, it is by no means limited to the wicked.

I’m reminded of a talk the Lubavitcher Rebbe once gave, in which he expressed his dissatisfaction with those who were in the habit of interpreting his general comments, regarding certain negative ideologies etc., as referring to this or that specific person or event. The Rebbe continued to observe that those same individuals were likely busy doing just that, even regarding the very subject of his current address.

One must indeed take care not to allow pleasure, profit, honor, or any of the countless other self-interests, influence his judgment – bribing him into thinking that an unworthy act is permitted, worthwhile, or even a Mitzvah.
We must search the crevices of our soul for the true motivation of our desires and actions even when it involves an overtly positive and holy act, how much the more so when the act in question is of an adversarial, disciplinary or counteractive nature. The motive and purity of such actions must be examined twice and thrice. Is it an act of Pinchas, or perhaps that of Korach? While the line may sometimes be fine, they are worlds apart; polar opposites.

We must indeed appoint Judges and officers at all our personal “gates,” i.e. points of entry and exit. We must examine discerningly everything that comes in and goes out – what our eyes observe, our ears absorb, and what our mouth ingests and exhales. Then, and only then, can we be somewhat sure that the motivation and drive behind what we believe to be holy and pure, is truly for the sake of Heaven.

May we merit the time when evil will be eradicated from the world and truth will shine forth. A time when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of G-d like the water that covers the bed of ocean, with the coming of the righteous Moshiach speedily in our time.