Ask The Rabbi...
June 4 1994 Issue #24
 
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This issue is sponsored by El Al - Israel National Airlines
 
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This edition contains:
1.	Does the Torah say that we should be happy?
2.	How do you tell someone that they are doing something wrong?
 
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Josh from Baltimore wrote:

>I have befriended a guy on the Internet who is asking me many questions 
>about Judaism.  He wants to know if Judaism specifically says anything 
>about enjoying life?  I thought I once heard that the Torah says one is 
>obligated to benefit from the pleasures that G-d gave us, (obviously 
>within reason), and we were meant to be happy.  Can you please confirm or 
>correct this.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Dear Josh,

The Torah in Parshat Ki Tavo writes:

"Tachat asher lo avadata et Hashem b'simcha...."
"Because (tachat) you did not serve the L-rd your G-d with happiness and a 
glad heart when you had plenty of everything, you will therefore serve your 
enemies when G-d sends them against you..."

Maimonides states that from here we learn that one is supposed to serve G-d 
with joy and gladness.

If you stop and think about it, we shouldn't need a verse in the Torah to 
tell us this.  It should be common sense that we should be happy.  So why 
command us to do something that is common sense?  A parable told by the 
Alexander Rav provides an answer.

There was a boy who was trained by his tutor to read the Aleph Bet.  One 
day the father proudly stood by to watch his son recite the letters with 
the vowels.  The boy began, "Komatz Aleph Aw, Komatz Bet Baw, etc." until 
he came to Komatz Hey...suddenly he couldn't continue.  The father was 
embarrassed and threatened his son with a beating.   "Come on you can do 
it.  Just look under (tachat) the Hey, what's under the Hey?  WHAT'S UNDER 
THE HEY?"

At which point the boy burst out in tears and declared "But father, you 
told me not to tell anyone that you hid a stolen calf under the hay."

Just as this easy task for the boy was blocked by something underneath and 
behind the scenes, so it can be with happiness. Happiness should come 
easily in life.  However, sometimes something underneath prevents this 
happiness. The Torah reminds us that our job is to deal with these 
underlying factors and open the way to serving G-d with happiness.

Sources:
Devarim 28:47
Maimonides - The Codes, The Halachot of Lulav, 8:15
Maayana Shel Torah - Devarim, 28:47
 
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Harlan from Jerusalem wrote:

>Recently someone came over to me and asked me if I shave with a razor.  
>When I told them that I do, he told me that the Torah says that this is 
>not allowed, and that I must use an electric shaver or grow a beard.  I 
>was very hurt by this and angry that a stranger mixed into my affairs.  
>Later I heard that the person was actually obligated to rebuke me by Torah 
>law.  I can't believe that the Torah would command someone to hurt another 
>person's feelings.  Was he really right in `butting in'?

* * * * * * * * * * *

Dear Harlan,

The Torah in Parshat Kedoshim writes:

"You should not hate your brother in your heart; rebuke your countryman and 
do not bear a sin on his account."

Maimonides and other Halachic authorities quote this verse as the source 
for a positive commandment to rebuke someone who has transgressed a law.  
This applies to both Biblical and Rabbinic laws.  In your case we are 
talking about the violation of a Torah commandment so he was obligated to 
admonish you.

But that's not all there is to it.  Although we've established that there's 
a commandment to rebuke, we must understand that there are also laws that 
govern the method of rebuke.

Maimonides in his Codes writes that the one who rebukes must do so due to 
pure  motivation of returning him to the path of Torah.  If the 
transgression was done privately, then the rebuke should also be in 
private.  It should be done with care, compassion and with honor.  The 
point is not to sting the person or to satisfy some perverse sense of 
pleasure -- rather to help him do the right thing.

In short he did the right thing but probably could have done it in a more 
sensitive way.  (I personally would never rebuke anyone holding an open 
razor!)

Sources:
Vayikra 19:17
Maimonides - The Book of Mitzvot, positive commandment 205.
Sefer Hachinuch - positive commandment 239.
Avotot Ahava, by Rabbis Moshe Newman and Mordechai Becher, Sifrei Nof 
Publishers, Jerusalem, pp. 54,62.
Maimonides - The Codes, The Book of Knowledge, 6:7.
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