Q&A: How did the great sages of Israel write books on how to live when they differ so fundamentally from 99% of people?
How did the great sages of Israel write books on how to live when they differ so fundamentally from 99% of people?
Question
Hello,
I think everyone would agree that great sages of Israel such as the Ari, the Ramchal, Rabbi Kook, and the like were people with some of the highest levels of intellect, some of the greatest creative abilities, and so on with regard to their other qualities and traits.
So how could they write books with guidelines, ways of acting, ways of living, and so on, when perhaps not even for a single second in their lives did they experience the modes of thought / abilities / behavior of a regular / average person?
It’s like when people say that those who have never experienced a serious mental problem like “real” depression or severe anxiety cannot truly understand people who do experience such things.
Or for example, if the son of a billionaire, who had been a billionaire all his life, were to write various books about ways of acting and living for people, people would not take it seriously because they would say: how could he possibly understand the life of an ordinary person? All the more so that of a poor person who has lived in poverty all his life. Or they might read it in order to “gain insights,” but all the while feel that something here is not real / precise / correct.
Answer
I think that anyone who relates to their words as a set of behavioral instructions is missing the main point. They write about what is right and proper, not about how to implement it and how to behave. That each person decides for himself. (Incidentally, in my view, even what is right and proper each person is supposed to formulate for himself.)
Discussion on Answer
They write suggestions, not instructions. At least that is how one ought to relate to it.
It’s pretty silly to rigidly think that the great Torah sages did not undergo trials. The levels of the righteous come only through the difficulties they went through; even if in practice they were not the exact same trials, they experienced the same kinds of problems.
And our sages already said: “Whoever is greater than his fellow, his inclination is greater than his.” Someone who has stronger drives and is also wiser is not thereby prevented from helping someone who is going through experiences lesser than his own.
Of course, they never intended them as instruction manuals; that was given to us only at Mount Sinai…
Hello,
I didn’t really understand the answer.
For example, in Mesillat Yesharim the Ramchal writes guidelines in the chapter on watchfulness about how to examine one’s actions, and in the chapter on zeal about how to be zealous, and so on.
Rabbi Kook in Orot HaTeshuvah, for example, also writes various practical guidelines.