Coming Clean

Chapter twelve is short. Throughout the lengthy and intimidating chapter eleven we braced ourselves for a grueling regiment for acquiring Nekius, but Luzzatto surprises us. All we need to do is learn.

Based on its description in this chapter, Nekius is a hyper-Zehirus, a scrupulous observance of Torah to its very last detail. As seasoned masters of Zehirus, we are well trained in taking the Torah to heart and implementing what we learn into practice. The only thing we lack is a comprehensive knowledge of Halachah and Mussar. So Luzzatto prescribes learning. Learn and be Naki. That's it.

Sounds reasonable enough, until we remind ourselves of Luzzatto's original definition of Nekius. Back in chapter ten he explicitly differentiated Nekius from Zehirus. As long as man is driven by self-interest he can never be truly Naki, Luzzatto wrote, for man's subconscious id blinds his objective thinking and corrupts his judgement. Luzzatto therefore made the bold claim that attaining Nekius requires nothing less than the total eradication of the Yetzer HaRa itself. It's hard to argue with the logic, but it begs the question: How on earth can a human being change his nature and attain the spiritual level of an angel?!

The title of chapter twelve promises to provide an answer to this mystery, but Luzzato seems to have conveniently forgotten the idealism of chapter ten. We could easily accept his educational recommendations if Nekius were merely a matter of observance, but it is not. According to chapter ten, Nekius is the transformation of a flawed human into a perfect, purified being devoid of negative drives. How could simply reading Halachic and Mussar works possibly suffice to achieve that superhuman goal? What we need here is a brain and heart transplant!

What has happened to Luzzatto? Is he backpedaling?

Tradition informs us and experience has shown that we can trust our author. The key to discovering his intent is simply to read carefully and follow through. If Luzzatto tells us in chapter twelve that Nekius is basically just a complete, all-encompassing Zehirus, then we would do well to turn back and review what he wrote about Zehirus earlier in the book. Indeed, a rereading of chapter five quickly demonstrates that Luzzatto has not abandoned one iota of his utopian Nekius and the advice he gives us here in chapter twelve is, in fact, the one and only way to acquire it.

The fundamental teaching of chapter five instantly puts chapter twelve in a whole new light. Luzzatto quotes a Gemora: God said, "I created the Yetzer HaRa and I created the Torah as its antidote" (Kiddushin 40b). Torah study is the antibiotic that eliminates the Yetzer HaRa! 

There you have it. Nekius does indeed require the total cleansing of the negative drives and, as astonishing as it sounds, this is an attainable goal. It is achieved by the very method Luzzatto advocates here in chapter twelve: the study of Torah. But not just any Torah study. Unceasing study of the entirety of Torah with the goal of observance in mind. Deep study with creative thinking and chiddushei Torah, as Luzzatto describes. And with that, with the divine light of Torah permeating and illuminating every aspect of life and every dark crevice of the human mind and heart, the Yezter HaRa vanishes. And man comes clean.

Are you Arrogent or Just Insecure?

This will be a brief post, serving only to clarify a common misconception.

At the end of chapter eleven Luzzatto finally addresses character flaws. (I say finally because the uniformed assume the entire book is devoted to this topic.) He presents a list of the top four, beginning with Arrogance. Luzzatto's definition is similar to what you will find in the dictionary: having an exaggerated sense of one's own importance and an expectation of recognition and praise.

Some people are arrogant because they consider themselves intelligent, handsome, or special in some other way, and they may be correct, but Luzzatto explains that they are also blind.

"The mind of man fails to see his deficiencies or recognize his baseness. For if he were able to see and would recognize the truth, he would turn away and distance himself far from all these evil and corrupt behaviors." 

Now, we are all familiar with arrogant people, but not all arrogant people are arrogant. In fact, I would argue that the vast majority of arrogant people are actually quite humble. Allow me to explain.

We need to differentiate between arrogant thinking and arrogant behavior. Arrogant thinking, the גבה לב of the Torah, is the contemptible arrogance spoken of by our sages. As described above, it refers to a person who thinks he's God's gift to the world. On the other hand, arrogant behavior is just that, a behavior, and it is not always indicative of a person with an inflated self-image.  

Arrogant behaviors are typically symptomatic not of a person who prides himself on his unique qualities, but of a person with a low self-esteem. People who lack self-worth put others down and present themselves as superior as a way of feeling better about themselves and protecting their fragile egos.

Just as Luzzatto observed that multiple, even contradictory behaviors can result from arrogant thinking, so too we find identical behaviors emerging from disparate ways of thinking. Arrogant Man with his inflated sense of importance, ignorant of his flaws and limitations, and Insecure Man with his negative self worth, ignorant of his qualities and strengths, are both prone to the very same arrogant behaviors, albeit for very different reasons.

We should be careful not to misdiagnose.