The Selfishness of Rashi
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Inspired by a recent comment here, I decided to write another post about Rashi. Now, Rashi has been accused of many different things. Of not knowing that inspecting birds would enable one to know about them. Of being “very problematic” for quoting Gemaras. Of being a corporealist. But as far as I know, he has never been accused of being selfish.
Well, I’m about to change that.
Rashi was born in 1040. The Battle of Hastings was in 1066. Where was Rashi when his fellow countrymen were dying in droves on the beaches of East Sussex?1 Sitting in comfort in Troyes, learning and writing his problematic commentary. The Torah states:
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֔ה לִבְנֵי־גָ֖ד וְלִבְנֵ֣י רְאוּבֵ֑ן הַאַֽחֵיכֶ֗ם יָבֹ֙אוּ֙ לַמִּלְחָמָ֔ה וְאַתֶּ֖ם תֵּ֥שְׁבוּ פֹֽה׃
Moses replied to the Gadites and the Reubenites, “Are your brothers to go to war while you stay here?
This is not just a command of Moses, but an enduring moral argument. It is an appeal to basic fairness. And apparently, Rashi just didn’t get the message.
You may object that it would have almost been certainly impossible for Jews to join a Christian army. And even if one could theoretically join, it would have been impossible to remain an observant Jew.
But this is no excuse at all.
Rashi could have just converted to Christianity and integrated with his fellow Christian countrymen, so that he might fulfill national responsibility, which is far more pressing moral obligation than halachic rituals. Clearly, he was a selfish person, raised in a selfish culture that treated religious minutae as more important than basic human morality.
And it’s not just Rashi. It’s all of our rabbis and ancestors throughout the ages who refused to integrate with the Christians, or avoided being conscripted into Christian armies, and thus failed in their national responsibilities. They evaded their basic moral obligations for religious reasons.
Selfish, selfish, selfish.
What is really going on with the situation in Israel
You might think I’m joking, but this is exactly the argument of those who are accusing the chareidim of selfishness. As we see in the following interaction:
These people understand that it would be religiously extremely problematic for chareidim to join. And from our perspective, that is true. Becoming a secularist is pretty much as bad as becoming Christian, and sending one’s sons to a secularist army is like sending him to a Christian army. But it is precisely this adherence to the religion itself, while “letting others doing the hard work”, that they are calling selfish, just like Rashi and all of our ancestors were selfish for refusing to join their Christian brothers, letting the goyim do all the hard work, while they prayed in their synagogues.
The comparison to Rashi and the rest of our ancestors is not far-off for another reason. It is striking is how much the selfishness accusation parallels classic medieval anti-semitic tropes. As Martin Luther writes (On the Jews and Their Lies):
A person who is unacquainted with the devil might wonder why they are so particularly hostile toward Christians. They have no reason to act this way, since we show them every kindness. They live among us, enjoy our shield and protection, they use our country and our highways, our markets and streets. Meanwhile our princes and rulers sit there and snore with mouths hanging open and permit the Jews to take, steal, and rob from their open money bags and treasures whatever they want. That is, they let the Jews, by means of their usury, skin and fleece them and their subjects and make them beggars with their own money. For the Jews, who are exiles, should really have nothing, and whatever they have must surely be our property. They do not work, and they do not earn anything from us, nor do we give or present it to them, and yet they are in possession of our money and goods and are our masters in our own country and in their exile. A thief is condemned to hang for the theft of ten florins, and if he robs anyone on the highway, he forfeits his head. But when a Jew steals and robs ten tons of gold through his usury, he is more highly esteemed than God himself. In proof of this we cite the bold boast with which they strengthen their faith and give vent to their venomous hatred of us, as they say among themselves: "Be patient and see how God is with us, and does not desert his people even in exile. We do not labor, and yet we enjoy prosperity and leisure. The accursed Goyim have to work for us, but we get their money. This makes us their masters and them our servants. Be patient, dear children of Israel, better times are in store for us, our Messiah will still come if we continue thus and acquire the chemdath of all the Gentiles by usury and other methods." Alas, this is what we endure for them. They are under our shield and protection, and yet, as I have said, they curse us. But we shall revert to this later.
So Rashi’s and our ancestor’s selfishness expressed itself in more ways than just refusing to integrate with his Christian countrymen and joining in the protection of the realm. They (allegedly) enriched themselves off the goyim, made use of all the infrastructure the goyim provided, while not contributing themselves. Sounds familiar? Of course, the above-mentioned secularist is no stranger to anti-semitic tropes, which he regularly engages in.
But you might be wondering, aren’t many of the secularists themselves religious Jews? How can they then consider adherence to the Jewish religion to be selfish? You can get some insight from the following interaction.
I have a serious question, with regard to previous post and applications to this one (I realize you didn't allow comments because topic was personal, and I respect that. But I'll ask, and if you don't want to discuss, I understand.) You wrote that you are concerned for your son's physical *and spiritual* safety in the IDF. If you feel that joining the IDF is a threat to his spiritual well being, how can you allow him to join? Is there a value out there that's more important to you as a parent than your child's netzach netzachim?
Aug 22Author
And why don't you ask how I can let him join in light of the physical dangers?
Because I recognize that there are values higher than physical life. People can disagree over what specific values, but the principle is understandable. I don't understand even in principle how there can be a value that's worth sacrificing one's nitzchiyus for.
8 hrs agoAuthor
It's amazing how you are proving my point. How about sacrificing to help other people live?
So you will risk his nitzchiyus for other people's lives? Do you truly believe that? Would you risk his life for other people's nitzchiyus? Perhaps travel to a remote place with no medical infrastructure, in order to bring Yidden closer to Hashem? Would you encourage that?
