Today we continue with a bit more of Jewish Ethics (Derek Eretz) from the Talmud. The Rabbis discuss the seven abominations of Proverbs 26:25: "Though his speech is charming, do not believe him, for seven abominations fill his heart.'' The sages say the seven are: thoughts, scorn, haughtiness, cruelty, idleness, causeless hatred, and an evil eye.
Thoughts: We have studied about being God conscious throughout the day, and to be mindful of our thoughts. We need to be focused and get rid of that Monkey Brain, where our thoughts are jumping wildly in our minds.
When a silly thought enters our head, e.g., "John doesn't like me," if we do not catch this thought right away, and substitute rational thoughts in its place, soon will be thinking of ways to get even with "John.'' We will do bad behaviors, perhaps lashon ha ra, [gossip], or worse.
The spiritual truth is that "what someone thinks of us is none of our business." If we are living a spiritual life our only concern is to be right with God. We will not be doing anything to harm another. God forbid if we did, we owe this person teshuvah, amends. If teshuvah is made and the person still wants to hold a grudge, that becomes his problem and shows his spiritual deficiencies. It is very important to be on top of our thoughts.
When we scorn, we irrationally believe that someone is worthless, despicable and worthy of our disrespect. How we judge and treat others will eventually be how we are judged and treated. The Talmud teaches "measure for measure." If someone rubs us wrongly, we see in them something that reminds us of our own defects to which we won't admit. We end up painting our defects onto someone else and hating that person. Scorn is a symptom of spiritual illness and Divine disconnection. When we scorn, just like with silly thoughts, we are apt to harm someone, even if it seems as silly as black balling them from a club, or speaking motzi shem ra (making a bad name) about them.
We will continue with the other five abominations on this list next month.
Rabbi Arthur Segal is an international lecturer, author, and teacher. Visit him at www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org/books . Follow him on FaceBook at 'Arthur L Segal', on Twitter at RabbiASegal, or his blog at http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com . Email at RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net.
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