3 hrs agoAuthor
Uh, isn't that exactly what Chabad does?
You totally missed the issue. To most people, the self is worth more than anyone else. They will not risk their lives for anyone or anything else. To believing Jews, Nitzchiyus is worth more than anything. Dying is a trifle as compared to nitzchiyus. Which is why risking our lives for a Mitzvah can make sense. But you are risking your child's nitzchiyus for people's short term lives. Your system is backward. You don't think your child's physical life is worth more than anyone else's, and you don't think nitzchiyus is worth more than anything. Nisht kein Yid un nisht kein goy.
2 hrs agoAuthor
I find it astonishing that you don't see the selfishness of your attitude.
Any normal religious Jew, who understands why Rashi didn’t convert to Christianity, would be absolutely, utterly astounded by Natan’s attitude-if it was expressed by an actual religious person. He doesn’t understand that giving up one’s Judaism is worse than physical danger and death? He doesn’t understand the concept of nitzchyus? He believes in Olam Haba, right?…..right?….right?
But since this attitude is being expressed by an avowed secularist, there is nothing astounding here at all. He nonchalantly quotes people who are kofer in Olam Haba. He is kofer in the miraculous. He is kofer in all the many Chazals that say Torah protects. He is kofer in hashgacha pratis. He is kofer in many basic Torah concepts that are too numerous to list. He has called the concept of connection with Hashem “fluffy spirituality”. The obvious explanation for why he considers the religion to be a selfish excuse is because he doesn’t believe in the religion in the first place.
Therefore, next time you see him or anybody else complain about “selfishness”, remember the perspective that it is coming from.
Postscript: the poor son
Although I prefer not to mention his innocent children who are unfortunately being raised a משומד and therefore are quite literally תינוקות שנשבו, since he has decided to drag them into his sick agenda, I cannot refrain. He says:
I must confess that while the benefits of the hesder program are immense in terms of personal growth and development, I’m extremely nervous about my son’s future enlistment; serving in the IDF includes both spiritual and physical risks. But I couldn’t be prouder of the path that he is on.
I am not sure what “spiritual risks” he can possibly be referring to. Perhaps he means that his son might daven to Hashem with kavana and really believe that Hashem saves, which would be very, very irrationalist? But one thing I know for sure- As bad as the IDF would be for a regular religious bochur, his son is far safer there than in his father’s home.
May Hashem put in their hearts and in hearts of all His children to return to Him.
Although the Battle of Hastings was primarily a Norman conquest, there were many other Frenchmen who participated, including the the Odo, the Count of Troyes himself, who was William the Conqueror’s brother-in-law.
We have to be honest here.
Ever since the founding of the State, Gedolei Yisroel were consistent in requesting an exemption only for those who תורתו אומנותו, not for all Charedim. There are countless statements and letters about this, and the greatest proof is that the Chavrei Knesset never requested more than that.
If the Army was an issue of Shmad, how could any Jew attend? If the יהרג ואל יעבור statements were true, why take care of Bnei Torah more than other Jews?
The Israeli Army is not considered Assur by any recognized posek of previous generations, and I even know of stories when Rav Shach sent people to the Army when they did not need to go.
Why are Bnei Torah exempt? The truth is, a strict learning of Halacha would tell us that they are not. The protection Torah learning provides is an Agadda, not Halachic, and we cannot decide Halacha based on that. Just like we cannot exempt ourselves from going to the Doctor when sick, sufficing with learning another Daf Gemara, even though לכל בשרו מרפא is a possuk. There is no pttur for a Talmid Chacham when the enemy is at our doors.
My understanding of the reasoning is because the Army does not truly need everyone. What they do is exempt people after two or three years. They could easily increase it to four and five. Why exempt someone who has been there for two or three years already? They have a system of 'fairness', which they follow. The Torah does not necessarily work that way. If some people are engaged in more important work and some in less important, let those who engage in more important work stay home while those that are not doing much anyway should go. Those that choose to learn (including any Chilonim who wish to avail themselves of this - this isn't a Charedi exemption) are choosing to do something more important for society, and those who will play soccer, mess around in college, chase pleasures in Thailand and even finding cures for cancer, are doing a less important job. If there is a choice who should fight and who shouldn't (if all are needed, that's a different story), by all means, choose the law student. They claim it is not fair, even though the option of תורתו אומנותו is available for them too. But fairness is only one value among many.
Additionally, without the Torah that is learned by the youth, the national resolve and backbone is weakened. I am not talking about Zionism, we can do without that. But when people don't see Klal Yisroel as exceptional, they don't see Yiddishe lives as worth saving, they don't appreciate the עולם מלא in each life, they will not fight as well. Without a learning class, the army will not function. They will be a bunch of leftists who either don't attend, or refuse to follow orders. Their inner belief will weaken, and all will suffer. This is not Zionism, even if the State needs to be closed down, we need an Army of protection from the murderous Arabs, and the Army has to believe in its mission of saving lives.
I'm glad my comment inspired this important post.
I was wondering if any fellow Rambamists could help me with a personal issue.
Ever since a young age we instilled our dearest firstborn with an immense passion for architecture. His room is adorned with pictures of Zaha Hadid's greatest projects; as a toddler not a day went by that he didn't try and recreate one of Norman Foster's icons out of lego. He spent all his barmitzavh money to visit the Marina Bay in Singapore to marvel first hand at Moshe Safdie's magnum opus. Ever since he has turned 17 The amount of time he spends on AutoCAD makes us immensely proud.
However, I don't know how comfortable I am at the thought of him spending 6 years of his life to develop the competence to pursue his calling, does anyone know of some decent architecture themed gap year schemes, or military programs with interspersed architecture modules that he could attend before go goes to medical school so that he can be a bit more of a well rounded architect?